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Charlene May N.

Rivera, CE, RMP


As the basic structural foundation for
almost all construction, soil materials play an
important role in the ultimate success of a
project. Whether you're working in clay, silt,
sand, gravel, peat, or loam, understanding
the soil properties of your site help you make
good construction decisions.
 Types of Soil
 Types of Soil Test
 Piles
 Types of Piles
Types of Soils
 Peat
 Clay
 Silt
 Sand/Gravel
 Loam
 Rock
Peat
 Peaty soil is usually dark brown or black
and is easily compressible because of
how much water it can hold. However,
during the summer it becomes
extremely dry and can even be a fire
hazard. It is very poor subsoil and not
ideal for support, as foundations are
most stable on soil that does not shift or
change structure.
Clay
 Clay is made up of tiny particles so it stores
water well, but because of its tight grasp on
water it expands greatly when moist and
shrinks significantly when dry. When clay is
moist, it is very pliable, and can easily be
moved and manipulated. These extreme
changes put a great deal of pressure on
foundations, causing them to move up and
down, and eventually crack, making clay a
poor soil for support.
Silt
 Silty soil can be smooth to the touch and
retains water longer because of its
smaller particles. However, because of
its tendency to retain moisture it is cold
and drains poorly. This causes the silty
soil to expand, pushing against a
foundation and weakening it, making it
not ideal for support.
Sand/Gravel
 Sand/gravel has the largest particles of the
different soil types. It is dry and gritty to the
touch and does not hold moisture because
of the large openings, but drains easily.
When compacted and moist it holds
together fairly well, and if compacted these
make for good soils to support a foundation
because of their non-water-retaining
properties. However, when moist, the
particles will lose their friction and can be
washed away, which can leave gaps
beneath the foundation.
Loam
 Loam is the ideal soil type: typically it’s a
combination of sand, silt and clay. It is dark
in color and soft, dry and crumbly to the
touch. Loam is great for supporting
foundations because of its evenly balanced
properties, especially how it maintains
water at a balanced rate. Loam is a good
soil for supporting a foundation, as long as
no miscellaneous soils find their way onto
the surface.
Rock
 Types such as bedrock, limestone,
sandstone, shale and hard chalk have
high bearing capacities. These are very
strong and good for supporting
foundations because of their stability
and depth. As long as the rock is level
the foundation will be well supported.
Types of Soil Test
 Moisture content test
 Atterberg limits tests
 Specific gravity of soil
 Dry density of soil
 Compaction test (Proctor’s test)
Moisture Content Test for Soil
 Moisture content or water content in soil is
an important parameter for building
construction.
 Oven drying method
 Calcium carbide method
 Torsion balance method
 Pycnometer method
 Sand bath method
 Radiation method
 Alcohol method
Atterberg Limit for Soil
 To measure the critical water content of
a fine grained soil, Atterberg provided 3
limits which exhibits the properties of
fine grained soil at different conditions.
The limits are liquid limit, plastic limit
and shrinkage limit.
Specific Gravity of Soil
 Specific gravity of soil is the ratio of the
unit weight of soil solids to that of the
water. It is determined by many methods
and they are.
 Density bottle method
 Pycnometer method
 Gas jar method
 Shrinkage limit method
 Measuring flask method
Dry Density of Soil
 The weight of soil particles in a given
volume of sample is termed as dry
density of soil. Dry density of soil
depends upon void ratio and specific
gravity of soil. Based on values of dry
density soil is classified into dense,
medium dense and loose categories.
Compaction Test
 Proctor’s test is conducted to determine
compaction characteristics of soil.
Compaction of soil is nothing but
reducing air voids in the soil by
densification. The degree of Compaction
is measured in terms of dry density of
soil.
Piling
 A pile is basically a long cylinder of a
strong material such as concrete that is
pushed into the ground to act as a
steady support for structures built on top
of it.
Pile foundations are used in the
following situations:
 When there is a layer of weak soil at the
surface. This layer cannot support the
weight of the building, so the loads of
the building have to bypass this layer
and be transferred to the layer of
stronger soil or rock that is below the
weak layer.
 When a building has very heavy,
concentrated loads, such as in a high
rise structure, bridge, or water tank
Two fundamental types of pile
foundations (based on structural
behaviour):
 End Bearing Piles
 Friction Piles
End Bearing Piles

 In end bearing piles, the bottom end of


the pile rests on a layer of especially
strong soil or rock. The load of the
building is transferred through the pile onto
the strong layer. In a sense, this pile acts
like a column. The key principle is that the
bottom end rests on the surface which is
the intersection of a weak and strong layer.
The load therefore bypasses the weak
layer and is safely transferred to the strong
layer.
Friction Piles
 Friction piles work on a different
principle. The pile transfers the load of
the building to the soil across the full
height of the pile, by friction. In other
words, the entire surface of the pile,
which is cylindrical in shape, works to
transfer the forces to the soil.
How Piles are constructed:
 Driven Piles:
 Cast-in-place piles are made in the
following steps:hammer a thin-walled
steel tube into the ground
 remove all earth left inside the tube
 lower a steel reinforcement cage into the
tube
 cast the pile by pouring wet concrete
into the tube
 The thin walled steel tube is called
the casing, and only serves to form a
secure mould for casting concrete that is
free from earth and debris. It has no
structural role to play after the casting is
complete.
 Precast Driven Piles are first cast at
ground level and then hammered
or driven into the ground using a pile driver.
This is a machine that holds the pile
perfectly vertical, and then hammers it into
the ground blow by blow. Each blow is is
struck by lifting a heavy weight and
dropping it on the top of the pile - the pile is
temporarily covered with a steel cap to
prevent it from disintegrating.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!

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