ABSTRACT
The regional geology of Sweden is characterised by landforms caused by continental ice sheets that withdrew about 13.000 to 8.000 years ago. Large areas were isostatic subsided and later flooded by the sea when the ice melted. The objective of soil investigations for piling projects is to establish a reliable picture of soil strata to decide upon pile type and pile length. With the results also the risk of buckling and dragdown should be handled. For end-bearing piles the soft soil is investigated to get design parameters to calculate lateral support and negative skin friction or downdrag. For friction piles results from cone penetration testing and field vane tests are the basis for design of bearing capacity. With regard to the geological conditions in Sweden the soil investigations mainly consist of penetration testing to determine depth to till layers or bedrock beneath soft fine-grained soils.
