Behavior of electrical resistivity against different soil properties

Abstract

Any construction must be designed and built after the subsurface soil has been determined. The subsurface qualities of the soil are rendered by expensive, time-consuming, and risky operations, which on the other hand, raise the project's capital expenditure while also getting the engineering properties of distinct soil materials. Standard sampling techniques for boreholes are used for the assessment of the engineering properties of soil. But it is pretty costly, intrusive, and takes too much time. Therefore, a different method of determining the subsurface soil parameters is required. An alternate strategy for borehole sampling is to use geo-electrical techniques, such as electrical resistivity (ER). This research aims to ascertain the relationship between the electrical resistivity of various soils and their engineering characteristics. Without using the borehole sample method, appropriate correlations will aid in determining the subsurface soil parameters. Good correlations are obtained for the relationship of electrical resistivity against friction angle, cohesion and moisture content with an R2 value of 0.79, 0.41 and 0.66, respectively. The correlation of resistivity with unit weight showed a weak relationship due to typical soil behavior.