GROUP 5 GEOTECHNICAL ORAL REPORT

Road Geometries

Figure 1 Proposed Road Geometries

Description of expected site conditions

Bedrock conditions
The geology of the area under consideration consists of mostly the Malmani subgroup,
Pretoria group and other basement rocks.
Figure 2 Geology if region. The area under consideration lies in the marked boundaries

The Pretoria Group forms part of the larger Transvaal sequence and consists of over 10
formations. A significant proportion of rock outcrops and underlying bedrock within the
region is made up of formation in the Pretoria Group. The formations follow a sheet-like
geometry. A typical upper section of the Pretoria Group is shown below.

Figure 3 Typical vertical section across upper formations of Pretoria Group

The Malmani subgroup also consists of many formations but these are too far
underground to influence engineering considerations for the conceptual design.
From this information, it is reasonable to expect a quartz sandstone or quartzite
bedrock at the site. Some shale and mudrock layers can also be expected between the
top soil and bedrock.
Soil Conditions

Figure 4 South Africa soil map

A mixture of sand (with a significant amount of quartz) and highly weathered, iron rich
clays is expected. The clays themselves are expected to be a mixture of high activity
(smelticic) clays and clays with predominantly kaolinitic clay mineral assemblage.

Additional information still required

• Water table height/elevation – important to predict volume changes of clay
• Specific rock geometry (dip and strike angles) – predicting excavation failure
• Typical soil profile within area – depth of piers, pressure of in-situ soils on piers

Tests required
• Atterburg limit tests – results can be used to evaluate whether the in-situ soil is
suitable to use as a selected or subgrade layer.

General problems to be encountered

• Expansive clays
 • Smoothness of planes in the shales of bedrock – slides into excavations along
direction of dip

Way forward
Information about specific rock geometries and properties of the soil will have to be
found by looking at previous projects which have been completed in the area. Publicly
accessible records which documented the construction of the R511 and R512 roads may
be useful.
If records of construction prove difficult to find, we will have to consider the worst
possible site conditions and look at ways to mitigate the effects these conditions have.

Dealing with expansive clays

• Low permeability selected fill above the expansive soil
• Pavement drains in the impermeable subbase
• Lime stabilization

Dealing with smoothness of planes in shale

• The use of a retaining wall may become necessary