RD PENETRATION TEST FOR With the advancement in Soil Mechanics and Engineering, the necessity for reasonably ub-soil exploration and evaluation of the soil properties has increased manifold, disturbed sampling which is a specialized cess and also adequate facilities for doing Favailable except in one or two places in India To overcome these difficulties simple field ye been developed to. measure the in-situ of the soils, and sounding or penetration tests Soil sounding consi forcing a rod or a rod ina sleeve pipe into the soil and observing the penetration resistance. Variation in the resistance Indicates dissimilar soil layers and relative compactness ‘of groun The quantitative values ‘The method thus combines the sub- jon and field testing. ‘The sounding {est is called Static or Dynamic depending upon the rod is pushed steadily or driven into, the inder the dynamic impact of a hammer. This scribes the dynamic test which, if performed in ticular manner, is also called the Standard tion Test, ‘the Standard Penetration Test, a steel tube rd split spoon sampler) 2 in, outer diameter, Driving ane Ginter Split spoon BEARING CAPACITY OF SANDY SOILS 1g in, internal diameter and not less than 24 in, Jong (Big, 1 a) is driven by a 140 Ibs. weight falling freely from a height of 30 inches. ‘The tube may be split in two halves and is held together by suitable collars at the two ends. It may also have a thin brass liner into the soil sample enters, If a liner is provided the inner diameter of the shoe can be reduced such that the inner diameter of finer and cutting shoe are the same,’ The mumber of blows required to drive the tube by 12 inches is the measure of penetration resistance and is called “N’ value. - For the penetration test, the bore‘hole is first made up to the desired depth ‘and cleaned out by wash boring or other suitable means, The casing pipe should be driven to the bottom of the hole and jetting should not be used in the last stages as it disturbs the strata, The sampler a the end Of drill rods, is slowly lowered into the hole and driven first six inchés with light taps from the hammer operating froma tripod. Itis then driven another 12 inches or to near refusal under free fall of the hammer from a height of 30 inches and the number of blows are recorded for every 3in, penetration. The sampler is then withdrawn and the soil sample contained in it is taken out, placed in abelled sample jars sealed and sent for tests for moisture content, classification etc. If a liner is provided in the sampler, the liner itself together with the soil inside may be sealed at both ends with molten Flat for wencn 4 vents ommp mi i fates Ee el i i © 675 HIM open fal dimensions in milimabes STANDARD SPLIT- BARREL FOR__PENC TRATION FIG 12) TAKEN FROM THE DRAFT INDIAN _ STANDARD _neTWoD _Iest__for__ sous SAMPLER ASSEMBLYfoe Thanet ‘ce soo amveuin////8 BEES LZ: SECTIONAL ELEVATION OF annina J-oRIvNG HEAD ‘DRIVING WEIGHT an paraffin wax and sent to the laboratory for tests. ‘The equipment set-up is shown in the figure 1 (b) and photograph 1 (c). \ ‘The penetration resistance for a site is determined ‘at few selected points and the ‘N’ value is determined ‘at intervals of 24 ft, in the vertical direction. The average ‘N’ value beneath each point is determined between the base of the footing and a depth equal to T} times its width, In computing the average, any individual value more than 50 per cent greater. than the average is neglected but all soft seams arc included. ‘The sinallest average value of ‘N’ obtained at various points is used for computing the safe load. Fig 4 (c) Photograph showing_the set up of the dynamic penetration fest and the Split Spoon Sampler 9 20h— a 110) FACTORS $3 T S PENETRATION RESISTANCE» N ‘Lows/reer oa Nu ial a 20} ie = ie ed rol 4244 pot | ns OS ANGLE OF INTERNAL FRICTION =

ok 3 3[- 2 gh | i 3 j—nso_| ara : % i a : N50 | el 6 Se Gee re 3 Sa | i ig : 2 § g 2 4 ie eee t 5 pS rt i oO eo % RELATIVE DENSITY = of p20} EFFECT OF OVERBURDEN ON PENETRATION RESISTANCE E FOR SAMO solLs 8h wid _| ee F : ~ | desired depth and find out its intersection point with mo 5 5 ces the measured N value in fig. 6. Draw a perpendicular WIDTH OF FOOTING’ FEET _ SOIL PRESSURE CORRESPONDING TO ONE INCH SETTLEMENT OF FOOTINGS ON SAND 16-5 through this point to meet the Terzaghi and Peck dotted curve and project horizontally from the point of intersection to meet the ordinate at ‘N'. For examplé, ifthe measured valite of N was 20 at a’ depth corresponding to an effective overburden pressure of 20 psi, the corrected value would be 30.Concluding Remarks Curves shown in figs, 2 to 6 are based on experience of American workers but they contain an ample margin of safety and can be safely used for Indian soils till such time that similar curves based on Indian experience are available, Normally bearing capacity should be estimated from both shear and settlement point of view and the lesser of the two used in the design of footings. But for footings more than 3 ft. wide on sandy soils settlement has been generally found to be more ctitical of the two. For clayey soils N values have not shown any definite relationship with bearing capacity as such the Standard Penetration Tests are not recommended for design of footings on clayey soils, Moreover, compa- ratively better undisturbed samples can be obtained in such soils and direct testing is more reliable. Sometimes the soil is rather loose and there is frequent sand blowing in the pipe, In such cases, use can be made of drilling mud, a slurry made with bentonite or any fat clay locally ‘available, ‘The casing pipe is filled with the slurry and the test carried out as usual, Example ‘The following example is given to illustrate the use of the varions diagrams, Let the width and the depth of the footing be 10 feet and 8 feet respectively and the corrected value (for overburden effect) of penetration resistance be 20, There is a demand for short notes summarising available information on selected building topics for the use of Engineers and Architects in India, To meet the need this Institute is bringing out a series of Building q Case 1 ‘Water table at a depth greater than the width, Allowable soil pressure, : (i) Shear consideration (fig, 3 and 4) 3200+-5400 3600 psf, 750 psf, 3600 pst. (ii) Settlement consideration (fig. 5) ‘1, Adopt Net allowable soil pressure of Case II Water table 4 ft, below base of footing. ‘The reduction in the allowable soil pressure will be (50x6/10)=30%, the reduction will apply to figs. 3 and 5 only and not to fig. 4, (@) shear consideration (Gi 4) 3200 (1-0.30)--5400 =1640 pst, {b) settlement consideration (fig. 5) 3750 100 = 2625 psf, Adopt 2625 psf. Case IH. ‘The water table at 3 ft. below ground level. ‘The reduction in allowable soil pressure willbe (50x5/8)=31.25% for the value in fig. 4 and $0% in figures 3 and 5. (@) shear consideration 3200 x.5-+5400(1-.3125) 288 psf. (b) settlement consideration 3750x.5 . =1875 psf. Adopt 1875 psf. Digests from time to time and the present one is the 20th in the series. Prepared at the Central Building Research Institute, Roorkee. June, 1963. ‘Fea Press, Dales