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Geological Society, London, Special Publications; 1995; v. 97; p. 65-71;
DOI: 10.1144/GSL.SP.1995.097.01.08
© 1995 Geological Society of London

Database design

Structuring soil and rock descriptions for storage in geotechnical databases

D. G. Toll & A. J. Oliver

School of Engineering, University of Durham, Durham DH1 3LE, UK

The paper describes the development of a database for geotechnical information. The database is part of a knowledge-based (expert) system for the interpretation of geotechnical information. It has been implemented using the INGRES relational database management system. A particular feature, unique to the database structure developed, is the ability to store layer descriptions in a structured form. In other database systems these are simply stored as single text fields. A complex structure has been derived which can accommodate the full range of layer descriptions; for example, interbedded soils/rocks within a layer, the variation in description from top to bottom of a layer, and the existence of multiple soil or rock types within a description. The paper presents details of the database tables with examples of how the structured representation is used.