Soil Testing

SOIL TTESTING
Karthik V
Assistant Professor
KPRIET
INTRODUCTION:
• Soil is an essential construction material for Civil Engineers.

• Hence, the accurate measurement of soil properties is very important in the design
and execution of a civil engineering project.
• Soil is used as
• (i) construction material (Example: roadways, railways, earthen embankments, earthen dams),
• (ii) Supporting material (Example: Foundations) and
• (iii) Surrounding material (Example: Underground pipelines, tunnels).
• Based on the type of soil and nature of the project a detailed test programme is
planned.
NEED FOR SOIL TESTING :
• Soil testing is an essential part of a Civil engineering project, the failure of a project
due to improper/ inadequate soil testing is very expensive and sometimes
irreparable.
• Hence, understanding the properties of soil and its consideration in the design are
important.
The three important aspects in soil testing
program are:
• Identification of appropriate soil test.

• Accurate measurement of soil properties.
• Analysis of test data and interpretation of properties for the design of
structure
IDENTIFICATION OF TESTS
• Identification of appropriate tests is the most important aspect in the soil

testing programme.
• The required tests for a given project depend on
• 1. The nature of the project.
• 2. The nature of the soil.
Nature of project:
The important civil engineering projects where soil properties considered are:
• 1. Earthen embankment to store water
• 2. Road construction
• 3. Foundation
• 4. Filling behind a retaining wall
Nature of soil :
• Soil testing not only depends on the type of the project as explained above but
also on the type of the soil.
• Shear parameters of clay soils are measured by performing either unconfined
compression tests or Vane shear test or Direct shear test or Triaxial shear test.
• . The compactness of cohesive soils is measured in terms of OMC conditions (by
performing compaction test) and the same is represented in terms of relative
density (by conducting minimum and maximum density tests) in case of sandy
soils.
CLASSIFICATION OF TESTS
INTRODUCTION
• There are a number of tests available to measure the engineering
properties of soils in laboratory and field.
• The tests to be performed depend on the type of soil and the
nature of project.
LABORATORY TESTS
• The samples are either collected in an undisturbed state, in the form of core
samples, or in a disturbed state, in the form of loose soils collected in bags.
• The laboratory tests, classified for the purpose for which the soil is being used are
as follows:
• 1. Classification tests
• 2. Test to obtain physical properties of soil
• 3. Shear tests
• 4. Compressibility tests
• 5. Other specific tests
Classification
Test
Non –Cohesive soil Cohesive soil

Soil Type
Sieve Analysis Atterberg Limits
Hydrometer Analysis
Classification Of Soil
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF SOIL
Moisture content Specific Gravity

Unit Weight
Core cutter Sand Pycnometer Specific

Method Replacement Method Gravity
Void Degree of
Porosity Saturation
Ratio
Strength properties
Non –Cohesive soil Cohesive soil

Soil Type
Direct Vane Direct Unconfined

Shear Triaxial Trial
Shear Shear Compression
Test Test Test
Test Test Test
Consolidation Properties
Coefficient of
Compression Index
Consolidation
Other Special Tests
Compaction Permeability Swelling

CBR Test Tests
Test Properties
Constant Variable Head Test

Soil Head Test
Non -Cohesive Type
soil
Cohesive soil
Relative Density Test Free Swell Swelling

Index Test Pressure Test
Heavy Constant
Standard Proctor Consolidation
Compaction Volume
Compaction Test Method
Test Method
FIELD TESTS
• A reasonably good undisturbed soil sample can be collected from clay layer.
• If the soil at the site is non-cohesive, it is difficult to obtain a good undisturbed
soil sample.
Hence the field tests are broadly classified as:
• 1. Field tests for foundations
• 2. Field tests for pavement design
Field tests for foundation design
The following tests are useful in measuring the strength of soil in the field to
estimate the bearing capacity of soils for foundation design.
• 1. Standard penetration test. (SPT)
• 2. Dynamic cone penetration tests (DCPT)
• 3. Static cone penetration test
• 4. Field vane shear test
• 5. Plate load test (PLT)
Field tests for pavement design
The Commonly used field tests to obtain soil parameters required for designs of
pavements are
• 1. Field CBR
• 2. Plate load test Field
• CBR test gives the CBR valves of soil in the field conditions. The CBR valves are
useful in the design of flexible pavement.

Soil Testing

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SOIL TTESTING

• Soil is an essential construction material for Civil Engineers.

• Identification of appropriate soil test.

• Identification of appropriate tests is the most important aspect in the soil

Non –Cohesive soil Cohesive soil

Sieve Analysis Atterberg Limits

Moisture content Specific Gravity

Core cutter Sand Pycnometer Specific

Non –Cohesive soil Cohesive soil

Direct Vane Direct Unconfined

Compaction Permeability Swelling

Constant Variable Head Test

Relative Density Test Free Swell Swelling

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