Soil Investigation for the Proposed Bridge

Brgy. Pres. Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte

_____________________________________________________________________________

FINAL GEOTECHNICAL EVALUATION

REPORT
Subsurface Conditions of
Location for the

Proposed Bridge
Brgy. Pres Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I
II
III
IV
V
VI

INTRODUCTION
FIELD INVESTIGATION
SOIL LABORATORY TESTS
FINDINGS and RECOMMENDATION
LIMITATIONS
APPENDIX

Soil Investigation for the Proposed Bridge

Brgy. Pres. Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte
_____________________________________________________________________________

INTRODUCTION

EB Testing Center Inc. was engaged to undertake the soil investigation of the
site locations of the proposed Bridge along Brgy. Pres Quezon, Liloan Southern
Leyte.
The field work, undertaken from July 1 to 4, 2014, consisted of drilling boreholes
which was performed with Standard Penetration Tests (SPT) for soil-type
materials and coring procedure for rock-type procedure.
Two boreholes were drilled up to a depth of 21m each and soil sampling was
undertaken from almost every 1.5m depth for each borehole.
The retrieved samples were taken to the soil laboratory for further tests which
include the following:
1. Classification of Soils (USCS) for Engineering Purposes ASTM D2487
2. Particle Size Analysis of Soils ASTM D-422
3. Determination of Moisture Content of Soil ASTM D-2216
4. Liquid & Plastic Limit of Soils ASTM D-4318
5. Unconfined Compression Test for Intact Rock Sample

This report presents the evaluation on the geotechnical conditions resulting from
the tests conducted and strength parameters (skin friction and end bearing) to
come up with the prevailing pile capacity per borehole location.

II

FIELD INVESTIGATION

The field investigation consisted of drilling boreholes with Standard Penetration

Test at 21m depth for all boreholes.
The boreholes were advanced by wash boring to the specified boring depths.
The SPTs, conducted at every 1.5 meter interval, consisted of driving a standard
split spoon sampler of 5.08 cm (2 inches O.D.) diameter in three successive
segments of 15 cm (6 inches) using a freely falling drop hammer of 63.6 kg (140
lbs) weight from a height of 76.2 cm (30 inches).
The number of blows required to penetrate the three 15-cm layers are recorded.
The blow counts of the last two layers are added to give the N-value of a
particular 45cm stretch, a measure of density or consistency of the soil.
SPT procedures are conducted in accordance to ASTM D-1586.
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Soil Investigation for the Proposed Bridge

Brgy. Pres. Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte
_____________________________________________________________________________

Soil samples were retrieved using the spoon sampler. When very hard material
including gravel and rock formation are encountered, coring procedure is
employed.
For rock-type samples, Rock-Quality Designation (RQD) was applied in
describing their properties. RQD is a measure of the degree of jointing or fracture
in a rock mass that is measured as a percentage of the drill core in lengths of 10
cm or more. High-quality rock has an RQD of more than 75% while low quality of
has less than 50%.
All the recovered soil samples and cored samples were brought to the soil
laboratory for further testings.

III

LABORATORY TESTING

Retrieved soil or cored samples from every 1.5m depth were subjected to the
following laboratory tests in conformance with the procedures given in the current
ASTM standards as described below:
Grain Size Analysis as per ASTM D422
Sieve analyses were performed to determine the gradational characteristics of
the soil in order to come up with soil classification information
Determination of Moisture Content as per ASTM D2216
The method determines the water (moisture) content of soil by weight.
Moisture content of soil is the ratio of the mass of pore water in a given soil mass
to the mass of the solid material particles, given in percentage.
Atterberg Limit Test as per ASTM D4318 (for plastic material)
Atterberg Limits test of fine grained (i.e., clayey or silty) material were performed
to come up with soil classification data and to determine moisture content at
which the behavior of soil changes.
Liquid Limit of Soils
The liquid limit of soil is the water content (percentage in weight) of the ovendried soil after reaching the condition between the liquid and plastic states.
Plastic Limit of Soils
The plastic limit of soil is the water content (percentage in weight) of the ovendried soil after reaching the condition between the plastic and semi-solid states.
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Soil Investigation for the Proposed Bridge

Brgy. Pres. Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte
_____________________________________________________________________________

Plasticity Index of Soils

The plasticity index is defined as the difference between the liquid and plastic
limits of the soil.
Soil Classification Tests as per ASTM D2487
The soil samples were classified based on the Unified Soils Classification
System (ASTM 2487) which is a universal format in identifying and classifying
soil materials. Based on laboratory determination of particle size characteristics,
liquid limit and plasticity index, the standard classifies mineral and organomineral soils for engineering purposes.
Unconfined Compression Test ASTM D2938
Unconfined Compression Test (UCT) is a method in determining the mechanical
properties of rocks and fine-grained soils. It gives a measure of the undrained
strength and the stress-strain characteristics of the rock or soil. It is customary to
include the unconfined compression test in the laboratory test program of
geotechnical investigation specially when dealing with rocks.
It should be noted that no UCTs were performed for rock samples which did not
pass the requirement as test specimen, e.g. not intact sample to fulfill the
specified dimensioning.
Further, rock properties are identified through the following measures:
Total core recovery (TCR)
TCR is the borehole core recovery percentage, defined as the quotient:

TCR=

lsum of pieces
x 100
ltotal core run

lsum of pieces = Sum of length of core pieces

ltotal core run= Total length of core run

Rock Quality Designation (RQD)

RQD is an approximate measure of the degree of jointing or fracture in a rock
mass, measured as a percentage of the drill core in lengths of 100 mm or more.
High-quality rock has an RQD of more than 75% while low quality of less than
50%. Whereas rock quality designation could have several definitions, a popular
definition was developed in 1964 by D. U. Deere wherein it is the borehole core
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Soil Investigation for the Proposed Bridge

Brgy. Pres. Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte
_____________________________________________________________________________

recovery percentage incorporating only pieces of solid core that are longer than
100 mm in length measured along the centerline of the core.
As such, pieces of core that are not competent (hard and sound) should not be
counted inspite of being 100 mm in length.
RQD is defined as the quotient:
RQD=

lsum of 100
x 100
ltotal core run

lsum of pieces = Sum of length of core sticks longer than 100 mm measured along the
center line of the core

ltotal core run= Total length of core run

From the RQD index the rock mass can be classified as follows:
RQD

IV

Rock mass quality

<25%

very poor

25-50%

Poor

50-75%

Fair

75-90%

Good

90-100%

Excellent

FINDINGS and RECOMMENDATION

Generally the soil strata is composed of completely weathered boulders that has
very poor RQD. Very Poor RQDs indicate their being soft and weak as rock
materials
Expecting large dead & live loads on to be passed on to the bridge piers and
abutment and considering overturning and lateral loads to be imposed on the
foundation, a mat foundation is recommended for this bridge structure.
It must be highlighted that allowable bearing capacity of soft rock is not based on
bearing capacity of shallow foundation but rather on semi-empirical values.
At the founding level which could be at elevation 2.5m or so below the
natural grade line, a minimum allowable bearing capacity of 400kPa could
be employed.

Soil Investigation for the Proposed Bridge

Brgy. Pres. Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte
_____________________________________________________________________________

Bearing Capacity can be increased by 1/3 when compared against transient

loadings.
Furthermore, Poissons ratio can be assumed as 0.3 and Elastic Modulus (E) can
be taken as 3000MPa. For the design of mat foundation as an elastic beam for
Winkler slab analysis, a subgrade modulus of 60000kN/m 3 could be applied.
However if a mat foundation is deemed not adequate by structural analysis, a
bored pile / pile cap foundation can be used as an alternative.

BORED PILE STRENGTH PARAMETERS

For the design of bored piles, the following design parameters could be
employed:
BH1 & BH2
Depth, m
Skin Friction kPa
Gen Soil Composition
0-1
Weathered Boulders
1-10
100
Weathered Boulders
10 and below
120
Weathered Boulders
End-Bearing@20m and beyond = 2500kPa

LIMITATIONS
The foregoing assessment and recommendations are based on the prevailing
exploration and laboratory results. Should there be significant differences in the
soil stratification encountered during the construction stage, the undersigned
should be informed immediately so that necessary supplemental
recommendations can be made.

MIGUEL DIMADURA, M Civ Eng

Consulting Geotechnical Engineer
PRC CE Reg. 59571
23 July 2014

Soil Investigation for the Proposed Bridge

Brgy. Pres. Quezon, Liloan Southern Leyte
_____________________________________________________________________________

VI

APPENDIX

Calculation of Pile Vertical Capacity

Pile Capacity = Frictional Shaft Resistance + End-Bearing Resistance
= (SFn*Ln)

2 / 4

* EB

where :
= pile diameter
SFn = skin friction at a particular soil layer
Ln = length of a particular soil layer
EB = end bearing
Allowable Pile Capacity = Ultimate Capacity/Factor of Safety
Factor of Safety = at least 2.0
Hereunder is a graph showing the allowable pile capacities for varying diameter
in meter at different depths for all boreholes.
18000
16000
14000
12000
10000
Pile Capacity (kN)
1

8000

1.2

1.5

1.8

6000
4000
2000
0
20

25

30

35

40

Pile Length (m)