See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/280572084

MATLAB Modeling of SPT and Grain Size Data in Producing Soil-Profile

Article · March 2015

CITATIONS READS

4 2,240

2 authors:

Debojit Sarker Md Zoynul Abedin

Louisiana Tech University Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
33 PUBLICATIONS 120 CITATIONS 30 PUBLICATIONS 184 CITATIONS

SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE

All content following this page was uploaded by Debojit Sarker on 31 July 2015.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

 International Journal of
Science and Engineering Investigations vol. 4, issue 38, March 2015
ISSN: 2251-8843

MATLAB Modeling of SPT and Grain Size Data in Producing

Soil-Profile
Debojit Sarker1, Md. Zoynul Abedin2
1
Dept. of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh
2
Professor, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Dhaka, Bangladesh
([email protected], [email protected])

Abstract-The study was carried out to find out a suitable commencement of the final design or construction activities. In
numerical procedure for establishing a graphical presentation other words, there is need to know the characteristics of the
of the soil profile of a site using SPT values and grain size formations (rocks and soils) on which the foundation of such
analysis data. MATLAB numerical tool was used for this structures and ancillary objects are intended to rest or buried.
purpose and the soil properties was estimated using This is for the obvious reason that such engineering structures
established empirical correlations. A computer Software was or objects (e.g. roads, bridges, dam embankments, buildings,
developed where SPT values at borehole locations, percent of etc.) must be anchored on or buried in earth materials of proven
grain sizes, water table and GPS coordinates of the site were integrity. Generally, the overall investigation should be
used as inputs. Rectangular grids in 2-D or 3-D space were detailed enough to provide sufficient information for the
created for interpolation or extrapolation of the gridded data in geotechnical engineer to reach conclusions regarding the site
‘meshgrid’ format. The output yielded intermittent SPT profile suitability, design criteria, probable construction problems and
and the contour plot matrix for subsoil soil condition of a site. environmental impact. Both laboratory and in situ or field
The output soil-profile is presented by a 3-D shaded surface (surface and subsurface) techniques are routinely used to obtain
plot that would be useful for preliminary selection of a project information about engineering properties of rocks and soils.
site, land use planning, zoning ordinances, pre-disaster Laboratory techniques include Atterberg limits, pH
planning, capital investment planning, determination, groundwater quality testing, etc., while
Fifteen borehole data of SPT values and grain sizes along a 20 geological mapping, geophysical survey, shell and auger
km stretch of ongoing Janjira approach road project of Padma boring, core drilling, soil sampling (disturbed and undisturbed),
multipurpose bridge in Madaripur district were used to verify standard penetration tests, pressure meter tests, permeability
the usability of the developed Software. Disturbed soil tests, water level measurements, test pits are the commonly
sample were collected up to depths of 19.5m depth in every used field techniques. These techniques are usually deployed in
1.5m interval to perform grain size analysis test. Excel synergy for a given site. The overall consideration in the choice
spreadsheet was used where more than 500 data including of a method or a combination of methods is the cost
SPT-N values, percent sand and fines at depths, GPS implication, although this consideration should not override the
coordinated, reduce level and ground water table. The soils at need for proper investigation. This study focuses on the
the site were predominantly alluvial deposits. All these data standard penetration test. It is one of the relatively cost-
were used in MATLAB interactive environment for numerical effective and yet informative field techniques most commonly
computation, visualization and programming. The purposes of used in subsurface probing. [1]
the study were to find SPT contour profile and soil-profile of a
particular alignment of the site and to extract borehole Log Data availability and accessibility can reduce time and the
form SPT profile and soil-profile of a specific location of the expense of the projects, especially during feasibility stage. In
alignment. the last few years, the numbers of construction projects in
Outcome of this study can be used in microzonation studies, Bangladesh have been increased rapidly and continuously.
site response analysis, calculation of bearing capacity of Consequently, the number of soil boring reports has been
subsoils in the region and producing a number of parameters accumulated largely. Data interpretation, management and
which are empirically related to SPT values. appropriate processing, then, cannot be regarded as simple
tasks. The utilization of the various numerical and graphical
Keywords- Numerical analysis, SPT, Grain Size, Soil-Profile techniques can be served the geotechnical engineer as the very
effective tools. Not only for non-data area prediction but also
used to interpret the complex data area with reliability and
I. INTRODUCTION accuracy.
For safe and economic infrastructural development, it is In geotechnical engineering, soil formation, physical
important that subsoil conditions at any proposed civil properties and engineering properties are very important data.
engineering site be properly investigated prior to With the good soil information, engineers can make proper

26
decision and effectively design However, nature of soil is vary written in other languages, including C, C++, Java, Fortran and
and more complicate in some area depending upon its Python.[3] MATLAB functions are similar to C functions or
formation process or some disturbing condition. Thus well FORTRAN subroutines. MATLAB programs are stored as
subsoil survey planning during feasibility and detail design plain text in files having names that end with the extension
stage of the project is necessary for balancing of cost and ``m''. These files are called, m-files. Each m-file contains
acquiring the significant data. Although significant data are exactly one MATLAB function. Thus, a collection of
obtained, data management and interpretation are also very MATLAB functions can lead to a large number of relatively
important processes and not easy tasks to achieve the subsoil small files. Two m-files were created for this study: one for
information.[2] SPT contour plot and another for surface plot of Soil-Profile.
Script files can be used as MATLAB functions, which can be
Bangladesh Geological Survey indicates that the project used interactively. In addition to providing the obvious support
site Jajira of Madaripur district, in general, is underlain by for interactive calculation, it also is a very convenient way to
recent alluvium. The Padma superficial alluvial river deposits debug functions that are part of a bigger project.
typically comprise normally-consolidated, low strength
compressible clays, or silts and fine sands of low density. The C. Multidimensional Interpolation
thickness of these deposits is usually quite variable and can The interpolation methods for one-dimensional problems
exhibit considerable changes over short distances depending on can be extended to multidimensional interpolation. Tow-
the profile of the former river channel in which they were
dimensional interpolation deals with determining intermediate
deposited. The underlying deposit is predominantly dense
values for functions of two variables, . Assuming
sand. The Janjira approach road length is 10.579 km.
values at four points: and
The purpose this study is to elaborate the usage of . To interpolate between these points to estimate the
numerical and graphical methods to manage and interpret the value at an intermediate point , using a linear
soil data and establish geotechnical database system to provide function, the result is a plane connecting the points. Such
information support to others geotechnical work. Furthermore functions are called bilinear. [4]
this system can be used as a decision support system for A simple approach for developing the bilinear function:
geotechnical engineers. First, by holding the value fixed and applying one-
dimensional linear interpolation in the direction. Using the
Lagrange form, the result at is
II. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
Evaluation of properties of soils beneath and adjacent to the
structures at a specific region is of main importance in terms And at is
of geotechnical considerations. From the viewpoint of the
engineers, a correct assessment of these properties necessitates
a plausible evaluation of geotechnical data. The study was
These points can be used to linearly interpolate along the y
aimed to prepare a model to produce a soil profile at a
dimension to yield the final result:
particular location using the adjacent soil data. The principal
objectives of the study were:
• To develop a MATLAB computer model that could
produce the soil profile at a particular location using A single equation can be developed by substituting these
GPS coordinates or chainage location. equations to give-
• To validate the model using known soil profile data.

III. METHODOLOGY
A. General
The present study was aimed at developing a model to
generate soil profile at a selected location using SPT and grain
size data of neighboring boreholes. MATLAB was used which
provides the user with a convenient environment for
performing many types of calculations. In particular, it
provides a very nice tool to implement numerical method. This bilinear interpolation method was used in
B. MATLAB MATLAB which has built-in functions for two-,three- and n-
dimensional piecewise interpolation : interp2, interp3 and
MATLAB (matrix laboratory) which is a multi-paradigm interpn.
numerical computing environment and fourth-generation
programming language which allows matrix manipulations,
plotting of functions and data, implementation of algorithms,
creation of user interfaces, and interfacing with programs

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 4, Issue 38, March 2015 27
www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 43815-06
 IV. INPUT AND OUTPUT FOR SOIL-PROFILE B. INPUT Data
A MATLAB program was developed in this study that uses The chainage and GPS locations of the 15 boreholes are
SPT and grain size data from 15 boreholes of Padma bridge presented in Table 1. Data of SPT and grain size of the
approach road Janjira site. The boreholes were done along the boreholes as presented in Table 2 and Table 3 were given as
chainage of approach road in a 20 km stretch with input data using Excel spread sheet.
approximately 500 m spacing. The present study was aimed at
generating the soil profiles at the intermittent locations. In the TABLE I. CHAINAGE AND GPS COORDINATES OF BOREHOLES
following sections the modes of data input and output are Latitude
described. Borehole Name Chainage longitude degree
degree
APBH 05 17600 23.40657 90.25319667
A. Project Site
APBH 06 18600 23.40108 90.24574333
As mentioned earlier, the project site Jajira of Madaripur APBH 07 19600 23.39786667 90.23663
district, in general, is underlain by recent alluvium with Padma
APBH 08 20100 23.39741333 90.23177167
superficial alluvial river deposits.The underlying deposit is
predominantly dense sand. The Janjira approach road length is APBH 09 20600 23.39755833 90.226955
10.579 km. The project site and the borehole locations are APBH 10 21100 23.39803 90.22179167
shown in Figures 1, 2 and 3. APBH 11 21600 23.39892667 90.21706667
APBH 12 24100 23.39914667 90.19285167
APBH 13 24582 23.39899167 90.18823333
APBH 14 25100 23.399 90.183
APBH 15 25600 23.4 90.1783
APBH 16 26100 23.4009 90.1735
APBH 17 26600 23.4016 90.1687
APBH 18 27100 23.4021 90.1639
APBH 19 27600 23.4024 90.1589

TABLE II. SPT DATA OF BOREHOLES

APBH 05 APBH 06 APBH 07 APBH 08 APBH 09 APBH 10 APBH 11 APBH 12 APBH 13 APBH 14

chainage-
17600 18600 19600 20100 20600 21100 21600 24100 24582 25100
depth

1.5 4 5 5 5 6 5 2 5 5 5
3 4 5 3 3 20 5 6 17 17 3
4.5 6 6 26 16 18 33 5 10 9 13
6 10 7 27 31 12 31 24 6 10 14
7.5 11 7 31 26 28 30 19 8 11 12
9 11 8 30 15 29 9 23 11 26 16
10.5 12 2 32 17 24 12 32 12 22 14
12 17 15 33 15 21 13 35 22 24 9
13.5 15 37 32 14 20 14 20 24 18 4
15 29 29 31 26 32 11 18 23 21 5
16.5 27 30 38 24 43 23 25 7
18 30 16 42 23 34 22 22 42
19.5 26 21 46 22 39 21 19 25

Figure 1. Site location (Jajira Approach Road of Padma TABLE III. GRAIN SIZE DATA OF BOREHOLES
Multipurpose Bridge Project) at Madaripur district.
APBH-05 APBH-06 APBH-07 APBH-08 APBH-09
Chainage 17600 18600 19600 20100 20600
Start End Avg
Sand % Fine % Sand % Fine % Sand % Fine % Sand % Fine % Sand % Fine %
1.35 1.8 1.35 D1 86 14 92 8 94 6 90 10 86 14
2.85 3.3 3.075 D2 93 7 83 17 94 6 92 8 93 7
4.35 4.8 4.575 D3 94 6 84 16 86 14 93 7 87 13
5.85 6.3 6.075 D4 91 9 92 8 89 11 92 8
7.35 7.82 7.585 D5 84 16 88 12 88 12
8.85 9.3 9.075 D6 87 13 87 13 88 12
10.35 10.8 10.575 D7 88 12 89 11 91 9 87 13
11.85 12.3 12.075 D8 90 10 85 15 92 8 94 6 91 9
Figure 2. Location of all 15 boreholes within chainage 17600 13.35 13.8 13.575 D9 85 15 89 11 87 13 89 11 91 9
14.85 15.3 15.075 D10 89 11 90 10 87 13 90 10 89 11
to 27600 (Jajira Approach Road) 16.35 16.8 16.575 D11 92 8 90 10 92 8 90 10
17.85 18.3 18.075 D12 96 4 95 5 67 33 92 8
19.35 19.8 19.575 D13 94 6

C. Output Plots
The MATLAB program developed in this study yields SPT
contour and grain size surface plots as output. They are
presented in Figure 4. The program also gives soil profile at
any intermittent locations once chainage or GPS are given as
Figure 3. Location of predicted borehole at chainage 21100 (7
Boreholes within chainage 17600 to 21600)

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 4, Issue 38, March 2015 28
www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 43815-06
input. The typical predicted output soil profiles (borehole log)
are presented in Figure 5 and Figure 6.
D. Model Validation: Pile Capacity
The axial geotechnical pile capacity for different diameters
was estimated using actual and predicted soil profile. They are
presented in Figure 6. Soil parameters were determined
empirically to find end bearing capacity and frictional
resistance of pile with recognized methods.[5][6] It was
observed that the predicted capacities are very close to actual
capacities of the piles. As such, the predicted soil profile may
be used to estimate the pile capacity at intermittent locations.

Pile Capacity (in kN)

0 500 1000 in-situ SPT with
0 6in dia pile

2 predicted SPT
Figure 5. SPT contour profile from chainage 17600 to 25100
with 6in dia pile
4

6 in-situ SPT with

12in dia pile
8
Depth (in m)

10 predicted SPT
with 12in dia
12
pile
14 in-situ SPT with
18in dia pile
16

18 predicted SPT
with 18in dia
20
pile
Figure 6. Actual and Predicted Pile Capacity (in kN) at chainage 21100
Figure 4. Vertical soil profile along with chainage (up to 19.5m depth)

V. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION

In this study, A MATLAB computer software model has
been developed for SPT and grain size data of boreholes of a
particular site in order to generate soil profile at intermittent
locations. The program has been validated against known
borehole data of Padma multipurpose bridge access road data.
Also the predicted borehole data were used to estimate axial
pile load at the location. The results can be summarized as
follows.

 The MATLAB model developed can predict an

intermittent borehole log with reasonable accuracy.
 The developed model gives SPT contours that may
be used to identify the soil spatial stiffness of soil.
 The program yields grain size surface plots that may
be used to identify the soil profile.
 The estimation of pile capacity suggests that the
predicted borehole estimates the SPT values well.

Figure5. Typical Predicted Borehole Log at chainage 21100

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 4, Issue 38, March 2015 29
www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 43815-06
 VI. ACKNOWLEDGMENT [2] Bowles, J. E., 1997. Foundation Analysis and Design. 5th ed.
s.l.:McGraw-Hill.
The authors are extremely grateful to FOUNDATION [3] Hanselman, D. & Littlefield, B., 2007. Mastering MATLAB 7. 1st ed.
CONSULTANTS LTD., Dhaka, Bangladesh, for giving s.l.:Pearson Education.
permission to use their in-situ and laboratory investigation [4] Chapra, S. C., 2007. Applied Numerical Methods With MATLAB for
data. Engineers and Scientists. 2nd ed. s.l.:Tata McGraw-Hill.
[5] Das, B. M., 2011. Principles of Foundation Engineering. 7th ed.
s.l.:Cengage Learning.
VII. REFERENCES [6] Nassaji, F. & Kalantari, B., 2011. SPT Capability to Estimate Undrained
Shear Strength of Fine-Grained Soils of Tehran, Iran. The Electronic
[1] Lunne, T., Robertson, P.K., and Powell, J.J.M 1997. Cone penetration Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, Volume 16
testing in geotechnical practice, E & FN Spon Routledge, 352 p.

International Journal of Science and Engineering Investigations, Volume 4, Issue 38, March 2015 30
www.IJSEI.com ISSN: 2251-8843 Paper ID: 43815-06

View publication stats