CORRELATION BETWEEN ELECTRICAL RESISTIVITY AND SOIL WATER CONTENT

The slope stability analysis are performed to assess the safe and economic
design ofa human-made or natural slopes such as embankments, road cuts, open-pit
mining, excavations, landfills in equilibrium conditions. These studies are to solve
the problem for determine the factor of safety (FOS) of the soil stability analysis
without conduct any soil investigation orsoil exploration where it is costly and timeconsuming.
The long term objective ofthis whole research is to implement a quick
method of assessing the FOS in slopes by replacing the conventional soil parameters
such as cohesion and internal angle of friction with electrical parameters such as
electrical resistivity. The laboratory test using basic multimeter were conducted by
testing on soil sample with different Particle Size Distribution (PSD) of soil and with
different soil water content. Results from the laboratory test of the electrical
resistivity indicated that they were consistencies in the correlation between the
resistivity and soil properties. It shows that the electrical resistivity decreases when
the increment water content in soil sample. The changes in electrical resistivity and
varying water content can easily predicted the type of soil and can be determine the
strength of the soil because water content in soil will change the soil formation; the
water will either absorbed or expelled from the soil mass, which eventually affects to
the shear strength of the soils.