CONE PENETRATION TEST

Cone penetration test is a soil exploration method used to determine the materials in the soil
profile and to study their engineering properties. The Dutch cone penetrometer consists of a
cone of 600 and base area 10cm2 which is pushed into the soil at a steady rate of 20mm/sec
20mm/sec.
The cone end resistance to penetration
penetration, qc is measured during the test. Most of the
penetrometers are equipped with a friction sleeve which helps to measure frictional resistance
(fc) and cone resistance (qc) independently. Several correlations are available to estimate
properties of soil using this test. The friction ratio, Fr is defined as
Fr

fc
qc

Penetrometers are of two types:

a) Mechanical friction-Cone
Cone penetrometer
penetr
In this test the cone is advanced 40mm giving the tip resistance. Then bboth the cone
and the friction sleeve are pushed together. This allow to measure cone tip resistance
and friction resistance together. The cone resistance previously measured is subtrac
subtracted
from this to give the frictional resistance.
b) Electrical friction cone penetrometer
In this equipment the tip of the cone is attached to a string of steel rods. Wires from
the transducer continuously measure the tip and side resistance.
The major advantage
age of cone penetration test is that there is no need to dig a borehole for
conducting the test. But unlike standard penetration test visual observation of the soil sample
is not possible.

Electrical
Electric friction Cone penetrometer

Mechanical friction cone penetrometer

Penetrometer test with friction

measurements

Robertson and Campanellas

correlation (1983) between qc, Fr and
soil type

PRESSUREMETER TEST
This test is used to measure the strength and deformability of soil. Firstly a borehole is dug
and a probe with three cells is inserted into it. The top and bottom ones are guard cells and
the middle one is measuring cell. The diameter of the bore hole should be 1.031.03-1.2 times the
nominal diameter of the probe. Mostly the probe will
will have a diameter of 58mm and length of
420mm. Initially the volume of the measuring cell is noted (V0). The probe cells are then

expanded using liquid or gas. The guard cells are expanded to reduce the end condition
effect. Pressure is applied in increments
increme nts and the volume of the cell is measured. The pressure
increment is continued till the soil fails or till the pressure limit of the device has reached.
The results are shown in graphical from below. Zone I, represent the region through which
the soil returns
turns to its initial stress condition before drilling the hole. p0 represents the initial
stress of soil. Zone II is the pseudo-elastic
pseudo
region and pf represent yield pressure. Zone III is
the plastic zone with pl as the pressure limit.
The pressuremeter modulus of the soil is given by
E p 2(1 )(V0 vm )(

Where, vm

p
)

v

v0 v f
2

p p f po

v v f vo
=Poissons
=Poissons ratio (which may be assumed to be 0.33)
This test can be used to find the preconsolidation pressure (pc) and undrained shear strength
(cu) of the soil.
pc 0.45 pl

cu

( pl po )
Np

Where, N p 1 ln(

Ep
3cu

a)

Pressuremeter test b) plot of pressure versus cavity volume