Introduction

The soil investigation for the proposed OHSR Capacity Ludhiana has been
taken up by the final year students, batch 2010-2014.
The soil Investigation is important and vital because of following reasons-
1. Soil investigation or subsurface explorations are done for obtaining the
information about subsurface condition at the site of proposed construction.
2. These are required for every big engineering Project.
3. These consists of determining the profile of natural soil deposits at the site,
taking the soil sample and determine the engineering properties of the soil.
4. For determining the Bearing capacity of soil at different depth.
5. For determining the position of water table.


Objectives
1. Selecting the type and depth of foundation for a given structure.
2. Determining the bearing capacity of the soil.
3. Estimating the max and differential settlements.
4. TO determine the ground water level.
5. To ensure the safety of the existing structures.
6. To predict and to solve the foundation problems.


Basic Definitions
Bearing Capacity- It is the ability of soil to safety carry the pressure placed on the
soil from any engineering structure without undergoing a shear failure with
accompanying large settlements.
Ultimate Bearing Capacity (

)- The ultimate bearing capacity is the gross

pressure at base of the foundation at which the soil fails in shear.
Net Ultimate Bearing Capacity (

)- It is the net increase in pressure at the

base of foundation that causes shear failure of the soil. It is equal to the gross
pressure minus overburden pressure.
Net Safe bearing Capacity(

)- It is the net soil pressure which can be safely

applied to the soil considering only shear failure. It is obtained by diving the net
ultimate bearing capacity by a suitable facto r of safety. Thus

Where, FOS = factor of safety.
Gross Safe Bearing Capacity (

)- It is the maximum gross pressure which the

soil can carry safely without shear failure. It is equal to the net safe bearing
capacity plus the original overburden pressure.




Stages in Soil Exploration
1. Reconnaissance- It includes a visit to site and to study maps and other
relevant records. It helps in including methods of exploration to be adopted
and laboratory and in-situ testings.
2. Preliminary- Its aim is to determine depth, thickness, extent and
composition of each soil stratum at site. The depth of bed rock and ground
water table is also determined.
3. Detailed- Its purpose is to determine engineering properties of soil in
different strata. It includes extensive boring, sampling and testing of sample
in laboratory.


Site Reconnaissance

The examination of the site provides the following results-
1. The site is located at flat terrain and therefore, no problem of landslides.
2. There is no problems of water-logging.
3. The site is located within the city, therefore materials are easily available.
4. The site is free from any type of vegetation growth.


Sub-Structure of proposed OHSR

The Sub-structure (Foundation) for the construction of proposed OHSR is taken in
the form of circular raft which is to be laid at the considered depth. Therefore, the
following data is considered for the raft foundation.
Depth of Foundation =1.67m or 5-6
Diameter of foundation = 6m

Various Tests Conducted for the Soil Exploration
1. Standard Penetration Test
2. Sieve Analysis
3. Liquid and Plastic Limits
4. Tri-axial Test/Direct Shear Test
5. Dry Density of the soil Sample
6. Natural Moisture Content