Sub-soil Variation in Munirka area of New Delhi

Geotechnical investigations have been conducted in the Munirka area of New Delhi to understand the sub-surface strata. Ten bore-holes were investigated along a stretch of 2 km from Munirka to Army Research Referral Hospital on the Outer Ring Road in New Delhi. A large variation in sub-soil has been observed, where there is no rock even up to 40 m depth at one end, and on the other hand, rock is exposed at the surface itself at the other end. Similarly, variations in the sub-soil type and rock type have also been observed throughout the stretch of the study corridor. Even the laboratory results have also shown large variation in various properties, which has an impact on the foundation design. As such foundations recommended are different at each location of the bore-hole. Results of these investigations posed major challenge to design of the proposed infrastructure project. The present case study is an example of the fact that geotechnical investigations can be effective in evading future complications in smooth execution of civil projects. It is advocated to regress for having recommendations based on the geotechnical investigations even for the small projects, which is the essence of the matter.