Soil machines Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Soil machines - Essay Example The terrain of the ground can be described as flat since there was no any steepness was observed. On the east side of the site, walkway was present while buildings were not within the vicinity of the site as shown on the map. Before the excavation of trial pit the top soil was removed. The next step was to place all the layers of soil according to their extraction order. This was very important as the characteristics of the soil at different depth would be established. Tests such as Moisture Probe test, the Mackintosh test, shear vane test and the permeability test were conducted to establish the properties of various strata. The results of these tests revealed that; This test is aimed at measuring the ability of the soil to sustain structural load. This test is essence for the purpose of putting up a building in the site. The test first measure the un-drained shear strength by planting a shear vane into the ground and measures the level of pressure at the point where the soil shears as shown on table 3. We settled for the mackintosh probe because it is portable due to the fact that it is hand operated in addition it produces vivid and reliable results. The test used a 5Kg hammer to drive a number of connected 120cm-long steel rods into the ground at intervals of 100mm. The depth of the result was as in table 4. Reading from the table, it can be inferred that there is a distinct intensification in the quantity of blows between 400 and 500mm. The result affirm that the soil gets denser as the ones penetrates to the ground. Permeability (k) is the ease with which water passes through the soil. It is measured in ms-1.cylinders of 100mm in diameter and 150mm in height are planted into the ground and filled with water. Measurements are then taken every minute of the water level as it decreases with time (flow rate). On the matters of reliability the test is questionable as there might be some