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1. Int r oduct ion

Soft w ar e :
N o v o SPT

Release Dat e:
Sept em ber 2009

Licensing Model : License File, On-dem and

Product ion Team :

Design and Program m ing: Alir eza Af kham i ( M. A. Sc, M. C.P, I . C. D.L, P. Eng)

Sim ilar Program s :

NovoForm ula, NovoSPT iPhone/ iPad App

Updat es : click t o open

Disclaim er :
click t o read( See 4.)

NovoSPT is a com put er program for int erpret at ion of St andard Penet ration Test ( SPT/ DCPT) and
correlat ing blow count s ( N) t o soil propert ies based on m ore t han 300 form ulas. I t is gI NT, Excel
and Microsoft Access dat abase com pat ible and provides several report ing and addit ional feat ures.
Please keep your soft ware up- t o- dat e by visit ing the program 's web page.

Alt hough all effort s have been undert aken t o ensure t hat t his soft ware is of t he highest possible
qualit y and t hat t he result s obt ained are correct , t he aut hors do not warrant t he functions
cont ained in t he program will m eet your requirem ent s or t hat t he operat ion of t he program will be
unint errupt ed or error- free. The aut hors are not responsible and assum e no liabilit y for any
result s or any use m ade t hereof, nor for any dam ages or lit igat ion t hat m ay result from the use of
t he soft ware for any purpose. All result s t o be verified independent ly by user.
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2. Refer ences
1- Foundat ion analysis and design ( 5t h edit ion)
Joseph E. Bowles
2- Reliabilit y of shallow foundation design using t he st andard penet rat ion t est
D.P. Zekkos, J.D. Bray, A. Der kiureghian
3- A short course in foundat ion engineering
N.E. Sim ons, Bruce keit h Menzies
4- Em pirical correlat ion bet ween penet rat ion resist ance and int ernal frict ion angle of sandy soils
Munenori Hat anaka, Akihiko Uchida
5- Correlat ions of soil propert ies
Michael Cart er, St ephen P. Bent ly
6- Analysis of spread foot ing foundat ions as a highway bridge alt ernat ive
Jill L. Meranda, Teruhisa Masada, Dennis I rwin, Novem ber 2005
7- Correlat ion of SPT t o st rengt h and m odulus of elast icit y of cohesive soils
L. Behpoor, A. Ghahram ani
8- Piling Engineering
Ken Flem ing, Austin Welt m an, Keit h Elson, Mark Randolph
9- Subsurface I nvest igat ion and I nterpret at ion of Test Result s for Foundat ion Design in Soft Clay
Gue See Sew, Tan Yean Chin
10- Foundation Design Codes and Soil I nvestigat ion in View of I nternat ional Harm onizat ion and
Perform ance Based Design
Y. Honj o
11- Geot echnical engineering
V. N. S. Murt hy
12- Analysis of Bearing Capacit y- Driven Pile
Syaiful Ashari
13- Correlat ions bet ween shear wave velocit y and in - situ penet ration t est result s
Recep I yisan
14- Pile foundat ions in engineering pract ice
Sham sher Prakash, Hari D. Sharm a
15- BPT- SPT correlat ions for evaluat ion of liquefact ion resist ance in gravely soils
Alex Sy, R.G. Cam panella, Raym ond A. St ewart
16- Eart hquake Engineering: Proceedings of t he 11t h European confer ence, Paris, France
P. Bisch
17- Canadian Foundation Engineering Manual
4t h Edit ion, 2006
18- Energy m easurem ent s and correlat ions of t he st andard penet rat ion t est ( SPT) and t he Becker
penet rat ion t est ( BPT)
Alexander Sy, Universit y of Brit ish Colum bia (UBC) , Oct ober 1993
19- Relat ing Ka and Ks t o SPT blow count and t o CPT t ip resist ance for use in evaluat ing
liquefact ion pot ent ial
I .M. I driss, R.W. Boulanger
20- Correlat ion bet ween penet rat ion resist ance and relat ive densit y of sandy soils
M. Cubrinovski, K. I shihara
21- Foundation engineering ( 2 nd edit ion, 1974)
Peck, Hanson, Thornburn
22- Manual on estim at ing soil propert ies for foundation design
F.H. Kulhawy and P.W. Mayne, Cornell universit y, I t haca, New York, 1990
23- Geot echnical engineering
S.J. Spigolon
24- Soft ground im provem ent
D. T. Bergado
25- Theory and pract ice of foundat ion design
N. N. Som , S. C. Das
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26- A Port able Dynam ic Penet rom et er for Geot echnical I nvest igat ions
J. Fred Triggs, Paul D. Sim pson
27- Soil m echanics in engineering pract ice
Karl Terzaghi, Ralph B. Peck, Gholam reza Mesri
28- A few com m ent s on pile design
Yves Robert
29- Evaluat ion of m odulus of subgrade react ion (Ks) in gravely soils based on st andard
penet rat ion t est ( SPT)
R. Ziaie Moayed, S.A. Naeini
30- Use of SPT Blow Count s t o Est im at e Shear St rengt h Propert ies of Soils: Energy Balance
Approach
Hiroshan Het t iarachchi, Tim ot hy Brown
31- St at ist ical correlat ions bet ween seism ic wave velocit ies and SPT blow count s and t he relat i ve
densit y of soils
Em in U. Ulugergerli, Osm an Uyanik
32- Mat hem at ical Correlat ions Bet w een The Effect ive Diam et er Of Soil And Other Propert ies
Muayed M. I sm ail
33- Engineering correlations for soils in Taipei
Z.Z Moh, C.T Chin, C.J Lin and S.M Woo
34- Geot echnical Engineering
Renat o Lancellot t a
35- Dynam ic Propert ies of Fine Grained Soils in Sout h of Tehran
Moham m ad Kazem Jafari, Ali Shafiee, and Arash Razm khah
36- Relat ionship Bet ween S- Wave Velocit ies And Geot echnical Propert ies of Alluvial Sedim ent s
Tom io I NAZAKI , Public Works Research I nstit ut e, Tsukuba, JAPAN
37- Sit e response analyses based on sit e specific soil propert ies using geot echnical and
geophysical t est s
Anbazhagan P, Sit haram T.G, Divya C
38- Foundation engineering handbook
Hsai- Yang Fang
39-
Nader Hat ef, Am in Keshavarz
40- Geot echnical eart hquake engineering
Lkuo Towhat a
41- Foundation engineering
P.C. Varghese
42- Eart hquake geot echnical engineering
Kyriazis D. Pit ilakis
43- Mapping of average shear wave velocit y for Bangalore region : a case st udy
Anbazhagan, Sit haram
44- Piling engineering ( 3rd edit ion)
Ken Flem ing, Aust in Welt m an, Mark Randolph and Keith Elson
45- Assessm ent of shear st rength for design purposes
Thom as L. Brandon, Massim iliano Rolandi
46- The foundat ion engineering handbook
Manj riker Gunarant ne
47- I n- sit u t est ing in geot echnics: t he m ain t est s
Fernando Schnaid
48- NEHRP guidelines for t he seism ic rehabilit at ion of buildings
Federal Em ergency Managem ent Agency, FEMA 273, Oct ober 1997
49- Correlacin ent re el Valor N del Ensayo de Penet racin Est ndar y Velocidad de Ondas de
Cort e para Arcillas en Bogot - Colom bia
Andrs Jos Alfaro Cast illo, June 2007
50- Seism ic Microzonat ion of Bangalore
Anbazhagan P, Sit haram T.G, Divya C
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51- A com parison of pile perform ance base on st at ic form ulas and dynam ic load t est
Muhd Harris BI N Ram li ( Universit i Teknologi Malaysia)
52- Research report : st andard penet rat ion t est ( SPT) correct ion
M. Sherif Aggour, W. Rose Radding
53- NCEER Workshop Report (1997)
54- Engineering and Design: Bearing Capacity of Soils
U.S. Arm y Corps of Engineers
55- Geot echnical Engineering Circular No. 5 ( Evaluat ion of Soil and Rock Propert ies)
Federal Highw ay Adm inist ration ( FHWA)
56- Experience of Suspension P- S Logging Met hod and Em pirical Form ula of Shear Wave
Velocities in Taiwan
Ming- Hung Chen, Kuo- Liang Wen, Chin-Hsiung Loh, Robert L. Nigbor
57- St at ist ical correlat ions of shear wave velocit y and penet rat ion resist ance for soils
Unal Dikm en (Eart hquake Research Cent er, Ankara Universit y, Turkey)
58- The relat ion of shear wave velocit y and SPT for soils in I ran (11t h European Conference on
Eart hquake Engineering Paris, France)
Baziar, M., Fallah, H., Razeghi, H. R. and Khorasani, M. M.
59- Relat ionship bet ween t he st andard penet rat ion t est and t he pressurem et er t est on sandy silty
clays ( a case st udy from Denizli, Turkey)
S. Yagiz, E. Akyol, G. Sen
60- Correlat ion of st andard penet ration t est and pressurem et er dat a ( a case st udy from I st anbul,
Turkey)
I . Bozbey, E. Togrol
61- Pressurem et er m et hod for foundation design in Hong Kong
Y.C. Chiang, Y.M. Ho
62- Estim at ion of cyclic st rengt h of sand from self - boring pressurem et er t est s
D. Roy, J. Hughes and R.G. Cam panella
63- Use of SPT Blow Count s t o Est im at e Shear St rengt h Properties of Soils: Energy Balance
Approach
Hiroshan Het t iarachchi and Tim ot hy Brown
64- Evaluat ion of geot echnical propert y variabilit y
Kok- Kwang Phoon and Fred H. Kulhawy
65- Cone penet rat ion t est ing in geot echnical pract ice
T. Lunne and P. K. Robert son
66- "Closure: Set t lem ent of Spread Foot ings on Sand," Journal of t he Soil Mechanics and
Foundat ions Division
DAppolonia, E. D., and Brisset t e, R. F. 1970
67- Pot ential applicat ion of dynam ic and st at ic cone penet rom et ers in MDOT pavem ent design and
const ruct ion
Farshad Am ini, Jackson St at e Universit y, 2003
68- Relat ionship bet ween Low St rain Shear Modulus and St andard Penet rat ion Test N Values
P. Anbazhagan, T. G. Sit haram , 2010
69- Sit e Charact erizat ion Guidelines for Est im at ing Vs Based on I n - Sit u Test s
Soil I nt eract ions Laborat ory UCDavis, 2007
70- Shear Wave Velocit y as Funct ion of SPT Penet rat ion Resist ance and Vert ical Effect ive St ress at
California Bridge Sit es
Naresh Bellana ( Mast ers degree t hesis) , Universit y of California ( Los Angeles)
71- Em pirical correlat ions of shear wave velocit y ( Vs) and penet rat ion resist ance ( SPT- N) for
different soils in an eart hquake- prone area ( Erbaa- Turkey)
Muge K. Akin, St even L. Kram er, Tam er Topal
72- SPT Capabilit y t o Est im at e Undrained Shear St rengt h of Fine- Grained Soils of Tehran, I ran
Farzad Nassaj i, Behzad Kalant ari
73- Developm ent of Em pirical Correlat ion Bet ween Shear Wave Velocit y And St andard Penet rat ion
Resist ance I n Soils Of Chennai City
Um a Maheswari, Boom inat han and Dodagoudar
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for an up- t o- dat e list of references please visit t his page

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3. For mulas
Co r r el at i o n M et h o d s Use d i n N o v o SPT

For updat ed and com plet e list of m et hods and form ulas used in NovoSPT for correlat ion of soil
propert ies based on SPT blow count s, please see t his page
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4. License Agr eement

PLEASE READ THI S END USER LI CENSE AGREEMENT ( "EULA") CAREFULLY BEFORE
DOWNLOADI NG OR USI NG THE SOFTWARE. BY DOWNLOADI NG THE SOFTWARE, OR USI NG THE
SOFTWARE, YOU ARE CONSENTI NG TO BE BOUND BY THI S AGREEMENT. I F YOU DO NOT AGREE
TO ALL OF THE TERMS OF THI S AGREEMENT DO NOT DOWNLOAD AND/ OR USE THE SOFTWARE.

The Product is Copyright 2009 NOVO TECH SOFTWARE . You m ay use it and dist ribut e it
according t o t his following License Agreem ent . I f you do not agree wit h t hese t erm s, please
rem ove t he Product from your syst em . By incorporat ing t he Product in your work or dist ributing
t he Product t o ot hers you im plicit ly agree t o t hese license term s.

1. DEFI NI TI ONS
1.1. "NovoSPT" or "Soft ware" refers t o NOVO TECH SOFTWARE s program , in each case,
supplied by NOVO TECH SOFTWARE herewit h, and corresponding docum ent at ion, associat ed
m edia, and online or elect ronic docum ent at ion.
1.2. "Trial Version m eans a free version of t he Soft ware for personal use only, so ident ified, t o be
used in one com put er only and for a period of 14 days. The Trial Version is fully functional wit h no
rest rict ions com pared t o t he regist ered version.
1.3. "Regist ered Version" m eans a version which has been bought from NOVO TECH SOFTWARE .

2. LI MI TATI ON OF LI ABI LI TY
Alt hough all effort s have been undert aken t o ensure t hat t his soft ware is of t he highest possible
qualit y and t hat t he result s obt ained are correct , t he aut hors do not w arrant t he functions
cont ained in t he program will m eet your requirem ent s or t hat t he operat ion of t he program will be
unint errupt ed or error- free. The aut hors are not responsible and assum e no liabilit y for any
result s or any use m ade t hereof, nor for any dam ages or lit igat ion t hat m ay result from the use of
t he soft ware for any purpose. All result s t o be verified independent ly by user.

I n no event shall "NOVO TECH SOFTWARE" be liable for any dam ages (including, wit hout
lim it at ion, lost profit s, business int errupt ion, or lost inform at ion) rising out of 'Aut horized Users'
use of or inabilit y t o use t he NovoSPT, even if "NOVO TECH SOFTWARE" has been advised of t he
possibilit y of such dam ages. I n no event will "NOVO TECH SOFTWARE" be liable for loss of dat a or
for indirect , special, incident al, consequent ial ( including lost profit ) , or ot her dam ages based in
cont ract , t ort or ot herwise. "NOVO TECH SOFTWARE" shall have no liabilit y wit h respect t o t he
cont ent of t he NovoSPT or any part t hereof, including but not lim it ed t o errors or om issions
cont ained t herein, libel, infringem ent s of right s of publicit y, privacy, t radem ark right s, business
int errupt ion, personal inj ury, loss of privacy, m oral right s or t he disclosure of confident ial
inform at ion.

3. FOR NovoSPT TRI AL VERSI ON

( a) The NovoSPT Trial version m ay be freely dist ribut ed, wit h except ions not ed below, provided
t he dist ribut ion package is not m odified in ANY WAY.
( b) The NovoSPT Trial version m ay not be dist ribut ed inside of any ot her soft ware package
wit hout writ t en perm ission of NOVO TECH SOFTWARE .
( c) The NovoSPT Trial version allows t he user t o publish it s work according t o t he license
agreem ent , but nor NOVO TECH SOFTWARE nor any m em ber of t he com pany can be held liable
for t he cont ent or accuracy of t he publicat ion.
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( d) You m ay use t he accom panying Product free of charge for a period of 14 days for t he sole
purpose of evaluating t he Product . I f, aft er t his period, you wish t o cont inue using t his Product ,
you are required t o purchase it . I n ot her case, you are required t o rem ove t his Product , in i t s
ent iret y, from all com put ers on which it is inst alled.
( e) You shall not use, copy, rent , lease, sell, m odify, decom pile, disassem ble, ot herwise reverse
engineer, or t ransfer t he Product except as provided in t his Agreem ent . Any such unaut horized
use shall result in im m ediat e and aut om atic t erm inat ion of t his Agreem ent .

4. FOR NovoSPT REGI STERED VERSI ON

( a) You m ay inst all and use t he Soft ware on a single com put er; OR inst all and st ore t he Soft ware
on a st orage device, such as a net work server, used only t o inst all t he Soft ware on your ot her
com put ers over an int ernal net work, provided you have a license for each separat e com puter on
which t he Soft w are is inst alled and run. A license for t he Soft ware m ay not be shared, inst alled or
used concurrent ly on different com put ers.
( b) The NovoSPT Regist ered version allows t he regist ered user t o publish it s w ork according t o t he
license agreem ent , but nor NOVO TECH SOFTWARE nor any m em ber of t he com pany can be
held liable for t he cont ent or accuracy of t he publicat ion.
( c) The NovoSPT Regist ered version guarant ies t o t he regist ered user free updat es for a whole
version cycle and for 12 ( t welve) m ont hs.
( d) You shall not use, copy, rent , lease, sell, m odify, decom pile, disassem ble, ot herwise reverse
engineer, or t ransfer t he Product except as provided in t his Agreem ent . Any such unaut horized
use shall result in im m ediat e and aut om at ic t erm ination of t his Agreem ent .
( e) Once purchased, t he Soft ware m ay not be ret urn t o "NOVO TECH SOFTWARE". The price paid
for t he Soft ware is not refundable.
( f) The NovoSPT license is issued for one com put er based on t he Hardware I D provided by user.
Each t ransfer of license t o anot her com put er, if approved by NOVO TECH SOFTWARE, will be
subj ect t o 20 percent charge based on lat est NovoSPT price.

5. TERMS
This license is effective unt il t erm inat ed. You m ay t erm inat e it by dest roying t he program , t he
docum ent at ion and copies thereof. This license will also t erm inat e if you fail t o com ply wit h any
t erm s or condit ions of t his agreem ent . You agree upon such t erm inat ion t o dest roy all copies of
t he program and of t he docum ent at ion, or ret urn t hem t o t he aut hor.

6. OTHER RI GHTS AND RESTRI CTI ONS

All ot her right s and rest rict ions not specifically granted in this license are reserved by " NOVO
TECH SOFTWARE" . I f you have any quest ions regarding t his agreem ent , please writ e t o
support @NovoTechSoft ware.com

YOU ACKNOWLEDGE THAT YOU HAVE READ THI S AGREEMENT, UNDERSTAND I T AND AGREE TO
BE BOUND BY I TS TERMS AND CONDI TI ONS.
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5. Cont ents

5.1 Getting Star ted ...

When st art ing a new analysis wit h NovoSPT, t he following st eps are recom m ended:

St ep 1 : ent er input dat a for t he size of t he shallow and pile foundat ions, ent er groundwat er
condit ions and choose SPT correct ion m et hods ( see m ore here( See 5.2) ) .
St ep 2 : ent er subsurface soil layers and SPT blow count s in t he corresponding t ables, as shown
below. Not ice t he plot s on t he right - hand side of t he page are updat ed as you ent er dat a ( see
m ore here( See 5.2)) .
St ep 3 : when dat a ent ry is over, click on t he depth row in t he 'SPT Blow Count s' t able t o choose
t he dept h in which youneed t he correlat ions. Then click on ' Correlat e Soil Param et ers' but t on t o
see t he correlat ed soil propert ies ( see m ore here( See 5.6.2) ) .

please not e t hat :

by clicking on any chart ( See 5.7.4) you will have access t o several opt ions for print ing and
export ing the chart
? sign at t he t op- right corner of each page, opens up t he corresponding help page
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analysis files are saved wit h .SPT ext ension and t he com plet e file pat h is shown at t he
bot t om of t he page
if an updat e of t he soft ware is available, click on t he yellow link at t he t op - right corner of
t he page t o open t he webpage

5.2 Data Entr y

All dat a ent ry in NovoSPT is perform ed in I n p u t D a t a t ab. This dat a can be categorized int o the
following groups:

Shallow Footing: This dat a is used for calculat ing bearing capacit y of shallow foot ings
based on shear failure or set t lem ent crit eria ( based on m et hod) .
Foot ing size and load as well as safet y fact or against shear failure
should be specified. Please not ice t hat dept h of foot ing ( Df) is
considered t o be t he dept h ( Z) select ed by user on SPT t able.
Result s are present ed in " Correlat ed Soil Propert ies(See 5.6.2)" t ab
when "Bearing capacit y of footings on sand ( qa) " it em s is select ed
from t he list .
Pile Foundation: Diam et er of t he pile should be specified in order t o estim at e the
frict ion and end bearing of t he piles based on SPT blow count s. Please
not ice t hat pile lengt h is considered t o be t he dept h ( Z) select ed by
user on SPT t able.
Result s are present ed in " Correlat ed Soil Propert ies(See 5.6.2)" t ab
when "Bearing capacit y of piles" it em s is select ed from t he list .
SPT Correct ions: The following correct ions should be applied on SPT num ber ( N) t o
obt ain N60 and N1 ( 60 ) num bers:
Energy level: t his will adj ust t he SPT equipm ent energy t o
st andard 60% energy. This correct ion fact or is nam ed Ce in
NovoSPT.
Borehole diam et er: size of t he borehole affect s t he SPT blow
count s. This correction fact or is nam ed Cb in NovoSPT.
Sam pling m et hod: som e SPT sam plers have a liner. This will
affect t he SPT blow count s and it s correct ion fact or is called Cs
in NovoSPT.
Rod lengt h: t his correct ion fact or is called Cr and depends on
lengt h of SPT rods which is approxim at ely equal t o t he dept h of
t he t est . The following form ula proposed by Dr. Cet in is used in
NovoSPT:

Overburden st ress: t his correct ions is usually called as "dept h

correct ion fact or" or Cn and depends on overburden st ress due
t o soil, at t he t est depth.
Please choose your favorite m et hod for each correct ion fact or. The
following form ula is used t o calculat e t he correct ion fact ors at each
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dept h:
C= Ce.Cb.Cs.Cr N6 0 = C.N N1 ( 60 ) = Cn.N6 0
All t he above- m ent ioned fact ors as well as N 60 and N1 ( 60) are plot t ed
versus dept h and present ed on screen.
Result s for Cn correct ions are present ed in " Correlat ed Soil
Propert ies(See 5.6.2)" t ab when "Overburden correct ion fact or ( cn) "
it em s is select ed from t he list .
Set t ings: The groundwat er level affect s t he calculat ion of effective overburden
st ress ( ' v ) used in t he correlations. I n addit ion, user can choose t o
apply t he wat er level correct ion on SPT blow count s, as proposed by
Terzaghi. This correct ion is recom m ended for N 15 in silt y sands:
Ncor = 15+ 0.5( N60 - 15)
Anot her im port ant point when using t he correlat ions is 'applicability' of
each correlation t o soil t ype. For exam ple if at dept h of 3.4 m et ers
where correlations are required, the soil t ype is generally "clay", a
shear wave velocit y correlat ion which is derived in "sand" would not be
reliable and can provide som ew hat wrong values. Som e ot her soil
param et ers such as undrained shear st rengt h are even m eaningless for
"sand" and "gravel" soil t ypes. To filt er t he correlations based on each
layer's soil type, click on " Show only applicable correlat ions". To read
m ore det ails about t his new feature, please read t his page( See 5.6.1) .
Please not ice that NovoSPT can provide correlations, eit her at a
specific dept h or along dept h of t he boreh ole( See 5.6.4) . All
correlat ions regarding a specific dept h are present ed in " Correlat ed
Soil Propert ies(See 5.6.2)" t ab and user should specify t he dept h at
which, correlat ions are t o be calculat ed. To do t his, please click on t he
desired dept h at SPT dat a t able and not ice t o t he change in Dept h and
N60 fields on bot t om - left of t he page.
Soil Layers: This dat a is used t o calculat e t he effect ive and t ot al overburden st ress
at each dept h where correlat ions are required. Please pick t he soil t ype
for each layer from t he dropdown list ( clay/ silt / sand/ gravel) and avoid
det ails descriptions such as " sandy clay wit h gravel", et c. This soil t ype
is used by NovoSPT when correlat ions are t o be filt ered based on soil
t ype( See 5.6.1) .
Som e SPT correlat ions depend on OCR and D 50 of t he soil. These
param et ers should be specified for each soil layer.
This dat a can be ent ered m anually or m aybe im port ed from a t ext
file( See 5.7.1) or from gI NT dat abase( See 5.7.2) .
SPT dat a: I n t his t able please ent er raw dat a gat hered from SPT t est . The first
t wo colum ns of t his t able include dept h and SPT blow count s ( N) and
t he ot her colum ns are aut om at ically calculat ed during dat a ent ry.
While t his dat a is being ent ered, SPT plot s are up dat ed and present
bot h SPT blow count s and correct ion fact ors along dept h of borehole.
This dat a can be ent ered m anually or m aybe im port ed from a t ext
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file( See 5.7.1) or from gI NT dat abase( See 5.7.2) .

Not e: Never ent er zero for a SPT t est dept h; it m ay lead t o calculation errors ( because of
dependency of m ost overburden pressure correct ions t o v which will be zero at Z= 0) .

Clearing t ables dat a

For clearing all dat a ent ered in a t able, sim ply press but t on on t op- right side of t he t able.

Shallow foot ings bearing capacit y and set t lem ent

I f you want t o est im at e the bearing pressure and set t lem ent of foundat ion based on SPT blow
count s, ent er corresponding dat a. For m ost of t hese calculat ions, average of N 60 or N1( 60 ) should
be calculat ed for a dept h ranging from 0.5B t o 2B underneat h t he foot ing. So m ake sure t hat you
have ent ered enough dat a wit hin t his dept h range. You m ay also click on Tools Bearing
Capacit y Analysis m enu t o use NovoSPT's com prehensive analyses t ool.
B: Footing widt h
L: Foot ing Lengt h
Df: Dept h of em bedm ent for the foot ing ( will be equal t o t he dept h select ed by user - see
below)
P: St ress below t he foot ing

SPT graph
Once you enter SPT versus dept h dat a, and press Correlat e Soil Param et ers but t on, SPT graph
is updat ed and un- correct ed as well as correct ed SPT num bers are plot t ed versus dept h. Anot her
graph shows t he variat ion of SPT correction fact ors against dept h. Click on each graph t o zoom ,
print or export t o ot her form at s.

I MPORTAN T
How can I choose the depth in which I need t he correlat ions?
When dat a ent ry is finished, sim ply click on t he row in t he SPT t able at which dept h you need t he
correlat ions. Not ice t hat corresponding dept h and SPT dat a is updat es on t he ' Correlat ed Soil
Param et ers' t ab ( see Figure below) . For exam ple, t he following screenshot shows t hat N60= 8 at
Z= 1.52m is chosen and once user clicks on Correlat e Soil Param et ers, all correlations will be
provided for t his dept h ( read m ore about filt ering correlations( See 5.6.1)) .

I n t his exam ple, for shallow foot ing bearing capacit y analysis Df= 1.52m and for pile bearing
capacit y pile lengt h= 1.52m will be considered.
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5.3 Changing Units System

NovoSPT support s bot h Met ric and I m perial unit s. To swit ch bet w een unit s syst em , please use
Tools Preferences m enu and click on User I nt erface t ab.

You should rest art t he program for the new unit s syst em t o t ake effect .

5.4 Toolbar & Menu

Most of t he com m only used com m ands in NovoSPT are placed in t oolbars. For ot her com m ands
use m enu bar. I n each form , t o read t he user m anual ( Help) cont ent for t hat page, click on ?
but t on on t op- right corner of t he page.

5.5 Using Help

Act ivat ing Help
Help but t on is placed at t he t op- right
corner of all pages, as shown on t his
screenshot . I n order t o get t he help
cont ent associat ed wit h t he page,
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please click on t his but t on.

How t o Choose Help Language?

Most of our help files are available in
bot h En g l i sh and Sp an i sh language.
I n order t o choose your desired
language please click on Help
Help Cont ent s m enu and choose your
language from t he list . Please notice
t hat Help language could be different
from t he program user-int erface
language( See 5.8.4) .
The ent ire help cont ent is also
available in PDF form at and is
present ed through User Manuals
m enu as shown on t he right .

5.6 Results
5.6.1 Soil Type Filt er ing
This feat ure can be act ivat ed by select ing " Show only applicable correlat ions" checkbox on input
t ab. I f t his opt ion is act ivat ed, t he but t on on t oolbar will be highlight ed.
Obviously, any SPT correlation is derived based on case st udies or field t est in specific soil types.
Most of t he SPT correlations are only valid for one or t w o soil types. I n NovoSPT 2.1 and lat er, the
applicable soil t ypes are specified for each correlation, as it can be seen in t he following
screenshot :
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Blue checkm ark: valid for clay

Purple checkm ark: valid for silt
Blue checkm ark: valid for sand
Blue checkm ark: valid for gravel
Gray checkm ark: t he aut hor has not clearly specified t he soil t ypes for t his correlat ion. I n t his
case NovoSPT assum es t hat t he correlat ion would be applicable t o all soil t ypes

Why using t he 'soil t ype filt er'?

Alt hough not applying t he soil t ype filt er, provides you wit h m ore correlat ions for a SPT blow
count , it should be not ed t hat not all of t he correlat ions are valid for all soil t ypes. For exam ple, in
a sand layer wit h a SPT blow count s of N6 0 = 12, NovoSPT m ay provide a value for undrained shear
st rengt h ( Su) at t his dept h if soil t ype filt er is off ( because you have asked t he program not t o
check t he soil t ype) . But t his is t ot ally m eaningless! !

You can prevent such confusion and sim ply concent rat e on t hose correlat ions which are valid for
t he soil t ype at each dept h. Since user has specified t he soil layers in input form , it can easily
filt er t he applicable correlat ions, during t he calculat ions. I f soil t ype filt er is act ive, a funnel icon
will be highlight ed on t oolbar and will be shown above t he correlat ion grid.

5.6.2 Cor r elated r esults

When dat a ent ry in NovoSPT is done, pressing Correlat e Soil Param et ers but t on will show t he
correlat ed result s in "Correlat ed Soil Propert ies" t ab. NovoSPT uses m ore t han 250 correlat ion ( See
3.) form ulas t o prepare t hese result s. For each soil propert y ( e.g. "Relat ive Densit y ( Dr) ") , all
available correlations are sum m arized in a t able describing Reference, value and com m ent s
regarding each form ulae or correlat ion used. The following pict ure describes part s of t he
correlat ion grid:
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Each m et hod m ay be t urn on/ off by using t he checkbox in t he first colum n and will be
added/ rem oved from t he st at ist ics chart .
To view t he st at ist ics of all correlat ion for select ed soil param et er, click on Show St at ist ics
but t on ( read m ore( See 5.6.3) ) . I f correlat ion of select ed soil param et er in depth of borehole is
required, click on Dept h Correlat ion but t on ( read m ore( See 5.6.4)) .

How t o copy t able cont ent s

I f necessary, you can sim ply copy dat a wit hin each t able by select ing t he t arget rows ( by holding
left m ouse but t on down and select ing t he rows) , and t hen pressing CTRL+ C. Thereaft er, pressing
CTRL+ V in any other edit or in Windows, past es t he dat a.

How t o export t he t ables int o Microsoft Excel

Click on the t able, and t hen select Tables Save As MS Excel ... m enu. Choose t he file nam e
and pat h in t he dialog and t he t able will be saved as an Excel file.

Visualization of correlat ed values

To bet t er visualize t he result s of a specific soil propert y, a graph is present ed on st at ist ical
chart ( See 5.6.3) . This graph shows scat t er of t he result s for each soil param et er and helps user t o
com pare t hose values and pick t he m ost reasonable range for t hat param et er. Please not ice t hat
for t hose form ulas which provide a range for t he param et er, t he corresponding value in graph is
shown as a vert ical bar represent ing t he m inim um and m axim um recom m ended range. To view
addit ional inform at ion, m ove t he m ouse over each point on t he graph t o get m ore in form at ion
about t he m et hod.

5.6.3 Statistical r epor t

To bet t er visualize t he result s of a specific soil propert y, a graph is present ed on st at ist ical chart .
This graph shows scat t er of the result s for each soil param et er and helps user t o com pare t hose
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values and pick t he m ost reasonable range for t hat param et er. Please notice t hat for t hose
form ulas which provide a range for t he param et er, t he corresponding value in graph is shown as a
vert ical bar represent ing t he m inim um and m axim um recom m ended range. To view addit ional
inform at ion, m ove t he m ouse over each point on t he graph t o get m ore inform at ion about t he
m et hod.

Click on each chart t o open t he chart in Chart Present at ion Tool( See 5.7.4) and you can export
and print t he dat a int o ot her form at s.

5.6.4 Cor r elation with depth

This feat ure is designed t o plot t he variat ion of a soil param et er in dept h of a borehole based on
SPT blow count s, and is accessible from View Correlat ion versus dept h of t he borehole m enu.
Follow t hese st eps t o obt ain t he correlat ion in dept h of borehole:
1. Select t he desired soil param et er ( shear wave velocit y is select ed in t he following
screenshot )
2. Select t he correlat ions from t he list ( t wo of the select ed m et hods can be seen in t he
screenshot )
3. Click on Plot Select ed Met hods but t on and wait for t he graph t o be updat ed
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4. I f necessary, rem ove any or select m ore m ethods from t he list and repeat st ep 3

For exam ple in t he above screenshot , 4 m et hods are select ed and plot t ed along dept h of
borehole. The red and green lines ( Yoshida et al., 1988 and Meyerhof, 1957 m et hods) provide
com parat ively lowest and highest values of Dr, respect ively.

Not e : Please not ice t hat in t his exam ple, t he funnel icon on t op- right corner of t he page
indicat es t he soil t ype filt er( See 5.6.1) is ON. This m eans t hat only t hose correlat ions which are
derived for t he sam e soil type will be list ed at each depth. Soil t ype at a dept h is obt ained from
soil layers input dat a( See 5.2) .

5.7 Impor t / Expor t

5.7.1 Impor t fr om text fil e
I n case t hat t here are large num ber of records for soil layers and/ or SPT dat a, user m ay im port

dat a from Text files (* .t xt ) using but t on above t he t ables . The Text file should have t he
following form at :
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one record per line and t wo num bers on each line separat ed by com m a or t ab. For inst ance, if
your SPT dat a is st ored in a Text file, it looks like t he following:

where, 0.3048,0.6096,0.9144,et c are dept hs and 19,19,11,et c are corresponding blow count s per
foot ( N) . Text files can be easily generat ed using Windows N o t e p ad or by export ing your dat a
from spreadsheet applicat ions such as Microsoft Excel int o t ext form at . For soil layers t ext file,
each line consist s of layer t hickness, it s unit weight , soil t ype , D50 and OCR separat ed by
com m a.

Not e: I m port ing from file is m ostly used when you have m any rows of dat a; if your geot echnical
m odel is sim ple, j ust ent er t hem in t he tables, m anually.

I m port ing dat a from gI NT, LogPlot , WinLog, LogDraft files

NovoSPT also support s im port from above- m ent ioned files. So if you have already prepared t his
files for your proj ect read m ore about t his feat ure here( See 5.7.2) t o find out how t o im port dat a
files direct ly int o NovoSPT.

5.7.2 Smar tSync (gINT, GeoSyst em, GAEA)

NovoSPT support s m ost of t he well know n log draft ing program s such as gI NT, LogPlot , WinLog
and sim ilar program s. To im port a gI NT proj ect dat a int o NovoSPT, sim ply click on but t on from
t he t oolbar or select File I m port from gI NT m enu.

When "Open dat abase file" dialog appears, choose your gI NT file ( * .gpj ) from your hard disk.
Next st ep is t o specify where Sm art Sync can find dat a such as ground wat er level, borehole dat a,
soil layering dat a and so on. I f your gI NT file st ruct ure is cust om ized by you and does not follow
t he default dat abase form at , you will t hen need t o choose t he corresponding t ables and fields in
which specific dat a can be found. Select desire borehole and t hen press I m port but t on. All
corresponding dat a will be im port ed t o SPT t able in m ain page of NovoSPT.
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You can specify dept h unit of your original gI NT file. Dat a will be aut om at ically convert ed t o
your default NovoSPT unit syst em .
Once you set t he t ables and fields nam e, you m ay select t he "Rem em ber This Set t ings"
checkbox so t hat next t im e when you im port from a gI NT file, your set t ing will be aut om atically
loaded.

Read Online Help

5.7.3 Expor ti ng Tables and Gr aphs

Most of t he users have already set up t heir spreadsheet s and would rat her keep t heir report s in
t he sam e form at . To do t his, they need t o export t he analysis result s int o ot her popular form at s
such as Microsoft Excel.

To export t he result s click on but t on form t oolbar. A dialog sim ilar t o t he following screenshot
will appear. List of all t ables and chart s of t he analysis result s, will be provided on left and right
panels, respect ively ( see below) .

Please specify t he out put folder ( You can change this folder b y clicking on ... but t on) . Then select
t he it em s you want t o export .

Exporting Dat a Tables

Tables can be saved as Microsoft Excel or m ay be direct ly sent t o t he print er.

Exporting Graphs ( Chart s)

All chart s m ay be saved wit h im age form at s such as BMP, PNG, JPG, et c or be print ed.
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5.7.4 Gr aph Pr esentati on Tool

We underst and t hat present at ion of t he analysis result s is very im port ant t o our users.
Everywhere in Novo Tech Soft ware program s when you click on a chart , a new dialog appears
cont aining t he chart and it s associat ed dat a. I n t he following exam ple, t he corresponding dat aset
is shown on right and can be scrolled horizont ally and vert ically t o view all dat a. I n addit ion,
t oolbar but t ons provide you wit h m ore feat ures:

To change line
st yles of t he plot
To change t he scale
( m inim um ,
m axim um and
gridlines) of each
axis. Please click on
sm all arrow on right
side of t he icon t o
open t he dropdown
m enu
To t oggle bet ween
norm al/ logarit hm ic
scale for horizont al
axis
To change t he chart
t ype
To open t he
advanced set t ings
page for t he chart
To save t he dat aset
t able as Microsoft
Excel file
To save t he chart as
t ext and graphic
form at
To print the chart

Opens t his help

page
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Ho w ca n I ch a n g e t h e a p p e ar a n ce o f t h e ch ar t su ch as l e g e n d , ch ar t t y p e, e t c?
You can configure alm ost everyt hing in t he chart by clicking on but t on from t he t oolbar. This
will open t he following dialog box:

Click on t he desired elem ent from t he list locat ed on t he left side of t he page; m ore opt ions will be
shown on t he right port ion. Click on OK but t on t o apply your changes.

5.8 Tools
5.8.1 Wildcat Penetr ometer Module
I f you use Wildcat Dynam ic Penet rom et er ( produced by Triggs com pany in US) , t his m odule helps
you process and correlat e Wildcat blow count s t o equivalent SPT blow count s. Please ent er dept h
of t est and corresponding Wildcat blow count s in first 2 colum ns of t he t able. The ot her
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param et ers including equivalent SPT blow count s will be calculated im m ediat ely. To t ransfer t he
correlat ed N6 0 obt ained from Wildcat , t o t he NovoSPT m ain page click on Accept Dat a but t on.

5.8.2 DCP Modul e

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I f you use DCP ( produced by Durham Geo Slope com pany in US) , t his m odule hel ps you process
and correlat e DCP blow count s t o equivalent SPT blow count s. Please ent er depth of t est and
corresponding DCP blow count s and soil class ( A t o F) in first 3 colum ns of t he t able. The ot her
param et ers including equivalent N 60 and N1 ( 6 0) will be calculat ed im m ediat ely. To t ransfer t he
correlat ed N6 0 obt ained from DCP, t o t he NovoSPT m ain page click on Accept Dat a but t on. The
following chart present s the correlat ions bet ween DCP blow s per increm ent and st andard SPT blow
count s for different soil types.

For t he com plet e reference please read t his paper:

ASTM Sp eci al Tech n i cal Pu b l i ca t i o n # 3 9 9 : Dy n a m i c Co n e f o r Sh a l l o w I n - Si t u

Pe n et r a t i o n Test i n g
by: George F. Sowers and Charles S. Hodges
Download link for user m anual ( Durham )
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5.8.3 Bear ing Capacity

5.8.3.1 Bear ing Capaci ty Module

Bea r i n g Cap a ci t y An a l y si s
For a discussion on bearing capacit y m et hods used in NovoSPT please read t his art icle( See
5.8.3.2) .

5.8.3.2 Theor y
Meyerhof, 1976 ( based on 25m m set t lem ent )
The allowable bearing capacit y based on t he SPT test according t o Meyerhof is:
qa= N60 .Kd/ F1 B F
qa= N6 0 .Kd.( B+ F3) / ( B.F2) B> F4
where Kd= 1+ D/ ( 3B) 1.33 and F1 t o F4 are defined as below for SI unit s:
F1= 0.05 , F2= 0.08 , F3= 0.30 , F4= 1.20

and N60 is t he average SPT blow count s from 0.5B above t o 2B below t he foundat ion level.

Parry, 1977 ( based on 25m m set tlem ent )

The allowable bearing capacit y according t o Parry for cohesionless soil is:
qa= 30N60 Df B
Where N6 0 is t he average SPT blow count s below 0.75B underneat h t he foot ing.

Burland and Burbidge, 1985 ( based on 25 m m set tlem ent )

They collect ed m ore t han 200 records of st r uct ures founded on sands and gravels. They st art ed
wit h t he prem ise t hat t he set tlem ent could be represent ed by an equation of t he form :
qa= 2540.N60 1.4 / ( 10 T.B0.7 5 )
where N60 is t he average SPT blow count s t o a dept h of B 0.7 5 below foot ing and T~ 2.23

Peck, 1974
The following form ula is used in NovoSPT for t his m et hod:
qa= 10.6N1 ( 6 0)
General Terzaghi Form ula
The following Terzaghi equat ion is used for indirect est im at ion of bearing capacit y of shallow
foot ing on cohesionless soil:

where:
q = is t he overburden st ress at foundat ion level ( Df) .
Nq = e[ .tan ( ) ]
[ t an( / 4+ / 2) ] 2 Bowles 1996
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N = 1.5( Nq - 1) .t an( ) Brinch & Hansen 1970

= frict ion angle correlat ed from t he equat ion proposed by Hat anaka and Uchida, 1996 based on
SPT at foundation level

5.8.4 Pr efer ences

Valid Ranges
The m ain aim for t his t ab is t o cont rol t he valid ranges of out put values, since som e correlat ions
produce invalid values like sand relat ive density m ore t han 100 percent or frict ion angle m ore
t han 45 degrees. As it is shown on right , if t he checkbox for "0 < Phi < 45" - for inst ance- is
rem oved, no checking will be carried out on calculat ed value. We highly recom m end t o keep all
opt ions select ed.

Opt ions
This t ab is used t o specify t he relat ive density calculat ion m et hod used in Duncan ( 2004)
form ulae.

User I nt erface
Use t his t ab t o choose t he input / out put unit s syst em as well as user int erface language.
By select ing Show help but t on on t op- right corner of all form s, a quest ion m ark ( ?) but t on( See
5.5) will appear on t op- right corner of form s, by clicking on it , help page for t hat page will pops
up.
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5.8.5 Repor ting

To prepare t he report s aft er com plet ing t he calculat ions, sim ply click on File Report m enu. This
will bring up t he report m anager page, where you can choose t he t ables and graphs w hich should
be included in t he report :

By pressing Print but t on All select ed t ables and graphs will be sum m arized in t he report . The
print preview page will appear and allows user t o change t he page set up, send t he print and zoom
on t he report . Toolbar but t ons are described in t he screenshot below:
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6. Onl ine

6.1 Novo Tech Softwar e website

6.2 Our other pr ogr ams

6.3 Updates

6.4 Contact us