International Research Journal of Engineering and Technology (IRJET)
e-ISSN: 2395-0056
Volume: 12 Issue: 10 | Oct 2025
p-ISSN: 2395-0072
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Soil Profiling by using Electrical Resistivity Method Bindiya K1, Srinivasa V2, Akshatha M3 1,2,3 Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, JNNCE, Shivamogga
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Abstract - Conventional identification of soil involves the
large areas. Electrical resistivity method works on the principal of Ohms law. It measures the resistivity of soil. Geophysical method of soil exploration is a faster method. Requires less cost and cover larger areas.
collection of soil samples and conduction of various tests. Collection of soil sample may be disturbed soil sample or undisturbed soil sample. The identification of soil includes various tests. Conventional soil sampling process may be difficult during the difficult construction areas like steep and hilly terrain, coastal regions etc. Problems in the conventional method of soil identification and sampling can be overcome by using geophysical methods. Geophysical method includes seismic refraction method, electrical resistivity method, ground-penetrating radar, magnetic, etc. Electrical resistivity method works on the principal of Ohms law. It measures the resistivity of soil. Geophysical method of soil exploration is a faster method. Requires less cost and cover larger areas. The study area was JNNCE Campus, Savalanga Road, Navule, Shivamogga, Karnataka. Electrical Resistivity of a soil depends on the soil type, water content, density of soil and the composition of the soil. Schlumberger Array arrangement is symmetric, collinear and uses four electrodes. Results indicates that Soil resistivity values increases with depth. At deeper depth higher resistivity value obtained indicates that the presence of parental soil deposit. Higher resistivity values at deeper depth also indicates decreasing moisture content and increasing density of soil. The results indicates that Electrical resistivity method is also one of the powerful tool for identification of soil.
2. Literature Review 1. Mohd Hazreek Bin Zainal Abidin et. al., (2013) as conducted test on The Influence of Soil Moisture Content and Grain Size Characteristics on its field Electrical Resistivity. The study presents a demonstration of the influence of soil moisture content and grain size characteristics to field resistivity data as much desired for ERM verification. 2D ERM was performed using a set of ABEM (SAS) 4000 based on pole-dipole array. Three soil samples from locations lying along a survey line were collected immediately for moisture content and particle size distribution test according to BS 1377 (1990) Laboratory geotechnical tests strongly indicated that the electrical resistivity data can varied with the moisture content and grain size character. Soil electrical resistivity values decreased with increasing moisture content and fines content. The correlations established between the above parameters in this study, help to strongly ratify the field ERM data and thus contribute to a meaningful ERM interpretation. (Mohd Hazreek Bin Zainal Abidin, 2013) 2. Z A M Hazreek et. al., (2015) as conducted test on soil identification using Field Electrical Resistivity Method. The study performed a field electrical resistivity method (ERM) using ABEM SAS (4000) at two different types of soils (Gravelly SAND and Silty SAND) to discover the behavior of electrical resistivity values (ERV) with type of soils studied. Soil basic physical properties were determined through density (ρ), moisture content (w) and particle size distribution (d) to verify the ERV obtained from each type of soil investigated. It was found that the ERV of Gravelly SAND (278 Ωm & 285 Ωm) was slightly higher than Silty SAND (223 Ωm & 199 Ωm) due to the uncertainty nature of soils. This finding has shown that the results obtained from ERM need to be interpreted based on strong supported findings such as using direct test from soil laboratory data. Furthermore, this study was able to prove that the ERM can be established as an alternative tool in soil identification provided it was being verified through other relevance information such as using geotechnical properties. (Z. A. M. Hazreek, 2015)
Key Words: Electrical Resistivity1, Soil Resistivity2, Soil Classification3, Soil Profiling4, Subsurface5 etc
1.INTRODUCTION Conventional identification of soil involves the collection of soil samples and conduction of various tests. Collection of soil sample may be disturbed soil sample or undisturbed soil sample. The identification of soil includes various tests like Sieve analysis, Atterberg Limits, etc. Conventional methods give very accurate results, but these are time consuming. Conventional soil sampling process may be difficult during the difficult construction areas like steep and hilly terrain, coastal regions etc. Difficult construction areas require a greater number of samples and high accuracy of sampling. In these cases, soil identification processes were costly and time consuming. These problems in the conventional method of soil identification and sampling can be overcome by using geophysical methods. Geophysical method includes seismic refraction method, electrical resistivity method, ground-penetrating radar, magnetic, etc. Now a days geophysical method of soil exploration increases because it gives the results of subsurface investigation over
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3. Ibrahim Adewuyi and Falae Philips (2018) as conducted test on Integrated geophysical and Geotechnical Methods for Pre-Foundation Investigations. An integrated geophysical and geotechnical investigation for a proposed building foundation
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