Field Soil Electrical Resistivity Measurements of Some Soil of Iraq

Abstract

AbstractWith the increasing number of power projects comprising water treatment plants and substations in Iraq, the analysis and evaluation of electrical resistivity tests of silty clay soil have become important considerations in engineering construction. The field soil electrical resistivity has not been widely studied yet. However, through field tests for five sites in the middle part of Iraq were performed. Therefore, field electrical soil resistivity tests carried out throughout the site at three different locations in two perpendicular directions. The soil electrical resistivity tests of mostly silty clay and sandy silty clay soils were analyzed. The results showed that the variations in the field soil electrical resistivity can be discussed regarding the soil type and the water table at the time of the test as a time-dependent test. The field soil electrical resistivity decreases rapidly with depth due to the higher water content. Also, the sand content has a significant effect in which the field soil electrical resistivity increases with the increase of the sand. As the plotted resistivities against depth indicate there are not distinct layers of different soil which compared well the site investigation borehole logs. Mostly, a good correlation exists between the in situ soil electrical resistivity and depth suggesting that correlations or fitting curve are reliable to be applied in the future to predict the field soil electrical resistivity in the study area. The results of the field soil electrical resistivity tests performed on the soil verify the soundness of the proposed equation to predict field soil electrical resistivity.KeywordsField soil electrical resistivityIn situTemperatureSilty claySand