Soft Soil Site Characterisation by In Situ Testing

The most commonly used in situ testing tool in site characterisation, the SPT, is more than 100 years old. While it’s still a useful tool for many purposes there have been significant advances in technology over those 100 years, including advances in the tools that can be used for geotechnical site characterisation. Some very useful tools have evolved.

This paper discusses some up-to-date methods of site characterisation, focusing on those up-to-date tools that are now available in Australia and some that will be arriving soon. The paper also provides beginners-level guidance on “where to go” regarding interpretation of data that comes from these tools.