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Handbook of Geotechnical Investigation and Design Tables (Burt G. Look, 2007)

About this reference

This page is an independent, original digest of Handbook of Geotechnical Investigation and Design Tables by Burt G. Look (Taylor & Francis / Balkema, 2007, ISBN 978-0-415-43038-8). The book is copyright © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group — all rights reserved — and is not reproduced here as text. The original 356-page PDF is linked below as the source reference for comparison, in keeping with the site's established treatment of its other copyrighted source manuals. The digest below is original summary text, not a reproduction of the source. A full Vietnamese translation of a 356-page handbook is a multi-session effort; the Vietnamese translation is now complete for all 24 chapters and is linked from the translation-status tab below.

Handbook of Geotechnical Investigation and Design Tables is a data book for the practising geotechnical engineer and engineering geologist. Rather than a textbook, it is a compilation of tables, correlations, and rules of thumb that turn field and laboratory data into usable design parameters — explicitly written for experienced professionals who already grasp the fundamentals and need the cross-referenced ranges that bracket a prediction when different methods disagree.

The author's stated thesis is the bracketing of results by cross-checking methods: because the ground cannot be over-simplified and different references give different answers for similar data, the handbook supplies the typical values and correlations so an engineer can proceed and then validate against the cited literature. It deliberately does not replace soil-mechanics fundamentals, which it expects the reader to source elsewhere.

Scope of this digest

The book is organised into 24 chapters plus a loading appendix, a general references list, and an index. The table below maps all 24 chapters; the original PDF is the authoritative source for every table and correlation.

# Chapter What it covers
1 Site investigation Geotechnical involvement, project-phase requirements, scale relevance, planning of ground and groundwater investigation, level/extent of investigation, sampling volume, sample disturbance & size, quality and costing of investigations, relative risk ranking of developments
2 Soil classification Borehole records (field & office), drilling information, water level, USCS unified classification, particle description, gradings, colour, Atterberg limits, soil structure, consistency of cohesive & non-cohesive soils, moisture content, origin, classification of residual soils
3 Rock classification Rock description & field core logs, drilling information, weathering grades, colour, rock structure, RQD, rock strength & hardness, discontinuity scale effects, defect spacing/description/symbols, sedimentary/pyroclastic, metamorphic/igneous rock types
4 Field sampling and testing Sampling types & boring types, field sampling, field testing, comparison of in-situ tests, SPT in soils & rock, overburden/equipment/borehole SPT correction factors, cone penetration test (CPT), dilatometer (DMT), vane shear (+ correction), dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP), surface strength from walk-over and vehicle drive-over, earth-moving plant operation
5 Soil strength from classification & testing Measurement error, clay strength from pocket penetrometer & SPT, clean/fine/coarse sand strength from SPT, effect of aging, angularity & grading, critical-state angles in sands, strength from DCP, CBR from DCP, soil classification from CPT, soil type from friction ratio, clay parameters & strength from CPT, simplified sand strength from CPT, soil type from DMT, lateral soil pressure & sand strength from DMT, clay strength from effective overburden
6 Rock strength from classification & testing Rock strength, typical drilling-rig refusal levels, parameters from rig used, field evaluation of rock strength, point-load index, Schmidt hammer, weathering-grade strength change, parameters from weathering, rock classification, slope-stability-derived rock strength, typical field-geologist and engineering-geology rock strengths, combined relative strength, parameters from rock type, rock durability, material use
7 Soil properties and state Soil behaviour, state of the soil, soil weight, colour significance, plasticity of clay minerals, weighted plasticity index, effect of grading, effective friction of granular soils, effective strength of cohesive soils, OCR, preconsolidation stress (CPT/DMT/shear-wave), OCR from DMT, lateral pressure from DMT, OCR from undrained strength ratio & friction angle, soil-suction signposts and values, capillary rise, equilibrium suction in Australia, climate effects on suction and active zones, compaction effect on suction
8 Permeability and its influence Typical permeability values, comparison with engineering materials, permeability from grain size and soil classification, dissipation tests, pressure effect, compacted clays, untreated/asphalt-treated aggregates, dewatering methods, radius of influence, typical hydrological values, relation between k and coefficient of consolidation, typical cv, cv vs. liquid limit, cv from dissipation tests, drainage time, rock permeability, joint effect on rock permeability, Lugeon tests
9 Rock properties General engineering properties of common rocks, rock weight, rock minerals, silica in igneous rocks, hardness scale, rock hardness, mudstone–shale classification, discontinuity-induced property change, rock strength from failure angle, rock defects & RQD, lab-to-field strength, rock shear strength & friction angles by material and geologic origin, joint friction angles, asperity friction angles, filled-joint shear strength
10 Material and testing variability Variability of materials, soils, in-situ tests, soil variability from lab testing, guidelines for inherent soil variability and compaction control testing, subgrade/road-material variability, distribution functions, distribution-function effect on rock strength, variability in design & construction, expert vs. industry prediction variability, tolerable risk for new/existing slopes, probability of rock-slope failure, acceptable and lognormal-based failure probabilities, project and road reliability
11 Deformation parameters Modulus definitions, small-strain shear modulus, small-to-large strain comparison, strain levels by application, modulus applications, typical elastic parameters, elastic parameters of soils, coefficient of volume compressibility (and from SPT), deformation from CPT, drained soil modulus from CPT, soil modulus in clays from SPT/strength/plasticity, undrained modulus vs. OCR, soil modulus from SPT & PI, short/long-term modulus, Poisson ratio in soils, typical & rock deformation parameters, rock-mass modulus from intact modulus, modulus ratio (open/closed joints), rock modulus from rock-mass ratings, Poisson ratio in rock
12 Earthworks Soil stabilisation (additives, cement, lime, bitumen), compaction layer thickness, achievable compaction, earthworks specifications and operational grading
13 Pavements Pavement strength for gravels, CBR values (swell, typical materials, sub-base equivalence), plasticity-index properties, typical and existing pavement modulus, modulus vs. CBR relationships, elastic modulus of asphalt, Poisson ratio
14 Slopes Slope measurement, factors causing/causing slope movement & failure, factors of safety (new/existing), dam-wall design elements, stable levee/canal slopes, revetment slopes & crest levels, underwater stable slopes, canal side slopes, seismic slope stability, topsoil slopes, slopes in rock cuttings & embankments, factors affecting rock-slope stability, rock falls, coefficient of restitution, rock-cut stabilisation, rock trap ditch, trenching
15 Terrain assessment, drainage and erosion Terrain evaluation, scale effects in aerial-photo interpretation, development grades & procedures, equivalent gradients for construction equipment, terrain categories, landslide classification & velocity scales, slope erodibility, erosion velocities by material and depth of flow, erosion control, benching
16 Geosynthetics Types, properties, functions, static puncture resistance, robustness classification
17 Fill specifications Specification development, pavement aggregate quality, backfill requirements, typical grading of granular drainage materials, fill-specification criteria
18 Rock mass classification systems RMR and Norwegian Q systems, RMR strength/RQD/discontinuities/groundwater/orientation adjustment & application, tunnel excavation & support, Q-system relative block size, RQD from joint count, relative frictional strength, active-stress effects of water/faulting/strength-stress ratio, stress reduction factor, Q-system safety level, support/bolt/concrete requirements, predicted velocity, Lugeon, advancement, relative cost, cohesive/frictional strength, strength/material parameters, deformation/closure, support pressure & unsupported span
19 Earth pressures Earth pressures, distributions, at-rest coefficient & variation with OCR (incl. elastic at-rest), movements associated with earth pressures, active/passive earth pressures, distribution, application of at-rest/active/passive conditions, wall friction, typical active & passive earth-pressure values
20 Retaining walls Wall types, gravity walls, slope-behind-wall effect, embedded retaining walls, pier spacing, wall drainage, reinforced-soil minimum embedment, reinforced-soil design parameters & failure surfaces, sacrificial thickness for metallic reinforcement, reinforced-slope factors of safety, soil-slope facings, rock-cut wall types, drilled/grouted & driven soil-nail designs, facing design, shotcrete thickness, anchored-wall loads
21 Soil foundations Foundation treatment techniques, foundation types, strength from soil description, bearing capacity & factors, bearing capacity of cohesive & granular soils, settlement in granular soils, shallow-foundation factors of safety, pile characteristics, working loads (tubular steel, steel H), pile capacity, shaft capacity, frictional/end-bearing values from sand and N-value, pile interaction, point of fixity, uplift, plugging, time effects, piled embankments for highways/high-speed trains, dynamic magnification of piled-raft loads, allowable lateral pile loads, load–deflection of concrete piles in sands/clays, bending moments for PSC piles in stiff clays
22 Rock foundations Rock bearing capacity from RQD, rock parameters from SPT, modes of failure, compression capacity (uniaxial, shallow, shear-zone, splitting, flexure/punching), bearing-capacity factors, discontinuity-spacing factor, deep-foundation factors of safety, control factors, ultimate compression capacity for driven piles, bored-pile shaft capacity, shaft resistance (roughness class, design), load settlement, pile refusal, limiting penetration rates
23 Movements Types of movements, foundation movements, immediate-to-total & consolidation settlements, typical self-weight settlements, limiting movements & angular distortion, damage vs. angular distortion and horizontal strain, movements at soil-nail walls, tolerable strains for reinforced slopes & embankments, movements in inclinometers, acceptable movement in highway bridges, allowable angular distortion for bridges, tolerable displacement for slopes & walls, observed settlements behind excavations, settlements adjacent to open cuts by support system, tolerable seismic-slope displacement, rock displacement, allowable & functional rut depths, free-surface movements for light buildings and road pavements, allowable roadway strains
24 Appendix — loading Characteristic values of bulk solids, surcharge pressures, construction loads, ground-bearing pressure of construction equipment, vertical stress changes

Full document (PDF)

Original English handbook — Handbook of Geotechnical Investigation and Design Tables (356 pp.), Burt G. Look, Taylor & Francis / Balkema, 2007. Reproduced here as the copyright source reference for comparison. Copyright © 2007 Taylor & Francis Group; all rights reserved.

Download the original handbook (English, PDF)

Complete: all 24 chapters. The Vietnamese translation is published as 24 separate chapter pages under /vi/reference-manuals/burt-look-handbook/, each translating that chapter's numbered sections and key table values / correlations. The original English PDF above remains the authoritative source for every figure.

Why this handbook matters in this knowledge base

  • It is the practical bridge between investigation and design that the rest of this library theorises. Physical Geology and Soil Mechanics supply the physics; this book supplies the numbers — the correlations (SPT → strength, CPT → soil type, RQD → rock bearing capacity, PI → modulus) that an engineer actually types into a spreadsheet.
  • Its Chapter 23 (Movements), including movements in inclinometers, is the quantitative companion to the Dunnicliff and FHWA instrumentation philosophies and the tolerable-movement logic used in the Mining case studies.
  • Its Chapter 4 (field sampling & testing) and Chapters 5–6 (strength from testing) make explicit why uncorrected SPT or CPT values mislead design — the same caution the SME Mining Engineering Handbook (Ch. 8.5) raises about construction pore pressure.
  • Its risk, reliability and variability chapters (10) formalise the probabilistic framing behind the site's ADAQS trigger levels.

How to use this digest

  • Treat it as an index to the original — open the PDF at the chapter/section you need; the table above tells you exactly where each correlation lives.
  • Use the correlations to bracket a design parameter, then confirm against the cited references before relying on it for a final design or a regulatory submission — the author is explicit that these are guides, not a cook-book.
  • Cross-link into Foundation Engineering, Practical Rock Engineering and the CFEM 2022 instrumentation chapter for the civil-side depth.
  • Ask the GTI Doctor to pull the exact table or correlation from the original PDF when you need a number.

Safety and currency. The correlations reflect practice around 2007 and an Australian/UK field context. Treat the method (cross-check by method, bracket the answer) as durable and verify current values with modern local codes, the cited standards, and applicable regulation before using them for design or a regulatory submission.

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