What is this standard about?
Part 1 of this standard covers the general requirements of soil testing relating to civil engineering. It describes methods for the calibration of equipment and the preparation of test samples.
Who is this standard for?
- Geotechnical consultants
- Geotechnical site investigators
- Geotechnical and geo-environmental testing laboratories
Why should you use this standard?
BS 1377 consists of nine parts. Part 1 contains general information relevant to all the other parts, including guidance on sample preparation and requirements for testing laboratories and field work.
What’s changed since the last update?
This part of BS 1377 has been updated to align with more recently published standards, including BS EN ISO 17892-1:2014 on determination of water content and the BS EN 933 series for aggregates.
The standard has been amended as follows:
- Balance calibration has been reduced from six-monthly to annual to align with other geotechnical testing standards
- References have been updated to the current version of other standards (e.g. for the manufacture of sieves) so that withdrawn standards no longer need to be followed
- There is now greater alignment with BS EN 1997-2:2007 Eurocode 7. Geotechnical design. Ground investigation and testing
- Subtle changes such as “water content” instead of “moisture content” have been made to comply with UKAS; and reference is made to “UKAS” rather than “NAMAS” as per current terminology
- Traceability of calibrations as required by ISO 17025