Back to Main Page

Significance & Scope of Geotechnical Investigation

Geotechnical Investigation refers to the study & determination of various static /dynamic physical parameters of the soil strata’s at depths where the structure is going to stand. It is very much important phase in planning; because the overall super structural behavior is much governed by the properties of soil strata on which it is founded.

It should be noted that during earthquake, earth mass below the structure is subjected to ground motion induced waves thereby changing its physical parameters. Physical parameters such as stiffness & damping may change abruptly depending upon the strain level induced by cyclic loads. That’s why various physical soil parameters during dynamic load case as in earthquake loading should be determined and studied properly. Of these, stiffness and damping characteristics of cyclically loaded soils are critical to the evaluation of many geotechnical earthquake engineering problems.

A wide variety of field and laboratory techniques are available for this, each with different advantages and limitations with respect to different problems. Many are oriented toward measurement of low-strain properties and many others toward properties mobilized at higher strain levels. These tests give us the information regarding the delineation of underlying soil strata and its various geo-physical properties.

more