Development of a unified geotechnical database and data processing on the example of Nur‐Sultan City

Abstract

Development of a geotechnical database for the young capital of Kazakhstan, Nur‐Sultan city, became a paramount concern of both the scientific community and industry. The creation of the Kazakhstan model of the geotechnical database was based on a fixed dataset which included a city map with determined X, Y, and H coordinates and the user generated data obtained from the materials of engineering and geological surveys from more than 2000 boreholes. Based on the assessment of the built‐up area of the city, six main engineering‐geological elements (EGE) were identified. The territory of the city was regrouped into eight zones instead of the previous six based on the geological origin and stratigraphy interposition of the EGE. Engineering properties of the soils were considered for physical and mechanical characteristics, where the plasticity limits demonstrated an accurate correlation to the elasticity modulus E and distribution boundaries between the alluvial and eluvial types of the soil on the graph. So, the increased liquid and plastic limits are replicated by higher values of elasticity modulus E, and hence better strength characteristics of a particular soil layer and vice versa, while the moisture content and soil density did not show any obvious pattern and requires additional verification on the construction site. Finally, a geotechnical map was built for the driven piles and the optimal variations in the pile length for each zone were determined.