Graph Types

Standard Plots These plots are used to report ground behavior.

• Cumulative Displacement
• Incremental Displacement
• Displacement vs Time

Diagnostic These plots are used to determine the potential for systematic errors and to help
Plots calculate corrections.
• Cumulative Deviation
• Incremental Deviation
• Checksums and Difference Checksum

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 Cumulative This is a plot of movement. Displacements appear abrupt because the horizontal
Displacement scale is not proportional to the vertical scale. However, this allows us to identify
Plot displacements easily.
The cumulative displacement plot makes shear displacements easy to identify. If
there is no shear plane and the plot shows an overall tilt or distributed strain,
then interpretation is more difficult. In some cases, systematic accumulating
error could be responsible for the tilt.
Displacement plots become cluttered and difficult to analyze when too many
datasets are included. It is better to plot fewer rather than more datatsets.
 

 

 
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Cumulative Displacement, A-Axis Cumulative Displacement, B-Axis

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 Incremental This is a plot of movement at each reading interval. A spike indicates significant
Displacement movement. Growth in the spike indicates continued movement. This can be seen
Plots in the spike at 234 feet.
The incremental displacement plot minimizes any systematic error, because each
plotted point contains only one instance of the error.

 

 

 

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Incremental Displacement, A-Axis Incremental Displacement, B-Axis

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 Time Plot This plot shows the rate of movement. A steepening slope shows accelerating
movement. The rate of displacement can be correlated with other time-based
parameters in slope stability assessment.
Start using time-displacement plots as soon as you have identified a zone of dis-
placement. In this type of plot, use as many datasets as possible, since this will
improve the definition of the displacement rate. As with the incremental dis-
placement plot, the time-displacement plot minimizes systematic errors.
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 Cumulative This plot shows the profile of the casing relative to vertical. Since inclination of
Deviation Plot the casing can contribute to error, the cumulative deviation plot is useful for
diagnosing and correcting “rotation” errors.
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 Incremental This is a simple plot of the readings converted to lateral offset at each reading
Deviation Plot interval. The more change in the readings with depth the more curves in the cas-
ing. Ideally, the casing should be installed as straight as possible. Change in the
readings or curvature in the casing sets up a potential for displacement error due
to changes in the depth positioning of the probe. Therefore these plots are useful
in detecting depth error.

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 Checksum This graph shows checksums for each data set and can be used to evaluate the
Plot quality of the datasets. Spikes in the plot may indicated bad readings or they may
be a characteristic of the casing.
Since the bias of the probe changes from time to time, checksum plots will not
always overlay each other. Frequent shifts may indicate a weak probe and the
potential for bias-shift errors. A tilting checksum plot indicates a drifting sensor.
The difference-checksum plot compares checksums for subsequent datasets
against checksums for an initial set. This eliminates casing signatures and reveals
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Checksum Plot Difference Checksum Plot

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 Presentation: Graphing programs automatically apply scales to match the minimum and
Horizontal maximum values in a data series.
Scales The graph on the left is auto-scaled. It is difficult to interpret. Is there movement?
Is there a problem with the probe? Was the survey conducted carelessly?
No. The readings are very good. The auto-scaling is the problem. The standard
accuracy for an inclinometer survey is ± 0.3 inch per hundred feet. The maxi-
mum value in this plot is only 0.014 inches and the depth is almost 200 feet. The
plot is showing 100% noise.
The graph on the right shows the same data plotted with an appropriate scale. All
the noise has been eliminated and it is clear that there is no movement. In gen-
eral, ± 1 inch or ±25mm is suitable for displacement plots.
 

 

 

 

 
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Auto-Scaled Plot Manually-Scaled Plot

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 Presentation Graphing programs auto-scale depths as well. This is appropriate in some cases,
Vertical Scales but not in others. In the example below, we see one inclinometer with a 220 foot
scale next to another inclinometer with a 28 foot scale. On the right, we see the
28 foot inclinometer scaled to match the 220 foot inclinometer.

  


 


 


 


 




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Inclinometer 1 Inclinometer 2 Inclinometer 2

Auto-Scaled Scaled to Inclinometer 1

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