ABSTRACT
The Institution of Civil Engineers published its Conditions of Contract for Ground Investigation in 1983 (Institution of Civil Engineers, 1983). These conditions, which were based on the ICE Conditions of Contract for Civil Engineering Works 5th Edition (Institution of Civil Engineers, 1973), since revised as the 6th Edition of the ICE Conditions of Contract (Institution of Civil Engineers, 1991a), have been discussed in various publications (Uff, 1983; Fullalove et al, 1983; Cottington and Akenhead, 1984). Two later specifications for ground investigation were published, one by the Department of Transport (Department of Transport, 1987) and one by the Institution of Civil Engineers (Institution of Civil Engineers, 1989). More recently (1 September 1992) the Institution of Civil Engineers has formulated its Specification for Ground Investigation, which points the way for future practice in the profession (Site Investigation Steering Group, 1993). This latter specification, discussed by Greenwood et al. (1995), formalises certain well-used terms, the definitions of which may not be strictly adhered to in the present book. For example, 'boring' included percussion and auger boring. 'Drilling' includes rotary drilling techniques. 'Trial pits', 'inspection pits', 'exploratory pits' are the terms used for unsupported excavations; 'observation pits' and trenches are supported for the purposes of personnel entry. Because no truly undisturbed sample can be retrieved from the ground, the term 'undisturbed sample' is replaced by the term 'open tube sample'.
