Evaluating the Spatial Distribution of some Soil Geotechnical Properties Using Various Interpolation Methods (Case Study: Sulaimani Province, Iraq)

Abstract

Soil geotechnical parameters are important inputs for the prediction of ground suitability for construction projects. The aim of the study is the evaluation of spatial distribution of some soil geotechnical characteristics for Sulaimani governorate, northern Iraq which has a semi-arid climate. Sixty different soil specimens were taken from a distance of 2.0 meters from natural ground surface, around the Sulaimani city which are suitable for resettlement purposes. Several required laboratory experiments were performed to obtain some engineering properties of the collected soils according to ASTM standards, namely field water content, field wet density, initial void ratio (IVR), and degree of saturation (DS). Three different interpolation methods namely Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW), and Thin Plate Spline (TPS), which are deterministic interpolation methods in addition to and one geostatistical method, Ordinary Kriging (OK), were applied. Cross validation and accuracy assessment of model performance are also applied and analyzed. In general, the geostatistical method performance was compared with the deterministic methods. Ok method found to be more accurate and less biased method than the other two methods, which has lower RMSE (1.38%, 11.33%, 0.07 and 0.82 gm cm-3) and ME (-0.63%, 0.94%,-0.16 and 0.3 gm cm-3) for water content, DS, IVR and wet density respectively. According to the interpolation maps 65 to 70 % of study area is likely suitable for construction purposes compare to the other 30 to 35 %, which need some precautions for the suitability issue for construction projects. The results yielded in the reliability of the obtained soil geotechnical properties from geospatial maps, which may importantly engage to suitable engineering management application and modeling of land use.

Soil-Foundation Interaction and Its Influences on Some Geotechnical Properties of Sulaimaniyah, Northern Iraq Fine-Grained Soils Utilizing Plaxis 3D

“…Soils consider one of the most significant substances on the surface of the ground,and nearly all foundations of structures are put on it [1]. The in-situ soil stratum under the foundations of superstructures is important for bearing their forces.…”

Mapping Geotechnical Soil Properties of Ranya City in Kurdistan Region of Iraq Using GIS

“…Meanwhile, (Al-Mamoori et al, 2020) created unified soil classification system, and coarse and fine grained maps using 464 boreholes for An-Najaf city at depths of 0-26 m covering an area of approximately 105.1 km 2 . Additionally, researchers have studied characteristics of soil properties in Sulaimani governorate in the north of Iraq, (Najmaddin et al, 2020;Rashed and Hussein, 2020). Physical and mechanical soil characteristics of Sulaimani city have been studied by using ArcGIS for characterization and modeling purpose based on the experimental and literature data (Ahmed et al, 2020).…”