The relationship between clay geotechnical data and clay electrical resistivity

Clays are at the centre of farming activities and civil engineering works. Characterization of subsurface clay, determination of clay moisture, and wet unit weight are prerequisites since the soft clays constitute an important part of soil foundations. Electric resistivity can be used to characterize soil properties, e.g., water content, saturation, air void ratio, density. Geotechnical tests are time-consuming, destructive, and expensive. Geoelectrical methods are non-destructive, faster and comparatively cheaper than geotechnical methods. They can thus offer a very attractive tool for defining some of soil characteristics. In this study, the quantitative relationship of electrical resistivity with water content, saturation, wet unit weight, air void ratio, and compressive strength are reported for five different clays. Research on clay has been carried out with laboratory samples. Some satisfactory quantitative correlations between resistivity data and geotechnical data have been obtained. In general, clays with higher water content have lower electrical resistivity and clays with higher air void ratio have higher electrical resistivity.