Types of Boring - 1 | Foundation Engineering - Civil Engineering (CE) PDF Download

Types of boring
1.Displacement borings 
It is combined method of sampling & boring operation. Closed bottom sampler, slit cup, or piston type is forced in to the ground up to the desired depth. Then the sampler is detached from soil below it, by rotating the piston, & finally the piston is released or withdrawn. The sampler is then again forced further down & sample is taken. After withdrawal of sampler & removal of sample from sampler, the sampler is kept in closed condition & again used for another depth.

Features : 
• Simple and economic method if excessive caving does not occur. Therefore not suitable for loose sand. /;
• Major changes of soil character can be detected by means of penetration resistance.
• These are 25mm to 75mm holes.
• It requires fairly continuous sampling in stiff and dense soil, either to protect the sampler from damage or to avoid objectionably heavy construction pit.

2.Wash boring: It is a popular method due to the use of limited equipments. The advantage of this is the use of inexpensive and easily portable handling and drilling equipments. Here first an open hole is formed on the ground so that the soil sampling or rock drilling operation can be done below the hole. The hole is advanced by chopping and twisting action of the light bit. Cutting is done by forced water and water jet under pressure through the rods operated inside the hole.
In India the “Dheki” operation is used, i.e., a pipe of 5cm diameter is held vertically and filled with water using horizontal lever arrangement and by the process of suction and application of pressure, soil slurry comes out of the tube and pipe goes down. This can be done upto a depth of 8m –10m (excluding the depth of hole already formed beforehand) Just by noting the change of colour of soil coming out with the change of soil character can be identified by any experienced person. It gives completely disturbed sample and is not suitable for very soft soil, fine to medium grained cohesionless soil and in cemented soil.


Planning For Subsurface Exploration 
The planning of the site exploration program involves location and depth of borings, test pits or other methods to be used, and methods of sampling and tests to be carried out. The purpose of the exploration program is to determine, within practical limits, the stratification and engineering properties of the soils underlying the site. The principal properties of interest will be the strength, deformation, and hydraulic characteristics. The program should be planned so that the maximum amount of information can be obtained at minimum cost. In the earlier stages of an investigation, the information available is often inadequate to allow a firm and detailed plan to be made. The investigation is therefore performed in the following phases:
1. Fact finding and geological survey
• Reconnaissance
1. Preliminary exploration

1. Fact finding and geological survey 
Assemble all information on dimensions, column spacing, type and use of structure, basement requirements, and any special architectural considerations of the proposed building. Foundation regulations in the local building code should be consulted for any special requirements. For bridges the soil engineer should have access to type and span lengths as well as pier loadings. This information will indicate any settlement limitations, and can be used to estimate foundation loads.
2. Reconnaissance 
This may be in the form of a field trip to the site which can reveal information on the type and behavior of adjacent sites and structures such as cracks, noticeable sags, and possibly sticking doors and windows. The type of local existing structure may influence, to a considerable extent, the exploration program and the best foundation type for the proposed adjacent structure. Since nearby existing structures must be maintained, excavations or vibrations will have to be carefully controlled. Erosion in existing cuts (or ditches) may also be observed. For highways, run off patterns , as well as soil stratification to the depth of the erosion cut , may be observed. Rock outcrops may give an indication of the presence or the depth of bedrock.
3. Auger boring 
This method is fast and economical, using simple, light, flexible and inexpensive instruments for large to small holes. It is very suitable for soft to stiff cohesive soils and also can be used to determine ground water table. Soil removed by this is disturbed but it is better than wash boring, percussion or rotary drilling. It is not suitable for very hard or cemented soils, very soft soils, as then the flow into the hole can occur and also for fully saturated cohesionless soil.

Disturbed samples: 
The structure of the soil is disturbed to the considerable degree by the action of the boring tools or the excavation equipments. The disturbances can be classified in following basic types:
Change in the stress condition,
Change in the water content an

Disturbed samples: The structure of the soil is disturbed to the considerable degree by the action of the boring tools or the excavation equipments.
The disturbances can be classified in following basic types:
Change in the stress condition,
Change in the water content and the void ratio,
Disturbance of the soil structure,

Chemical changes,
Mixing and segregation of soil constituents
The causes of the disturbances are listed below:

Method of advancing the borehole,
Mechanism used to advance the sampler,
Dimension and type of sampler,
Procedure followed in sampling and boring.

Undisturbed samples: 
It retains as closely as practicable the true insitu structure and water content of the soil. For undisturbed sample the stress changes can not be avoided. The following requirements are looked for:
No change due to disturbance of the soil structure,
No change in void ratio and water content,
No change in constituents and chemical properties.

4 Requirement of good sampling process Inside clearance ratio

 The soil is under great stress as it enters the sampler and has a tendency to laterally expand. The inside clearance should be large enough to allow a part of lateral expansion to take place, but it should not be so large that it permits excessive deformations and causes disturbances of the sample. For good sampling process, the inside clearance ratio should be within 0.5 to 3 %. For sands silts and clays, the ratio should be 0.5 % and for stiff and hard clays (below water table), it should be 1.5 %. For stiff expansive type of clays, it should be 3.0 %. area ratio

 Recovery ratio   

Where, L is the length of the sample within the tube,
H is the depth of penetration of the sampling tube.
It represents the disturbance of the soil sample. For good sampling the recovery ratio should be 96 to 98 %.
Wall friction can be reduced by suitableinside clearance, smooth finish and oiling.

The non-returned wall should have large orifice to allow air and water to escape. In-situ tests General The in situ tests in the field have the advantage of testing the soils in their natural, undisturbed condition. Laboratory tests, on the other hand, make use of small size samples obtained from boreholes through samplers and therefore the reliability of these depends on the quality of the so called ‘undisturbed' samples. Further, obtaining undisturbed samples from noncohesive, granular soils is not easy, if not impossible. Therefore, it is common practice to rely more on laboratory tests where cohesive soils are concerned. Further, in such soils, the field tests being short duration tests, fail to yield meaningful consolidation settlement data in any case. Where the subsoil strata are essentially non-cohesive in character, the bias is most definitely towards field tests. The data from field tests is used in empirical, but time-tested correlations to predict settlement of foundations. The field tests commonly used in subsurface investigation are:
Penetro meter test
Pressure meter test
Vane shear test Plate load test
Geophysical methods

Penetrometer Tests : 
Standard penetration test (SPT)
Static cone penetration test (CPT)
Dynamic cone penetration test (DCPT)

The Standard penetration test The standard penetration test is carried out in a borehole, while the DCPT and SCPT are carried out without a borehole. All the three tests measure the resistance of the soil strata to penetration by a penetrometer. Useful empirical correlations between penetration resistance and soil properties are available for use in foundation design.

This is the most extensively used penetrometer test and employs a split-spoon sampler, which consists of a driving shoe, a split-barrel of circular cross-section which is longitudinally split into two parts and a coupling. IS: 2131-1981 gives the standard for carrying out the test.