DESIGN CONSULTANT’S FORUM

30 & 31 March 2011

REVIEW OF SITE INVESTIGATIONS BEFORE AND DURING

CONSTRUCTION

Presentation by:
Ted Bishop,
Resident Engineer,
COWI A/S

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y 1 SITE INVESTIGATIONS BEFORE CONSTRUCTION

y 1.1 Purpose
y To enable appropriate design amd construction procedures to be identified ad to
ensure that accurate cost estaimates for the Works are determined
y 1.2 Constraints
y a) Cost
y SI is expensive and each test is really only relevant to that exact location. Designers must
use information from field surveys and desk study research followed by informed
judgement to determine the frequency of testing
y Outline scope of SI should be included in Consultant’s design brief to mitigate adverse
impact of proposing a comprehensive SI on the Financial Evaluation
y b) Availability of Desk Study Information
y Often difficult to locate relevant factual information
from previuous construction in the area of the road
y C) Access
y Can be a problem before Contract award
y - land is not owned by Employer,
y - Phsically gaining access can be a problem
i.e. At new swamp crossings or in hilly terrain without
existing access tracks – potential quarry sites
y Even so every effort must be made to investigate sites,
consider using seismic methods at inaccessible quarry locations.

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y 1.3 Mitigation of SI Constraints and Risks

y a) Be Conservative when Estimating Costs Quantities

y If spending large amounts of money on SI at the design stage is not justifiable, then the
risk of under estimating the scope of construction works need to be mitigated.

y One way is to be conservative with quantity estimates (i.e. consider the worst case
scenarios).

y b) Build Detailed SI into Scope of Works of the Contractor

y To reinforce the data obtained at design stage and further reduce risks of unforeseen
ground conditions, it is sensible to include additional detailed site investigations in the
Construction Contract and require that they are implemented at the start of the Contract.

y This strategy means that if quantities are incorrect the problem is known early and the
Contractor can adjust his programme to deal with it. At worst the Employer may have to
pay for mobilising extra plant, but he should be able to avoid long extensions of time
when these are undesirable and costly.

y When the Contractor is on site with excavators and dozers mobilised the cost of making
an access track to a difficult location will be far less that when there is no Contractor on
site. Also, once the Contract is awarded and land acquired owner access permissions are
less likely to be a hurdle.

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y 2 SITE INVESTIGATIONS DURING CONSTRUCTION

y 2.1 Purpose

y To refine the design and to confirm appropriate construction procedures and more
accurate cost estimates for the Works at the beginning of the Construction Contract.
Thereby reducing the risk of unexpected escalation of costs and Contractor’s
inaccurate/inappropriate programming of work activities

y 2.2 Sope of Detailed Design Investigations during Construction

y a) Detailed SI for Structures

y Required at the start of the Construction Contract if significant unknows exist in terms of
construction cost and build time.

y b) Detailed SI for Earthworks

y Detailed SI at construction stage will be required when significant risks exist with respect
to:

y - Expected quantities of Unsuitable Material and Topsoil

y - Quantities and quaility of Suitable materials to be derived from cut and borrow

y - Appropriate design of slopes in cut

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y i) Investigation of Quantities of Unsuitable Materials and Topsoil (during Construction)

y Quantification of Unsuitable materials
y Depths of unsuitable materials are particularly unpredicable especially in wetlands and swamps.
y During construction access to problem areas is eassier and very frequent testing and examintion (by DCP,
backhoe test pits, etc) can be implemented to fully quantify unsuitable depoosits. It is understood that a
powered heavy penetrometer is to be included in the lab equipment of all new contracts to assist with the
investigation of soft ground during construction.
y Quantification of Topsoil Depths
y There is only payment for excavation of unsuitable materials, topsoil,
surplus suitable (reclassified as unsuitable) or surplus rock.
y This raises the risk of conflict with the Contractor over the paybale depth
of excavation.
y Contractor’s should only be paid to the ”theroretical roadbed”.

y It is therfore very immportant to determine and agree the actual depth of

topsoil or other unsuitable materials at close intervals
before the earthworks is started.
y Remember that underestimation of unsuitable materials and topsoil at the design
stage has a ”double whammy effect” on construction costs, beacuse not only do
you pay for the extra ”excavtion to spoil” but you also have to replace that material
with General Fill. Alternatively over estimation of topsoil can significantly inflate
cost estimates and might result in a claim for reduced work and loss of profits.

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y c) Detailed SI for Construction Materials (during Construction)

y However detailed the borrow pit and quarry investigations are during the design stage
there will typically be a need for further materials investigations and searches during the
construction phase. This arises for various reasons including:

y - Existing borrow pits have been used and depleted between the time of the design
studies and the construction phase;

y - Pit or quarry sites become unavailable due to building developments;

y - Owners will not agree to exploitation of identified potential sites;

y - Initial excavation produces unsatisfactory quality materials.

y Contractor’s particularly like to exploit this situation to their advantage.

y Also, unless forced under the Contract, the Contractor may not search
and investigate for alternative material sources in a timely manner (when this may
hinder his claim development).

y As a result, there are very good reasons for forcing the Contractor to
investigate, test and report on all required material sources within say 4 months
of Contract award.

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y d) Detailed SI for Pavement Design
y At the design stage ground investigations are undertaken to determine the subgrade classification
(in terms of CBR strength) along the alignment in order to determine the most appropriate and
most cost effective pavement design.
y Before construction lab CBR determinations are typically carried out at about 500m intervals
supported by DCP testing at between 100 to 250 metre intervals. Remember that DCP results are
unsoaked so the results have to be calibrated with the soaked lab test results.
y In cut sections it may not be possible/practical or cost effective to do sufficient DCP testing of
materials or soil sampling to obtain representative lab CBRs at depths of more than 2-3 m during
design studies, so CBR values are often estimated at subgrade level in cuts .
y Also, at the design stage it cannot be predicted what source and quality of fill will be placed in
embankments at underside of pavement level
y Nevertheless, the pavement designer has to define the distribution of subgrade classes based on
statistical analysis of his detailed design field data
60

Measured CBR Value

Sectioning Line (CUSUM)
50
Section CBR (Average)
Section CBR 10% Quantile

40
CBR Value (%)

30

20

10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Stationing (km)

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y There will invariably be a need to confirm the distribution of subgrade classes during the
construction phase if the most appropriate economical pavement construction is to be
implemented.
y On PDP the programme of testing shown below was carried out prior to pavement construction to
investigate the properties of soil at the formation level (underside of subbase).
y In fill areas the subgrade class was confirmed or adjusted based on the characteristics (lab CBR)
of the actual fill used.
y This methodology ensured optimum use of selected subgrade capping material (G15). The success
of this methodology has been confirmed by FWD and Benkelman Beam testing implemented along
the whole road as part of the “baseline pavement investigations” for the PDP .

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THANK YOU!

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