A major part of geotechnical design is the ability to interpret how the strata change across a site. A methodology for carrying out such an interpretation has been developed for use in a knowledge based system for interpreting site investigation information. Observations of the ground conditions from boreholes are used to build up a model of the ground conditions across the site as a whole. The interpretation process is approached at two levels: (i) Site-wide and (ii) Borehole-to-borehole. At the site-wide level, marker beds which stand out from the general ground conditions (and can therefore be more easily traced across the site) are examined. The continuity of these marker beds is then investigated at a number of different levels. Firstly links are established between possible marker beds in adjacent boreholes. These links are used to develop planar marker beds within groups of three boreholes (triangles). The compatibility between planar marker beds in adjacent triangles is then used to construct site-wide trends. A detailed examination of the ground conditions can then be made at the borehole-borehole level by considering all layers in pairs of adjacent boreholes. This leads to the generation of valid hypotheses which could explain the ground conditions between the two boreholes. The site-wide model is used to constrain the number of hypotheses generated at the borehole-to-borehole level. It also imposes an overall consistency onto the detailed consideration of the ground conditions, limiting local fluctuations which might otherwise be inferred incorrectly.

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