UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.

84
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD
FOR QUANTIFYING THE REACTIVITY OF EXPANSIVE SOILS
M. B. Jaksa
Lecturer, Department oI Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University oI Adelaide
R. L. Cavagnaro
Geotechnical Engineer, Department oI Transport, South Australia
D. A. Cameron
Senior Lecturer, School oI Engineering, University oI South Australia
Abstract: QuantiIying the instability index, I
pt
, oI the various soil horizons within the subsurIace proIile is
central to the design oI residential Ioundations built on expansive soils. The visual-tactile method Ior estimating I
pt
(Standards Australia, 1981; Mitchell, 1989; Standards Australia, 1996) has been widely adopted throughout the
geotechnical engineering community. However, by its very nature, the method is highly classiIier-dependent. A joint
study between The University oI Adelaide, the Footings Group oI the S.A. Division oI the Institution oI Engineers,
Australia and the University oI South Australia has been conducted in an attempt to quantiIy the uncertainties
associated with the visual-tactile method. Continuous boreholes were drilled at three sites in metropolitan Adelaide and
the core samples were identiIied by 14 diIIerent engineers practicing in the design oI residential Iootings. A series oI
Atterberg limit and shrink-swell tests were perIormed in order to classiIy the soil layers and to benchmark the
instability indices. It has been Iound that the estimated values oI I
pt
, and the resulting estimates oI design surIace
movement, y
s
, vary markedly and are highly classiIier-dependent.
1. INTRODUCTION
The design oI residential Ioundations built on expansive soils is based on an estimate oI the design surIace movement,
y
s
, which is given by the Iollowing expression (Aitchison, 1973):
y I u h
s pt
H
s
=

1
100
0
(1)
where: I
pt
is the instability index oI the soil, which is deIined as the percent vertical strain per unit change
in suction;
u is the change in suction, in pF units, at a depth z below the ground surIace;
h is the thickness oI the soil layer under consideration; and
H
s
is the depth oI the design suction change.
Central to the calculation oI y
s
are estimates oI the instability indices, I
pt
, oI the underlying soil proIile. The Australian
Standard Ior the design and construction oI residential slabs and Iootings, AS 2870-1996 (Standards Australia, 1996),
speciIies three methods Ior the estimation oI I
pt
:
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.
85
1. Laboratory tests. Three such tests are suggested: the shrink-swell test, AS 1289.7.1.1-1992; the loaded shrinkage
test, AS 1289.7.1.2-1992; and the core shrinkage test, AS 1289.7.1.3-1992 (Standards Australia, 1992).
2. Correlations between the shrinkage index, I
ps
, and other clay index tests; and
3. Visual-tactile identiIication oI the soil by an engineer or engineering geologist having appropriate expertise and
local experience.
This paper Iocuses on the third technique, namely visual-tactile identiIication. This technique, also reIerred to as the
visual-manual method (Mitchell, 1989), involves a visual inspection oI the soil and manually moulding and kneading
the soil in order to estimate its Plasticity Index, PI. Mitchell (1979) presented an approximate relationship between PI
and I
pt
which is oIten used in the visual-tactile method to estimate I
pt
. The visual inspection assists in the estimation oI
I
pt
by identiIying any structure within the soil sample, giving an appreciation oI the pedological soil type (Taylor et al.,
1974), as well as indicating the proportion oI non-reactive inclusions, such as sand and gravel. The implementation oI
the visual-tactile method oI I
pt
estimation, however, appears to vary between practitioners, which is likely to contribute
to the variability oI the resulting estimates.
2. STUDY
In an eIIort to quantiIy the uncertainty associated with the visual-tactile method, the authors coordinated a study which
involved obtaining a number oI continuous soil samples, distributing these samples to several geotechnical engineering
consultants Ior classiIication and I
pt
estimation, and comparing these with laboratory measurements oI I
pt
. Three sites
within metropolitan Adelaide were identiIied Ior investigation, as detailed in Table 2.1. These sites were chosen to
provide a variety oI soil types and classes oI site reactivity.
Site
No.
Suburb Within
Adelaide
Site
Description
Pedological Soil Type
(Taylor, 1974)
Expected Site
Classification
1 Eastwood Vacant lot, level Red-brown earth (RB3) H
2 WoodcroIt Vacant lot, gentle slope Black earth (BE) E2
3 Blackwood Vacant lot, moderate slope Podsolic Soil (P2) M
Table 2.1 Site characteristics.
At each oI the three sites, two, 40 mm diameter boreholes were drilled, adjacent to one another and to a depth oI
3 metres, by means oI the dynamic push technique. As a result, two, practically identical continuous core samples were
obtained Ior each site. This enabled the samples to be identiIied and classiIied by the geotechnical engineering
consultants, within a relatively short time Irame, without the soil drying-out to any great extent, and thereby aIIecting
the results. In all, 14 geotechnical engineers Irom the Iollowing consulting practices and educational institutions
participated in the study: Acer Wargon Chapman; B. K. Andrews & Partners; Bastick & Partners; CoIIey Partners
International; Department oI Civil & Environmental Engineering, The University oI Adelaide; M. R. Herriot &
Associates; Trevor John & Associates; Koukourou & Partners; Rust PPK; John Sandland & Associates; B. C. Tonkin
& Associates; and TMK & Associates.
Each geotechnical engineer was requested to submit a borelog Ior each oI the three sites which included the Iollowing
data: an estimate oI the instability index, I
pt
, Ior each soil layer; the depths to the interIaces oI each horizon; and a
description and UniIied Soil ClassiIication Ior each soil layer. In addition, at the Eastwood and WoodcroIt sites, a
number oI 90 mm diameter, undisturbed samples were obtained to enable laboratory measurements oI I
pt
to be
determined. Due to problems associated with the drilling equipment, no undisturbed samples were obtained Irom the
Blackwood site.
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.
86
3. LABORATORY RESULTS
In order to be able to compare the geotechnical engineers` estimates oI I
pt
with values measured in the laboratory, a
number oI shrink-swell tests were perIormed on undisturbed, 90 mm diameter, samples. The tests were perIormed in
accordance with AS 1289.7.1.1-1992 (Standards Australia, 1992). While the three laboratory tests speciIied by
AS 1289, mentioned previously, each have varying degrees oI reliability, Cameron (1989) suggested that the shrink-
swell approach appears to be the most successIul method. It was Ior this reason that the shrink-swell test was adopted.
Measured values oI the shrink-swell index, I
ss
, Ior the Eastwood and WoodcroIt sites are given in Table 3.1.
In addition to the shrink-swell tests Atterberg limits tests were carried out to determine the liquid limit, w
L
, plastic limit,
w
P
, and the Plasticity Index, PI. These results are also given in Table 3.1. Figure 3.1 shows the measured relationship
between I
ss
and PI. A line oI best Iit, obtained by ordinary least squares regression oI a line passing through the origin,
is shown superimposed on this graph. While only Iour test results were obtained, there appears to be relatively good
correlation between the two variables, as is indicated by the coeIIicient oI determination, r
2
, being close to unity.
Table 3.1 Laboratory test results.
Site Description Depth
(m)
w
L
(%) w
P
(%) PI (%) I
ss
(%)
Eastwood Clay, CH, red-brown 0.5-0.8 78.0 27.8 50.2 5.4
Clay, CH, red-brown, 30 calc. material 0.8-1.3 - - - 2.7
Clay, CH, red-brown, 5 calc. material 1.8-2.3 51.5 27.5 24.0 2.1
Clay, CH, red-brown, 5 calc. material 3.0-3.1 47.5 17.5 30.0 -
WoodcroIt Clay, CH, black, 10 calc. material 0.2-0.7 45.8 8.2 37.6 2.6
Clay, CH, grey, 30 calc. material 1.1-1.2 67.2 30.4 36.8 -
Clay, CH, grey-green 2.0-2.5 75.0 23.4 51.6 5.6
Blackwood Clay, CH, red-brown 1.8-2.0 54.2 25.4 28.8 -
Completely weathered siltstone 2.6-2.8 48.5 40.9 7.6 -
1
1
1
1
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Plasticity Index, PI (%)
Line of Best Fit
(r
2
= 0.89)
Mitchell (1979)
Relationship
Figure 3.1 Experimental relationship between I
ss
(I
pt
t
) and PI.
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.
87
The approximate relationship proposed by Mitchell (1979), which is used by some practitioners in the visual-tactile
method, is also shown in Figure 3.1. There seems to be relatively good agreement between the line oI best Iit and
Mitchell`s relationship. It is important to note, however, that Mitchell and Avalle (1984) showed that, even within
pedological soil groups, considerable scatter still exists between I
pt
and PI.
4. SURVEY RESULTS
The results oI the visual-tactile method survey are summarised in Figures 4.1 to 4.3 Ior the Eastwood, WoodcroIt and
Blackwood sites, respectively. The complete survey submissions are given by Eden and Hill (1994). Superimposed on
Figures 4.1 and 4.2 are the measured values oI I
ss
, discussed in the previous section, minimum and maximum
envelopes, as well as the mean oI the estimates. It is evident Irom these Iigures that there is large variability in the
estimates oI I
pt
as speciIied by the geotechnical engineers. It is interesting to note that 2 oI the 5 laboratory measured
values oI I
pt
Iell outside oI the envelope oI the geotechnical engineers` estimates, indicating a relatively low level oI
accuracy associated with the visual-tactile procedure.
J
J
J
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Estimated Instability Index, I
pt
(%)
Max.
Min.
Mean
Measured values
Figure 4.1 Variation of estimated I
pt
with depth, Eastwood site.
The design oI residential Iootings is greatly inIluenced by the design surIace movement, y
s
, which is evaluated using
Equation (1). Since y
s
is dependent, not only on estimates oI I
pt
, but also on the thickness oI the various layers and the
adopted soil-suction proIile, it is more appropriate to study the variability oI the visual-tactile method by examining the
variability in y
s
. It should be noted, however, that, since it is common practice to adopt a standard triangular soil-
suction proIile (Standards Australia, 1996), the variability in y
s
Irom the visual-tactile procedure, is dependent on the
variability in I
pt
and layer thickness, alone.
The variability in y
s
, Ior each oI the three sites, is shown in Figures 4.4 to 4.6. It is apparent Irom these histograms that
there is large scatter in the derived estimates oI design surIace heave. This scatter is quantiIied by the statistics given in
Table 4.1. In particular, the percent variation, oI between 99 and 166, indicates signiIicant scatter associated with
the derived values oI y
s
Irom the visual-tactile method, as does the coeIIicient oI variation oI between 17.4 and
29.0.
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.
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J
J
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Estimated Instability Index, I
pt
(%)
Max.
Mean
Measured values
Min.
Figure 4.2 Variation of estimated I
pt
with depth, Woodcroft site.
3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Estimated Instability Index, I
pt
(%)
Max.
Mean
Min.
Figure 4.3 Variation of estimated I
pt
with depth, Blackwood site.
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.
89
40 50 60 70 80 90
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
30
Calculated Surface Heave, y
s
(mm)
M H E1
Site Classifications
Figure 4.4 Histogram of estimated I
pt
, Eastwood site.
80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150 160 170
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
45
70
Calculated Surface Heave, y
s
(mm)
E2
Site Classifications
E1
Figure 4.5 Histogram of estimated I
pt
, Woodcroft site.
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.
90
10 20 30 40
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
30
Calculated Surface Heave, y
s
(mm)
M S
Site Classifications
Figure 4.6 Histogram of estimated I
pt
, Blackwood site.
Site Range, y
s
min
to
y
s
max
, (mm)
Variation
(%)
Mean
, (mm)
Standard Deviation,
, (mm
2
)
Coefficient of
Variation, CV, (%)
Eastwood 33 87.7 166 63.4 14.0 22.1
WoodcroIt 84 167.3 99 116.7 20.4 17.4
Blackwood 13.9 34.7 150 22.1 6.4 29.0
Table 4.1 Statistics of derived values of design surface movement, y
s
, from the visual-tactile method survey.
(Note: Variation =

y y
y
s s
s
max min
min
100% and CV =

100%)
The variation and inaccuracy associated with the visual-tactile method is derived Irom a number oI sources. Firstly, the
method appears to vary among geotechnical engineering practitioners. This is likely to be due to the Iact that the
method is not stipulated in any oI the literature. Secondly, it is an important requirement oI the method that the
classiIiers` estimates oI I
pt
be regularly calibrated against laboratory tests. In the vast majority oI cases this is not done.
Thirdly, some oI the classiIiers who participated in the study, have had little experience in geotechnical soil
identiIication and classiIication, though they carry out this role Ior their respective companies Irom time-to-time. As a
consequence, their estimates are likely to be less reliable, and more variable, than those Irom more experienced
classiIiers. Finally, the estimates oI I
pt
derived Irom the visual-tactile method oIten incorporate some level oI scaling,
dependent on the amount oI risk that the classiIier is prepared to accept. For example, iI the classiIier is relatively
inexperienced, he/she is likely to be more cautious and, hence, attribute a higher value oI I
pt
than one who is more
experienced and more conIident with their estimates.
InsuIIicient soil samples were obtained to enable the true` values oI design surIace heave, y
s
to be determined, at each
oI the three sites. As a consequence, it is not possible to compare the values oI y
s
Irom the survey with those derived
Irom laboratory measurements. Nevertheless, the survey provides a valuable insight into the accuracy, or otherwise, oI
the visual-tactile procedure.
UNCERTAINTIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE VISUAL-TACTILE METHOD JAKSA et al.
91
5. CONCLUSIONS
This paper has presented the results oI a study which has aimed to quantiIy the uncertainty associated with the visual-
tactile method oI instability index (I
pt
) estimation. It has been shown that this technique is highly variable, with values
oI design surIace movement, y
s
, derived Irom the estimates oI I
pt
, varying by as much as 166, and with a coeIIicient
oI variation oI 29. As a result, it is concluded that the visual-tactile method is unreliable and inaccurate, particularly
when practitioners` estimates are not regularly calibrated against laboratory tests. It is recommended that the method be
Iurther developed and standardised, or alternative techniques be adopted.
6. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The research detailed in this paper was undertaken in 1994 as part oI a Iinal year undergraduate project by C. M. Eden
and C. J. Hill, under the supervision oI M. B. Jaksa. The authors are grateIul to Messrs. Eden and Hill Ior their
contribution to this project. The generous support oI the various geotechnical engineering organisations listed in
Section 2 is grateIully acknowledged. In addition, the authors wish to thank the Footings Group oI the S.A. Division oI
the Institution oI Engineers, Australia, Mr. Tad Sawosko, Department oI Civil & Environmental Engineering, The
University oI Adelaide, and ??, the University oI South Australia.
7. REFERENCES
Aitchison, G. C. (1973). The Quantitative Description oI the Stress-DeIormation Behaviour oI Expansive Soil. Proc.
3rd Int. Conf. on Expansive Soils, HaiIa, Vol. 2, pp. 79-82.
Cameron, D. A. (1989). Tests Ior Reactivity and Prediction oI Ground Movement. Aust. Civil Engrg. Trans.,
Institution oI Engineers Aust., Vol. CE31, No. 3, pp. 121-132.
Eden, C. M. and Hill, C. J. (1994). The Variability oI the Instability Index in Expansive Soils. Student Project Report,
Dept. oI Civil and Environmental Engrg., The University oI Adelaide.
Mitchell, P. W. (1979). Site Investigation Processes. In Footings and Foundations for Small Buildings in Arid
Climates, Fargher, P. J., Woodburn, J. A. and Selby, J. (eds.), Institution oI Engineers Aust., S. A. Div., Adelaide,
pp. 72-78.
Mitchell, P. W. (1989). Site Investigation Processes. Course on Footings for Small Scale and Domestic Structures,
Linn Education and Training Services, 89-241, Adelaide, 23 p.
Mitchell, P. W. and Avalle, D. L. (1984). A Technique to Predict Expansive Soil Movements. Proc. 5th Int. Conf. on
Expansive Soils, Adelaide, May, pp. 124-130.
Standards Australia (1981). SAA Site Investigation Code, Australian Standard, AS 1726-1981, Standards Australia,
North Sydney, 84 p.
Standards Australia (1992). Methods of Testing Soils for Engineering Purposes, Australian Standard, AS 1289-1992,
Standards Australia, Homebush.
Standards Australia (1996). Residential Slabs and Footings - Construction, Australian Standard, AS 2870-1996,
Standards Australia, Homebush, 72 p.
Taylor, J. K., Thomson, B. P. and Shepherd, R. G. (1974). The Soils and Geology oI the Adelaide Area, Bulletin 46,
Dept. oI Mines, Geological Survey oI Sth. Aust., 84 p.