Dr. Mahadev Unde, et. al. International Journal of Engineering Research and Applications www.ijera.com ISSN: 2248-9622, Vol. 10, Issue 5, (Series-IV) May 2020, pp. 55-60 www.ijera.com DOI: 10.9790/9622-1005045560 55 | Page Measurement of Soil Resistivity by Sampling Method Dr. Mahadev Unde*, Vishal Tathe** Department of Electrical Engineering, Zeal College of Engineering & research, Pune Corresponding Author: Dr. Mahadev Unde ABSTRACT Resistivity is a fundamental parameter of any substance. Investigation of soil resistivity at substation provides useful information of soil homogeneity and soil layers at different depth. Measurement of soil resistivity by sampling method is useful fordesign of foundation of large buildings, bridges, transmission line tower footing, underground laying of petroleum and gas pipelines, for finding minerals in mines, water table below ground , irrigation of different crops in agriculture sector and so on. Lower soil resistivity reflects the highly corrosive soil and high soil resistivity is poor conductor of electricity. In this research, laboratory tests were conducted on various soil samples to measure the soil resistivity by sampling method and to evaluate the effect of moisture contents, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, soil compaction and temperature on soil resistivity. Moreover,how to make test apparatus, soil sample? Method of finding percentage of moisture content, percentage of dissolve substances such as sodium chloride, potassium chloride in the soil sample. The test results obtained are almost match with results given in IEEE standards 80-2013 and 81-2012. Keywords: agriculture, compaction of soil, moisture, sampling, soil. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 13-05-2020 Date of Acceptance: 26-05-2020 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. INTRODUCTION The soil resistivity is governed by various factors such as soil type, nature of soil, grain size, compactness and dissolved substances, temperature, moisture content etc. [1-2]. Out of various factors, concentration and composition of dissolved substances, temperature and moisture content of the soil will vary from season to season resulting into increasing ground resistance substation [3-4]. Higher the moisture content in the soil, lesser the soil resistivity and lesser the moisture content, higher is the soil resistivity [ 5,6,7]. Highly corrosive soil is indication of lower soil resistivity. While design of foundation of large buildings, bridges, transmission line tower footings, laying of petroleum pipelines, it is necessary to keep safety factor due to soil corrosion [8-9]. Homogeneous soil is seldom found. Soil resistivity vary place to place and different geological conditions. Even in the same substation location, it varies location to location. It varies horizontally as well vertically. The horizontal variations are gradual. It depends on soil strata, cut and filled soils [10]. Number of soil resistivity tables are available in reviewed literature. It provides general information of types of soil, such as loamy soil, mixer of sand, rocky soil. The resistivity figures are indicative only. Therefore, measurement of soil resistivity is very essential to get actual data [11]. In this research paper, the measurement of soil resistivity by sampling method, the various soil samples can be obtained by drilling the hole in the ground. The soil samples at different depth can be collected and tested. The tests have been conducted to find effect of moisture content, dissolved substances such as NaCl, KCL, effect of temperature and soil compactness on soil resistivity. The paper is organized as follows. The introduction is followed by test methodology in section II. The tests have been conducted in section III & the test results and conclusion is discussed in section IV followed by references in V. II. METHODOLOGY The soil resistivity has been measured in the laboratory by sampling method to analyses the effect of various factors on soil resistivity. The factors that are considered for the analysis are moisture content, sodium chloride, potassium chloride, soil compaction and temperature. A. TEST APPARATUS The arrangement for soil resistivity measurement is as shown in figure 1. It consists of rectangular plastic box of dimensions 23 x 13 x 7.5 cm. It is fitted in the wooden box of little oversize RESEARCH ARTICLE OPEN ACCESS