1

1. SPT N corrections: (IS: 2131-1981, clause 3.6.1)

Due to Overburden: The N value for the cohesionless soil shall be corrected for
overburden as per Fig.1

CORRECTION OF N VALUE IN COHESIONLESS SOIL FOR OVERBURDEN (IS: 2131

: 1981, FIG.1)

Due to Dilatancy:

If the stratum consists of fine sand and silt below the water table for values of N
corrected N value) greater than 15 shall be corrected for dilatancy.
N

= 15 + 0.5 (N-15)

(overburden

2. SPT N vs. Angle of internal Friction

NATURE OF ANALYSIS IN COHESIONLESS SOILS BASED ON ANGLE OF
INTERNAL FRICTION (IS: 6403: 1981)(Fig-1,Pg.no 11)

30
31
32
33
34
35

SPT
N
10
13
16
19
22
27

36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44

30
34
37
42
47
51
57
64
71

Condition

Nature of
analysis
LOOSE
Local shear
Interpolation
between
MEDIUM
Local and
General
shear
DENSE
General
Shear
VERY
DENSE

3. SPT V vs. Deformation Modulus

RELATION BETWEEN SPT N VALUE AND MODULUS OF ELASTICITY
(IS: 8009 PART II: 1980, CLAUSE 9.4.1, Fig.2B, Pg.no 16)

SPT N vs ES VALUES FOR CLAY MORI, 1965

N
Es (t/m2) kPa
2
120
1200
3
250
2500
4
400
4000
5
540
5400
6
700
7000
7
900
9000
8
1200
12000
9
1400
14000
10
1600
16000
11
1900
19000
12
2100
21000
13
2400
24000
14
2700
27000
15
3000
30000
20
4200
42000
25
5000
50000
30
6000
60000
N vs ES FOR SAND (SHULTZ AND MUHUS 1988)

N
3

Es
1000

Es/N

kPa

3.33

10000

26

Es
5640

1300

3.25

13000

27

1600

3.20

16000

1830

3.05

2060

Es/N

kPa

2.17

56400

5780

2.14

57800

28

5920

2.11

59200

18300

29

6060

2.09

60600

2.94

20600

30

6200

2.07

62000

2290

2.86

22900

31

6320

2.04

63200

2520

2.80

25200

32

6440

2.01

64400

10

2750

2.75

27500

33

6560

1.99

65600

11

2960

2.69

29600

34

6680

1.96

66800

12

3170

2.64

31700

35

6800

1.94

68000

13

3380

2.60

33800

36

6900

1.92

69000

14

3590

2.56

35900

37

7000

1.89

70000

15

3800

2.53

38000

38

7100

1.87

71000

16

3990

2.49

39900

39

7200

1.85

72000

17

4180

2.46

41800

40

7300

1.83

73000

18

4370

2.43

43700

41

7400

1.80

74000

19

4560

2.40

45600

42

7500

1.79

75000

20

4750

2.38

47500

43

7600

1.77

76000

21

4900

2.33

49000

44

7700

1.75

77000

22

5050

2.30

50500

45

7800

1.73

78000

23

5200

2.26

52000

46

7840

1.70

78400

24

5350

2.23

53500

47

7880

1.68

78800

25

5500

2.20

55000

48

7920

1.65

79200

49

7960

1.62

79600

50

8000

1.60

80000

4. Bearing Capacity Factors (IS: 6403:1981)(Table 1,clause 5.1.1, Pg.no.8)

Nc

Nq

5
0
1
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

5.14
5.38
5.90
6.19
6.49
6.81
7.16
7.53
7.92
8.34
8.80
9.28
9.81
10.37
10.98
11.63
12.34
13.10
13.93
14.83
15.81
16.88
18.05
19.32
20.72
22.25
23.94
25.80
27.86
30.14
32.67
35.49
38.64
42.16
46.12
50.59
55.63
61.35
67.87
75.31
83.86
93.71
105.11
118.37
133.87
152.10
173.64
199.26
299.92
266.88

1.00
1.09
1.31
1.43
1.57
1.72
1.88
2.06
2.25
2.47
2.71
2.97
3.26
3.59
3.94
4.34
4.77
5.26
5.80
6.40
7.07
7.82
8.66
9.60
10.66
11.85
13.20
14.72
16.44
18.40
20.63
23.18
26.09
29.44
33.30
37.75
42.92
48.93
55.96
64.20
73.90
85.37
99.01
115.31
134.87
158.50
187.21
222.30
265.50
319.06

0.00
0.07
0.24
0.34
0.45
0.57
0.71
0.86
1.03
1.22
1.44
1.69
1.97
2.29
2.65
3.06
3.53
4.07
4.68
5.39
6.20
7.13
8.20
9.44
10.88
12.54
14.47
16.72
19.34
22.40
25.99
30.21
35.19
41.06
48.03
56.31
66.19
78.02
92.25
109.41
130.21
155.54
186.53
224.63
271.75
330.34
403.65
496.00
613.14
762.86

5. Correlation between Standard Penetration test N value and Static Point Resistance qc
value (IS: 2911(Part 1 / Sec 2), table 2, pg.12)

Soil Type

qc/N

Clays

2.0

Silts, sandy silts and slightly cohesive silt sand mixtures

2.0

Clean fine to medium sands and slightly silty sands

3-4

Course sands and sands with little gravel

5-6

Sandy gravels and gravel

8-10

6. The Various Velocities for Different Materials (IS: 1892 Appendix B-1, clause 3.2,pg.36)
MATERIALS

VELOCITY (m/s)

Sand and top soil

180 to 365

Sandy clay

365 to 580

Gravel

490 to 790

Glacial till

550 to 2135

Rock talus

400 to 760

Water in loose materials

1400 to 1830

Shale

790 to 3350

Sandstone

915 to 2740

Granite

3050 to 6100

Limestone

1830 to 6100

7. Mean Resistivity for Various Materials (IS: 1892 Appendix B-2, clause 3.2,pg.38)
MATERIAL
Lime stone (marble)

MEAN RESISTIVITY (OHM.M)

1012

Quartz
Rock salt

1010
106 to 107

Granite

5000 to 106

Sandstone
Moraines

35 to 4000
8 to 4000
120 to 400

Lime stones
Clays

1 to 120

8. Permissible Limits for Solids (IS 456: 2000, CLAUSE 5.4)

S.No
1
2
3
4

Chemical compounds
Organic
Inorganic
Sulphates (as SO3)
Chlorides (as Cl)

Tested as per
IS 3025 (Part 18)
IS 3025 (Part 18)
IS 3025 (Part 24)
IS 3025 (Part 32)

Permissible limits
200 mg/l
3000 mg/l
400 mg/l
2000 mg/l For concrete not
containing embedded and 500 mg/l

Suspended matter

IS 3025 (Part 17)

for reinforced concrete work

2000 mg/l

9. Requirements of Concrete Exposed To Sulphate Attack (IS 456:2000)

CIRIA Manual (Standard Penetration Test) (Report.143)

Determination of SPT from results

Paramete
r
'

Require
d input

Material type
Granular
soil

cohesive
soil

Weak
soil

Cu

(N1)60
*

*
*

Eu

N60
*

E'

mv

*
*

Gmax

(N1)60 =
N60 =

Chal
k

N60
N60

N60
N60
(N1)60

SPT N value corrected for both vertical effective stress and input
energy
SPT N value corrected to 60 % of theoretical free-fall hammer
energy

Un-drained shear strength (CIRIA Manual for SPT test)

Correlation between SPT N and Cu: Cu = 5N (kPa)

Fig.31 Correlation between N value and undrained shear strength for insensitive clays (pg.66)

10

For insensitive fissured over consolidated clays,

Cu

= f1 N60

Values of f1 depend upon the plasticity of the clay. The penetration resistance should be
corrected for rod energy not for stress level.
If deposit is not fissured then the resulting strength profile will be an under-estimate the actual
value, perhaps by a factor of 1.5 to 2. If the clay is sensitive, this method will also yield an under
estimate of undrained shear strength.
SPT N corrections:
1) For very fine, silty sand, below the water table
N=15 + 0.5 (N measured -15)
2) For gravel or sandy gravel
N= 1.25 N measured

SPT N vs. Deformation Modulus (CIRIA manual, pg.38)

CIRIA Manual (Site Investigations)

11

(Gravel soil descriptions)CIRIA manual for Site Investigation

Typical compressibility value of cohesive soil (CIRIA manual for site investigation)

CONE PENETRATION TEST

12

Interpretation and Correlations: (J.E. Bowles)

Friction ratio

= sleeve resistance / point resistance

Soil sensitivity

= 10/ fr

Undrained shear strength

Nk

qcP 0
Nk

= Cone factor (15 to 20)

Interpretation of cone penetration test in cohesive soil (FHWA publications)

Angle of internal friction

= 29+

qc

+5 for gravel -5 for silty sand

13

Soil Classification (CIRIA Manual, SP 25), (Schmertmann chart)

14

Interpretation of typical result profile from mechanical tip results (CIRIA manual,
SP 25)

Cone penetration test interpretations (CIRIA manual, SP 25)

15

SPT correlations (J.E. Bowles)

Consistency of Saturated Cohesive Soils (J.E. Bowles)

SPT N Value(N70)

qu (kPa)

Consistency

0-2
3-5
6-9
10-16
17-30
>30

<25
25-50
50-100
100-200
200-400
>400

Very soft
Soft
Medium
Stiff
Very stiff
Hard

Nature of clay
NC / Young Clay
Increasing OCR /
Aged / Cemented

Consistency of Saturated Cohesive Soils (B.M. Das)

Standard Penetration

Consistency

Unconfined Compressive

16

Number (N60)
0-2
2-5
5-10
10-20
20-30
>30

Very soft
Soft
Medium stiff
Stiff
Very stiff
Hard

Strength (kPa)
0-25
25-50
50-100
100-200
200-400
>400

Correlation between Standard Penetration test N value and Static Point Resistance q0 value
(J.E. Bowles)
Soil type
Silts, sandy silts and slightly cohesive silt sand mixtures
Clean fine to medium sands and slightly silty sands
Course sands and sands with little gravel
Sandy gravels and gravel

qc/N
0.1-0.2
0.3-0.4
0.5-0.7
0.8-1.0

17

SOIL GROUP CLASSIFICATION (Unified Classification system)

Values of compression modulus Ec and ultimate pressure PL from Menard Pressuremeter
(Hunt)