Soil description and classification

This chapter has been divided into two sections: soil description and soil classification. In the UK, BS 5930:19991Amendment A2:2010 provide a basis for soil description and classification but this has been replaced by British Standards EN ISO 14688-1:2002 and 14688-2:2004. The EN standards have been followed in this chapter. Designers of geotechnical works and the contractors constructing the works will often have seen little, if any, of the soils they intend to build on or work with. Soil description must convey sufficient information to enable the designers and constructors to appreciate the nature and properties of the soils and to anticipate the likely behaviour and potential problems. It is then essential that the siteinvestigation company’s soils engineers and geologists provide accurate and sufficient detailed descriptions on the borehole and trial pit records and that the designers and constructors understand these descriptions.