Engineering Geology

Geological Site Investigation II

‘… if you do not know what you should be looking for in a site

investigation you are not likely to find much of value.’
(Glossop, 1968)

• Muhammad Rehan Hakro

Nature of Site Investigation
•At any site, the ground conditions need to be assessed to
enable safe and cost-effective design, construction and
operation of civil engineering projects.
•The requirements for GI will be very different for a tunnel
compared to the design of foundations for a high-rise building
or for stability assessment of a cut slope.

•There needs to be a preliminary review of the nature of the

project, the constraints for construction and the uncertainties
about the geological conditions at the site.
• Engineering geologists should readily appreciate that

all sites do not require the same level of ground

investigation. Some have simple ground conditions,

others more complex.

• For example, if designing piles in London Clay,

because of the wealth of published data and industry

experience, GI requirements should be fairly routine –

little should be needed in the way of testing to

determine parameters for design.

• Typically, the cost of a site investigation is
only a small part of the overall project cost
(less than a few percent)
• Important questions are, how much ground investigation is
required and how should it be done?

• There are no hard and fast rules, even though some authors
try to provide guidance on the basis of site area or volume
for particular types of operation or on hypothetical
considerations (e.g. Jaksa et al., 2005).

• In reality, it depends upon the complexity of the geology at

the site, how much is already known
about the area, the nature of the project and cost.
• For sites with simple geology, the plan might
be for boreholes at 10m to 30m spacing, for
discrete structures like a building .

• For a linear structure like a road or railway

project, the spacing might be anywhere
between 30 and 300m spacing, depending
on perceived variability (Clayton et al., 1995).
• Obviously, where the site reconnaissance,
together with desk study or findings from
preliminary boreholes, indicate potentially
complex and hazardous conditions, it may
prove necessary to put down far more
boreholes.
• Generally, for foundations, at least one
borehole should be taken to at least 1.5
times the breadth (B) of the foundation