Conducting Soil Investigations for Structure Foundations

George E. Thomas, PE

Course Outline

This 10 hour course covers procedures in soil investigations, sampling, equipment used, and laboratory tests required to determine field conditions and investigation requirements for the construction of structure foundations to include dams, drainage structures, and other foundations and the quality of soil for use as a construction material.

This course is based on chapter two of the Earth Manual, Third Edition, written by the U.S. Department of Interior.

This course includes a multiple choice quiz at the end, which is designed to enhance the understanding of the course materials.

Learning Objective

At the conclusion of this course, the student will:

• Have an understanding of  Aerial Photography;
• Have an understanding of Soil Mapping;
• Have an understanding of  remote sensing techniques;
• Be able to indentify land form types;
• Know how subsurface soil investigations are conducted;
• Know how investigations are used to determine construction materials;
• Have knowledge of stabilized soils;
• Have knowledge on how soils are modified;
• Know what are accessible exploratory methods;
• Know what are nonaccessible exploratory methods;
• Know what drilling methods are used in soil investigations;
• Know what size drills are used;
• Be familiar with the various types of drilling equipment used;
• Know how soil samples are taken;
• Know how soil samples are stored;
• Have an understanding of what test method is used for the various types of structures to be constructed;
• Have an understanding of mechanical sampling;
• Have an understanding of hand sampling;   
• Have an understanding of geophysical exploration methods;
• Know how to complete various testing and boring logs;
• Know how to record and report sampling data;
• Know what forms are available for use in soil investigations;
• Know how standard core boxes are constructed;
• Know what sampler is used for specific applications;
• Have an understanding on how to obtain disturbed soil samples;
• Have an understanding on how to obtain undisturbed soil samples;
• Have an understanding where impervious soil materials are used;
• Have an understanding where pervious soil materials are used;
• Have an understanding of how rock is investigated; and
• How an overview of the soil classification system.
  
  

Intended Audience

Civil Engineers, Structural Engineers, and Construction Contractors

Benefit to Attendees

The course will provide an understanding of soil investigation and will discuss the various tools and equipment used in the field.

Course Introduction

This course is intended to improve your engineering knowledge related to soil investigation and classification.

Course Content

In this lesson, you are required to download and study the following course content in PDF format:

Conducting Soil Investigations for Structure Foundations

Please click on the above underlined hypertext to view, download or print the document for your study. Because of the large file size, we recommend that you first save the file to your computer by right clicking the mouse and choosing "Save Target As ...", and then open the file in Adobe Acrobat Reader. If you still experience any difficulty in downloading or opening this file, you may need to close some applications or reboot your computer to free up some memory.

Course Summary

This course covers procedures used to investigate existing soil conditions, field tests and the equipment required to determine soil engineering properties such as permeability, shear strength, and compressibility under expected field.

Quiz

Once you finish studying the above course content, you need to take a quiz to obtain the PDH credits.

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DISCLAIMER: The materials contained in the online course are not intended as a representation or warranty on the part of PDH Center or any other person/organization named herein. The materials are for general information only. They are not a substitute for competent professional advice. Application of this information to a specific project should be reviewed by a registered architect and/or professional engineer/surveyor. Anyone making use of the information set forth herein does so at their own risk and assumes any and all resulting liability arising therefrom.

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