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Site characterization is a fundamental step towards the proper design, construction and long term
performance of all types of geotechnical projects, ranging from foundation, excavation, earth dams,
embankments, seismic hazards, environmental issues, tunnels, near and offshore structures. The Geotechnical and Geotechnical and Geophysical
Fourth International Conference on Site Characterization (ISC-4) was held in Porto de Galinhas,
Geophysical Site
Site Characterization 4
Pernambuco, Brazil, from 17 to 21 September 2012, under the responsibility of TC-102/TC-16
on In-Situ Testing of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering
(ISSMGE), the Brazilian Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ABMS), and
Characterization 4
the Federal University of Pernambuco, Brazil (UFPE). Financial support of ISC-4 was provided
by the Brazilian National Science and Education Councils (CNPq and CAPES), sponsors and
exhibitors and other organizations and companies.
The fourth conference followed the successful series of international conferences held in Atlanta
(ISC-1, 1998), Porto (ISC-2, 2004), and Taipei (ISC-3, 2008). ISC-4 congregated several
researchers, geotechnical engineers, and practitioners from all over the world involved with the
conference general themes, namely practical application of novel and innovative technologies in
geotechnical and geophysical engineering, along with their interpretation and utilization for the
purposes of site characterization. The two volumes making up Geotechnical and Geophysical
Site Characterization 4 contain 8 keynote Lectures prepared by experts in the field, including the
5th James K. Mitchell Lecture presented by Dr. Peter K. Robertson, and 4 Workshop Lectures
and 217 technical papers from 40 different countries. The books are divided into 11 general
themes:
1. Direct-push and Borehole-type in-situ test;
2. Development of new equipment and methods;
3. New approaches for interpreting data;
4. Applications to shallow and deep foundations;
5. Special uses of in-situ tests;
6. Site investigation for infrastructure projects;
7. Geophysical;
8. Seismic ground hazards;
9. Investigation in very soft to extremely soft soils;
10. Non-textbook type geomaterials;
11. Environmental geotechnics. EDITORS EDITORS:
Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization 4 will be much of interest to academics,
COUTINHO ROBERTO QUENTAL COUTINHO
engineers and professionals involved in Geotechnical Engineering. MAYNE PAUL W. MAYNE
an informa business
GEOTECHNICAL AND GEOPHYSICAL SITE CHARACTERIZATION 4
Editors
Roberto Quental Coutinho
Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), Brazil
Paul W. Mayne
School of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology,
Atlanta, GA, USA
VOLUME I
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Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization 4 Coutinho & Mayne (eds)
2013 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-62136-6
Table of contents
Introduction xxvii
VOLUME 1
Keynote lectures
The James K. Mitchell Lecture: Interpretation of in-situ testssome insights 3
P.K. Robertson
Variable penetration rate cone testing for characterization of intermediate soils 25
J.T. DeJong, R.A. Jaeger, R.W. Boulanger, M.F. Randolph & D.A.J. Wahl
Combined use of geophysical methods in site characterization 43
S. Foti
Relating foundation capacity in sands to CPT qc 63
B.M. Lehane
Site characterization in nearshore and offshore geotechnical projects 83
J. Peuchen
Beyond coefficient of variation for statistical characterization of geotechnical parameters 113
K.K. Phoon & J. Ching
The mechanics of cone penetration: Contributions from experimental and theoretical studies 131
R. Salgado
Workshop lectures
Aspects on soil investigation for embankments on soft soil 157
D.A. Kort
The detection of hidden shear zones in clay: A relevant issue in landslide hazard assessment 167
L. Picarelli, L. Comegna, P. Tommasi & G. Urciuoli
Application of in situ testing in tailing dams, emphasis on liquefaction: Case-history 181
A.V. da Fonseca
In situ evaluation of relative density from piezocone penetration tests of clean sand from China 207
G.-J. Cai, S.-Y. Liu, Y. Cheng, Hai-feng Zou, G.-Y. Du, Bei-bei Ren & A.J. Puppala
Cyclic sleeve friction test for the design of piles under cyclic loading 213
P. Reiffsteck, A. Puech, S. Po, F. Pilnire & J. Gaschet
Centrifuge modelling of CPT in layered soils 219
P.Q. Mo, A.M. Marshall & H.-S. Yu
vi
vii
viii
ix
VOLUME 2
7 New approaches for interpreting data T3 TS12
Session report: New approaches for interpreting data 939
J. Benot
A new approach for identification of soil behaviour type from seismic dilatometer (SDMT) data 947
I. Rivera-Cruz, J.A. Howie, L.A. Vargas, M. Coto-Lora & O. Luna-Gonzlez
Comparative study of the spatial variability of shear strength parameter from different
test methods 955
E. Zeinali & F. Kalantary
Comparing the ground resistivity measured by DC and capacitively-coupled resistivity methods 963
Q. Niu & Y.H. Wang
Predicting reliable soil profile using electrical resistivity survey 971
M.A. Dafalla & F.A. Fouzan
Simulation of laterally loaded foundation groups via Menrd pressuremeter tests 977
R.P. Cunha, J. Veverka & R.G.M. Santos
A specific protocol to characterize Intermediate Geomaterials (IGM). The case of Porto granites 985
N. Cruz, A.V. da Fonseca & C. Rodrigues
Determination of error propagation of In Situ tests resulting from its measuring accuracy 993
C. Mateus, L.P. Machado, N. Cruz & M. Cruz
xi
xii
11 Geophysical T7 TS2
Session report: Report and discussiontechnical session geophysical surveys
using mechanical waves, and/or electromagnetic techniques 1355
C. Comina & S. Foti
Use of geophysical techniques for the localization of the restricting zones of permeability
in the bottom of basin: Forecast the zones of clogging 1367
I. Alimi-Ichola, S. Bouchemella & F.C. Mahler
The use of geophysical methods to investigate a contaminated site with organochlorine 1375
O.C.B. Gandolfo, G. Mondelli & R.G. Blanco
Vibratory sources for continuous surface wave testing 1381
G. Heymann
Application of the GPR in real-life situations in geotechnical engineering 1387
D. Franco, C. Cardoso, A. Machado & R. Gonalves
Combined use of geophysical tests for the characterization of a pyroclastic slope 1395
R.M. Cosentini, S. Foti & G. Sorbino
Application of electromagnetic techniques (Georadar) to investigate Burgos Cathedral subsoil
and foundation 1403
A.B. Espinosa, L.M. Garca & E. Aracil
Electrical Resistivity Tomography (ERT) on site for survey of natural clayey
soil water content 1409
M. Chrtien, J.F. Lataste & R. Fabre
Laboratorial S-wave measurements with buried geophones in a large calibration box 1419
F. Almeida, L. Caf, N. Cruz & C. Rodrigues
Round Robin Test for comparative study of in-situ seismic tests 1427
D.-S. Kim, H.-J. Park & E.S. Bang
xiii
xiv
xv
xvi
Introduction
Site characterization is a fundamental step towards the proper design, construction and long term perform-
ance of all types of geotechnical projects, ranging from foundation, excavation, earth dams, embankments,
seismic hazards, environmental issues, tunnels, near and offshore structures. The Fourth International
Conference on Site Characterization (ISC4) was held near the beautiful coastal town of Porto de Gal-
inhas, Pernambuco Brazil, from September 18-21, 2012, under the responsibility of TC-102/TC-16 on
In-Situ Testing of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE),
the Brazilian Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ABMS), and the Federal Univer-
sity of Pernambuco, Brazil (UFPE). The fourth conference followed the successful series of international
conferences held in Atlanta (ISC-1, 1998), Porto (ISC-2, 2004), and Taipei (ISC-3, 2008).
ISC4 congregated several researchers, geotechnical engineers, and practitioners from all over the world
involved with the conference general themes, namely practical application of novel and innovative tech-
nologies in geotechnical and geophysical engineering, along with their interpretation and utilization for
the purposes of site characterization.
These two volume conference proceedings contain 08 keynote Lectures prepared by experts in the
themes, including the 5th James K. Mitchell Lecture presented by Dr. Peter K. Robertson; 04 Workshop
Lectures and 217 technical papers from 40 different countries. Papers were refereed by reviews to obtain a
high quality publication and technical standards.
Accordingly, the papers have been sorted into 11 general themes and 15 technical sessions that were
established for presentation, including: 1. Direct-push and Borehole-type in-situ test; 2. Development of
new equipment and methods; 3. New approaches for interpreting data; 4. Applications to shallow and
deep foundations; 5. Special uses of in-situ tests; 6. Site investigation for infrastructure projects; 7. Geo-
physical, 8. Seismic ground hazards; 9. Investigation in very soft to extremely soft soils; 10. Non-textbook
type geomaterials; 11. Environmental geotechnics.
The editors would like to thank the members of the Organizing and Technical Committees for their
collaboration in the organization and on reviewing the selected papers, as well as the authors of papers
for their contribution in writing and presentation, in particular the keynotes and workshop lectures and
session reporters. They also thank all the companies that give support for the organization.
Financial support of ISC4 provided by Brazilian National Science and Education Councils (CNPq and
CAPES), sponsors and exhibitors and other organizations and companies are greatly acknowledged.
Paul W. Mayne
George Institute of Technology
xvii
P.K. Robertson
Gregg Drilling & Testing Inc., Signal Hill, CA, US
ABSTRACT: The use and application of in-situ testing has continued to expand in the past few dec-
ades. This paper focuses on some major in-situ tests (SPT, CPT and DMT) and presents selected insights
that the geotechnical engineering profession may find helpful. Many of the recommendations contained
in this paper are focused on low to moderate risk projects where empirical interpretation tends to domi-
nate. For projects where more advanced methods are more appropriate, the recommendations provided
in this paper can be used as a screening to evaluate critical regions/zones where selective additional in-situ
testing and sampling may be appropriate.
data and is less expensive than the DMT, the CPTu operators carry simple direct-push samplers that
is increasingly the preferred primary in-situ test. can be pushed using the same direct-push instal-
The continuous nature of the CPTu results provide lation equipment to obtain a small (typically 25
valuable information about soil variability that is to 50 mm in diameter) disturbed soil sample of
difficult to match with sampling and laboratory similar size to that obtained from the SPT. The
testing. Given the above statements, emphasis in preferred approach, and often more cost effective
this paper will be placed on the interpretation of solution, is to obtain a detailed continuous strati-
the CPTu. graphic profile using the CPT, then to move over
For low risk projects direct-push logging a short distance (<1 m) and push a small diameter
tests (e.g. CPT and CPTu) and index testing on soil sampler to obtain discrete selective samples
disturbed samples combined with conservative in critical layers/zones identified by the CPT. The
design criteria are often appropriate. For moder- push rate to obtain samples can be significantly
ate risk projects, the above can be supplemented faster (up to 20 times) than the 20 mm/s used
with additional specific in-situ testing, such as the for the CPT and sampling can be rapid and cost
SCPTu with pore pressure dissipations combined effective for a small number of discrete samples.
with selective sampling and laboratory testing to Many of the recommendations contained in
develop site specific correlations. For high risk this paper are focused on low to moderate risk
projects, the above can be used for screening to projects where empirical interpretation tends to
identify potentially critical regions/zones appro- dominate. For projects where more advanced
priate to the design objectives, followed by pos- methods are more appropriate, the recommen-
sible additional in-situ tests, selective high quality dations provided in this paper can be used as a
sampling and advanced laboratory testing. The screening to evaluate critical regions/zones where
results of the often limited laboratory testing are selective additional in-situ testing and sampling
correlated to the in-situ test results to extend and may be appropriate.
apply the results for other regions/zones within
the project.
A common complaint with most direct-push 3 BASIC SOIL BEHAVIOUR
in-situ tests, such as the CPT and DMT, is that
they do not provide a soil sample. Although it Mayne et al. (2009) and others have identified the
is correct that a soil sample is not obtained dur- need for an interpretative framework within which
ing either the CPT or DMT, most commercial to assess the results of tests and assign parameters
Figure 2. Updated Soil Behaviour Type (SBT) charts based on either non-normalized or normalized CPT (after
Robertson 2010a).
based on samples and that the biggest difference is Bq = (u2 u0)/(qt vo) = u/(qt vo) (5)
likely to occur in the mixed soils region (i.e. sand-
mixtures & silt-mixtures). Geotechnical engineers Where:
are often more interested in the in-situ soil behav- vo = in-situ total vertical stress
ior than a classification based only on grain-size vo = in-situ effective vertical stress
distribution and plasticity carried out on disturbed u0 = in-situ equilibrium water pressure
samples, although knowledge of both is helpful. u = excess penetration pore pressure = (u2 u0)
The geotechnical profession has a long history of
using simplified classification systems with geologic In the original paper by Robertson (1990) the
descriptors, and it will likely be some time before the normalized cone resistance was defined using the
profession fully accepts and adopts the more logical term Qt1. The term Qt1 is used here to show that the
framework based on mechanical response measure- cone resistance is the corrected cone resistance, qt
ments directly from the in-situ tests. and the stress exponent for stress normalization is
Robertson (1990) proposed using normalized 1.0 (further details are provide in a later section).
(and dimensionless) cone parameters, Qt1, Fr, Bq, In general, the normalized charts provide
to estimate soil behaviour type, where; more reliable identification of SBT than the non-
normalized charts, although when the in-situ vertical
Qt1 = (qt vo)/vo (3) effective stress is between 50 kPa to 150 kPa there
is often little difference between normalized and
Fr = [(fs/(qt vo)] 100% (4) non-normalized SBT. The term SBTn will be used
10
11
Where k is the preconsolidation cone factor and OCR = (2.625 + 1.75 log 2r)1.25 (Qt1)1.25 (18)
p is the preconsolidation or yield stress.
Kulhawy and Mayne (1990) showed that an This compares very closely to the form suggested
average value of k = 0.33 can be assumed, with an by Karlsrud et al. (2005) based on high quality
expected range of 0.2 to 0.5. Although it is com- block samples from Norway (when soil sensitivity,
mon to use the average value of 0.33, Been et al. St < 15) and that resulting from CSSM:
(2010) suggested that the selection of an appropri-
ate value for k should be consistent with other OCR = 0.25 (Qt1)1.2 (19)
parameters, as discussed below.
In clays, the peak undrained shear strength, su Equation 18 represents a method to automatically
and OCR are generally related. Ladd and Foott estimate the in-situ state (OCR) in fine-grained
(1974) empirically developed the following rela- soils based on measured CPT results, in a consist-
tionship based on SHANSEP concepts: ent manner.
The state parameter () is defined as the differ-
su/ vo = (su/ vo)OCR =1 (OCR)m = S(OCR)m (13) ence between the current void ratio, e and the void
ratio at critical state ecs, at the same mean effective
The term S varies as a function of the failure stress for coarse-grained (sandy) soils. Based on criti-
mode (testing method, strain rate). Ladd & De cal state concepts, Jefferies and Been (2006) provide
Groot (2003) recommended S = 0.25 with a stand- a detailed description of the evaluation of soil state
ard deviation of 0.05 (for simple shear loading) using the CPT. They describe in detail that the prob-
and m = 0.8 for most soils. Equation 13 is also sup- lem of evaluating state from CPT response is com-
ported by Critical State Soil Mechanics (CSSM) plex and depends on several soil parameters. The
where S = (1/2) sin in direct simple shear (DSS) main parameters are essentially the shear stiffness,
12
13
= 0.56 0.33 log Qtn,cs (23) = cv + 15.84 [log Qtn, cs] 26.88 (25)
Equation 23 provides a simplified and approxi- Equation 25 produces estimates of peak fiction
mate method to estimate in-situ state parameter angle for clean quartz sands that are similar to
for a wide range of sandy soils. those by Kulhawy and Mayne (1990). However,
Based on Figure 5 and acknowledging that equation 25 has the advantage that it includes the
coarse-grained soils with a state parameter less importance of grain characteristics and mineral-
than 0.05 and fine-grained soils with an OCR > 4 ogy that are reflected in both cv, as well as soil
are dilative at large strains, it is possible to define type through Qtn,cs. Equation 25 tends to predicts
a region based on CPT results that indentifies soils values closer to measured values in calcareous
that are either dilative or contractive, as shown on sands where the CPT tip resistance can be low for
Figure 7. Included on Figure 7 is a region (dashed high values of .
14
Vs1 = Vs (pa/vo)0.25 m/s (26) where is the mass density (or total unit weight
divided by the acceleration of gravity) of the soil.
where Vs is in m/s. Using the Vs contours, Figure 9 shows the asso-
Since the CPT measurements are normalized in ciated contours of the small strain shear modulus
terms of Qtn and Fr, the resulting shear wave velocity number, KG, where:
values are also normalized. The deposits ranged pre-
dominately from Holocene to Pleistocene age and G0 = KG pa (vo /pa)n (31)
were mostly uncemented, although cementation was
possible in some soils. Andrus et al. (2007) showed where n is a stress exponent that has a value of
that most Holocene age deposits have Vs1 values about 0.5 for most coarse-grained soils.
less than 250 m/s. In general, the Holocene age data Relationships between soil modulus and cone
tends to plot in the center-left portion of the SBTn resistance can have the general form:
chart, whereas the Pleistocene age data tends to plot
in the upper-right portion of the chart. G0 = G (qt vo) (32)
The contours of Vs1 in Figure 8 can be approxi-
mated using the following equations: where G is the shear modulus factor for estimat-
ing small strain shear modulus (G0) from net cone
Vs1 = (vs Qtn)0.5 m/s (27) resistance (qt vo). Since the stress exponent is
similar for the normalization of both Qtn and Go in
or the sand region, it follows that:
15
E = 2(1 + ) G (37)
Where:
= Poissons ratio, which ranges from 0.1 to 0.3
for most soils under drained conditions. Hence, for
most coarse-grained soils, E 2.5 G.
Since the small strain shear modulus G0 applies
only at very small strains there is a need to soften
G0 to a strain level appropriate for design purposes.
Eslaamizaad and Robertson (1997) showed that
the amount of softening required for design was
a function of the degree of loading. Fahey and
Carter (1993) suggested a simple approach to esti-
mate the amount of softening using:
G/G0 = 1 f (q/2ult)g (38)
Figure 9. Contours of small strain modulus number,
KG (thick solid lines) and modulus factor G, on normal- Where:
ized SBTn QtnFr chart for uncemented Holocene- and q = applied load (e.g. net bearing pressure for foun-
Pleistocene-age sandy soils (After Robertson 2009a). dations); qult = ultimate or failure load (e.g. ultimate
bearing capacity for foundations); q/qult = degree of
Hence, it is possible to develop contours of G that loading; f and g are constants depending on soil
are also shown in Figure 9. type and stress history.
Eslaamizaad & Robertson (1996a) and Schnaid Fahey and Carter (1993) and Mayne (2005) sug-
(2005) showed that it is possible to identify gested that values of f = 1 and g = 0.3 are appro-
cemented soils using the ratio of G0/qt. Hence, if priate for uncemented soils that are not highly
the measured G0/(qt vo) (i.e. G) is significantly structured. For a degree of loading from 0.2 to 0.3,
larger than estimated using Figure 9, the soils are the ratio G/G0 ranges from 0.30 to 0.38. Hence, for
likely either cemented and/or aged. many design applications the appropriate Youngs
It is also possible to estimate the appropriate value modulus for application in simplified elastic solu-
of G from Ic based on the link with vs using: tions is approximately;
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
J.T. DeJong
Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, US
R.A. Jaeger
GEI Consultants, Rancho Cordova, California, US
R.W. Boulanger
Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of California Davis, US
M.F. Randolph
Center for Offshore Foundation Systems, University of Western Australia, Australia
D.A.J. Wahl
GeoPentech, Santa Ana, California, US
ABSTRACT: The characterization of sedimentary soil, and specifically intermediate soils such as silty sands,
non-plastic silts, clayey silts, and fine grained tailings are often challenging due to difficulties in sampling and test-
ing and in interpretation of in-situ data. Cone penetrometer testing where the penetration rate is varied to con-
trol drainage conditions has been explored recently. The penetration rates required for undrained and drained
conditions are proportional to the coefficient of consolidation, and a two order of magnitude change in pene-
tration rate is generally required to move from one limiting condition to another. This paper utilizes experimen-
tal, analytical, and numerical research to examine practical implementation issues as well as theoretical details
for proper analysis of variable penetration rate test data. Specifically, normalized relationships are presented to
relate cone tip and pore pressure measurements to penetration rate. It is shown that partial consolidation dur-
ing cone penetration at the standard rate of 2 cm/s exists if the t50 from pore pressure dissipation test is less than
100 seconds. The errors induced by partial consolidation during penetration on interpretation of both soil
behavior type charts and pore pressure dissipation data are then examined; a new solution for estimation
of the coefficient of consolidation from pore pressure dissipation is presented. A new two-stage automated
hydraulic control system capable of penetration rates from 20 cm/s down to 0.002 cm/s is then presented.
A practical framework and chart for selection of penetration rates required to obtain drained or undrained
measurements for a given soil is discussed. Finally, numerical cavity expansion results using a modified
MIT-S1 constitutive model within FLAC indicate that the initial state, in-situ stress, limiting compression
curve reference stress, and stress-dilatancy characteristics are the primary factors affecting the ratio of drained
to undrained cone tip resistance.
1 INTRODUCTION
be performed and interpretation of measurements
are relatively straightforward if fully drained or
The characterization of sedimentary soil, and undrained conditions exist during testing. How-
specifically intermediate soils such as silty sands, ever, complications arise when interpreting data
non-plastic silts, clayey silts, and fine graded tail- for intermediate soils when partial consolidation
ings, are often challenging due to difficulties in (i.e. partial drainage) conditions exist during cone
sampling and testing, and in interpretation of penetration at the standard rate of 2.0 cm/sec.
in-situ data. Conventional methods for sampling Conceptually, varying the cone penetration
and subsequent laboratory testing for clays may rate (i.e. the rate of loading) can modify drainage
or may not be applicable depending on the soils conditions around an advancing cone; increasing
susceptibility to sample disturbance and ability to the penetration rate sufficiently will create fully
retain stress history (Dahl et al. 2010). Common undrained conditions while decreasing the pen-
in-situ tests such as the cone penetration test can etration rate sufficiently will create fully drained
25
26
0.8
0.6
0.4
0.4
V50 = 3, c = 1
0.2
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
V (= v d / cv)
(b)
3.5
3.0
Characteristic Curve
V50 = 3, c = 1, Q/Qref = 2.5
2.5
Q / Qref
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
V (= v d / cv)
Figure 1. Normalized velocity versus: (a) Normalized excess pore pressure; and (b) Normalized penetration resistance.
for dilative materials. For the dataset of contrac- of 2 cm/sec. Therefore changes in the normalized
tive soils presented in Figure 1b the best-fit value parameters due to partial consolidation will affect
is 2.5. the location of a given soil on a soil behavior type
chart. The behavior type charts only remain valid
for conventional cone data and should be used
3 INFLUENCE ON SOIL BEHAVIOR with caution for variable penetration rate cone
TYPE PLOTS data, although guidance on the effects of varying
ch (or V) is given by Schneider et al. (2008).
Partial consolidation during penetration influ- The manner in which variable penetration rate
ences the qt and u2 values, and therefore also affects cone data may affect interpretation of the behav-
the normalized parameters used to characterize ior type charts of Robertson (1991) and Schneider
the soils penetrated by the cone. The soil behavior et al. (2008) is illustrated with laboratory and field
type (SBT) charts developed by Robertson (1990, experimental data and numerical data for contrac-
1991) & Schneider et al. (2008) are based on nor- tive soils in Figure 2 (DeJong & Randolph 2012).
malized parameters from tests at a penetration rate The normalized excess pore pressure parameters
27
28
undrained case 1
v = 3 mm/s
( u/ u max = u/ u ref )
1.0 0.8
u/ u max
ch / ch undrained
0.6
0.8
u/ umax & u/ uref
0.6 u/ u ref
0.2 NC Kaolin (Schneider et al. 2007)
OCR = 4 Kaolin (Schneider et al. 2007)
0.4 v = 0.03 mm/s 0
1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0
u max / u ref
0.2
v = 0.003 mm/s Figure 5. Apparent change in ch from experimental dis-
sipation tests on kaolin following partially drained pen-
0.0 etration when dissipation curve is normalized by initial
excess pore pressure (Schneider et al. 2007). umax /uref
0.1 10 1000 is the initial excess pore pressure of the dissipation test
Time (sec) normalized to the initial excess pore pressure following
fully undrained penetration.
Figure 4. Dissipation curves of normalized excess pore
pressure with time from experimental data for NC kaolin
(Schneider et al. 2007).
rigidity index defined as the ratio of the shear
(DeJong & Randolph 2012). The method is based modulus to undrained strength (G/su).
on the excess pore pressure normalized following A method for estimating ch from the t50 of a
undrained penetration as dissipation curve following cone penetration with
allowance for partial consolidation during penetra-
u 1
U= (4) tion is derived through the following sequence of
uref 1 + (T T )b steps.
Following partially drained penetration the ini-
where the normalized time factor is defined as tial pore pressure at the start of a dissipation test,
T = cht/d 2, the normalized time factor at which U0 (= u2 /u2 ref), corresponds to the notional time
50% excess pore pressure remains is T50 = cht50/d 2, factor of (rearranging Equation 4).
and the b exponent is 0.75. Fitting to the Teh &
1
1/ b
Houlsby (1991) solution for undrained penetra- T0 T50 1 (5)
tion is achieved for T50 = 0.061Ir0.5, where Ir is the U 0
29
0.90 Ir = 50
Increasing Ir = 100
0.80 Drainage
During Cone 10 Ir = 500
0.70
ch (cm2/s)
Penetration
0.60
0.50
1
0.40
Teh & Houlsby
0.30 (1991)
Solutions
0.20 0.1
0.10
30
31
0.1
0.2
Depth (cm)
0.5
Proporoning Valves
0.6
0.7
0.8
0.9
Standard 2 cm/s
1
Accumulator
1.1
Figure 9. (a) Automated control system; and (b) Example of velocity control in variable penetration rate twitch test
with new automated control system (Wahl 2012).
32
33
1
Burswood
(Schneider et al. 2008)
Sand Kaolin Mix
(Jaeger et al. 2010) NC Kaolin
0.1 (Randolph & Hope 2004)
0.01
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
V (= v d / ch)
(b)
100
Sand Kaolin Mix Characteristic Curve
(Jaeger et al. 2010) V50 = 3, c = 1, Q/Qref = 2.5
10
Q / Qref
NC Kaolin
(Randolph & Hope 2004)
1
Dense Silt
(Silva 2005) Burswood
(Schneider et al. 2008)
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 10000
V (= v d / ch)
Figure 10. Normalized velocity versus: (a) Normalized excess pore pressure; and (b) Normalized penetration
resistance for soils ranging from a sensitive clayey sand to a dense, dilative silica silt.
1
LCC FC10 Representative drained and undrained stress paths
LCC FC0 for the sand with fines content of 20% (FC20) and
0 = 0.1 and 0.2 are presented in Figure 13.
The response of the sand with 20% fines
(FC20) adjacent to the cavity wall with either an
Void Ratio, e
34
FC35
40
35
Figure 12. A comparison of the effect of initial state parameter on the: (a) Peak plane-strain friction angle; and
(b) Soil rigidity (all materials at one atmosphere).
(a) (b)
0.9
Drained Undrained
FC20 FC20
0.7 CSL CSL
Void Ratio, e
0.5
0.3 0 = 0.1
0 = -0.2
0.1
1 10 100 1000 10000 1 10 100 1000 10000
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
Figure 13. Drained and undrained cavity expansion paths for sand with FC = 20% and 0 = 0.10 and 0.20.
pressure decreases and the excess pore pressure for partially drained conditions. It is interesting to
generated increases as the expansion rate (or pene- note that the volumetric path of the partially drained
tration rate) increases. The drained and undrained expansion is not bounded by the drained and und-
behaviors bracket the range of partial drainage rained volumetric paths over the entire path, as was
behavior in terms of both cavity expansion limit the case for the loose-of-critical case. However, the
pressures and constitutive level responses (q vs. final or limit conditions for partially drained expan-
p, e vs. p ). This behavior is consistent with pre- sions, which are the most pertinent for estimating
viously observed trends for contractive materials cone penetration resistance, are bookended by the
(e.g. Randolph & Hope 2004; Jaeger et al. 2010). drained and undrained conditions. This behavior is
For a material with 0 = 0.20 (dense of critical), consistent with previously observed trends for dila-
the cavity expansion limit pressure increases and tant materials (e.g., Silva 2005).
the excess pore pressure decreases as the expansion The drained and undrained limit cavity expan-
rate (or penetration rate) increases. As with the sion pressure for this intermediate soil (FC = 20)
loose-of-critical case, the drained and undrained at 0 ranging from 0.1 to 0.3 are presented in
behaviors bookend the range of responses observed Figure 15 a and b, respectively. Limit pressures in
35
400 PD 3
D
200
300
q (kPa)
q (kPa)
PD 1
200
100
PD 2
PD 3 100 D
Initial condition
U
0 0
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300 400 500
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
0.8 0.6
U Partially Drained
PD 3: vcavity/k = 10000 0.55
0.7 PD 2: vcavity/k = 3000 Void Ratio, e CSL
Void Ratio, e
PD 3 PD 1: vcavity/k = 1000
PD 2 0.5
PD 1 PD 3
0.6
CSL 0.45 D
D
U
0.5 0.4
0 100 200 300 0 100 200 300 400 500
p' (kPa) p' (kPa)
Figure 14. Stress paths and volumetric responses at the cavity wall for drained (D), partially drained (PD), and und-
rained (U) conditions for sand with FC = 20% at 100 kPa initial vertical effective stress and 0 = (a) 0.10 and (b) 0.20.
(a) (b)
105 105
104
104
rr - u0 (kPa)
0
103
3
-0.3
10 -0.2
0 102 -0.1
-0.3
2 -0.2 0.0
10 -0.1 101
0.0 Drained 0.1 Undrained
0.1 FC20 FC20
101 100
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
Figure 15. Final total cavity pressure (presented as total radial stress, rr, minus the initial pore pressure, u0) versus
initial overburden effective stress under: (a) Drained; and (b) Undrained expansion for sand with FC = 20% and
0 = 0.1, 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3.
both drained and undrained conditions increase, The corresponding results for all soil mixtures
as expected, with increased initial confinement and for 0 = 0.2 are presented in Figure 16. The fines
with increased dilative tendencies (0 = 0.3 state content has a substantial influence on both drained
has higher tip resistance for both drained and und- and undrained behavior, particularly at low initial
rained behavior). confinement. Expansion pressures substantially
36
104 104
rr - u0 (kPa) FC0
Figure 16. Final total cavity pressure versus initial overburden effective stress under: (a) Drained; and (b) Undrained
expansion for sand with 0 = 0.2 and fines content of 0, 10, 20, and 35%.
(a) (b)
10 10
0.1
(rr - u0 )drn / (rr - u0 )und
0.0
0 -0.1
0.1 -0.2
0.0 -0.3
-0.1 0
1 -0.2 1
-0.3
FC20 FC20
0.1 0.1
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
Figure 17. Ratio of drained (subscript drn) to undrained (subscript und): (a) Total cavity pressure; and (b) Estimated
tip resistance for sand with FC = 20% and 0 = 0.1, 0.0, 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3.
decrease with fines content, particularly as the con- presented and verified across drained and und-
finement decreases. This behavior is attributed to rained conditions. A modified version of Yu et al.s
the decrease in the peak friction angle, the decrease (1996) approach was used to estimate drained cone
in soil rigidity, and the shift of the critical state tip resistance and a simplified version of the
curve in e p space (the CSL moves to the left as LeBlanc & Randolph (2008) method was used to
the fines content increases). These trends are in estimate the undrained resistance.
agreement with the observation that cavity expan- The effect of drained versus undrained conditions
sion limit pressures and cone tip resistances at a is presented in two forms; (1) as a ratio of cavity
given 0 decrease as the fines content increases. expansion pressures, and (2) as a ratio of the pre-
dicted cone tip resistances. The drained to undrained
tip resistance ratio is generally proportional to the
7.2 Ratio of drained to undrained cone
ratio of drained to undrained cavity expansion limit
penetration resistance
pressures with a difference in scale due to the differ-
Estimating cone tip resistance from cavity expan- ent conversion factors used to estimate cone penetra-
sion pressure generally follows a qc = Frr general- tion from cavity expansion simulation results.
ized function where F is the conversion function Ratios of limit pressure (Figure 17a) show that
and rr is the total expansion pressure. Various undrained expansion pressure exceeds drained
conversion functions, F, have been proposed in behavior for negative 0 (the ratio is less than
the literature, but no single function has been one) and drained limit pressures are greater than
37
(a) (b)
10 10
(rr - u0 )drn / (rr - u0 )und
FC35
FC20
FC35
1 1
FC20 FC10
FC10
FC0
0 = -0.2 0 = -0.2
FC0
0.1 0.1
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
(c) (d)
100 100
0 = 0.1 0 = 0.1
(rr - u0 )drn / (rr - u0 )und
FC10
10 10 FC0 (0 = 0.0)
FC0
FC20
FC10 FC0 (0 = 0.0) FC35
FC0
FC20
FC35
1 1
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
Figure 18. Ratio of drained to undrained: (a) Total cavity pressure; and (b) Cone tip resistance for 0 = 0.2 for sand
with fines content of 0, 10, 20, and 35%. Ratio of drained to undrained: (c) Total cavity pressure; and (d) Cone tip
resistance for 0 = 0.1 (clean sand values are for a state of 0.0) for sand with fines content of 0, 10, 20, and 35%.
38
1 1
0 = -0.2 0 = -0.2
0.1 0.1
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
(c) (d)
10 10
FC20 ('v,ref = 4.0 atm)
(rr - u0 )drn / (rr - u0 )und
1 1
0 = 0.1 0 = 0.1
0.1 0.1
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
Figure 19. The effect of the LCC reference pressure on the ratio of drained to undrained cavity expansion limit pres-
sure (a, c) and cone tip resistance (b, d) for dense-of-critical and loose-of-critical Nevada sand with 20% fines mixture.
39
(a) (b)
10 10
FC20 (FC10 dilation)
(rr - u0 )drn / (rr - u0 )und
FC20 (unmodified)
(qc - u0 )drn / (qc - u0 )und
1 1
0 = -0.2 0 = -0.2
0.1 0.1
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
(c) (d)
10 10
FC20 (FC10 dilation)
FC20 (unmodified)
(rr - u0 )drn / (rr - u0 )und
1 1
0 = 0.1 0 = 0.1
0.1 0.1
101 102 103 101 102 103
Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa) Init. Vertical Effective Stress, 'v0 (kPa)
Figure 20. The effect of the dilation parameters on the ratio of drained to undrained cavity expansion limit pressure
(a, c) and cone tip resistance (b, d) for dense-of-critical and loose-of-critical Nevada sand with 20% fines mixture.
40
41
42
S. Foti
Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy
ABSTRACT: Geophysical tests are widely used in site characterization for geotechnical and geo-
environmental applications. A wide range of methods is available to reconstruct geometrical features of
the subsoil accounting for different responses of soils as a porous medium and for the characteristics of
the pore fluid. Seismic tests provide the advantage of an evaluation of the mechanical response of the
medium, although only at very small strain levels, with the possibility of testing geomaterials in their
undisturbed state on site. Interpretation of wave propagation in different frameworks can provide infor-
mation at several levels of details. One crucial aspect of non-invasive geophysical method is that they are
based on the solution of an inverse problem aimed at estimating soil parameters. Combined use of differ-
ent geophysical datasets can provide more robust approaches, increasing the reliability of the final recon-
structions. Several applications are reported in this respect with particular focus on surface wave methods,
which are getting more and more popular because of their cost and time effectiveness.
43
Not all the geophysical parameters of soils can
be directly related to geotechnical parameters Considering usual values of Poisson ratio for the
of direct use for modeling soil behavior. Seismic solid skeleton of soils, compressional wave velocity
waves velocity of propagation is directly linked to is expected to be more or less twice the shear wave
mechanical response at small strains. Some other velocity in dry soils.
44
45
( e)
2
G
Fe = (5) VS = (9)
( + e) ( n) S n F
for round particles and with: S grain density; F water density; KF water
bulk modulus; KSK soil skeleton bulk modulus;
( e)
2
G shear modulus; n porosity; SK Poisson ratio of
Fe = (6)
( + e) the (evacuated) soil skeleton.
Some interesting feature can be observed. For
for angular particles. A simpler formulation has one the velocity of propagation of the P-wave is
been proposed by Lo Presti (1989): strongly influence by the bulk modulus of the
pore fluid. For this reason, measurements of VP
1
Fe e 3 (7) in saturated media are of little use for the evalu-
ation of soil stiffness. VP in fully saturated media
The link to the state of stress and to the void are expected to be always higher than VP in water
ratio (or porosity) suggests the possible use of seis- (about 1480 m/s). Since also a little amount of gas
mic methods for monitoring the change in state has a dramatic influence on the bulk compress-
parameters associated to soil improvement. More- ibility of the pore fluid, VP velocity can be used
over the dependence on soil porosity and fabric to check saturation conditions (Santamarina
suggests the use of shear wave velocity as an index et al. 2001). On the other hand, the presence of
property in seismic liquefaction assessment, after the pore fluid has little influence on the measured
normalization to account for the influence of the shear wave velocity because the shear modulus is
state of stress (Andrus & Stokoe 2000). not affected and the change in apparent density
has only a minor effect (Qiu & Fox 2008). It is
2.1.5 Wave propagation in porous media also interesting to note the effect of the pore fluid
A more realistic model for wave propagation has in terms of increase of the VP /VS ratio which
to take into account the granular nature of soils, leads to values of the apparent (global) Pois-
treating them as porous media, in which the son ratio close to 0.5 as expected for undrained
pores can be filled by air and/or by a fluid (typi- conditions.
cally water in engineering applications). For the Equations 8 and 9 can be combined to express
case of wave propagation in partially saturated soil porosity as a function of seismic velocities:
soils the reader is referred to Conte et al. (2009).
Wave propagation in fully saturated elastic porous 4 ( S F ) K F
media has been studied by Biot (1956a-b) with a S S )2
1 SK
macroscopic approach: the medium is modeled as VP2 VS2
a binary continuum arising from the superposi- 1 2 SK
n= (10)
tion of a fluid and a solid phase occupying simul- 2 i ( S F )
taneously the same region of space. The porosity
is the link between the two. For in situ testing, and considering that S, F, KF typically have
the relevant formulation is the one in the low fre- relatively standard values, soil porosity can be
quency range, in which there is no relative motion estimated from measured seismic velocity if an
between solid skeleton and pore fluid (undrained assumption is made on the value of the value of
behaviour). Biot theory reports the existence of the Poisson ratio of the (evacuated) soil skeleton
three different body wave: one shear wave and two SK (which is typically in the range 0.2 to 0.35).
compressional waves. The first (fastest) compres- Applications are reported by Foti et al. 2002;
sional wave is of interest for site characterization, Foti & Lancellotta 2004; Jamiolkowski 2012. A
whereas the second (Biot wave) is of little inter- discussion on the stability of the inversion of seis-
est because it is difficult to detect in experimental mic velocities and on the influence of the estimated
data (Nakagawa et al. 1997, 2001). Introducing the Poisson ratio is reported by Lai & Crempien de la
further hypothesis of grain incompressibility, the Carrera (2012).
46
47
Figure 4. Detection of plume infiltration path with electrical resistivity tomography (Martnez-Pagn et al. 2009).
An example in this respect is reported in Figure 3, the ground surface, providing some advantages in
in which an interbedded clayey layer is clearly iden- terms of cost effectiveness and planning of tests.
tified. The possibility of obtaining a 2D or 3D rep- The term invasive can be somewhat confusing: it
resentation at the site is very important in the view is referred to the invasiveness in placing sources
of extending the information collected along spe- and/or receivers within the ground, but the meas-
cific profiles with conventional geotechnical meth- urements involve the material along the propaga-
ods such as borehole logs and penetration tests. tion path which is not invaded (disturbed) by
Other applications in which electrical methods the measuring process. Hence seismic methods
are particularly effective are those related to infil- always provide parameters for the soil in its natu-
tration of water or diffusion of contaminants as ral and undisturbed state. The obtained values
long as there is a significant change in the conduc- are a reference also in respect of the significance
tivity of the pore fluid. An example in this respect of laboratory tests (Stokoe & Santamarina 2000;
is reported in Figure 4, in which the infiltration Jamiolkowski 2012). This aspect is particularly sig-
of a contamination plume from a slurry pond is nificant for hard-to-sample materials, e.g. coarse
monitored with electrical tomography. grained materials in which retrieving undisturbed
An attempt to cover the whole spectrum of avail- sample is typically very complex and costly, if at
able geophysical methods is outside the scope of all feasible.
the present paper. The discussion in the following It is important to realize the differences in the
will be then restricted mainly to seismic methods. volume of tested material between the different
approaches, especially when the results are com-
pared to check the accuracy and reliability.
4 SEISMIC METHODS
4.1 Invasive methods
Seismic methods can be roughly categorized into
invasive and non-invasive methods. For the latter Invasive seismic tests are well established in engi-
the measurements are performed entirely from neering practice. Although they should provide
48
49
context to assess the applicability of the method interpretation causing potentially large errors in
and a careful selection of acquisition parameters. several subsoil conditions (Tokimatsu et al. 1992;
Moreover, when it is applied to horizontally Maraschini et al. 2010).
polarised shear waves, seismic refraction may be Accounting for higher modes of propagation
affected by mode conversion caused by lateral vari- in automated inversion procedures faces some dif-
ations and dipping layers (Xia et al. 2002). In such ficulties related to problems in the evaluation of
a condition, the results will overestimate the shear numerical partial derivatives of surface wave dis-
wave velocity profile at the site. persion. Figure 7 reports an example obtained with
a Montecarlo inversion procedure (Maraschini &
Foti 2010). Global search approaches limit the risk
4.4 Surface wave testing
of getting a solution associated to a local minimum
Surface wave tests have received in recent years of the inverse problem. In the reported example,
large attention in the geotechnical and geophysi- the best fitting model is reported together with
cal research communities and their use is widely other solutions which can be considered equivalent
spreading in practical applications (Socco et al. with respect to available experimental data and
2010b). Indeed they provide some practical advan- its associated uncertainty. The issue of solution
tages with respect to other non invasive methods, non-uniqueness represents another crucial aspect
especially because data acquisition is particularly in surface wave testing. Accounting for a-priori
simple and they do not suffer from limitations information and experimental data from other
of seismic refraction method. In particular, they geophysical methods can provide in this respect
are able to characterize also profiles with inverse sensible improvements in terms of reliability of the
velocity layers (i.e. softer layers below stiffer ones). solution, as it will be discussed later on.
Nevertheless it has to be recognized that the inter- In geotechnical practice, surface wave methods
pretation of surface wave data can be very diffi- with active sources have evolved from the two-
cult especially in complex geological conditions. station procedure (SASW) originally proposed by
Very often the processing and interpretation is Prof. Stokoe and coworkers at University of Texas
oversimplified with dramatic consequences on the to more efficient multistation methods (MASW).
reliability of the obtained results. The increasing Indeed the latter allow for a much reduced testing
availability of software for automated processing time in the field and for a faster procedure to get
and inversion of surface wave data has contrib- the experimental dispersion curve. For this reason
uted to the diffusion of the method but very often multistation methods can be nowadays considered
without a clear perception of the need for careful the standard, although the possibility of using
scrutiny of experimental data. A clear example very light equipment and the easier procedure
in this respect is given by the influence of higher for data quality control in the field still provide
modes which is still very often neglected during the some reasons for the use of the two-station SASW
50
51
52
Figure 10. Combination of: (a) Vp seismic tomography; (b) Pseudo-2D Vs profiling from surface wave inversion;
(c) Electrical resistivity tomography for the evaluation of weathering variations in a granitic massif formation. Models
are over-imposed in panel; and (d) Which reports also evidence from a borehole log in terms of Rock Quality Designa-
tion (Olona et al. 2010).
53
54
55
56
(b)
(a)
(c) (d)
Figure 15. Joint inversion of P-wave seismic refraction and surface wave data: (a) S-wave model; (b) P-wave model;
(c) comparison between experimental and numerical dispersion curves; (d) comparison between experimental and
numerical travel times (Piatti et al. 2012a).
57
6 FINAL REMARKS
58
59
60
61
B.M. Lehane
School of Civil and Resource Engineering, The University of Western Australia, Australia
ABSTRACT: The Cone Penetration Test (CPT) end resistance, qc, is employed in a wide range of
empirical correlations in geotechnical engineering. This paper examines the basis of relationships used
to assess the capacity of foundations in sand and shows that correlations employing the qc value in con-
junction with other carefully chosen geometric and/or material variables can provide designers with an
excellent means of assessing the (i) bearing capacity of shallow foundations, (ii) base and shaft capacity of
bored piles, (iii) base and shaft capacity of displacement piles and (iv) lateral capacity of piles.
63
64
Labenne-Upper E2 0.71 0.1 0.95 7.5 0.81 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E3 0.71 0.1 1.25 7.5 0.81 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E4 0.71 0.2 0.78 7.5 0.78 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E5 0.71 0.8 1.15 7.5 0.66 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E6 0.71 1.1 1.20 7.5 0.62 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E7 0.71 1.6 1.23 7.5 0.57 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E8 1.00 0.2 0.82 6 0.68 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E13 1.00 0.2 0.85 6 0.68 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Upper E23 1.00 0.2 0.81 6 0.68 1 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E25 1.00 0.2 0.65 6 0.62 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E26 1.00 0.2 0.68 6 0.62 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E27 1.00 1.0 0.88 6 0.49 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E28 1.00 1.0 1.03 6 0.49 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E29 1.00 1.0 1.10 6 0.49 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E30 1.00 0.2 0.84 6 0.62 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E31 1.00 1.0 0.90 6 0.49 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E32 1.00 0.2 0.79 6 0.62 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E33 0.70 1.0 0.88 6 0.50 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E34 0.70 0.2 1.10 7.5 0.72 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E35 1.00 1.0 1.06 7.5 0.56 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E37 0.70 1.0 1.10 7.5 0.58 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E38 0.70 1.0 1.10 7.5 0.58 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Labenne-Lower E39 1.00 1.0 1.08 7.5 0.56 3 Canepa & Depresles (1990)
Shenton Park SP1 1.50 1.0 0.50 3.5 0.35 1 Lehane et al. (2008)
Shenton Park SP2 1.00 1.0 0.50 3.5 0.36 1 Lehane et al. (2008)
Shenton Park SP3 1.00 0.5 0.50 3.5 0.43 1 Lehane et al. (2008)
Shenton Park SP4 0.67 1.0 0.50 3.5 0.38 1 Lehane et al. (2008)
Shenton Park SP5 0.60 0.6 0.70 5.75 0.61 1 Ng (2009)
Shenton Park SP6 0.60 0.6 0.70 5.75 0.61 1 Ng (2009)
Shenton Park SP7 0.60 0.6 0.70 5.75 0.61 1 Ng (2009)
Shenton Park SP8 0.40 0.6 0.85 5.75 0.63 1 Ng (2009)
Ledge Point F1 0.30 0.5 1.00 6.1 0.68 1 Lehane (2010)
Ledge Point F2 0.60 0.3 0.88 8 0.79 1 Lehane (2010)
Ledge Point F3 0.30 0.3 1.08 7.1 0.79 1 Lehane (2010)
Ledge Point F4 0.60 0.3 1.18 7.2 0.75 1 Lehane (2010)
Ledge Point F5 0.58 0.4 1.30 11 0.87 1 Lehane (2010)
Ledge Point F6 0.58 0.3 0.93 7.2 0.74 1 Lehane (2010)
Ledge Point F7 0.30 0.1 0.93 4.3 0.68 1 Lehane (2010)
Ledge Point F8 0.30 0.4 1.12 8.3 0.81 1 Lehane (2010)
Blessington B2 0.25 0.1 2.80 14.5 0.89 20 Gavin et al. (2009)
Blessington B3 0.25 0.5 3.00 14.5 0.74 20 Gavin et al. (2009)
Blessington B4 0.40 0.4 1.40 8.7 0.58 20 Gavin et al. (2009)
Texas T1 1.00 0.7 1.60 7.25 0.63 1.5 Briaud & Gibbens (1999)
Texas T2 1.50 0.8 1.60 6.5 0.56 1.5 Briaud & Gibbens (1999)
Texas T3 2.50 0.8 1.26 6.4 0.53 1.5 Briaud & Gibbens (1999)
Texas T4 3.00 0.8 1.40 7.25 0.56 1.5 Briaud & Gibbens (1999)
Texas T5 3.00 0.9 1.25 5 0.42 1.5 Briaud & Gibbens (1999)
65
2.5
qf,predicted/q0.1,measured
1.5
66
4
gravel at a pile displacement of 10% of the pile
base diameter (q0.1) is generally assumed to be a
3 fraction of the average qc value in the vicinity of
the pile base (qc,average), i.e.
Equation (5)
2 q0.1 = bqc,average (6)
where the empirical factor, b, used in design
1
is typically between 0.15 and 0.2 (e.g. DIN
4014-1990, Jamiolkowski & Lancellotta 1988).
Higher b values of up to 0.5 have been reported
0
(Holeyman et al. 1997; Everts & Luger 1997), but
0 1 2 3 these are thought to refer to capacities at greater
qc
0.5
'v
0.25
patm
0.25
(MPa) levels of base movement and to capacities from
pile construction techniques that induce displace-
Figure 3. Comparison of equation (5) with experimen- ment at the pile base (e.g. screw piles).
tal measurements and numerical predictions for q0.1. There is a clear equivalence between Equa-
tion (6) and Equation (4) for shallow spread foot-
0.5
ings and therefore, as with the spread footings, it is
also likely that an expression such as equation (5) is
0.45 more generally applicable than equation (4).
Equation 5 with 'v=100 kPa A database of base capacities assessed from a
0.4 load tests on a series of bored piles is used here to
assess the validity of Equations (5) and (6). This
0.35 database is summarized in Table 2 and involved
Footing test data 10 load tests on piles installed by Belpile Pty Ltd
0.3 in the dune sands of Perth, Western Australia. The
straight shafted piles in the database were installed
q0.1/qc
67
4
0.5% and 1% and the cones excess pore pressures
were typically about 50 to 100 kPa i.e. Bq values
3 were less than 0.05. On the basis of this informa-
tion, the Piling Contractor made the assumption
that cone penetration was essentially drained and
2 Equation (5)
selected a q0.1 value of 750 kPa for design (i.e.
b = 0.25 for the mean qc value).
1 Three of the four static load tests at the site
indicated q0.1 values of between 2.3 and 2.7 MPa
and the fourth load test indicated a q0.1 value of
0 4.2 MPa. It is clear that these capacities were well
0 1 2 3 in excess of the expectations of the Piling Con-
=qc
0.5
'v0
0.25
patm
0.25
(MPa)
tractor and equate in all cases to b values that are
in excess of 0.8 and more than double those pre-
Figure 5. Comparison of Equation (5) with end bear- dicted using equation (5). One explanation for the
ing resistance of bored piles in Perth sand. observed effect is that the development of excess
pore pressures during cone insertion led to qc val-
The end bearing capacities at s/Dbase = 0.1 are ues that were less than half of the fully drained
plotted on Figure 5 using the same format as that values. The normalised velocities (defined as
employed on Figure 3 for the shallow footings. It vD/cv; see Finnie & Randolph 1994) in the pile
is seen that the pile q0.1 values also increase with tests were more than 30 times slower than in the
(=qc0.5v0.25patm0.25) but are, on average, about 25% cone tests. Evidence from Suzuki et al. (2012), and
higher than those of the footings at the same elsewhere, indicates that this difference in nor-
value. This trend is likely to reflect construction malised velocity would be sufficient to cause the
induced improvement to the sand at the pile base. observed effect.
It is of interest to note that, in keeping with Support for inference of rate effects at this site
the format of equation (5) and Figure 4, the was provided by CPT data in sandy layers present
b (=q0.1/qc) ratios for the database show a clear within the alluvial sand deposit. These indicated
trend to increase with pile length and to increase Bq = 0, friction ratios of 0.5% and qc in the range
with reducing qc value. For example, b varies from 10 to 15 MPa. Application of Equation (5) using
0.16 at Shenton Park with L = 4 m to 0.33 at Coode these qc values predicts capacities that are in good
Street with L = 12.5 m while b at the dense Coode agreement with the measured values, suggest-
Street site is about 30% less than that at the loose ing that CPTs conducted at rates slower than the
South Perth site). It is therefore apparent that the standard rate are of greater benefit in the assess-
design b values of 0.15 to 0.2 referred to previ- ment of pile end bearing in siltier deposits.
ously are conservative for the database of pile
tests listed in Table 2 and that equation (5) could
4 SHAFT CAPACITY FOR BORED PILES
be used to provide better estimations for design
purposesat least in the Perth dune sands.
4.1 General format of correlations
While correlations between the CPT qc value and
3.2 Effects of rate on relationship for q0.1
pile capacity may be appreciated for displacement
in bored piles
piles (given the similarity between a cone and a full
When considering relationships such as Equa- displacement pile), the relationship between this
tion (5), it is important to note that the qc value qc value and the shaft resistance of a bored pile
is that corresponding to fully drained conditions. is less obvious. However, despite the lack of any
While drainage in the vicinity of a cone occurs at theoretical basis, the most popular design meth-
a much faster rate than near a pile base, the rate of ods for bored piles in coarse grained soil assume a
loading of piles in practice is so slow that condi- proportional relationship between qc and the unit
68
69
0 0
Gauge level 1
0.5 0.5
Gauge level 2
1 1
2 f taken at nominal 2
displacement of 15mm
2.5 2.5
Gauge level 4
3 D=225mm 3
D=340mm 3.5
3.5
(extrapolated
from w~5mm) Gauge level 5
4 4
0.6
centrally in the pile bore after grout placement (see
= 230 h 0
qc
Figure 7). The ultimate shear stresses (f) inferred at Dr = 86 4% (10a)
patm patm
from the measured axial load distributions in the
two compression tests are plotted on Figure 7.
0.6
These f values required relatively large pile dis- qc h 0
= 160 at Dr = 54 7 % (10b)
placements to mobilize e.g. between 3% and 6% p
patm atm
of the pile diameter for the 225 mm diameter pile.
It was only possible to load the 340 mm diameter If both construction related and shearing
pile to a head displacement of 5 mm due to the induced changes in effective stress are assumed to
limited available reaction from the CPT truck and be negligible (i.e. hc and hd = 0 in equation 8)
therefore the f values plotted for this pile were so that the lateral effective stress at peak shear
extrapolated using the same form of t-z response stress, hf, is equal to h0, equation (10) may be
measured for the 225 mm pile. manipulated to produce relationships for c = f/qc
Figure 7 shows that f reduces with depth for for a wished-in-place (WIP) pile in medium dense
both piles, despite the fact that qc increases with and dense Leighton Buzzard (LB) sand. These rela-
depth at a relatively significant rate. There is tionships are plotted on Figure 8 assuming a (typi-
clearly not a proportional relationship between f cal) value of 35 for a concrete-sand interface.
and qc. The value of c (=qc /f ) reduces almost ten- Figure 8 shows that the values of c, when
fold from 0.5 m to 3.3 m, and over the same depth hd = hc = 0, are well in excess of those used in
interval, the lateral stress coefficient K (=hf /v0) standard design i.e. shaft frictions of actual bored
reduces from 12 to 0.42 (assuming = 33) piles are typically about double those of a wished-
in-place pile in sand with no dilation and qc<
10 MPa. Figure 9 therefore provides indirect con-
4.3 c values for piles when hd = hc = 0
firmation that hf for a bored pile in sand is likely
Houlsby & Hitchman (1988) show that the CPT to be larger than the in-situ lateral effective stress
qc value correlates directly with the in-situ lateral (h0). The same conclusion was inferred from the
effective stress (h0) and is relatively independent backanalyses of Rollins et al. (2005) summarised
of v0. The following relationships were proposed in Figure 6.
for (medium grained) Leighton Buzzard sand at Centrifuge tests on buried piles in sand reported
two relative densities (Dr), where patm = 100 kPa. by Foray et al. (1998) and Lehane et al. (2005a)
70
0.5 0.5
1
D=225mm
1
'ho measured
Depth (m)
3 3
3.5 3.5
4 4
Measured
'v0 Predicted, Go=80 MPa
4.5 4.5 Predicted, Go=130 MPa
Predicted,No dilation
5 5
Figure 9. (a) In-situ stresses at Shenton Park; (b) Measured and predicted c values.
71
1.2 Baghdad
Ogeechee River Drammen
1.0
Hoogzand 5 BASE CAPACITY
Hsin Ta FOR DISPLACEMENT PILES
/ qc
0.8
c,avg
Hunter's Point
qb0.1
Indiana
0.4
Kallo oped to estimate the base capacity of piles utiliz-
Ogeechee ing cone end resistance qc, e.g. the Schmertmann
0.2 Sermide method (Schmertmann 1978), Dutch method
Salt Lake (de Ruiter & Beringen 1979), LCPC method
0.0
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
(Bustamante & Gianeselli 1982), and Eslami &
Pile diameter (m) Fellenius method (Eslami & Fellenius 1997). The
formulations for end bearing given by Schmertmann
Figure 10. Variation of q0.1/qc,avg with pile diameter for (1978) and the Dutch method are essentially the
database piles. same, both being based on the same early research
72
73
74
f (kPa)
qc (MPa)
0 2 4 6 0 20 40 60 80
0 0
Reduction in local shear z
stress with pile
Normalized instrument depth, z/D
1 10 penetration
2 20
Instrumentation
Depth (m)
clusters
3 30
h/D=25
4 40
h/D=14
5 50 0.1m diameter
jacked closed h/D=4 h
ended steel pile
6 60
Figure 12. Comparison with CPT qc profile of local ultimate shear stresses (f) measured during jacked pile installa-
tion in La-benne sand (Lehane 1992; Lehane et al. 1993).
75
(a) Closed-ended pile. Ar = 1 (b) Coring (unplugged) (c) Partially plugged open-ended
open-ended pile. IFR = 1, Ar ~ 0.1 pile. IFR < 1, 0.1 < Ar < 1
Figure 13. Schematic showing the effects of the pile end condition on soil flow and radial stresses; White et al.
(2005).
76
77
=2 c (18)
D
to be significantly greater than the critical state fric-
tion angle because of higher dilatancy in the critical v v
near surface layers adjacent to a laterally load pile. 0.72 0.58
Clearly, therefore, a direct correlation between lat- P q y
= 2.7 c (19)
eral resistance and the CPT qc value is preferred. D D D
The strong user dependence of the estimated
lateral resistance is illustrated on Figure 16 which where D is the vertical effective stress at a depth
shows the lateral pressure (P) versus normal- (z) = D.
ised lateral displacement (y/D) measured by the Equations (18) and (19) apply only to driven
author (publication in preparation) adjacent to piles in calcareous sands. These sands are expected
300 75 mm diameter bored piles installed at to have a significantly lower initial stiffness than sil-
Shenton Park and Jon Sanders sites in Perth. The ica sands (Wesselink et al. 1988). They also exhibit
soils conditions at these two sites comprised dune no distinct limiting stress (pu), with pressures con-
sand located above the water table; Perth designers tinuing to increase at movements in excess of 20%
normally adopt a friction angle of 40 for laterally of the pile diameter.
loaded pile design in these soils conditions. Lee et al. (2010) conducted a numerical study
It is apparent that the measured responses differ in which the CPT qc value was evaluated numeri-
significantly from API(2000) predictionswith the cally in sands with a variety of relative densities
response at one site being over-predicted by a factor and in-situ stress states. These qc values were then
of 2. The relative magnitudes of the CPT end resist- compared with the limiting stress (Pu) proposed
ance (qc) at z = 0.6 m provides an explanation for by Broms (1964) to deduce the following relation-
ship between Pu and the CPT qc value in silica sand
(where p is the mean effective stress and pa is a ref-
250 erence stress = 100 kPa):
Jon Sanders Drive, qc=12 MPa
Pu 0 196 qc 0.47 p 0 63 pa1.1 (20)
200
when Pu = 3v tan2 (45 + /2)
Equation (20) can be simplified with little loss in
accuracy from that computed by Lee et al. (2010)
Pressure (kPa)
78
40
8 CONCLUSIONS
pu/'v ( Measured)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Figure 17. Pu/ v values predicted using Equation 21
compared with Pu / v values measured in Perth dune The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance,
sand. in the research presented here, of former and cur-
rent students at The University of Western Australia,
most notably Dr. James Schneider, Dr. Xiangtao Xu,
Mr. Alex Li, Mr. Blake Luff, Ms. Rimonde Nguyen,
Perth dune sand; qc values at the respective limit Dr. Gima Mathew and Mr. Terence Ng. The author
pressure locations varied between 3 MPa and 15 is also indebted to Stuart Coutts of Belpile Pty Ltd
MPa, and normalised depths (z/D) were in the for assisting in the research of bored piles in sand.
range of 0.9 to 2.7.
It is seen on Figure 17 that, even assuming a
relatively low K0 value of 0.5, Equation (21) REFERENCES
typically over-predicts the limit pressures by
about 50%. This under-prediction is not likely API. 2000. RP2A-WSD: Recommended Practice for
to be due to the occurrence of a shallow failure Planning, Designing and Constructing Fixed Off-
mode as all z/D values considered were in excess shore Platforms-Working Stress Design, 21 edn,
of those for which Equation (17a) gave Pu / v Washington.
values less than the Broms (1964) Pu / v value of API. 2007. RP2A-WSD: Supplement 3 of Recommended
3 tan2 (45 + /2). Practice for Planning, Designing and Constructing
It is of interest to note that Dyson & Randolph Fixed Offshore PlatformsWorking Stress Design
(2001) noted that the ultimate resistance for a (21 ed.), Washington.
buried pile was approximately half of that indi- Axelsson, G. 1998. Long-term increase in shaft capacity of
cated by Equation 19 for driven piles. Therefore, driven piles in sand. Proc., 4th Int. Con. on Case Histo-
in the absence of additional information and given ries in Geotechnical Eng., St. Louis, Missouri: 125.
the over-prediction on Figure 17 for bored piles, Bolton, M.D. 1986. The strength and dilatancy of sands,
it may prudent to apply the same reduction to Geotechnique, 36(1): 6578.
Equation (21) for bored piles. There is, however, Briaud, J.-L. & Gibbens, R.M. 1999. Behavior of five
a clear need for further research in this area as large spread footings in sand. J. Geotech. Geoenviron.
limiting lateral pressures for three 400 mm diam- Eng., 125(9): 787796.
eter bored piles in clayey sand at Iksan (South Briaud, J.L. & Tucker, L.M. 1988. Measured and pre-
Korea) reported by Lee et al. (2010) were the same dicted axial response of 98 piles. Journal of Geotechni-
or higher than those predicted using Equation cal Engineering, 114(9): 9841001.
21. The under-prediction of Pu at Iksan could, Brinch, Hansen, J. 1970. A revised and extended formula
for bearing capacity. Danish Geotechnical Institute,
however, have been due to the generation of pore
Copenhagen, Denmark, 98, 511.
pressures during cone penetration- and hence the
79
80
81
J. Peuchen
Fugro, Leidschendam, The Netherlands
ABSTRACT: Site characterization is fundamental to managing ground risks and optimizing oppor-
tunities. It is subordinate to nearshore and offshore projects, selected here to mean projects for seabed-
supported facilities in water depths between about 20 m and about 200 m. This paper presents perceptions
of current practice, common pitfalls and possible future development scenarios for the industry. Par-
ticular attention is given to strategy and management, integrated geosciences, and project-specific data
acquisition.
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
(a) (b)
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
Continuous Profiling
Logging While Drilling IB >400 +/ * Natural gamma, neutron, electrical resistivity,
LWD resistivity at bit (RAB); (Flemings et al. 2006)
Legend (A) = Ground truthing for geotechnical/geological soil characteristics ++ high applicability; (B) = Geo-chemical character of
soil and gas hydrates + medium applicability; (C) = Geo-chemical character of pore water/gas +/ possible applicability; (D) = In-situ
geo-stress conditionsno applicability; BD = intrusive, from Below Drillbit; FS = intrusive, directly From Seafloor; IB = In Borehole.
Frequency of use * = less than 0.1% of intrusive data acquisition operations; ** = between 0.1% and 1% of intrusive data acquisition
operations; *** = between 1% and 10% of intrusive data acquisition operations; **** = more than 10% of intrusive data acquisition
operations.
102
103
104
Assessment of the monitoring results takes place *InSAR satellite surveying is noisy and unpredictable across small, complex
at appropriate stages and typically updates the site structures such as oil/gas platforms.
characterization (Szavits Nossan 2006).
Geo-professionals exercise logic and specialist
6 MAIN POINTS judgement for when characterizing nearshore
and offshore sites. This labour intensive process
The subject of offshore site characterisations, can be supplemented by advanced simulation
(generally) the seabed conditions on continen- and probabilistic software, particularly when
tal shelves, are often variable and complex, (and handling large data volumes and when work-
thus may be distinct from onshore site// may/ ing with sparse data. Some encouraging pilot
often pose challenges different from those in projects suggest that such advanced packages
onshore characterisation projects). Site char- may be used for future site characterization in
acterization is therefore crucial for managing nearshore and offshore projects.
ground risks and optimizing opportunities for Site characterization has benefitted from the
seabed-supported facilities. amount of information in databases and other
Site characterization for nearshore and offshore knowledge repositories, but it can be also
projects is no longer pioneering activity: it has affected by (or reproduce) errors therein. In the
become a (commonly) required deliverable. Now past 15 years, use of information technology for
most improvements in practices are gradual. site characterization in nearshore and offshore
Political and economic interests of stakehold- projects has grown. Combining a GIS package
ers direct and alter the courses of nearshore and with one or more separate database programs
offshore projects. In practice this human factor is now (2012) common practice. Knowledge
complex interactions between stakeholders repositories, public and corporate, inevitably
can reduce added value and lead to alignment contain information that is incorrect. Independ-
difficulties. ent verification of project-critical information
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
K.K. Phoon
National University of Singapore, Singapore
J. Ching
National Taiwan University, Republic of China
113
114
Table 2 provides a summary of scales of fluctua- a transformation model is needed to relate the test
tion reported in the literature. It is apparent that the measurement to an appropriate design parameter.
amount of information on the scale of fluctuation Some degree of uncertainty will be introduced,
is relatively limited in comparison to the amount of because most transformation models in geotechni-
information on COV. Therefore, Table 2 should be cal engineering are obtained by empirical or semi-
viewed with caution, because there are insufficient empirical data fitting. Transformation uncertainty
data to establish their generality on a firm basis. would be present even for theoretical relationships
However, it would appear the horizontal scale of because of idealizations and simplifications in the
fluctuation is about one order of magnitude larger theory. The data scatter about the transformation
than the vertical scale of fluctuation. Detailed model can be quantified using probabilistic meth-
studies on the scale of fluctuation are available, but ods, as illustrated in Figure 3. In this approach, the
rather limited in number (Jaksa 1995; Fenton 1999; transformation model typically is typically evalu-
Uzielli et al. 2005). ated using regression analyses.
More general approaches are available to quan-
tify uncertainties beyond the pairwise correla-
2.3 Transformation uncertainty
tions discussed in this section (see Section 3 on
The direct measurement from a geotechnical test is multivariate geotechnical data). The spread of the
typically not directly applicable to design. Instead, data about the regression curve is modeled as a
115
116
Table 3. Guidelines for coefficients of variation of common design soil parameters as a function of evaluation meth-
odology (Source: Phoon & Kulhawy 1999b).
117
118
119
120
Table 6. Correlation matrix C for (X1, X2, . . . X5) for the five selected parameters of structured clays (Source: Ching
& Phoon 2012c).
X1 (for LI) X2 (for su) X3 (for sure) X4 (for p) X5 (for v)
Figure 4. Correlations between Y1 and Y3 as well as between X1 and X3 (revised from Ching & Phoon 2012c).
121
Table 7. Updated mean and COV of su/v for structured clays under various combinations of information (Source:
Ching & Phoon 2012c).
Table 8. Updated mean and COV of p/Pa for structured clays under various combinations of information
(Source: Table 8, Ching & Phoon 2012c).
Table 9. Updated mean and COV of St = su/sure for structured clays under various combinations of information
(Source: Ching & Phoon 2012c).
122
Table 10. Updated mean and COV of CIUC su for unstructured clays under various combinations of information
(Ching et al. 2010).
Table 11. Correlation matrix C for (X1, X2, X3, X4) for the four selected parameters of unstructured clays
(Source: Phoon et al. 2012).
123
Table 12. Updated mean and standard deviation of p for clean sands under various combinations of information
(Based on Eqs. 1117, Ching et al. 2012a).
IR 3 IR + cv 1.960
(N1)60 6.220 ln[(N1)60] + 23.167 3.086
qc1 7.819 ln(qc1) + 2.401 3.919
IR, (N1)60 1.996 IR + 0.665 cv + 2.081 ln[(N1)60] + 7.751 1.655
IR, qc1 2.335 IR + 0.778 cv + 1.735 ln(qc1) + 0.533 1.753
(N1)60, qc1 3.840 ln[(N1)60] + 2.993ln(qc1) + 15.22 2.423
IR, (N1)60, qc1 1.814 IR + 0.605 cv + 1.518ln[(N1)60] +1.183 ln(qc1) + 6.015 1.524
Table 13. Correlation matrix C for (X1, X2, X3, X4, X5) for the five selected parameters of clean sands (Source: Ching
et al. 2012a).
124
125
[ f ( )] [ f] (9)
Var [ P
f Var[[ f ] 2 ( n p )
( z )] V
Var
where
2 ( p ) [[2 p 1 exp(
exp( 2 p )] / 2 n 2p (10)
np L p SOF
O p
E( O
f ) E(
E( P
f ) C ( n ) Var ( P
f ) (11a)
Figure 6. f and f for a special case. Horizontal slip
O D
126
127
128
129
130
Rodrigo Salgado
Purdue University, West Lafayette, US
ABSTRACT: Cone penetration in soil is a complex process. The complexity arises partly from the
boundary-value problem itself, in which a penetrometer with a conical tip is pushed down at constant
rate through a (possibly heterogeneous) soil mass of infinite extent in the horizontal direction but with
a free horizontal surface, and from the nature of the soil, a particulate material with strongly nonlinear
mechanical response. Because of the advantages of using cone penetration as a means of characterizing a
soil site, the problem of linking the cone penetration resistance to fundamental properties of the soil has
received considerable attention in research. Experimental work has included field testing and laboratory
testing in test chambers and geotechnical centrifuges, and theoretical work has included early efforts with
rigid-plastic, limit equilibrium-type analysis (ultimately not satisfactory), cavity expansion-based analy-
ses (fairly successful in the analysis of cone penetration through homogenous soil), strain path methods
(fairly successful in the modeling of cone penetration through homogeneous clay) and recent efforts of
analyzing the problem more rigorously using large-deformation numerical analyses. Experimental work
using half chambers and centrifuges with half cones penetrating a soil sample next to a Plexiglass wall
with simultaneous collection of images during penetration has allowed use of Digital Image Correlation
(DIC) methods to understand the displacement field around a penetrating cone. Collectively, these tech-
niques have generated a body of knowledge that allows effective interpretation of cone penetration tests,
but rigorous theoretical simulation of cone penetration has not yet been achieved.
131
132
Unconfined compression
Rad and Lunne (1988)
Lean clay 48 9.5 vane tests) the 915 range is actually quite narrow.
We will later see that theoretical methods confirm
Silty quick clay 11.3
that Nk should be within this range. Outliers result
Plastic clay 57.3 12.5 from either the fact that su is obtained from und-
Plastic OC clay 54.3 12.6 rained loading while qc is measured under partially
drained conditions (for soils with low clay content)
Plastic clay 31.8 13.0
or gross errors in test procedures.
Gravelly clay 15.7 In connection with the possibility of partial
Clay 58.7 24.5 drainage during cone penetration testing, Kim
La Rochelle
et al. (2008) performed CPTs in the field at various
Silty clay Vane 1112.5 rates of penetration. Two sets of field cone penetra-
et al. (1988)
tion tests were conducted at two sites in the state of
Stark and UUTXC 11
Silty clay of low Indiana, US. Soil profiles containing a fairly homo-
Juhrend
(1989)
plasticity Vane 13 geneous and thick clayey soil layer with sufficient
amounts of sand or silt and with values of coeffi-
Silty clay CAUC 1540 15 cient of consolidation cv that are not as low as that
Lunne et al. Stiff clay 2335 12 of pure clay were selected. For such sites, CPTs per-
(1986)
Onshore quick formed at slow penetration rates allowed identifica-
10.5 tion of transition from undrained to partially and,
clay
in some cases, fully drained conditions. Addition-
Denver
(1988)
Glacial clay 7.39.5 ally, only soil layers located below the groundwater
level were considered so that the data are for fully
saturated conditions. The cone penetration tests
(1995)
Luke
133
134
135
136
10
to the cone diameter at which boundary effects
are expected to be small is of the same order as
5 observed in calibration chambers (40 is the number
suggested by Gui et al. (1998) for silica sand, but
extensive work on this has not been done and
0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 dependence on model soil dilatancy has not been
V = vD/cv considered, as far as I could ascertain). Proximity
1.2 to the border is a different factor, because the cone
penetrometer in that case is near the border on one
side but is far from other boundaries. A distance
of the order of 1015 cone diameters in silica sand
0.8
would likely be required according to the same
u/umax
137
138
139
(a)
(b)
(c)
Figure 8. Cone penetrometer and the magnitude of the Figure 9. Vertical displacement along loose-dense
vertical displacements in the soil around it for the loose interface in a sand sample during a CPT in a large half
over dense sample. chamber.
140
141
142
Figure 11. Schematic of a cavity expanded from zero It is also possible to use other constitutive mod-
initial radius, the plastic and elastic zones around it, and els in the cavity expansion analysis, as shown by
the values of shear modulus in the elastic zones and radial Salgado & Randolph (2001). However, for unce-
stress and friction angle in the plastic zone. mented sands, the Bolton (1986) model is a sim-
ple model that works well for the type of loading
Cavity expansion creates zones of soil around experienced during cavity expansion. For plane-
the cavity with stress combinations that, in the strain conditions, which are operative in cylindri-
context of relatively simple soil constitutive mod- cal cavity expansion, the Bolton (1986) model gives
els, could be divided in a plastic zone, a zone in the relative dilatancy index IR, friction angle and
which a classical plasticity yield criterion is not sat- dilatancy angle within an element ij as:
isfied but the soil is no longer in the linear elastic
zone (a nonlinear elastic zone) and one in which DR,ij p
I R,ij = Q + ln A RQ (8)
the stresses are still in the linear elastic range (a 100 100 p ij
linear elastic zone), as shown in Figure 11.
A cylindrical cavity expansion analysis is done ij c + 5I R,ij (9)
in terms of radii r. A typical thin shell is bounded
by inner and outer radii ri and rj measured from the I R,ij
center of the cavity, which has radius a (see Fig- sin ij = (10)
6.7 + I R,ij
ure 12). A combination of the yield criterion
where DR,ij = relative density ranging from 0
r = Nij (4)
to 100% within the thin ij shell; Q, RQ = fitting
for purely frictional soils with the equilibrium parameters that depend on the sand characteristics
equation (but can be taken as 10 and 1 for a generic silica
d r r sand); pij = mean effective stress at the center of
+ =0 (5) the ij shell; and pA = reference stress = 100 kPa =
dr r 0.1 MPa 1 tsf.
yields Eq. (3) expresses how the radial stress varies
N ij 1 within a thin shell bounded by internal radius ri
r N ij (6) and external radius rj. A relationship also exists
ri rj j
r
i
between the accumulated volumetric, radial and
hoop strains in an element; ri and rj; and the radial
In this equation, r = effective radial stress and displacements ui and uj at r = ri and r = rj.
= effective hoop stress around the expanding Cavity expansion analysis has the mathematical
cylindrical cavity; Nij = flow number at the center property of self-similarity. The easiest way to under-
of the element, given by stand this is to consider a cavity undergoing steady-
state expansion both at a fixed moment in time and
1 + sin iij at various times during expansion. Let us first con-
N ij = (7)
1 sin iij sider that at some moment in time the cavity has
expanded to the point such that the plastic radius is
and ij = friction angle within the very thin shell ij. equal to R and that we have subdivided the plastic
The friction angle, in this analysis, is assumed to zone in n elements ij (with n being a large number)
vary according to the Bolton model (Bolton 1986). with some thickness t. If we look at the stresses and
143
r(r = R) = R = T (15)
where p0 = h, T is the hoop strain at the
elastic-plastic interface, r is the radial strain, and
Np = peak flow number, related to p through
eq. (7). Iterations are required to obtain compat-
ible values of p, R, pR and R (all at the elastic-
plastic interface). These iterations involve using pij
= pR in eq. (8) to calculate p using eq. (9).
As calculations proceed for elements increas-
ingly farther from the elastic-plastic interface, Figure 13. Transition zone between cone penetrometer
an element will eventually be reached for which and zone where stress field resembles a cylindrical cavity
the inner boundary displacement is equal to the expansion stress field.
144
0.5 o
0.5
1.0 that the strain paths in the immediate zone around
an advancing cone resembled those for cylindrical
1.5
cavity expansion for a very slender cone, but for
2.0 cone angles around the 60-degree standard angle,
2.5 they resembled neither spherical nor cylindrical
cavity expansion strain paths. When points fur-
3.0
ther away from the cone were considered, however,
3.5 cylindrical cavity expansion paths would approxi-
4.0 mate what was observed from the application of
the strain path method. Ultimately, however, the
4.5
DR = 10 100 % method demonstrates that cavity expansion meth-
5.0 ods can be good approximations but are not rigor-
0 200 400 600 800 1000
qc/pA ous solutions of the cone penetration problem.
An additional insight from the Teh and Houlsby
0.0
(1991) application of the strain path method is that,
Initial Lateral Effective Stress, h / pA
0.5 c = 36o for very sharp cones pushing through not very stiff
1.0 soil, the plastic zone has small to zero depth imme-
1.5
diately below the cone tip, suggesting a cutting of
the soil by the cone penetrometer, while for normal
2.0 cone angles (such as the standard angle) there is a
2.5 compressive plastic zone below the cone tip, just as
3.0
there would be for a pile.
The cone factor can also be calculated using the
3.5 strain path method; Teh and Houlsby (1991) did
4.0 so for a soil following a Mises yield criterion. An
4.5 expression was proposed for Nk as a function of
DR = 10 100 %
the soil stiffness, cone roughness and initial stress
5.0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 anisotropy:
qc/pA 12 1 84 l I r + 2 c 2 (17)
k
Figure 14. Plots of qc versus lateral effective stress and where = (v0 h0)/su is related to the degree of
relative density for three values of critical state friction overconsolidation of the soil, Ir = G/su is the rigidity
angle: 30, 33 and 36 degrees. index of the soil and c is the cone roughness fac-
tor (0 being smooth and 1 being rough enough for
viewed from the viewpoint of the penetrometer. The shearing to take place within the adjoining soil).
key assumption of the method is that, because the
deep penetration problem is heavily kinematically
3.4 Large-strain finite element analysis
constrained, a reasonable estimate of the streamlines
(the paths followed by soil particles around the cone) Cone penetration involves large deformation of
can be made without rigorous consideration of the the soil and significant sliding at the interface
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
D.A. Kort
Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Norway
157
158
0.6
The site characterization can be sub-divided in 0.7
a geological site investigation, a field soil investiga-
tion and a laboratory soil investigation. 0.8
0.9
3.1 Geological site characterization
The aim of the geological site characterization is to 1
obtain a proper understanding of the distribution 1m 2m 3m 4m 5m 6m 7m 8m 9m 10m
159
160
Label: Ip, %
71 - - - pc' = 101.3.10(1.11-1.62.LI)
1000 Land clays
85
46 Offshore clays
4.1 Assessment of in situ stresses and stress history 76
44 35
39 18
1313 13
8
42 12
The following in-situ stress and stress history pro- 100
100 100
35 64
files versus elevation are required: 35 40
65 29 31 12
38
28 38
161
162
163
164
165
P. Tommasi
National Research Council, Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering, Roma, Italy
G. Urciuoli
Department of Hydraulic, Geotechnical and Environmental Engineering, Universit di Napoli Federico II, Italy
ABSTRACT: Shear zones generated by past or ongoing events play a crucial role on the stability of
cuttings and natural slopes and on the performance of engineering works. Detection of their location and
hydraulic and mechanical characterization represent a critical issue in geotechnical investigations. The
paper reports data on shear zones taken from literature and writers experience, and describes some criteria
for shear zone identification.
167
168
shear
zone
principal shear
5 mm
169
Figure 4. Macro-photographs of direct shear specimens recovered within Calcari Grigi clayey interbeds.
(a)
170
Figure 7. Shear zones of the Masseria De Nicola (a) and rindisi di Montagna earthflow (b).
Type III fabric was found in shallower interbeds whose top soil had been completely removed (Pel-
summing up effects of tectonic (flexural slips) and legrino et al. 2004). The difference in fabric between
successive deep-seated gravitational movements the shear zone and the underlying parent formation
along bedding joints. is evident. Another example of highly remoulded
In extreme cases, the magnitude of accumulated shear zone is reported in Figure 7b which shows
strains can completely remould the soil, destroying the shear zone of the Brindisi di Montagna
its initial fabric. A classic example is mentioned by earthflow (Cotecchia et al. 1984). The slickenside
Tsui et al. (1988) who describe the shear zone found located aside the small coin indicates the presence
at the base of a cut in an ice-thrusting rock in the of minor shears. In both cases, the thickness of the
Highvale mine, Alberta. The shear zone consists shear zone is some tens of centimeters.
in a band of remoulded clay with isolate lumps of Based on results of undrained ring shear tests on
the parent formation (lithorelicts), while only some silica sand, Agung et al. (2004) remark that shear-
minor shears were visible. ing causes a progressive increase in thickness of the
Further examples of highly disturbed shear shear zone, grain crushing and significant changes
zones can be found in the literature. Shear zones in soil fabric, which becomes more and more uni-
located at the base of earthflows are typical cases. form. In particular, the shear fissures which form
These are subjected to relatively rapid deformations just after peak, tend to progressively disappear
cumulating tens or hundred meters, which impose as deformation proceeds. At the same time, local
large drag forces to the ground surface over which soil compaction and grain size segregation lead to
the earthflow spreads. The top of the parent for- formation of an internal core constituted by well
mation is probably involved in the movement and aligned particles. Based on field and laboratory
mixed with the material located at the base of the observations on shear zones of relatively rapid
landslide body (Corominas 1996; Bromhead 2004). earthflows in highly fissured tectonized clay shales,
Careful investigations carried out in the Picarelli et al. (2006) assume that similar changes
Basento valley, Southern Italy, where intensely could occur in clay. Even though the change in
fissured tectonized clay shales outcrop, provide a thickness during movement is not documented,
well-documented data-base useful for an in depth experience shows that the shear zone is much
discussion about features of shear zones of earth- thicker (reaching a meter or more) than in the case
flows (Picarelli 1993; Guerriero 1995; Comegna of slides. Moreover, the fabric of the shear zone
2005). is more uniform than that of the earthflow body.
An example is in Figure 7a showing the shear In fact, lithorelicts of the parent formation, abun-
zone at the base of the Masseria De Nicola earth- dant in the earthflow body, are progressively bro-
flow, which directly covers the basal formation ken by the continuous stress changes induced by
171
Figure 8. SEM photographs at low magnification of the Masseria Marino earthflow, Basento Valley (a) and of its
shear zone (b).
(a) (b)
Figure 9. SEM photographs at higher magnification of the Masseria Marino earthflow, (a) and of its shear zone (b).
movement and consequent softening and remold- fabric parallel to shear. In fact, specimens observed
ing. Movements obliterate also the network of at the SEM present small shear fissures with similar
natural fissures featuring the parent formation and orientation separated by a clay matrix formed by
the same shear fissures induced by shearing. Con- aggregates that are aligned accordingly to the orien-
versely, there is any clear evidence of segregation. tation of the more persistent structures (Fig. 10).
Also the micro-fabric of the shear zone, consist-
ing of distinct clay plate aggregates forming an open
3.2 Water content and soil state
fabric (Fig. 8b), is characterized by higher uniform-
ity than that of the earthflow body. In contrast, the Physical properties and soil state are modified by
earthflow material appears to consist of silt-size high deviatoric stress just as fabric is. In fact, they
lumps where clay plate aggregates are not visible at are quite different from those of the parent for-
low magnification (Fig. 8a). This entails that in the mation and, in case of landslides, of the same land-
shear zone porosity within and between aggregates slide body. In fact, the plastic volumetric strains
is higher than in the earthflow body as shown by induced by shear and by associated changes in
laboratory measurements (Picarelli 1993). At higher the mean effective stress (Urciuoli 2002), produce
magnification macropores between aggregates migration of water from or to the shear zone. Fig-
within the shear zone are widespread and more ure 11 shows the water content profile across two
evident, as well as clay plates (Fig. 9). As a final shear zones, in a highly overconsolidated clay and
remark, similarly to silica sand at steady conditions, in a slightly overconsolidated sensitive clay. The
clay particles in the shear zone have an oriented figure reveals the different response to shear of the
172
173
174
12000
10000 inclined to the shear direction (type I) a higher
8000 strength was measured. Comparison of tests on
6000 type I or II and III specimens also shows that
4000
2000
structure obliteration has a strong influence on
0 the shear strength.
0 50 100 150 200
p'c (kPa)
'cv = 23.51
50
ment and features of shear zones, in which slip sur-
residual strength
'res = 11.40
faces are generally located, and results of further
0
(Sabatino, 2004) b) improvements of investigation techniques.
0 50 100 150
' n [kPa]
200 250 300 The thickness of shear zones is not negligible
(even though in some cases it is very small) and
Figure 16. Results of triaxial: (a) and direct shear tests; their fabric and state are quite different from the
(b) on specimens taken from the shear zone of the Masseria soil around due to disturbance and remoulding
Marino earthflow (modified after Comegna et al. 2004). produced by shearing. The degree of disturbance
175
5 5 5
16
15 15 17 15
10 18
19
20 11 20 20 0.1 0.2 0.3
20
21 20
25 25 25
21
0.1 0.2 0.3
30 30 29 30 22
30
35 35 35
31
40 40 40
45 45 45
50 50 50
w measured in S1 w measured in S2 w measured in S3
Figure 18. Water content and displacement profiles measured in a slide at Grassano, Southern Italy (Di Maio &
Vassallo 2010).
176
and mechanical behaviour; in particular, soil stiff- shear processes which seem quite diffuse in the
ness and undrained strength are very sensitive soil mass. However, the presence of multiple shear
(even more than the water content) to any distur- zones induced by failures occurred at increas-
bance. Therefore, an alternative approach to locate ing depths as a consequence of deepening of
shear zones is through instruments which are able the river bed could not be excluded. The figure
to capture with spatial continuity the mechanical also shows the location of the slip surface of a
response of the soil with depth. slide occurred aside the investigated area, which
In principle, CPT and CPTU tests can provide falls just within the boundaries of the weakened
excellent data. An example is shown in Figure 20 zone. Similar results were obtained by Delisle and
which reports the tip resistance measured in Leroueil (2000) in other areas occupied by sensi-
slightly overconsolidated sensitive clays during tive clays. In particular, they remark that the rec-
a campaign of CPTU tests performed along the ompression index Cs and the accumulated strain
Maskinong river (Qubec), whose banks had until the preconsolidation pressure in oedometer
been affected by landslides (Fig. 20a, Demers et al. tests, as well as the volumetric strain to recompres-
1999). The results of tests carried out in appar- sion to in situ effective stress and axial strain at
ently stable zone (Fig. 20b) show that at some failure in triaxial CAUC tests, measured on speci-
distance from the river (vertical 7), where soil mens retrieved from supposed shear zones, were all
conditions are quite uniform, the tip resistance higher than those obtained from specimens taken
presents a regular linear increase with depth. In outside such zones. Accurate laboratory inves-
contrast, closer to the river, the strength profile tigation can hence add further indication about
displays unusual drops. The shaded zones shown the presence of shear zones. Another example is
in the plots of Figures 20a and b represent the reported in Figure 21 which shows the tip resist-
difference between the resistance, qT, measured ance, here indicated as qc, measured by means of
at verticals 12, 9 and 8, and that, qT0, measured two CPT tests in the Masseria Marino body and
far from the bank (7). Such drops in strength have in the parent formation down to a depth of 10 m
been supposed to be a consequence of changes where the soil strength was too high to allow fur-
in void ratio and structure induced by ongoing ther penetration of the cone (Picarelli 1993). The
177
178
mation down to a maximum depth of 26 meters. its present fabric and state are very different from
Totani et al. (1997) compared DMT verticals with initial ones. In particular, highly overconsolidated
plots of inclinometer displacements versus depth clays and clay shales can turn into highly softened
(Fig. 23). In the figure, depths of DMT logs with ductile materials; their hydraulic conductivity also
KD = 2 (indicated by arrows) seem to be coherent can radically change.
with sliding depths detected by inclinometers, Changes in structure, water content, hydrau-
excepting for the DMT3 vertical, where the sliding lic and mechanical soil properties can help in the
surface seems to be located above. In this respect, detection of shear zones. In fact, accurate inspec-
it is to be noted that inclinometer tubes were not tion of boreholes core, close measurement of the
exactly aligned located along the alignment of water content and mechanical in situ tests, such
DMT test but their profiles were projected on the as CPTU and DMT tests, can provide useful and
cross section passing through the DMT locations. often decisive data for locating shear zones. Nat-
Furthermore it cannot be excluded that the deep- urally, in the case of slopes, careful monitoring
est points at KD = 2 (located at depth not reached through inclinometers and other instruments can
by inclinometers) are old shear zones, not active definitely solve the problem.
anymore. In fact, a more comprehensive analysis
of inclinometer data, slope morphology and bore-
hole stratigraphy, suggests that also the shallow REFERENCES
point at KD = 2 of DMT4 vertical could be inter-
preted as a result of local slope failure. Agung, M.W., Sassa, K., Fukuoka, H. & Wang, G. 2004.
Evolution of shear-zone structure in undrained ring-
shear tests. Landslides, 1(2): 101112.
5 CONCLUSIONS Amoroso, S., Totani, F. & Totani, G. 2012. Use of the
seismic dilatometer (SMDT) in landslide research and
practice. In Proc. 2nd World Landslide Forum, Rome,
Shear zones and slip surfaces represent a challenge 39 October 2011. in print.
for geotechnical engineers since they are often hid- Bernarder, S. 2000. Progressive landslides in long natural
den features of the soil and can strongly govern the slopes, formation, potential extension and configuration
stability of slopes and the performance of man-made of finished slides in strain-softening soils. Licentiate
works. Slip surfaces are specific features of shear Thesis, Dept. of Civil and Mining Engineering, Lule
zones that form as a result of strain localisation Univ. of Technology, Lule, Sweden.
induced by increasing deviatoric stresses in an ad- Bishop, A.W., Kumapley, N.K. & El-Ruwayih, A. 1975.
vanced stage of the process of plastic shear soil de- The influence of pore-water tension on the strength of
clay. Proc. Royal Society of London, 278: 511554.
formation. Therefore, the role of slip surfaces cannot Bromhead, E.N. 2004. Landslide slip surfaces: their ori-
be distinguished from that of shear zones around. gins, behavior and geometry. In W.A. Lacerda, M.
The features of shear zones depend on the mag- Ehrlich, S.A.B. Fontoura & A.S.F. Sayo (eds.), Proc.
nitude of accumulated strains. In extreme cases, the 9th Int. Symp. on Landslides, Rio de Janeiro, 28 June2
original soil structure is completely destroyed and July 2004, 1: 322. Balkema, Rotterdam.
179
180
A. Viana da Fonseca
University of Porto, Faculty of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Portugal
ABSTRACT: Geotechnical design and the solutions for construction of tailings dams resulting from the
mining industry operations, specially the evaluation of the possibility of flow liquefaction responsible for
the collapse of several dams, has been mobilizing the attention of researchers and engineering practition-
ers. The investigation of water table position, aquifer boundaries, physical conditions and density of the
deposed materials demand for site characterization and determination of short and long term properties
of tailings materials, constitute crucial requirements for engineering with tailings. An increasing emphasis
on in situ tests with emphasis to CPTU and DMT tests, and geophysical survey for seismic wave profiling,
which allow for thorough study of segregation, state condition, shear strength and consolidation proper-
ties, identifying the essential features that link some of the deduced parameters, such as saturation level,
drainage conditions, liquefaction potentialboth triggering or post-behavior, has been addressed lately
with increase frequency. In this paper some of these potentialities will be discussed in the light of recent
published approaches and two case-histories are presented transcribing some papers that describe them.
181
182
Knowing that the state parameter () is defined than Qtn. Figure 4 uses Qtn since it is believed that
as the difference between the current void ratio, e, this form of normalized parameter has wider
and the void ratio at critical state, ecs, at the same application, although this issue may not be fully
mean effective stress for coarse-grained (sandy) soils, resolved for some time. The contours of shown
Jefferies & Been (2006), based on critical state con- in Figure 4 were developed primarily on laboratory
cepts, provided a detailed description of the evalu- test results and validated with well documented sites
ation of soil state using the CPT. They describe in where undisturbed frozen samples were obtained
detail that the problem of evaluating state from CPT (Wride et al. 2000). Jefferies and Been (2006) sug-
response is complex and depends on several soil gested that soils with a state parameter less than
parameters, being this resumed in this conference 0.05 (i.e. < 0.05) are dilative at large strains.
(Robertson 2012). Robertson (2009a) developed Robertson and Wride (1998), based on a large
contours of state parameter () on the updated database of liquefaction case histories, suggested a
SBTn QtnF chart for uncemented Holocene age CPT-based correction factor to correct normalized
soils. The contours, that are shown on Figure 4, are cone resistance in silty sands to an equivalent clean
approximate since stress state and plastic hardening sand value (Qtn,cs) using the following:
will also influence the estimate of in-situ soil state in
the coarse-grained region of the chart (i.e. when Ic < Qtn,cs = KcQtn
2.60) and soil sensitivity for fine-grained soils.
An area of uncertainty in the approach used by Where Kc is a correction factor that is a func-
Jefferies and Been (2006) is the use of Qt1 rather tion of grain characteristics (combined influence
183
184
185
186
187
188
189
190
191
Figure 16. Normalised number of cycles for liquefac- Figure 17. The Merriespruit tailings dam failure
tion as a function of P-wave velocitysand with Dr = of 1994, with destruction of the village (Fourie &
60% (Yang 2002). Papageorgiou 2001).
192
193
qc v0
su = v
N kt
194
Figure 23. Dams elevations and relevant cross-sections Figure 24. East Dam, location of the circumferential
(Jamiolkowski et al. 2010). drains.
195
196
197
198
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES
199
200
201
202
203
Guo-Jun Cai, Song-Yu Liu, Yuan Cheng, Hai-feng Zou, Guang-Yin Du & Bei-bei Ren
Institute of Geotechnical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, China
Anand J. Puppala
Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Texas at Arlington, US
ABSTRACT: The use of the piezocone test (CPTU) in geotechnical site investigation offers direct field
measurements of stratigraphy and soil behavior. Compared with some traditional investigation methods
such as drilling, sampling and laboratory test procedures on samples, CPTU can greatly accelerate the soil
characterization and thereby reducing operation costs. This paper reviews previous interpretation meth-
ods of obtaining relative density of sandy soils from CPTU data, and introduces a new method which
takes the confining stress into account. Piezocone tests have been performed in a widely explored area of
the sandy deposit of Suqian City. This study was performed to evaluate the relative density of Suqian sand
of Jiangsu Province of China and to suggest the relationship between the relative density and piezocone
resistances of this sand. The relationship between the normalized piezocone resistance and relative den-
sity of Suqian sand significantly differs from that of other materials, and this relationship appears to be
affected by the stress levels in the soils. Comparison of the test results and analyses reveal the validity of
CPTU tests to interpret the relative density of Suqian sand.
207
11.5m
60 13m
14.5m
16m
40
20
0
100 10 1 0.1 0.01 1E-3
Particle size (mm)
Figure 2. Typical result from piezocone tests.
Figure 1. Particle size distribution of Suqian sand.
Water
Unit weight Specific content
USCS (kN/m3) gravity (%) Cu Cc
208
209
Suqian
High compressibility
4.1 CD triaxial test 80 Japan
Canada
Specimens were prepared using air-pluviating Norway
method to obtain the target density in the soil 60
Italy Low compressibility
Dr (%)
specimens. The initial dimensions of the speci-
men are 76 mm in diameter and 120 mm in height. 40
Overall, fifteen consolidated drained triaxial tests
were performed on specimens of various relative
20
densities under different confining pressures. Iso-
tropic consolidation pressure was applied up to the
initial mean effective pressures (pi) of 50, 100, 200, 0
10 100 1000
300, and 400 kPa. qt1 (bars)
4.2 Piezocone penetration tests Figure 6. Relative densities of Suqian sand and versus
the normalized piezocone tip resistance.
A series of piezocone penetration tests was per-
formed in site soils that exhibited various relative
densities determined from the laboratory tests. The
5 CONCLUSIONS
penetration rate for all the tests in this study was
20 mm/s, and the readings were recorded every
Recent research has repeatedly shown that the
50 mm of penetration. There are no significant
stress strain and strength behavior of cohesion-
differences between standard CPT and CPTU dur-
less soils is too complicated to be represented
ing field operations except the procedure since the
only by the relative density of the soil. However,
piezocone test required to be saturated first. The
for many years, relative density has been used by
cone tip resistance of a given granular soil has been
engineers as a parameter to describe sand deposits
known as the function of state variables.
and correlations have been developed relating Dr
The piezocone tip resistance of a given granular
to the angle of internal friction angle, liquefaction
soil has been known to be influenced by the func-
potential, and so on. Thus, despite recent trends
tion of state variables. In Fig. 6, the piezocone
to try to bypass the intermediate determination of
tip resistance of Suqian sand is presented in the
Dr (such as state parameter), relative density is still
form of the qt1Dr relationship of Jamiolkowski
commonly used by many practicing engineers. This
et al. (2001).
( The qt1 is normalized tip resistance =
paper reviews and presents a few interpretation
qt / vo , qt and vo are the piezocone tip resist- methods to obtain relative density based on CPT
ance and effective vertical stress conditions, and Dr
results of sandy soils. In this study, the relative
is the relative density in percentage. It is observed
density properties of Suqian sand of Jiangsu Prov-
that the qt--Dr- vo relationship of Suqian sand
ince are evaluated based on the results of in situ
almost matches to that of medium compressible
piezocone penetration tests and laboratory tests in
quartz sand. Since the piezocone tip resistance of
specimen. An analysis on piezocone penetration
sand is significantly influenced by the horizontal
tests shows that the piezocone tip resistance of
stress as well as the vertical stress, the piezocone
Suqian sand comparable to that of predominantly
tip resistance of sand can be expressed as a func-
quartz sand with medium compressibility under
tion of mean effective stress ( mean) and relative
same conditions. The relationship between relative
density (Jamiolkowski et al. 2003). Based on the
densities and the normalized piezocone tip resist-
results of piezocone penetration testing results,
ance for Suqian sand is compared with the previ-
the qt-Dr- mean relationship of Suqian sand is pre-
ously suggested relation for normally consolidated
sented as follows:
unaged uncemented quartz sand. The qt-Dr-mean
relationship for Suqian sand was established.
q
Dr = 54.8 + 34.2 ln t (7)
m
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
where the unit of qt and mean is kPa, and the that
of Dr is percentage. It is noted that the stress expo- Majority of the work presented in this paper was
nent of Suqian sand is similar to that of Ticino funded by the Originality Foundation (Grant No.
sand studied by Baldi et al. (1986), thus indicat- 3221001503) of Southeast University, the Jiangsu
ing the present sand as a medium compressibility Transportation Research Foundation (Grant
sand. No. 8821000030) and the Key Project of Natural
210
211
Cyclic sleeve friction test for the design of piles under cyclic loading
Philippe Reiffsteck
Universit Paris Est/IFSTTAR-Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chausses, Paris, France
ABSTRACT: This paper present the results from the first series of tests performed with a cyclic fric-
tion sleeve mounted on a static cone penetrometer. This cyclic friction sleeve was developed to answer a
present demand to assess the evolution of lateral skin friction of piles under cyclic loading. The CPT is a
test more and more widely used to assess with great accuracy the stratigraphy of ground masses, identify
and characterize soil layers and give access to some mechanical properties. This device has been designed
to be placed at a certain distance above a piezocone cone in order to avoid the influence of the strong
evolution of pore pressure at the level and behind the cone. In this first version the sinusoidal cycles are
applied by nitrogen using the control unit developed for the LCPC self boring pressuremeter.
213
0,8
afficheur afficheur
0,7
conditionneur conditionneur
systme de reprage systme de reprage
0,6
train de tige
train de tige
0,5
P/qc
espace annulaire
1 1 0 ,2 m 1 1 ,2 m 1 2 ,2 m 1 3 ,2 m
1 5 ,7 m 2 0 ,2 m 2 3 ,2 m
In a second phase, approach 2 provides a final
0 ,8
ratio p/qc after stabilization varies between 10 and
20% in the sand layer (either dense or moderately
P /q c
0 ,6
dense) and between 35 and 55% in loose materi-
0 ,4 als to 3.2, 4.2 and 5.2 m and also at 13.2 m.
This leads us to conclude that in all soils, residual
0 ,2
stress remaining in the approach 2 is much smaller
0 than approach 1.
1 10 100 1000
Approach 3 is more difficult to apply because it
(b) Lo g t emps (s)
requires to turn upside down the rods clamps which
Figure 1. P/qc versus log time with 10 cm2 cone: (a) Clay; is time consuming and increase the risk of bringing
(b) Sand. the soil under the cone in a state of extension.
Approach 2 is preferred, as our main interest is
2. relaxation of the effort applied to the top of the measure of friction on the sleeve. Cone penetra-
rods, but without moving the cone before the tion causing significant shearing and disturbance
test and cyclic test downward (but there are still of the surrounding soil, it is therefore proposed
effort apply on the cone and therefore around it) to apply the approach 2 but with a tool placed at
or up (but it induces local decompression), a minimum distance of the cone (conventionally
3. vertical upward displacement of the cone before taken as 10 diameters) to minimizes the influence
test to release effort on the cone. In this case it of the bulb (Figure 2) (Baligh 1985).
overcomes almost any force applied on the cone
during the test cycle, but it creates a decom- 3 DESIGN OF CYCLIC SLEEVE
pressed zone that disturbs the test if the sleeve
friction measurement is too close to the cone. 3.1 Conception
Following the test approach selected, the system The preliminary list of possible technologies to
features change dramatically because of a case to locate in the unit is:
case there is no effort on the cone (approach 3)
or the full tip resistance mobilized by penetration cyclic friction testing (mechanical loading);
(approach 1 or 2). measures;
These approaches involve also total or partial signal conditioning
conservation of a parasite cone resistance due to The cyclic friction testing is the essential func-
negative friction on the rods induced by elastic tion to be implemented for the investigation of
shortening. soil behavior under cyclic loading. The mechanical
Figure 1 shows the variation of the load applied tests will be performed by a specific and supple-
to the cone and normalized by the cone resistance mented by measuring the cone resistance and pore
during a relaxation phase. Approaches 1 and 2 can pressure by the cone.
be identified (the sharp drop after about 1 minute The probe will do this by providing an actuator
of dissipation is due to pressure release in the that can:
hydraulic cylinder of the penetrometer):
perform a test cycle,
In the first phase approach 1 shows that the ratio be able to reach a depth (depth objective) a few
p/qc decreases with time to a value of 70% clay, meters to tens of meters, in any case beyond ten
40% silt and 60% to 40% in the sand, meters,
214
pression pression
Figure 3. Realistic 3D CAD view of cyclic friction
Gp,N
sleeve. pM
215
216
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
REFERENCES
217
ABSTRACT: This paper presents data of Cone Penetration Tests (CPT) in layered soils obtained from
180 axisymmetric centrifuge model experiments. The layered soil was comprised of a loose sand above
a dense sand. Digital images of the sub-surface were taken during the tests so that image analysis could
be used to measure the displacement of the soil and penetrometer during installation. The paper presents
data of the response of the penetrometer during installation, including the effect of the transition from
loose to dense sand, and relates these data to the displacement mechanisms observed within the soil.
219
Figure 1. Plan view of the half-cylinder axisymmetric penetrometer in parallel to the probe and an 8 mm
model. wide aluminium channel was fixed into the middle
of the Perspex window, as shown in Figure 2. As
the penetrometer slides along the Perspex face, the
model was employed by splitting the container guiding bar slides into the aluminium channel. This
(D = 500 mm) in half to form a plane of symmetry. method prevents soil ingress between the probe and
This method allowed for the penetration progress the Perspex and ensures that the probe maintains
to be viewed from behind a transparent window contact with the Perspex as it is driven into the soil.
(e.g. Hossain et al. 2005; Liu 2010). Using the aluminium channel means that displace-
A thick Perspex window (50 mm) was mounted ment data within a small region directly ahead of
and braced to retain the soil load in the centrifuge. the penetrometer can not obtained. Due to the
Due to the symmetry of the problem, measure- slenderness of the guiding bar, four BA12 screws
ments were only taken from one side of the probe were used to fix the gap between probe and the
(Liu 2010 showed that displacements from both guiding bar. This meant that the aluminium chan-
sides of the probe were effectively equal for a simi- nel had to be slotted to accommodate the screws.
lar experimental setup). Two 14.7 megapixel digital This slot was filled with silicone grease to prevent
cameras (Canon PowerShot G10) were mounted soil particles from entering the aluminium channel
at two vertical levels behind the Perspex to obtain during tests. The resistance caused by the silicon
images of the probe and soil during the tests. grease was measured during a test with no sand so
A remote capture software (PSRemote Multi- that its effect on the probe installation loads could
Camera) was used to control the cameras and to be subtracted. To minimise friction along the back
take pictures every 5 seconds during the tests. of the probe and the guiding bar, these surfaces
The penetrometer was a half probe with 12 mm were also coated with grease.
diameter (B), 350 mm length and a 60 conical tip,
and was manufactured from aluminium alloy. In
3.2 Driving mechanism
consideration of boundary conditions and grain
size effects, the ratio of the tub diameter to pen- The actuator used to drive the penetrometer was
etrometer diameter (D/B) was 42, which is larger mounted above the container and allowed a maxi-
than the minimum value of 40 reported by Gui mum displacement of 300 mm (Liu 2010). The
et al. (1998), and the ratio of the probe diameter to actuator uses a motor and gearbox to turn a lead
the d50 grain size of the sand (B/d50) was 86, which screw and can achieve a maximum load of 10 kN.
is larger than the minimum value of 20 reported During centrifuge spin-up the probe was hung
by Lee (1990). According to White (2002) and Liu from the actuator using two steel wires to prevent
(2010), any ingress of sand between the probe and the probe from pushing into the soil due to its self-
the window will cause the probe to deviate from weight. The probe was not rigidly fixed to the actu-
the vertical, losing contact with the Perspex win- ator. Instead, a half-spherical aluminium bulb was
dow. This is arguably the greatest challenge for attached to the end of the actuator. During driving,
using a 180 axisymmetric model for these types the bulb pushed against a plate fixed to the top of
of tests, and is why many experiments use a plane the penetrometer. This contact between the actua-
strain setup. tor and probe (see Figure 3), which was greased
In order to maintain contact between the probe to reduce friction, ensured that any small mis-
and the window, a guiding bar was connected to the alignment of the actuator did not impose bending
220
4 RESULTS
strains on the probe. The vertical path of the probe
was controlled by the guiding bar and aluminium The experimental results presented in this paper
channel fixed within the Perspex. A load cell was are from a CPT with two layers of the Fraction E
located at the top of the probe to measure installa- sand: a 135 mm deep layer of loose sand with rela-
tion load and a potentiometer was used to record tive density, Id = 61%, overlaying a 200 mm thick
the driving distance of the actuator. layer of dense sand with Id = 88% (Figure 5). The
centrifuge was spun to achieve an acceleration of
50 g at one-third the depth of the model. The mini-
3.3 Soil model preparation
ature probe was pushed into the soil at a constant
Due to the advantages of grain strength and its speed of 0.5 mm/s. This allowed for the capture
appropriate particle size, Fraction E sand, supplied of an image every 2.5 mm of travel of the probe.
by David Ball Group Plc, was used for the sand The total penetration was approximately 210 mm,
sample. This sand has been used extensively for which penetrated 75 mm (or 6.25 probe diameters)
research within the UK and its relevant soil proper- into the lower dense soil.
ties are listed in Table 1. The sand sample was made
by air pluviation using a spot type sand pourer.
4.1 Probe resistance-displacement curve
The different densities were achieved by controlling
the height of pluviation and the pouring rate using For layered soils with different thickness and prop-
different sized nozzles within the sand hopper. erties, the load-displacement curves are influenced
by the soil beneath and above the cone tip as the
probe penetrates through the interface. The influ-
3.4 Soil deformation measurement
ence can be observed in Figure 6, which presents
In addition to the total cone resistance recorded the probe resistance against penetration depth. The
by the load cell, which had a capacity of 10 kN, probe used for this experiment did not have a load
the deformation of soil was measured using digital cell at the cone tip and therefore the probe resistance
221
222
Figure 7. Displacement contours: (a) Total displacement; (b) Horizontal displacement; (c) Vertical displacement.
Figure 8. Normalized horizontal and vertical displace- Figure 9. Normalized horizontal and vertical displace-
ment for h = 0 (x/R are negative, y/R are positive). ment for the soil elements at X/R = 3 during penetration.
After the probe shoulder passes the soil element, layered effects between the loose and dense sand.
further deformation, which is mainly caused by the Due to the effects of shaft friction, the soil around
friction effects of probe shaft, is relatively small. the shaft appears to be dragged downwards. How-
The results of the post-deformation displace- ever, the friction effects are found to be similar
ments are shown in Figure 10 (h > 0 implies the for the soil both near and far from the probe. The
cumulative deformation that occurs after the probe amount of horizontal deformation is similar for
passes the soil element), which also illustrates the the loose and dense sand (around 0.01R), except
223
for the soil near the surface and for the deeper soil greater than in the lower, stiffer zone. In addition,
which shows very little friction effect. The vertical the strength of the lower dense soil will be greater
movement in the loose sand is shown to be much than that of the loose soil. The zone of yielded
larger than that in the dense sand, a result of the soil around the probe in the loose soil is therefore
greater stiffness of the dense sand compared to the expected to be larger than in the dense soil. The
loose. dense soil would not be expected to yield until
the probe was very close or within the dense soil
layer. Displacements within a yielding soil will be
5 DISCUSSION greater than in a non-yielding soil. This effect of
soil strength can therefore help to explain the trend
The results presented demonstrate that layered soils in displacement data observed in the tests.
have an influence on the resistance-displacement The data presented in this paper were obtained
profile of CPTs and that the displacement field from a single test. Further testing and analyses are
around the probe is also significantly affected. required to substantiate the observations made.
As presented by Yang (2006), the influence zone In addition, a further series of tests with different
around piles in sand is a function of the properties layering conditions, including sand and clay, are
of the soil. A more compressible sand has a smaller planned.
influence zone both beneath and above the pile tip.
Similarly, for the approaching penetrometer, these
influence zones for deformation will also change 6 CONCLUSIONS
with depth and soil profiles. In Figure 7, the cumu-
lative deformations are mainly developed by the A centrifuge model cone penetration test (CPT)
influence zone beneath the cone shoulder. There- was performed in layered soils in a 180 axisym-
fore, the influence zone for soil deformation can metric experiment. Digital image analysis was
be assumed as a semi-spherical surface, as show used to investigate the soil behaviour around the
in Figure 11. Hence, the size of the influence zone advancing axisymmetric probe.
should increase with depth due to the increase The experiment was comprised of loose over
in stiffness of the soil that results from increased dense sand and investigated soil deformation pat-
confining stress. This can explain the trend of terns and the layered effect. The probe resistance
increased displacements with depth observed in was influenced by the soil layers, and the driving
Figures 7 and 8. load appeared to sense the interface approximately
In terms of the reduction of displacements when 2.5B ahead of the probe and take about 4B to
the probe approaches and enters the dense layer, the reach the steady resistance in dense sand. For soil
data can be explained in terms of the effect of both deformation, the layered effect was also observed
soil stiffness and strength. As the probe approaches for both horizontal and vertical displacements.
the interface, the problem can be regarded as a Displacements increased with depth but reduced
pressure applied on top of a two-layered soil, with near the interface between the loose and dense soil.
the top being less stiff than the bottom. For a given The trends in displacement data were explained
stress, it would therefore be expected that the dis- in terms of the effect of both soil stiffness and
placement in the upper, less stiff, zone would be strength. Further studies on CPT in layered soils
224
225
Noel Boylan
Advanced Geomechanics, Perth, Australia (formerly of Centre of Offshore Foundation SystemsUWA Australia)
Mike Long
University College Dublin, UCD, Ireland
ABSTRACT: Determining the correct consolidation parameters from field and laboratory tests has
been an issue for geotechnical engineers for a long time. An in situ soil investigation program was carried
out in Trondheim (Norway) in 2010 in collaboration with NTNU, UCD and UWA in order to improve
the interpretation of strength and consolidation parameters from in-situ tests in highly sensitive soils.
In-situ testing including piezocone (CPTU) and piezoball tests were performed and dissipation and cyclic
tests at different depths of interest were carried out. The present publication focuses on the interpretation
of the coefficient of consolidation from CPTU data only.
227
228
229
230
231
232
2 2
4 CPT1 4
C P T 2b
Depth [m]
6 C P T 3b 6
CPT4
Hydrostac
8 8
10 10
12 12
14 14
2 2
4
4
6
Depth [m]
6
8
8
10 CPT1
CPT2
CPT3
10
12
CPT4
14 Hydrostac 12
16 14
5 4
5
6
6
7
7
8 Houlsby & Teh 1988
Senneset et al. 1982 8
9 cv / ch NC range
cv / ch OC range 9
10
10
11 11
12 12
233
REFERENCES
0
Abu-Farsakh, M.Y. & Nazzal, M.D. 2005. Reliability
of PCPT Methods for Estimating the Coefficient of
Figure 10. Dissipation test results Dragvoll.
Consolidation of Cohesive Soils. 84th Transportation
Dissipation tests have been carried out in the Reasearch Board Annual Meeting, Washington, D.C.
Baligh, M.M. & Levadoux, J.-N. 1986. Consolidation
soft clay zone at 6.5 and 10.89 m. The results are after undrained piezocone penetration. II. Interpreta-
presented in Figure 10 showing similar consolida- tion. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 112(7).
tion behaviour and a steady dissipation of pore Burns, S.E. & Mayne, P.W. 1998. Monotonic and dila-
pressure down to the hydrostatic level. Coefficients toric pore-pressure decay during piezocone tests in
of consolidation have been determined using clay. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 35: 10631073.
the same assumptions for the methods as for the Houlsby, G.T. & Teh, C.I. 1988. Analysis of the piezo-
Kvennild site (see Chapter 4.1). cone in clay. Proceedings of the International Sym-
As one can see from Figure 10 the ch values are posium on Penetration Testing, ISOPT-1, Orlando.
close to the NC cv from the laboratory investiga- Balkema Pub., Rotterdam.
Janbu, N. 1970. Grunnlag I geoteknikk, Tapir Forlag,
tions. In general the two different interpretation Trondheim.
methods used compare well with each other. No Lunne, T., Robertson, P.K. & Powell, J.J.M. 1997. Cone
information about the relation of cv to ch is avail- Penetration Testing in Geotechnical Practice. Spon
able for this site but it can be assumed that a simi- Press Taylor & Francis Group, London and New York.
lar proportion as in Kvennild is present. Mayne, P.W. 2001. Stress-strain-strength-flow parameters
from enhanced in-situ tests. International Conference
In-Situ 2001, Bali, Indonesia.
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION NGF. 1982. Veiledning for symboler og definisjoner I
geoteknikkpresentasjon av geotekniske underskel-
ser. Norwegian Geotechnical Society (NGF), Oslo.
The present paper discusses the interpretation of Roberston, P.K., Sully, J.P., Woeller, D.J., Lunne, T.,
consolidation parameters from CPTU results in Powell, J.J. & Gillespie, D.G. 1992. Estimating coeffi-
clay. A historical review of existing theories and cient of consolidation from piezocone tests. Canadian
interpretation methods has been carried out. Geotechnical Journal, 29: 539550.
The methods established by Houlsby & Teh Sandven, R. 1990. Strength and deformation properties
(1988) and Senneset et al. (1982) have been chosen obtained from piezocone tests. PhD Thesis, Institutt
and applied to the data from two different soft to for Geoteknikk, Norges Tekniske Hgskole. Universi-
medium stiff clay sites near Trondheim, Norway. tet i Trondheim.
The test results show that the two methods are in Senneset, K., Janbu, N. & Svan, G. 1982. Strength and
deformation parameters from cone penetration tests.
good agreement with each other for this type of Proceedings of the Second European Symposium on
soft clay. It might be different for other types of Penetration Testing. Amsterdam.
soil especially when the penetration process is not Sully, J.P. & Campanella, R.G. 1994. Evaluation of field
totally undrained. The CPTU results are compared CPTU dissipation data in overconsolidated fine-grained
to the coefficient of consolidation established in the soils. XIII ICSMFE Conference, New Delhi, India.
laboratory. The field results are in general between Sully, J.P., Robertson, P.K., Campanella, R.G. & Woeller,
the NC and OC range coefficient of consolida- D.J. 1999. An approach to evaluation of field CPTU
tion but mostly tending to be closer to the NC cv dissipation data in overconsolidated fine-grained soils.
from the laboratory. Usually one would expect the Canadian Geotechnical Journal 36: 369381.
Svan, G. 1981. Undrained effective stress analysis. PhD
CPTU to give results closer to the OC range of Thesis. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. The
cv. Remoulding will take place during penetration Norwegian Institute of Technology, NTNU, Trondheim.
of the cone in sensitive soils thus reducing the cv Torstensson, B.A. 1977. The pore pressure probe.
which may be an explanation to the results. Nordisk Mote, bergmekanikk, Oslo, Norway.
234
T. Sakaiya
Toa Corporation, Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT: A new runway was constructed at the Tokyo International Airport. The construction site
is located under 20 m water depth and resting on very soft clay layer. For stability and reduction of the
residual settlement, sand drain and sand compaction pile methods were introduced to this project. Cone
Penetration Test (CPT) was extensively used to monitor soil behavior. This paper will describe changes of
geotechnical properties during the process of the filling by CPT. The consolidation process was estimated
by two approaches: Qt and Bq methods.
235
Figure 3. Arrangement of sand piles and the location of CPT: (a) SCP; (b) SD.
equivalent drain spacing is 2.0 m), as shown in Fig. sure measured by CPT (u). This u involves the
3. The diameter of SCP is 2.0 m, which is much static water pressure (uo) as well as that generated
larger than that in SD, with 3.0 m and 3.5 m spacing, by the CPT penetration. It can be seen that due to
which corresponds to the improvement ratio (As) of compaction of sand piles in the SCP method, the
30%. Since the investigated points are covered by sea bottom was heaved from AP-20 m to AP -14
thick filling by sand or gravel, the penetration of m. This value of the heave is consistent with the
CPT cannot be carried out and also the precision of improvement ratio of 30%: Because the thickness
the CPT point is not accurate because the penetra- of the treated layer is 22 m (see Fig. 4), the ground
tion is conducted from the sea surface. Therefore, rises up 6.6 m (22 m 0.3). The sea bottom verti-
after installation of sand piles, the steel casings were cally heaves the same volume as sand compacting
placed at the investigating points under the guide of into the clay layer. It should be noted that the shear
divers. strength of the ground below the AP 26 m was
reduced, probably because of the soil disturbance
due to the compaction of the sand piles.
Figure 6 shows change in qnet during the process
3 TEST RESULTS FROM CPT
of the filling, in (a) for a SCP area and in (b) for a
INVESTIGATION
SD area. The investigation using CPT was carried
out at several construction stages after the filling
3.1 Effects of SCP and filling
work was done (see Fig. 2). It is observed that for
The CPT test results are shown in Fig. 5, with both of SCP and SD areas, due to the filling, qnet,
comparison of before and after the SCP installa- i.e., the undrained shear strength (su) increases.
tion. The figure on the left indicates qnet = qt vo, Figure 6 is very useful to examine the stability
where qt and vo are the point resistance from CPT of the ground if the cone factor (Nkt) is reasonably
and the in situ total burden pressure, respectively. assumed or obtained from the laboratory tests.
The figure on the right shows the pore water pres- However, if the prediction of the settlement is nec-
236
Qt =
(qt vvo ) = qnet (1)
vo vo
where vo is the in situ effective burden pres-
sure. Using the Nkt factor, qt and su can be corre-
lated by eq. (2).
qt N kt su + vvo (2)
s
Qt N kt u (3) Figure 6. Changing qnet in the reclamation process: (a)
vo SCP area; (b) SD area.
237
200
100
0
0 10 20 30 40
s u (kN/m )
2
50
30
20
238
-24
u from Q t
Elevat ion (AP m)
u from B q
-28
-28
-32
-32
-36
(a)
-36 Figure 11. Comparison of u calculated by Qt and Bq
(a) methods: (a) SCP area; (b) SD area.
Bq
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0
filling process is different for SCP and SD areas,
-20
S D area
i.e., duration of consolidation. Let, however, try
to roughly calculate U in the form of u/p. The
effective overburden pressure (p), i.e., the effec-
tive pressure after u is completely dissipated, is
Elevat ion (AP m)
-24
239
Bq =
{u (uo + u)} Tanaka, Y. & Sakagami, T. 1989. Piezocone testing
in underconsolidated clay, Canadian Geotechnical
(qt vo ) Journal, 26(4): 563567.
240
D. Ward
In Situ Site Investigation, East Sussex, UK
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of piezocone (CPTU) and Full Flow Penetrometer (Ball),
with pore water pressure measurement at the equator, for a silt site in Ireland on which a 2.5 m embank-
ment was constructed. A CPTU preformed prior to construction will be used for comparison with the
recent 2010 CPTUs. Basic index data from the site will be presented and used to identify layers. The use
of soil behaviour type (SBT) charts using CPTU data will be investigated and an assessment of the most
appropriate chart for the soil type will be made. Results from seismic flat plate dilatometer tests (SDMT)
will be discussed in relation to the SBT chart and results compared to the index layers identified. It is rec-
ognised that correct assessment of intermediate soils is of importance as correlations are used in design
based on CPTU derived parameters and these must match the design application in terms of drainage
conditions under which data is obtained. Good agreement between index classification and SBT charts
is found for classifications using pore water pressure measurements. The SDMT shows the change in
soil type with depth as indicated with the index properties and the range of soils identified is also in
agreement.
1 INTRODUCTION to select the most appropriate chart for the soil type.
This work will contribute to the knowledge and con-
CPTU has huge advantage over traditional soil fidence in using these charts in intermediate soils.
sampling investigations as it is fast, repeatable
and economical, yielding almost continuous data
(Robertson 2010). There is over 40 years experi- 2 CPTU SOIL CLASSIFICATION
ence of using the electric CPTU and a strong theo-
retical basis for analysis of data exists. 2.1 Review of CPTU in soil classification
CPTUs provide three main functions; soil pro-
filing and identification of soil types, estimation of The parameters discussed in this paper have been
geotechnical engineering parameters and provision calculated according to Lunne et al. (1997).
of data for direct geotechnical design. For esti- Measured data from a CPTU is an indication of
mation of design parameters in clays and sands, the in situ mechanical behaviour of the soil during
CPTU provides reliable correlations as these soil penetration. Consequently the CPTU-based clas-
types have fully undrained and drained responses sification charts are predictive of SBT (Robertson
respectively. et al. 1986; Robertson 1990) and are not necessar-
One of the most useful and fundamental appli- ily directly related to the soil classification criteria
cations of the CPTU is to assess soil type and soil based on particle size distribution (PSD) and soil
stratigraphy using measured and interpreted data plasticity (Robertson 2010).
from cone tests and linking them with soil types Robertsons (1990) SBT chart is based on nor-
using charts. Identification of soil layers is greatly malised CPTU data from a wide range of published
improved when using continuous pore pressure and unpublished sources and categorises 9 soil
measurements. Pore pressure measured during types, see Figure 1 (a) & (b), the zones are described
penetration is a function of the type of soil pen- below the Figure. These charts are widely used
etrated in the area surrounding the pores element (Long 2008) and provide a reliable analysis due to
(Lunne et al. 1997). normalisation of parameters (Robertson 2010).
This paper will assess the use of SBT charts for It is recognised that the Robertson (1990) chart
silty soils using both CPTU and SDMT results. using Fr is often used onshore due to issues in
Three different CPTU SBT charts will be assessed obtaining and maintaining good saturation. It is
241
242
243
244
in the In Situ test appears to be more accurate and The Bq profile shows a transition from partially
responds well to changes in pore water pressure. drained to fully undrained between 5.5 and 6.5 m
There are less data points for the NUIG CPTU for the CPTU, while Bball does not become greater
in comparison to the In Situ tests. Recovery of than 0.3 until 7.3 m. Bq stays constant in the lower
pore pressure to the hydrostatic pressure occurs layer at 0.9 for the In Situ CPTUs in comparison
roughly between 3.5 and 4.3 m for all the u2 pres- to 0.55 for the NUIG CPTU. Bball is lowest with an
sures, however the uball does not reach hydrostatic average of 0.4 in the silty CLAY layer, which is half
pore pressure until 5.5 m. that measured by the cone.
There is a noticeable difference between Fr meas- The NUIG Bq profile is similar in trend to the
ured by the In Situ and NUIG. There is almost zero In Situ Bq profile with depth. At 10.5 m the NUIG
Fr measured by the NUIG cone for the complete Bq profile shows a coarser layer with peaks in qc
profile. The In Situ tests picks up Fr values ranging and reduction in Bq. This may be due to a local
from 0.5 to 4% between 1.5 and 3 m. This reduces change in the soil profile with relative position on
to a smaller range of 2.5 to 0.5% between 3 and site. Fr is very uniform in the lower layer with very
6.5 m until a steady Fr of 1% is shown from 6.5 m good agreement between the In Situ cone readings.
to bedrock. There is reasonable agreement between Fr values are 1% below 6.5 m for both profiles and
the In Situ Fr measurements with depth. remains constant until the bedrock. As discussed
previously Fr in the NUIG profile does not meas-
uring any significant change with depth.
6.2 Analysis of lower silty CLAY layer
CPTU and Ball
The lower silty CLAY has a uniform qt of approxi- 7 DISCUSSION OF SDMT PROFILE
mately 0.5 MPa gradually increasing with depth to
0.6 MPa. The qt measured by In Situ CPTU and Two distinct layers are evident using the ID, see
Ball is roughly 0.2 and 0.6 MPa, respectively, less Figure 8 (b). The pressure meter readings for
than that measured by NUIG. There is reasonable two SDMT tests show repeatability for raw data
agreement between the In Situ qball and qt with the measured. SDMT 01 will be discussed for ease of
ball picking up gradual changes in tip resistance analysis.
and showing uniform resistance for the silty Clay Using ID alone to assess the change in layers
soil despite the Ball reading a lower qt than the from a silt to clay/clayey silt the point of change
cone by up to 0.3 MPa. occurs at 3.5 m, see dashed line in Figure 8 (b). It
It is noted by Robertson (1986) and Schnaid is recognised that analysis of SBT is better made
et al. (2004) that when Bq ranges between 0.30.5 it using a different chart, Figure 11, discussed later.
is representative of silty soil and when Bq > 0.5 this The SDMT data in Figure 8 (b) shows the upper
indicates penetration through a clayey soil. Pen- layer from 1.5 to 3.5 m and then a transition in the
etration is described as predominantly undrained profile with between 3.5 and 5.0 m. A clay layer
penetration for these cases. from layer from roughly 5.2 m to bedrock is very
245
Robertson (1990)
NUIG 1&5 1
QtFr
In Situ 4, 5 & 6 1, 3 & 4
NUIG 3, 4 & 5 3
QtBq
In Situ (1) 3, 4, 5, 6 & 7 1&3
Schneider et al. (2008)
QBq NUIG 1a, 2 & 3 1a & 1b
In Situ 1a, 1c, 2 & 3 1a, 1b & 1
NUIG 1a, 1b & 3 1a & 1b
Qu2/ v
In Situ (1a, 1b, 1c) 2 & 3 1a & 1b
Marchetti (1980)
Figure 8. SDMT results. IDED In Situ Sandy-silty-clayey clay & mud
246
8.3.1 Schneider et al. (2008) QBq chart 8.3.2 Schneider et al. (2008) Qu2/vo chart
Schneider et al. (2008) has superimposed the Figure 10 shows Qu2/ vo, a chart proposed by
boundary conditions of Qu2/ v onto the analo- Schneider et al. (2008), described as best suited
gous chart QBq, the grey lines in Figure 9 (b), soil to sands and transitional soils where there is little
types are identified in Table 2. This chart is used to excess pore pressure (Schneider et al. 2008).
provide greater analysis of silt, sand and clay soils From Figure 10 it appears to be easier to dis-
together to avoid overlapping of soil types and to tinguish the soil types as data points are grouped
overcome the effect of increasing Q due to yield in fewer spaces which are visually distinctive from
stress ratio and partial consolidation. The QBq one another. The upper layer in the NUIG profile
chart is better suited to clays for classification falls into zones 3, 1a and a few points in 1b. While
(Schneider et al. 2008). the In Situ profile shows a larger scatter of points
Using the grey lines in Figure 9 (b) the In Situ in zone 3, suggesting a greater cv, with some points
upper layer profile is classed mostly in types 2 and in the sand zone 2. There are occasional points in
3 with a small scatter into 1a and 1c due to higher zones 1a, 1b and 1c.
Bq values. The NUIG profile concentrates the SBT There is good agreement between the In Situ and
in types 3 and 1a in the upper layer. NUIG profiles in the lower layer with points fall-
For the lower layer, soil is classed as 1a, 1b and ing into 1a and 1b. The SBT classification based on
1c for the In Situ profile while the NUIG profile the Qu2 / vo chart is in good agreement with the
classes soil as 1a and 1b. There is a greater range layers identified initially using the index properties.
of results in the In Situ test with points in types The upper and lower layers are shown as transi-
1c and 3. tional and clay soils respectively with a transition
Comparing the two plots together, it is evident between the two layers falling into zone 1a.
that there is a wide range of cv shown for the In Situ
8.3.3 Classification using SDMT SBT chart
Table 2. Soil classification types for SBT charts after Material Index (ID) is an approximate parameter
Schneider et al. (2008). used to identify the soil type, Figure 8 (b). Where
ID < 0.6 soil is classed as clay, 0.6 < ID < 1.8 classed
Zone Soil type as silt and ID > 1.8 classed as sand. However it is
recommended to combine ID and ED together as
1a SILTS and Low Ir CLAYS
in Figure 11 when classifying soil type (Marchetti,
1b CLAYS
1980). Marchetti (1980) notes that ID is not based
1c Sensitive CLAYS
2 Essentially drained SANDS
on soil classification using PSD or Atterberg Lim-
3 Transitional soils
its but rather a representation of the mechanical
behaviour of the soil.
247
248
249
ABSTRACT: The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is widely used as an in-situ investigation method
in geotechnical engineering in the world although the measured N-value (NF) in the field is affected by
many factors due to energy losses. This paper investigates the real-time motions of the SPT hammer-
anvil during SPT and their effects on impact energy. The real-time hammer and anvil motions are moni-
tored using a high-speed Digital Line-Scan Camera (DLSC) and stress waves are measured using a Pile
Driving Analyzer (PDA) during SPT with a donut hammer and rope-pulley system. It is found that
two types of the hammer-anvil motion exist; recontact and restrike of the hammer-anvil after primary
impact are observed, depending on the soil resistance. The recontact contributes to the maximum impact
energy and the sampler penetration while the restrike has no effect on either of these. Dominance of
the hammer-anvil motion transits from recontact to restrike as the penetration resistance of the ground
increases.
251
252
6
Depth (m)
10
14
253
Hammer
-740 Anvil beginning of the primary impact, which is point O
in Figure 4(a) and Figure 5(a). After the primary
-760 impact, the anvil moves instantaneously downward;
1 = 30.4mm P = 32.3mm and the force transferred in the rod immediately
-780 increases. It is observed from Figure 4(b) that the
hammer and anvil maintain contact until t1 + 2 L/c
-800
(a) (point B), where t1 (point A) is the rising time of
the force. The hammer and anvil individually move
100 downward shortly after the initial contact at the
Force (KN); Energy (%)
Force
80 Energy beginning of the impact, and then the hammer and
60 anvil are recontacted again at point C. Most of the
40 sampler penetration is produced by the primary
20
impact and the relatively small additional penetra-
tion is caused by the secondary impact. The maxi-
0
mum FV energy is observed after the secondary
-20 impact and the secondary impact induces a 6.04%
-30 0 30 60 90 120 150 increase in the FV energy. The downward anvil
(b)
Time (ms) displacement of 30.4 mm (1) occurring between
points O and C is the sum of the penetration of the
Figure 4. Recontact secondary impact (Depth 7.5 m, split spoon sampler, the elastic shortening of the
NF = 12): (a) Hammeranvil motions; (b) Force and energy. drill rod, and the quake of the ground. The second
impact produces 1.9 mm as additional penetration.
The secondary impact contributes to both the
sampler penetration and the maximum FV energy,
and this secondary impact is defined as recontact
type secondary impact.
It is observed from Figure 5 that, for a large
NF value, the hammer and anvil reach the lowest
position together and start to rebound at point B.
The hammer and anvil maintain their contact until
point C. After the separation, the hammer contin-
ues to move up, but with decreasing velocity, and
reaches its top position at point D, while the anvil
almost stops after a slight elastic bounce. When
the rebounded hammer reaches its top position, it
starts to fall again, which induces a second impact
on the anvil. The hammer restrikes the anvil again
at point E, which results in the increases of the force
and velocity waves, as observed in Figure 5(b). The
slight downward movement of the anvil caused by
the second impact is completely recovered. Simi-
lar phenomena are repeated for successive impacts
Figure 5. Restrike secondary impact (Depth 15.0 m, NF until the hammer velocity gradually approaches
= 50/11 cm): (a) Hammeranvil motions; (b) Force and zero, where no further rebound of the hammer
energy. occurs. Large elastic rebound of the rod and soil
is observed and no additional sampler penetration
a depth of 7.5 m and 15.0 m, respectively. The is produced due to the large penetration resistance
black and gray lines in Figure 4(a) and Figure 5(a) by the secondary impact. It is also observed that
present the displacement of the hammer and anvil the maximum FV energy, which is achieved near
re-evaluated from the image data during impacts. t1 + 2 L/c, is not affected by the slight increase of
The force and calculated FV energy are plotted in rod energy caused by the secondary impact. The
Figure 4(b) and Figure 5(b). The measured ham- secondary impact observed in Figure 5 is defined
mer velocity immediately before impact evaluated as restrike type secondary impact.
from images is found to be about 3.64~3.71 m/s, The recontact secondary impact declines pro-
which is slightly smaller than the free fall velocity gressively and the time to the recontact second-
of 3.86 m/s. ary impact decreases with increasing NF values.
254
255
256
ABSTRACT: A three-dimensional model based on the discrete element method was implemented in
this study to simulate cone penetration tests in granular materials in a calibration chamber. The model
is calibrated using experimental test data. A quarter of the calibration chamber and penetrometer are
considered to decrease calculation time. Particle gradation and reducing chamber segment are also imple-
mented to simulate small particles near cone penetrometer. Relative density and mean effective stresses
have an important influence on cone tip resistance. Particle shape has a great effect on the cone tip resist-
ance. Cone tip resistance results obtained from the numerical calibration chamber are promising when
compared with experimental results.
257
Experimental Numerical
Setting Units CC CC
Chamber width (Dc) mm 1000 300
Chamber height (H) mm 1500 100
Cone diameter (B) mm 36 18
Particles size (d50) mm 0.8 2
Vertical and horizon- kPa 100 100
tal stresses
(D/B) ratio 27.78 16.67
(B/d50) ratio 45 9
258
259
Figure 8. Effect of particle shape on cone tip resistance. gradation can be used to achieve these. Therefore,
small particles were generated near the cone pen-
etrometer and the big particles were generated far
3.4 Particle shape effect
from it. These were done to reduce the particle size
Particle shape plays a key role in the behavior of near the cone penetrometer as much as possible.
granular materials. Several researchers (Ting et al. To examine the effect of particle gradation on
1989; Ng & Dobry 1992; Rothenburg & Bathurst the tip resistance value, several simulation tests
1992) have shown that particle shape has an impor- with the same initial porosity 0.36 were performed
tant effect on the mechanical behavior of granular using a 6 mm particle size near the cone penetrom-
materials and using spheres as in Figure 7(a) to rep- eter and another particle size far from it.
resent each grain is not enough to mimic granular Firstly, about one third of the chamber width
materials comprising angular particles. Therefore, a (40 mm) near the cone penetrometer was filled
simple shape of two-ball clump which has the same with 6 mm particles and the remainder was filled
volume as one ball, as in Figure 7(b), was used to with 10 mm particles as shown in Figure 9.
investigate the shape effect on tip resistance. The Figure 10 shows tip resistance results of 6, 10
sample used was a very dense sample (100%) and mm sample comparing with 6 mm sample. From
has the same properties and same chamber bounda- the Figure it can be seen that the trend shape of 6,
ries as that of 6 mm particles. 10 mm sample is different to 6 mm sample at depth
Figure 8 shows the tip resistance results of range (0 0.06) m. This is possibly due to the big
one ball 6 mm and two-ball clump 6 mm and it void between 10 mm particles which allow 6 mm
can be seen that the tip resistance value increased particles to pass easily through them under cone
from about 1.7 MPa of one ball to about 6 MPa pushing as can be seen in Figure 9.
of two-ball clump. The difference in the response Secondly, the half chamber width (75 mm) near
between the sample of spheres and clumps can the cone penetrometer was filled with 6 mm par-
be attributed to the interlocking provided by the ticles instead of a third chamber width (40 mm)
three-dimensional clumps, which affects the roll- and the remainder was filled with 7 mm particles
ing resistance and particles displacement. This instead of 10 mm particles. Figure 11 shows the tip
indicates that the particle shape has an important resistance results and it can be seen that the trend
effect on the cone tip resistance. shape became much better.
To simulate small particles less than 6 mm
particles, for instance 2 mm particles, a 30 seg-
3.5 Particle gradation effect
ment of calibration chamber was used as shown in
In order to obtain a higher number of small par- Figure 12. Half chamber width (75 mm) near the
ticles being in contact with the cone tip, particle cone penetrometer was filled with 2 mm particles
260
d50 Dr qc
Setting mm % MPa
Experimental 0.8 89 12
One ball (DEM) 6 100 1.7
One ball (DEM) 2 100 6
Two-ball clump (DEM) 6 100 6
Two-ball clump (DEM) 2 100 12
261
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
REFERENCES
262
J.N. Hotstream
HNTB Corporation, Milwaukee, WI, US
J.A. Schneider
Formerly of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, US
ABSTRACT: Design of the axial capacity of displacement piles in soft low plasticity clayey soils is
complicated by time dependent changes in radial effective stress around a pile, as well as influence of
sensitivity and plasticity index on the correlation between qcnet (or su) and fully equalized pile shaft fric-
tion. Dissipation of excess pore pressures can be quantified using conventional methods, however, the
reduction in radial total stress during the consolidation period significantly effects radial effective stresses
and long term displacement pile shaft friction. Dissipation tests were performed to varying degrees of
consolidation at a test site in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and sleeve friction was measured at the beginning of
penetration following the dissipation tests. The increase in CPT sleeve friction with time reflected changes
in total and effective stress that would also occur surrounding a displacement pile. This testing method
may be able to reduce uncertainty in evaluation of long term shaft friction for piles in soft, sensitive, low
plasticity clays.
263
2 SITE GEOLOGY AND SOIL Underlying the stream deposits are very soft gla-
CONDITIONS cial lake silts and clays to an approximate depth of
20 m below the ground surface. The lake deposits
The test location is near the city of Green Bay, are underlain by very stiff glacial tills to a depth of
Wisconsin, USA and falls within the Fox River 23 m below ground surface. Vane shear tests and
Lowlands. This area was glaciated by the Green UU triaxial tests were performed in the soft lake
Bay lobe of the Laurentide ice sheet during the deposits. The results of laboratory index and per-
Wisconsinan glaciation, 23,00013,000 years formance testing of Shelby Tube push samples are
before present (Clark et al. 2009). As the Green provided in Figure 2.
Bay lobe retreated large proglacial lakes formed in
the region.
The bedrock underlying the surficial soils is 3 TESTING PROGRAM
composed of Cambrian to Ordivician aged sedi-
mentary rocks the uppermost being dolomite Two piezocone penetration tests were performed
of the Sinnipee group (Mudrey et al. 1982). Soil adjacent to previously conducted soil borings, Fig-
thickness maps indicate depth to bedrock ranging ure 3. The cones were separated by approximately
from 15 to 30 m. 450 m, and similarities in the readings highlight the
Previous explorations in the area consisted of uniformity of the site. The testing was performed
conventional soil borings with Standard Penetra- using a 35.6 mm diameter subtraction type cone
tion Testing and nominally undisturbed sampling with pore-water pressure measurements above
in soft soils. The soil borings encountered medium the cone shoulder at the u2 position. Dissipation
dense sands at the surface to a depth of 3.5 to tests were performed at approximately 1 m depth
4.5 m, Figure 2. These soils are associated with intervals to varying degrees of percent dissipa-
recent stream deposits feeding into Green Bay due tion within the lake deposits to measure the time
to the lowering of the bay with glacial regression. dependent changes in sleeve friction.
264
4 RESULTS
ut u0 (1)
U=
ui u0
265
attributed to disturbance during sampling of these The solid line marked T&H in Figure 6a is the fit-
structured soils, as well as flow anisotropy. Estima- ted solution after Teh and Houlsby (1991) assum-
tion of time rate of consolidation parameters from ing a rigidity index of 100.
dissipation tests was performed using the solution Figure 6 also provides two models for the
presented by Teh and Houlsby (1991) assuming a radial total stress during dissipation. One model
rigidity index of 100 and fitting to the time to 50% assumes no change in the radial total stress with
dissipation. Test results are summarized in Table 1. time, resulting in changes in radial effective stress
(and thus shaft friction) equaling changes in pore
pressures. The second model estimates a reduc-
5 DISCUSSION tion in radial total stress with time, as previously
discussed by Karlsrud et al. (1993); Lehane &
Advancing the cone into a volume of soil increases Jardine (1994); Randolph et al. (2003), among
the radial total stress as soil is displaced outward others.
while also increasing the pore-water pressure in The final graph in Figure 6 provides a compari-
undrained and partially drained soils. During a son of the resulting effect on the sleeve friction of
pause in cone advance, the excess pore-water pres- these two models of total radial stress. In this case
sures begin to dissipate causing an increase in the the sleeve friction was calculated as a function of
radial effective stress until the pore-water pressures the radial effective stress with:
reach hydrostatic values.
Figure 6 provides the dissipation curves normal- fs = r tan CPT (3)
ized by the excess pore pressures and dimension- where the interface friction angle between the soil
less time factor, T: and the smooth friction sleeve, CPT, was assumed
to be 14. The data points are the measured CPT
ch t
T= (2) sleeve friction values at the start of penetration
r2 after a dissipation test to the corresponding value
where ch is the horizontal coefficient of consolida- of T. Estimates of pile shaft friction based on CPT
tion, t is the time, and r is the radius of the cone. qcnet (or su) are include in Figure 6c.
266
267
268
ABSTRACT: One of the basic elements under strict control in case of penetration of silted-up post-
flotation sediments dumps is monitoring of water conditions. An accurate forecast of the course of the
phreatic surface, a determination of non-hydrostatic distribution of water pressure in the profile as well
as the identification of unsaturated zones in the tailings structure are critical to the evaluation of this
type of geomaterial and the analysis of stability in upstream dams. An excellent method to evaluate water
conditions in the damping site mass is to use a Cone Penetration Test with pore pressure (CPTU). The
continuous distribution of equilibrium pore pressure and local measurement of static pressure after dis-
sipation maybe performed using filter located in different positions on the piezocone. This paper presents
an analysis of the effect of filter location on the recorded shape of pore pressure dissipation curves in
mine tailings with different grain size distributions. A testing method and an interpretation procedure
were proposed for CPTU data.
Rational mine tailings management is usually Copper mine tailings in Poland have been deposited
limited to their deposition on organised landfill for almost 35 years in the elazny Most tailings dump,
sites. Due to the considerable tailings masses and which parameters (dam height of over 50 m, area
the concentration of their production sites such of 14 km2, tailings volume of over 450 million m3)
dumps frequently constitute engineering mega- ranks this object to the group of greatest hydro-
structures of considerable height and area, which engineering structures in the world. Tailings are
may cause a real threat to the natural environ- deposited in the dump by hydrotransport and after
ment. In the past many construction accidents sedimentation outer dams of the dump are formed
occurred in such hydroengineering structures. from the coarsest post-floatation sediments. Silt-
Many of them were caused by inadequately rec- ing and dam formation are continuous processes,
ognised or uncontrollably changing water con- run in sections in successive segments of the silting
ditions in the tailings mass or the subsoil, on section. Designing the overstructure of the dump
which the dump is founded (Rodriguez-Ortiz dams is performed by the observation method on
2003). Identification and continuous monitoring the basis of an analysis of results of previously real-
of water conditions in such objects and in their ised studies and observations of the dump massif
surroundings are typically provided thanks to a and the subsoil. The scale of the object as well as
network of piezometers. A limitation for piezo- the amounts and diversity of performed geotechni-
metric observations is connected with their local cal in-situ tests at present rank this object as the
measurement, which in case of the distribution greatest geotechnical proof ground in Poland.
of pore water pressure different from hydrostatic
distribution does not make it possible to deter-
mine clearly the location of the phreatic surface 3 CONE PENETRATION TEST
one of the most significant factors in the analysis IN TAILINGS
of object stability. A perfect tool justifying the
evaluation of water conditions in the deposited A routine cone penetration test performed using
mine tailings is cone penetration test with pore a piezocone in post-floatation sediments gen-
pressure measurementCPTU. erally does not differ from the standard test
269
270
271
4
10 6
u3
8
0 10
t [s] 12
-10
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 14
16
Figure 5. Typical dissipation curves from CPTUU3. 18
20
dissipation curve of pressure u2. A comparison of 22
dissipation curves makes it possible to formulate 24
the following conclusions: 26
28 z
values of initial pressures u1 are usually higher 30 [m]
than values of initial pressures u2,
maximum dynamic pressures u1 recorded in tail- u2-CPTU u1-CPTUU1
ings do not exceed the value of 1.5 MPa admis- u0-CPTU u0-CPTUU1
sible for piezocones, u3-CPTUU3 Theoretical, hydrostatic
values of initial pressures u3 are lower than values
of initial pressures u2, while frequently dynamic u0-CPTUU3 Real, measured
pressure u3 assumes negative values.
Figure 6. Comparison of dissipation tests results for
The above conclusions as well as the fact that piezocones with different filter location.
elements of filters on the piezocone for measure-
ments u1 and u2 are located close to one another, surface is located in the profile. In case of a single
while the locations of filters u2 and u3 are separated piezometric observation and non-hydrostatic dis-
by the length of the friction sleeve, guaranteeing tribution of water pressure the determination of
that in highly-layered post-floatation sediments the position of the phreatic surface in the profile
verification dissipation tests will be conducted may be burdened with a considerable error. Fig-
under similar conditions, should result in the pref- ure 7 presents an erroneous interpretation of water
erence of CPTUU1. conditions based on the results of piezometric
In the second step of the procedure a diagram observation and the adoption of the hydrostatic
is constructed, presenting a dependence of in-situ distribution of water pressure.
water pressures recorded in dissipation tests on the In the former case the analysis of piezometer
depth of the profile, at which successive tests were readings at the layer of subsoil water deposition
taken (Fig. 6). at a depth of 10.5 m identifies the level of the
A combination of measurement points on the phreatic surface too shallow at a depth of 10.0 m,
diagram identified an actual distribution of water while the analysis of piezometer filtering at a depth
pressure in the tailings profile. Depending on the of 30.0 m led to an erroneous identification, in this
local drainage conditions, determined by changes case too deep, of the level of the phreatic surface at
in grain size distribution of silted sediment lay- a depth of 19.8 m. The actual depth of the phreatic
ers, varied, non-hydrostatic (linear, non-linear, surface determined on the basis of the real distri-
and non-continuous) distributions of water pres- bution of water pressure established from CPTU
sure are observed (Gomes et al. 2004; Rust et al. (for condition u0 = 0) identifies the level of the
1995; Tschuschke 2006; Van den Berg et al. 1998; phreatic surface at a depth of 13.2 m.
Vidic et al. 1995). Disregarding local discontinu- The last, fourth step in the procedure may be
ity of the distribution typically connected with the connected with the estimation of the coefficient
occurrence of laminations of cohesive tailings in of permeability of post-flotation sediments in the
the profile, identified on the chart of friction ratio, layer, at which the dissipation test was performed.
leads to linearity of the water pressure distribution, Usually for the estimation of the coefficient of
being a convenient practical solution (Fig. 6). permeability in the horizontal direction in the
In the third stage of the procedure the range of tailings can be used as a rough guide local corre-
the continuous zone of fully saturated sediments lations based on the time determined from dissipa-
is distinguished in the profile, and its upper level tion tests, which is required for a 50% dissipation
corresponds to the depth at which the phreatic of excess pore water pressure. A similar empirical
272
tailings zone
identify water relations it is necessary to replace a
Unsaturated
4 Piezometers
6 single piezometer with a string of independent pie-
8 zometers or perform CPTU with dissipation tests
? GWL on that site. In order to verify results of dissipa-
10
tion tests it is recommended to conduct tests with a
12 GWT piezocone with two embedded independent filters.
14 Testing with the use of such a piezocone facilitates
tailings zone
Saturated
16 the application of an interpenetration procedure,
18 which successive steps include the verification of
? GWL
20 results of dissipation tests, determination of the
22 actual distribution of water pressure in the tailings
profile, establishment of the range of a continuous
24
zone of complete sediment saturation and the esti-
26 mation of hydraulic conductivity of sediments on
28 the site of the conducted dissipation tests.
30
z Non-hydrostatic
32 [m] Hydrostatic water
water pressure REFERENCES
distribution from CPTU pressure distributions
Gomes, R.C., Albuquerque Filho, L.H., Ribeiro, L.F.M.
Figure 7. Example of identification of water con- & Pereira, F.M. 2004. Analysis of the geotechnical
ditions in tailings from CPTU data and piezometers behavior of tailings disposal systems using CPTU
observations. tests. Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characteri-
zation 4 ISC2. Proc. of the second intern. conference
correlation was determined for a types of copper Porto 1922 September 2004. Vol. 2: 10971104. Rot-
mine tailings deposited at the elazny Most dump, terdam: Millpress.
Lunne, T., Robertson, P.K. & Powell, J.J.M. 1997. Cone
which are characterised by the condition of full or
penetration testing in geotechnical practice. London:
partial drainage, identified by normalized excess Blackie Academic Professional. 312 p.
pore pressure (equation 1) by values U < 0.6 at Rodriguez-Ortiz, J.M. 2003. Some special geotechnical
timet = 5 min. aspects of recent tailings dams failures. Geotechnical
problems with man-made and man influenced grounds.
ut u0
U= (1) Proc. of the XIII-th European Conference on Soil
ui u0 Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. Praha 2528
August 2003. Vol. 3: 173176. Praha: The Czech Geo-
where ut = the pore pressure at time t in a dissipa- technical Society CICE.
tion test, ui = the pore pressure at the start of the Rust, E., van den Berg, P. & Jacobsz, S. 1995. Seepage
dissipation test, u0 = in-situ, initial pore pressure. analysis from piezocone dissipation tests. Proc. of
In case of such sediments, which on the CPTU the Intern. Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing
profile of friction ratio are limited by the condition CPT95. Linkoping 45 October 1995 SGF Report
Rf < 1.8, the value of the coefficient of permeabil- 3:95. Vol. 2: 289294. Linkoping: Swedish Geotechni-
ity may be estimated on the basis of equation 2. cal Society.
Schnaid, F., Bedin, J. & Costa Filho, L.M. 2007. Piezo-
kh [c /s] . (t50 )2,34 (2) cone in silty tailing materials. Studia Geotechnica et
Mechanica 12. 151162.
where t50 = time [sec.] for 50% dissipation of excess Tschuschke, W. 2006. Cone penetration tests in post-
pore water pressure. flotation sediments. Silesian University of Technology.
Civil Engineering (110). p. 266.
Van den Berg, J.P., Jacobsz, S.W. & Steenkamp, J.M.
5 CONCLUSIONS 1998. Obtaining material properties for slope stabil-
ity analysis of gold tailings dams in South Africa.
A specific identification of water conditions dur- Proc. of the 1-st Geotechnical Site Characterization
ISC98. Atlanta 1922 April 1998. Vol. 2: 11891194.
ing the operation of dumps, on which mine tail-
Roterdam: Balkema.
ings are deposited, is a priority issue influencing Vidic, S.D., Beckwith, G.H. & Mayne, P.W. 1995. Pro-
the analysis of object stability and its safe working. filing mine tailings with CPT. Proc. of the Intern.
In case of non-hydrostatic distributions of water Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing CPT95.
pressures in the profile of highly-layered, spatially Linkoping 45 October 1995 SGF Report 3:95. Vol. 2:
varied post-flotation sediments in terms of their 607612. Linkoping: Swedish Geotechnical Society.
273
Ylmaz Hatipkarasulu
University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, US
Mehmet T. Tmay
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, US
Boazii University, stanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT: Piezocone Penetration Test (PCPT or CPTu as noted in ASTM D5778-12) has been used
as a practical tool for geotechnical investigations, site characterization and behavior. PCPT-Based soil
classification methods use three basic variables, cone tip resistance (qc), sleeve friction, and pore pres-
sure. The qc value is calculated as the applied vertical force divided by the cone base area, however, pore
water pressures generated behind the cone base may influence the total stress measured. Therefore, qc
may have to be corrected for certain configurations using an effective area ratio (a). Although laboratory
calibration is suggested for actual determination of a values, manufacturers are generally suggesting val-
ues between 0.75 to 0.85 for their cones based on size and geometry. This paper discusses the impact of
a value assumption on PCPT-based soil classification methods. Two sample data sets were classified with
Robertson (1990) and Zhang & Tumay (1999) methods using a values at 0.55, 0.65, 0.75 and 0.85.
275
100
GS, SP, SM
90
SC, ML
80 CL, CH
70
Probability (%)
60
50
40
30
20
10 R4
R7 R6 R5 R3 R2 R1
1. Sensitive fine grained, 2. Organic soils - peats, 3. Clay to silty clay, 4. Clayey
0
silt to silty clay, 5. Silty sand to sandy silt, 6. Clean sand to silty sand, 7. Gravelly -0.14 0.61 1.33 2.01 2.7 2.91
sand to sand, 8. Very stiff sand to clayey sand, 12. Very stiff, fine grained U Value
Figure 1. Classification chart for Robertson (1990) Figure 2. Regional boundaries and the corresponding
method. probabilities of each soil group.
276
Figure 3. CPT soundings and corresponding lithologyI2 data set (PEER 2000).
Figure 4. CPT soundings and corresponding lithology1-24 data set (PEER 2000).
277
Figure 6. Difference between measured and corrected cone tip resistance values1-24 data set.
per second sampling frequency. Water table depths 4 IMPACT OF EFFECTIVE AREA
were recorded at 0.76 m for I2 and 2.60 m for 1-24 ASSUMPTION ON SOIL CLASSIFICATION
locations. Corrected cone tip resistance (qt) val-
ues are calculated for the data sets using Equation Figures 7 and 8 illustrate the soil classification using
1 based on four different effective area ratios and measured and corrected cone tip resistance val-
measures pore pressure. Figures 5 and 6 show the ues using Robertson (1990) classification method.
percent difference between qc and qt values. For I2 Graphical comparison shows very limited differ-
data set, the difference reaches 16% at 0.55 effec- ence between the individual classifications. The
tive ratio. The difference remains under 5% for differences were primarily observed between and
1-24 data set. It is important to note that the differ- silt and sand mixtures. For example, in Figure 7,
ence is significantly decreased with higher effective between 4.0 and 4.5 m, some of the sand mixture
ratio assumptions. layers calculated with the measured resistance (qc)
278
Figure 8. Soil classification with different effective area ratios using Robertson 19901-24 data set.
were classified as silt mixtures with the corrected mixtures. 2.0 to 2.5 m section in Figure 7 and 6.0 to
resistance values (qt). In the same figure, between 6.5 m section in Figure 8 provide examples of this
4.5 and 5.0 m, some of the silt mixtures with qc were misclassification. The graphical illustrations in Fig-
classified as sand mixtures when the tip resistance ures 7 and 8 were prepared using the KT Standard
is corrected. A similar observation can be made Color system (HatipKarasulu & Tumay 2011).
in Figure 8 between 6.0 and 7.0 m. In addition, a Figures 9 and 10 present soil classification using
limited number of clay layers were classified as silt the Zhang & Tumay Probabilistic (1999) method.
279
Figure 10. Soil classification with different effective area ratios using Zhang & Tumay Probabilistic 19991-24 data set.
280
Data qt qt qt qt
Effective Root mean squared error (RMSE)
set Type qc (a = 0.55) (a = 0.65) (a = 0.75) (a = 0.85) Data area
set ratio qc & qt % Clay % Silt % Sand
I-2 1
1-24 a = 0.55 0.1593 0.0027 0.0021 0.0013
2 a = 0.65 0.1239 0.0021 0.0016 0.0010
a = 0.75 0.0885 0.0015 0.0011 0.0007
3 26 29 28 28 26
(6%) (7%) (7%) (7%) (6%)
a = 0.85 0.0531 0.0009 0.0007 0.0004
4 134 130 132 132 133
(31%) (30%) (31%) (31%) (31%)
5 112 113 112 112 113
(26%) (26%) (26%) (26%) (26%) Although the number of total data points show
6 139 139 139 139 139 almost and identical grouping for each soil type,
(32%) (32%) (32%) (32%) (32%) there were overlaps between the classification
7 19 19 19 19 19 values as observed from the graphical compari-
(4%) (4%) (4%) (4%) (4%)
sons. For example, in Table 1, while types 4 and 5
8
9
show only a four point difference between qc and
qt (a = 0.55), there were sixteen total points that
Total 430 430 430 430 430 were misclassified (5-points in Type 4 were classi-
(100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)
fied as Type 5 and 6-points in Type 5 were classi-
fied as Type 4). This observation also points out
Table 2. Point analysis using Robertson (90)1-24 data set. the benefits of using graphical comparisons in
addition to the descriptive statistics.
Number of data points (% of total data points) Tables 3 and 4 show the Root Mean Squared
Data qt qt qt qt Error (RMSE) (Montgomery et al. 2010) analy-
set Type qc (a = 0.55) (a = 0.65) (a = 0.75) (a = 0.85) sis for the sample data sets using Zhang & Tumay
Method.
124 1
2
While the RMSE values reached 0.31 when
3 86 86 86 85 85 measured and corrected resistance values were
(23%) (23%) (23%) (22%) (22%) compared, the differences for the classification
4 91 93 93 94 92 results did not any value greater than 0.005.
(24%) (24%) (24%) (25%) (24%)
5 93 91 91 91 93
(24%) (24%) (24%) (24%) (24%)
6 62 62 62 62 62
5 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS
(16%) (16%) (16%) (16%) (16%)
7 37 37 37 37 37 The cone penetration test is a robust, simple, fast,
(10%) (10%) (10%) (10%) (10%) reliable, and economical test that provides con-
8 6 6 6 6 6 tinuous sounding of subsurface sediments which,
(2%) (2%) (2%) (2%) (2%)
in simple terms, simultaneously records cone tip
9 6 6 6 6 6
(2%) (2%) (2%) (2%) (2%) resistance and frictional component of penetration
resistance while advancing a cylindrical rod with a
Total 381 381 381 381 381
(100%) (100%) (100%) (100%) (100%)
cone tip and a friction sleeve into the soil. In the
last three decades, Piezocone Penetration Testing
281
282
D. Marchetti
Marchetti, Roma, Italy
G. Totani
University of LAquila, Italy
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the possibility to estimate the stress history of the sand deposits of
the Venice lagoon by the combined use of DMT and CPTU results. The study is based on an extensive exper-
imental program carried out at the Treporti Test Site, where a cylindrical trial embankment (40 m diameter,
6.7 m height, applied load 106 kPa) was constructed and monitored from beginning of construction until
its complete removal, four years later. OCR of the virgin soil (without embankment) was back-figured from
1-m field oedometer curves reconstructed from local vertical strains measured by sliding deformeter under
the embankment center in 1 m-thick layers. OCR at end of construction (OCR = 1) and after embankment
removal (OCR > 1) was imparted by mechanical loading-unloading. A tentative correlation between OCR
and the ratio MDMT /qt in sand was constructed using parallel DMT and CPTU results obtained at end of
construction and after embankment removal, associated to reliable (imparted) OCR values.
283
qt
50/D0
5
SAND fs
10
u2
SILT
Depth below mean sea level (m)
15
LP
wo
LL
101; 110 1.58
20
25
1.86
281; 165; 323 2.01
CLAY 65; 83
190; 211; 201 3.74
30
2.92
284
Figure 5. Profiles of soil parameters obtained from DMT-SDMT 19 and corrected cone resistance qt obtained from
CPTU 19 before construction (SI-1), at the end of construction (SI-2) and after removal of the embankment (SI-3).
SCPTU (McGillivray & Mayne 2004), and after 3 DISPLACEMENTS AND STRESS-STRAIN
removal of the embankment. CURVES FROM FIELD MEASUREMENTS
Figure 4 shows the superimposed profiles of
the DMT parametersmaterial index ID (soil Figure 6 depicts the evolution of settlements of the
type), constrained modulus M, undrained shear ground surface at half bank, on completion, after
strength cu and horizontal stress index KD (related 4 years at constant load and after bank removal.
to OCR)obtained using common correlations To note the significant vertical displacement of
(Marchetti 1980, TC16 2001) from ten DMT the ground surface under the center of the bank
soundings, as well as the profiles of VS obtained (50 cm), especially the portion occurred under
by three SDMT soundings (McGillivray & constant load (37% of the total settlement), show-
Mayne 2004), executed before embankment ing a relevant creeping response of these soils.
construction. Field measurements indicated that the total
Figure 5 shows the profiles obtained from DMT- vertical displacement was one order of magnitude
SDMT 19 (see location in Fig. 2) before construc- greater than the maximum horizontal displace-
tion, at the end of construction and after removal ment throughout the whole construction period,
of the embankment, as well as the corresponding i.e. the deformation process developed prevalently
profiles of qt obtained from CPTU 19. in the vertical direction. During unloading the soil
285
half bank
0.0
radius, m
-40 -20 0 20 40
creep strain
-400 2 yrs after completion
sand 20.4 m
settlement recovery
due to bank removal 4 yrs after completion
-600
3.0
Figure 6. Settlements of the ground surface at different
Field compression curves
times of the bank life. (sliding deformeter at the bank centre)
4.0
200 300
286
Figure 10. Influence on the various parameters of the overconsolidation caused by the TTS embankment. (All
profiles are for the sand layer between 2 to 8 m depth).
287
Figure 11. (a) Correlation OCR-MDMT /qt; and (b) Correlation OCR-KD constructed using DMT and CPTU data,
soundings 14, 19 and 20, from end-of-construction (OCR = 1) and post-removal (OCR > 1) site investigations;
(c) Correlation MDMT /qt -KD constructed using DMT and CPTU data from all site investigations (pre-construction,
end-of-construction and post-removal). All data points refer to sand layers (having material index ID > 1.8) between 2
and 35 m depth.
288
Figure 11a to predict the OCR of the natural soil the field oedometer curve may exhibit overall a
at the TTSmore difficult to evaluate than the smooth curvature rather than a well defined break
artificial OCR imparted by loading-unloading. In point (while in clays or silts, often more uniform,
Figure 12a such tentative OCR-MDMT /qt correla- even within 1 m the break point is more easily iden-
tion (solid line) is compared to pre-construction tifiable). Moreover, OCR in the upper soil layers
OCR-MDMT /qt data points in sand, in which OCR at the TTS may be due only in part to mechani-
of the virgin soil was back-figured from one- cal overconsolidation, possibly reflecting cumula-
meter field oedometer curves as shown in Figure 8. tively other effects (e.g. aging). This result suggests
Figure 12b shows the parallel comparison of pre- the likelihood that many sands existing in nature
construction profiles of OCR of the virgin soil exhibit a continuous curvature oedometer curve,
back-figured from one-meter field oedometer eluding the possibility of determining OCR based
curves and estimated from MDMT /qt in sand using on the classic ratio p / v0.
the correlation in Figure 11a. Figure 12 highlights
some inconsistency between OCR of the virgin
soil estimated from field measurements (one- 6 CONCLUSIONS
meter field oedometer curves) and from MDMT /qt.
One possible reason for such discrepancy could be The experimental program at the Treporti Test
the following. Site, among other notable results (published in pre-
The correlation OCR-MDMT /qt in sand in vious papers), provided profiles of OCR at differ-
Figure 11a was established using DMT and ent times of the bank life. The OCR values at end
CPTU data associated to OCR values considered of construction (OCR = 1) and after embankment
fairly reliable, having been imparted by appropri- removal (OCR > 1) are considered fairly reliable,
ate mechanical loading-unloading (OCR = 1 at having been imparted by appropriate mechani-
end of construction, OCR > 1 after embankment cal loading-unloading. The OCR of the virgin
removal). On the other hand, OCR of the virgin soil, before embankment construction, was back-
soil inferred from one-meter field oedometer figured from one-meter field oedometer curves
curves (Fig. 8) likely incorporates some uncertainty, reconstructed from local vertical strains measured
involving some subjective judgment in selecting the by sliding deformeter under the embankment
preconsolidation stress in one-meter field oedom- center in 1 m-thick layers. This estimate of OCR,
eter curves in sands, where such curves generally though likely incorporating some uncertainty, is
lack a well defined curvature change (see e.g. curve of particular interest in view of the difficulty to
in sand at 6 m depth on the left in Fig. 8). The obtain reliable values of OCR in the laboratory in
field oedometer curves at the TTS were obtained the low-plasticity silty soils of the Venice lagoon,
in situ on natural 1-m high samples. Sands are known to be extremely sensitive to stress relief and
generally less uniform than clays or silts, hence a disturbance due to sampling.
natural 1-m high sample may be composed of The availability of parallel profiles of DMT and
thin layers of sand having variable OCR, then CPTU parameters (constrained modulus MDMT
289
290
CPTU and DMT for estimating soil unit weight of Lake Bonneville clay
A.T. Ozer
Okan University, Istanbul, Turkey
ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the use of piezecone penetration test (CPTU) and flat-plate
dilatometer (DMT) for estimating the soil unit weight of the Lake Bonneville clay in Salt Lake City,
Utah. Soil unit weight is required when calculating net cone resistance, normalized cone resistance, pore
pressure ratio, and normalized friction ratio from CPTU results, and horizontal stress index from DMT
results. To improve the predictive performances of existing correlations additional analysis were carried
out. This is accomplished by correlating CPTU and DMT parameters with results obtained from high
quality undisturbed sampling using Multiple Linear Regression (MLR) analyses to develop correlations
for soil unit weight. MLR analyses showed that the both CPTU and DMT can reasonably estimate the
soil unit weight of the relatively soft, Lake Bonneville clay deposits with CPTU giving slightly higher
predictive performance. Proposed correlations emerged for estimation of total unit weight in terms of
net cone resistance and sleeve friction from CPTU results and P1 value of DMT. By obtaining reliable
estimates of soil unit weight directly from CPTU and DMT results, geotechnical consultants in the Salt
Lake Valley would gain benefit for efficient post-processing of the both CPTU and DMT data.
291
292
18
A (qc /Pa ) 77
17 R = 0,59
2010 (kN/m^3)
16
B (qt /Pa) 77
15
14
13 C (fs /Pa) 52
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Unit Weight, from laboratory measurement on undisturbed
samples (kN/m^3)
D (Rf ) 20
Figure 1. Predictive performance of Robertson & Cabal
(2010) model.
(qt /Pa),
E (Rf) 80
19
Unit Weight from Mayne et al., 2010
(fs /Pa),
18
F (Rf) 79
R = 0,66
17
(kN/m^3)
G 74
16
15
(qc /Pa),
H (fs /Pa ) 78
14
13
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
(qc /Pa),
Unit Weight, from laboratory measurement on undisturbed I (qt /Pa ) 78
samples (kN/m^3)
and (Rf)
Figure 2. Predictive performance of Mayne et al. (2010)
model.
293
Elevation (meters)
294
13 A (P1/Pa) 72
13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20
Unit weight from laboratory measuremetns on undisturbed
samples (kN/m^3)
B (Po /Pa) 71
Figure 4. Predictive performance of Marchetti & Craps
(1981) chart.
(P1 /Pa),
C (Po / Pa) 72
295
296
Z. Mynarek
University of Life Sciences, Pozna, Poland
299
300
...........
h1
dn
301
40 F2
35
30
25
Figure 4. Transmitted energy efficiency per blow in
20
depth.
15
10 The authors formulated the partial function of
5
equation (1), which they wrote after Seed (2001)
0
equation 1 at the paper. An original achievement
of the paper is connected with the simulation of
Donut Safety Trip
one-dimensional wave propagation according to
Figure 2. % standard devision of various hammers and
Smiths law. The physical model of a rigid pile was
analyses. adopted in the theoretical solution. The solution
was obtained using the finite difference method.
The comparison of the results with the paper pre-
sented by Yimisiri is based on the fact that the tested
subsoil was composed of a clay layer of medium
hard consistency and very dense sand. Values of
energy ratio coefficients, which were obtained from
the F2 and FV methods, are given in Fig. 6 in that
paper. The range of variation for this coefficient
is smaller for the F2 method, amounting to 51.1%,
while for the FV method it is 54.39%.
The mean value of the coefficient coincides well
with the mean value reported by Yimsiri for the
donut hammer. We need also to stress here the com-
ment by the authors on the potential application of
high frequency wave propagation in the assessment
of soil strength parameters along the sampler.
The problem group b is represented by a paper
by Abu-Farsakh, Yu. A comparison of predicted
embankment settlement from piezocone penetra-
tion test with field measurement and laboratory
estimated. The paper by Abu-Farsakh and Yu con-
Figure 3. Measurement of force velocity and setting cerns prediction and measurement of settlement of
per blow. two embankments founded on soft clayey silt. The
302
Depth(ft.)
E-Sanglerat (West)
E-3.15qt(West)
40 E-Lab(West) 40 expectations of numerous research and invest-
50 50
ment programs, related e.g. with wind farms and
other objects located on water regions and the fact
60 60 East-Lab
East-PCPT
West-Lab
that the next technological step for the designed
70 70 West-CPT
device will be to install a wireline flat dilatometer
(a) Constrained moduls (b) Coefficient of Consolidation (WL-MeduSA), a wireline sampler. Technological
specification and examples of testing results are
Figure 5. Comparison of constrained modulus and very well illustrated in the paper (Figs. 3, 6, 8, 9, 10
coefficient of consolidation. and 11 in the paper). The starting point for the
303
304
305
Trigger &
Anvil 4
DAQ 6
System
Depth (m)
8
Browny red
Case with 10
clayey-silty
sand
geophones
12
H1 1 14
L1
16
Browny red
H2 2 silty sand
L2 18
Water table 4.5m 6.0m S-SPT (AVG VS) S-SPT vs Seismic Probe
was not reached 6.0m 7.5m Seismic Probe S-SPT x SCPT
up to 30m
H3 7.5m
9.0m
9.0m
10.5m
SCPT
3 L3 10.5m
12.0m
12.0m
AVG VS
AVG VS
Hi i Li
Figure 12. Companing S-SPT test results with down-hole
and SCPT results.
Figure 10. Schematic representation of an S-SPT test and The average relative errors between Vs measured
a seismic refracted path (adapted from Bang & Kim 2007). by the S-SPT test and by the two other tests, i.e.
down-hole and SCPTU, amounted to 10%. It may
Incindent ray Reflected ray be observed in Fig. 8 that the greater error zone
is located at a depth from approx. 5.0 m to 8.0 m,
1 1
where clayey silty sand is found, the subsoil is prob-
ably a zone of silty sand of low homogeneity.
The problem which continues to attract much
V1
attention is connected with forecasting and record-
V2
V2>V1
ing of the course of consolidation in case of weak
subsoil under the load of a building structure.
2
Despite many advanced theories describing the
Refracted ray process of consolidation, a simple and popular
method is the approach applying a 1-D model by
Figure 11. Snells Lawrefraction and reflection (Kearey Terzaghi. Advantages and disadvantages of this
2009). model are commonly known. A great achievement
of the 1980s was connected with the introduc-
calculated dividing space over time. Due to the fact tion of the CPTU technique and the possibility
that wave propagation in this testing technique to perform the dissipation test within this tech-
takes place inside a stratified medium (subsoil) nique. Numerous proposals and theoretical con-
Snells law was applied to determine two variables: siderations made it possible to determine from
space and time. This law describes the equilibrium this method the compression index Cc and con-
condition (equation 2 after the paper) between duct a forecast for the course of the consolida-
the reflected ray and the refracted ray (Fig. 3 in tion process directly under in-situ conditions. The
the paper). The authors performed calculations authors of the paper entitled In situ evaluation
and simulations using the DTS method (delay of compressibility for normally consolidated clays
time between serial sources). The paper contains using PCPTLee, Park and Kyung focused on
a detailed description of the performance of tests one assumption for the 1-D model according to
on an experimental plot at Bauru near So Paolo. Terzaghi, which diverges from the physical model
Subsoil in the roof part was composed of clayey- of the consolidation process, i.e. the condition of a
silty mud, while in the deeper layers from silty constant value of hydraulic conductivity and small
sand (Fig. 6 in the paper). The authors adopted volumetric changes. The authors made an attempt
a routine SCTPU and the down-hole tests as the to include volumetric changes in the consolidation
calibration test for the performed hybrid SPT test. process, modifying the equation of the dissipation
Calibration consisted of two stages. The first stage process in the CPTU test (PCPTU) to the form
consisted the calculation of the refracted ray path written as equation 3 in that paper. A key element
using Snells law (Tab. 1 in the paper), while the in the incorporation of changes in the porosity
following stage comprised a direct comparison of index e, which defines volumetric changes, was
the course of wave Vs at various depths from both to determine these changes in an indirect manner,
methods (Fig. 8 after the paper). The success of through the performance of edometric analyses on
the applied concept to perform the measurements samples of soft clay from the subsoil from experi-
constitutes a tangible achievement of this study. mental plots located at Busan and Kuangang,
306
307
308
10-3
C = 0.04 Cc
C = 0.02 Cc
Figure 15. Liquefaction analysis based upon Vs-SDMT
(Cell-4). 10-4
0.001 0.01 0.1 1
Primary compression coefficient, Cc C*c
309
310
311
312
Gunnar Nilsson
NCC Construction Sverige AB, Sweden
Hjrdis Lfroth
Swedish Geotechnical Institute (SGI), Sweden
ABSTRACT: Soil-rock total sounding is a further development of soil rock sounding, a MWD sound-
ing method widely used in Sweden, where a static/rotary procedure has been added.
As a part of the development of soil-rock total sounding, a study has been carried out to investigate
whether a correlation can be found between the static/rotary procedure of soil-rock total sounding and
the tip resistance of CPTu. Systematic tests were performed in two geologically different and well defined
glacial deposits of sandy soils in Sweden.
The result indicated that, at the tested geological formations, an empirical relation can be found
between the measured tip resistance of the CPTu and the calculated tip resistance from the static/rotary
part of soil-rock total sounding. The results also indicated a general relation between the normalized net
tip resistance of the CPTu and the normalized net tip resistance of the static/rotary part of soil-rock total
sounding in sand.
313
2.3 Principal sounding procedure Figure 2. Soil-rock total sounding at the site Masmo.
Soil-rock total sounding is divided into a static
(static/rotary) and a dynamic (percussion drilling) is about 12 meter. Just below the ground surface
part. The start of the sounding procedure is some- (level + 100 m) there is a layer of cobbles with a
what dependent on the soil type, but it is essential thickness of about one meter. The glacial depos-
that the drill bit gets a good and vertical guiding its overlay moraine which cover the bedrock. The
from the start. ground water table was about 89 m below the
When the static/rotary procedure is performed ground surface (Bergdahl et al. 1984).
the drill rod is pressed down with a constant pen-
etration speed, 20 mm/s, and a constant rotary 3.2.2 Masmo, Stockholm
speed 25 rpm. The soil resistance during the pen- The site is situated at the shore of the lake Mlaren.
etration is registered. As the soil resistance gets to The bedrock level is about 70-80 m below the
hard or an obstacle is encountered, the soil plug ground surface (level +1.0 m). The bedrock is over-
(which is formed during the static part) is flushed laid by glacial deposits. Below the ground surface
out from the drill bit and the percussion drilling there is a 23 m thick layer of silty sand and here-
starts (the dynamic part). When the hard soil layer under the soil consists of sand to a depth of 20 m
or obstacle has been penetrated the static/rotary below the ground surface (Bergdahl et al. 1986)
procedure can be resumed. When the rock level is The ground water table (+0.3) were just below
reached, percussion drilling is performed at least the ground level.
35 m to confirm the bedrock surface and to give
an indication of the rock quality. 3.3 Test procedure
A multipurpose geotechnical drilling rig, Geotech
3 THE STUDY 705DD, was used for the soundings. Before the
tests were performed, control and calibration was
3.1 Purpose done on the rigs gadgets.
At each site three CPTu soundings and three
The purpose of the study was to compare the static/ soil-rock total soundings were performed. One
rotary part of soil-rock total sounding with CPTu dynamic probing was done as well. The boreholes
sounding in two geologically different and well were placed at two rows with three meters spacing.
defined glacial deposits of sandy soils in Sweden. The ground level was measured. At Kolbyttemon
The sites were Kolbyttemon close to Linkping the rig was anchored to the ground by two augers.
and Masmo south of the city center of Stockholm.
The distance between the sites is about 200 km. 4 RESULTS
Both test sites were well known and had formerly
been used by SGI for research projects. 4.1 Sounding registrations
4.1.1 Kolbyttemon, Linkping
3.2 The sites The soil condition was rather difficult for CPTu
3.2.1 Kolbyttemon, Linkping sounding. Only one CPTu sounding could pen-
The geological formation consists of glacial depos- etrate the glacial deposits. The other two stopped
its of sand and silt with layers of gravelly sand con- at a layer about 8 m below the ground surface. The
taining cobbles. The depth of the glacial deposits rod friction of the CPTu rods was fairly high and
314
-4
98
-6
98,00
97
-8
Level, m (Ground level +100)
CPT Masmo
94
-14
1 CPT 1-07
l 92,00
CPT 9-07
CPT 7-07
e 91 -20
0 20 40 60 80 100 0 20 40 60 80 100
e
Figure 3. Coefficient of Variation (CV) for Kolbytte- 90,00
88,00
the use of friction reducer was necessary. Even
though the soundings were close to each other, the
scatter of the results was fairly high. The soil-rock
86,00
total soundings reached down to the moraine layer
at the depth of 13 meter below the ground surface.
The percussion drilling was not necessary so only Figure 4. Kolbyttemon, calculated tip resistance from
soil-rock total sounding and measured from CPTu.
the static/rotary procedure was used.
4.1.2 Masmo, Stockholm the rods down the hole probably stood on its own.
The soil condition was ideally for CPTu sounding. In Masmo, the minimum thrust force was obtained
All three CPTu reached the predetermined depth the first 0.25 m when pulling the rods up or down.
of about 20 m. For the soil-rock total sounding The calculated tip resistance of the soil-rock
only the static/rotary procedure was used. total sounding and the measured tip resistance of
the CPTu is shown in Figure 4 and 5.
The median value was calculated for each
4.2 Coefficient of Variation, (CV) method and matched to each other. It could be
The spreading of the result has been studied by seen that if the calculated tip resistance of soil-
calculating the coefficient of variation (CV). The rock total sounding was multiplied with a factor
CV was about 20% for both the CPTu sounding of 2, the match was rather good at Kolbyttemon,
and the soil-rock total sounding in Kolbyttemon. Figure 6 and very good at the Masmo site, Figure 7.
At Masmo the CPTu sounding had a CV of 10%
and soil-rock total sounding had a CV of 20%. 4.4 Relationship for both sites
To determine whether there exist a general rela-
4.3 Comparing and matching the tip resistance tionship between calculated tip resistance from
To obtain a comparative relationship, the tip resist- soil-rock total sounding and measured tip resist-
ance was calculated for soil-rock total sounding. ance from the CPTu, the two test sites have been
Thus, the thrust force was divided with the drill analysed together. First a mean value of the three
bit area during the assumption that the vertical CPTu-soundings and the three soil-rock total
rod friction was small during the sounding. This soundings for each of the test sites was calculated.
was tried to be confirmed at the sites by pulling Irrelevant peaks were removed before calculation of
the rod up and down 0.5 m frequently and meas- the mean value. Thereafter, the mean value for each
ure the vertical force acting on the rods when it half meter was calculated for each sounding type
rotated. However, some difficulties were encoun- and test site. The mean values for the CPTu-sound-
tered. In Kolbyttemon, when the rods were pulled ings each half meter were then plotted against the
up, the thrust force was much higher than when corresponding mean values for the soil-rock total
pulling the rods down. This was considered to be sounding. Also in this way the results indicate that
caused by sand falling into the hole. When pulling the tip resistance from CPTu-sounding is about the
315
-2 -2,00
-4,00
-4
-6,00
-6
-8,00
-8
CPT, Median
Jb-tot M2
-10,00 2 x Jb-tot Median
Jb-tot M3
-10 Jb-tot M6
CPT-M1
CPT-M4 -12,00
CPT-M5
-12
-14,00
-14
-16,00
-16
-18,00
-18
-20,00
-20
Figure 7. Masmo, matching the median value from the
both sounding methods. Soil-rock total sounding calcu-
Figure 5. Masmo, calculated tip resistance from soil- lated tip resistance is multiplied with the factor 2.0.
rock total sounding and measured from CPTu.
double of the tip resistance from the soil-rock total
sounding. However, the scatter is relatively large
and the significance low, Figure 8.
Tip resistance [MPa]
To compare the firmness of the soil independ-
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 ently of the overburden pressure, the net tip resist-
100,00
ance i.e. the tip resistance minus the total overburden
pressure, was normalised against the effective stress
for both sounding types, see Figure 9.
98,00
The scatter is considerably less and the signifi-
cance thereby higher. The results from Kolbyt-
temon show a normalised net tip resistance from
96,00
CPTu-sounding which is 1.98 times the net tip
resistance from soil-rock total sounding. The cor-
responding correlation for Masmo is 1.93. The
Level, m (Ground level +100)
94,00 results from the two test sites together show a nor-
CPT - Median
malised net tip resistance from CPTu-sounding
2 x Jb-tot - Median
which is 1.96 times the net tip resistance from soil-
92,00 rock total sounding, see Equation 1 below.
qT CCPT v 0 qJbtot v 0
90,00 v0 = 1.96 v0 (1)
316
15
y = 2,19x
R = -0,031
between different sites with sand. On the basis of
these two sites, the normalised net tip resistance
from the CPTu is 1.96 times the normalised net tip
10 resistance from the soil rock total sounding.
The comparison showed a relatively good match
between the calculated tip resistance of soil-rock
5
y = 1,9502x
R = 0,961 total sounding, multiplied with the factor 2, and
the measured tip resistance of CPT(u) for each of
the sites. This relationship has also been observed
by (Wister 2010). However, there should be more
0
0,00 2,00 4,00 6,00 8,00 10,00 studies before confident conclusion can be made.
Tip resistance (q Jbtot ) calculated from thrust force of the
soi -rock total sounding (MPa)
It should be observed that the relationship is only
valid if the rod friction of soil-rock total sound-
Figure 8. Relation between measured tip resistance ing is low. The comparative studies have only been
from CPTu and calculated tip resistance from the soil- made in sandy soils.
rock total sounding. The results are promising. It is often essential
to characterize the whole soil strata including rock
500
level and quality when tender documents are pro-
Kolbyttemon - relation CPT-Jb-tot
duced. Here is soil-rock total sounding a rational
Masmo - relation CPT-Jb-tot
450
Regression line linear Kolbyttemon
tool in combination with CPTu and soil sam-
Regression line linear Masmo pling. The soil-rock total sounding will act as the
Normalised net tip resistance ((qT-v0 )/' v0) from CPTU
400
extended arm to the CPTu sounding.
350
y = 1,9842x
R = 0,817
300
REFERENCES
250
317
ABSTRACT: This article applies methodologies for direct computation of energy in the SPT test using
accelerometer and strain data measurements by the force squared (EF2), the force-velocity integration
method (EFV) and the calculation of the soil dynamic force (Fd). The measurements were done in a sandy
clay deposit using an instrumented bar with strain gauges and piezoelectric accelerometers. Test energy
efficiency and soil dynamic force (Fd) calculations were made along the profile. A numerical model for the
instrumented SPT test was also implemented using the finite difference scheme proposed by Smith (1960)
to simulate the wave propagation along the rods during the test. The possibilities and limitations of this
application are discussed.
Where, the efficiency ratio is defined as ER and Recent studies on the rods measurement of
the best way to get this value is by direct energy energy transfer, are efforts that have allowed a bet-
measurement transmitted during hammer impact. ter test understanding and contribute to theoretical
This measurement was only possible until the and practical interpretation. Among them is worth
319
320
Quantity Percentage
321
2D E 2D
= R (8)
t 2 x 2
Figure 7. Average Dynamic force (Fd) in each SPT test
in depth. Where,
D is the longitudinal displacement.
E is the modulus of elasticity of the material
Esampler 3 1 (0.76 )M h g M r g (6) is the density of the material
t is time.
Where, x is the longitudinal axis direction
1 =
0 F (t ) V (t )dt
= Correction for ham-
R is the soil resistance.
(0.76 + )M h g mer efficiency. The solution of the equation by the finite dif-
2 2 + 2l 1 ference method proposed by Smith (1960), allowed
to take into account the fact that the blow of the
3 = 1 0.0042l = Correction for system hammer on a pile produces a stress wave that
efficiency where l is propagates in depth at the sound speed so that the
the lenght of the rods. entire pile is not loaded simultaneously.
Equation 8 for being a second degree partial dif-
According to this methodology it was possible ferential equation does not have a simple analytical
to obtain the dynamic force profile shown in Fig- solution. Restrepo V. (2005) explores various alter-
ure 7 compared with the NSPT profile. native solutions to this equation. Smith (1960) was
Since the determination of the number of blows able to describe a simple method in which idealizes
per feet depends directly on the penetration (), a pile as shown in Figure 9 and allows to deter-
it is possible to relate these measurements with the mine the settlement of the pile for some ultimate
dynamic force as shown in Figure 8 and Equation 7. strength of the soil by equations 9 to 13.
The system consists of a hammer that transmits
Fd ( kN ) 0. ( m )0.872 (7)
the initial velocity, some coupling attachments
This relationship would be valid for the average with a certain stiffness, the pile and soil. As shown
efficiency of 51.6% obtained during drilling. in Figure 9, the soil resistance is represented as a
spring and damper system.
6 WAVE EQUATION SOLUTION E.A.L
SMITH (1960) D( m, t ) D( m, t ) + t V (m
( m, t 1) (9)
322
2g
vr Eh (14)
Wh
Where,
Eh, is the hammer efficiency.
Wh, is the hammer weight.
Similarly, it is necessary to determine the values
of the rigidities of the elements m of the pile as
Figure 9. Idealization of a pile on the model of Smith shown in Equation 15.
(1960). Stress-strain curve static and dynamic. (Homantin
K. et al. 2006).
K ( m ) = AE (15)
L
L
R( m, t ) [ D(m, t ) D (m, t ) ] K ( m) Where,
(12) A is the cross sectional area of the element m.
[ m)) V ( m, t ) ]
+ J (m
E is the Youngs modulus of the element m.
V ( m, t ) V ( m, t ) + F ( m , t) L is the length of the element m.
(13)
g t To determine the values of soil stiffness K(m) is
W ( m) F ( m, t ) R( m, t )
W ( m) required to assume a static resistance value Ru final
Where, total for the pile in the soil that is in such a man-
m is the number of the element. ner that is only a percentage to be used as lateral
t is the time resistance in each element. One way to estimate the
t is the time increment. static strength of the shaft and tip is by measuring
C(m, t) is the lateral compression of the spring m or estimating soil mechanical properties as done in
at time t. time traditional procedures for the design of piles.
D(m, t) is the displacement of element m at time t. On the other hand, using the finite difference
D (m, t) is the plastic displacement of the external numerical procedure, the accuracy of the solution
spring m at time t. depends on the values of tL chosen. As stated
F(m, t) is the internal force of the spring m at time t. Poulos & Davis (1991), has shown that for a con-
g is the acceleration of gravity. tinuous elastic rod solving the partial differential
J(m) is the damping constant of the element m. equation of the discrete elements is accurate when it
K(m) is the spring stiffness m. maintains the relationship shown in Equation 16.
K(m) is the stiffness of external spring m L
R(m, t) is the total strength of the external spring m t = (16)
E
in element m at time t.
V(m, t) is the velocity of the m at time t. The values of maximum elastic deformations or
W(m) is the weight of the element m. Quake both lateral soil Q(m), and the point Q(p)
In particular, the elastoplastic load-deformation and lateral damping factors J(m) and the point J(p)
model represents loading and unloading by lateral are some suggested values according to the type of
friction between soil and pile. The variables that soil profile as described by Poulos & Davis (1991).
define the static behavior are called Q and Ru.
Where: 7 IMPLEMENTATION OF THE MODEL
Q, is the quake which is defined as the maximum
deformation in the elastic range of the soil. In analyzing the SPT, one can see that the rods go
Ru is the ultimate static strength of the soil. down during the hammer impact without lateral
resistance because the rods have a smaller diameter
Equations 9 to 13 are solved for each of the dis- than the drill hole. Only at the end of the sampler
crete elements from m = 1 to m = p (pile tip) for a the pipe has resistance to penetration by the soil in
sequence of time intervals starting when the ham- the bottom of the borehole.
mer is traveling with a known velocity and hits During impact, incident compression waves are
the first spring. The solution of these equations generated and then they are reflected according to
323
324
Figure 14. Results of energy transmitted in the segment L = 1.0 m with concentrated tip resistance, have
m = 1 (Hammer). the following results:
It is noted in the element corresponding to the
hammer m = 1 there is a exponential decay of
velocity (blue) and force. Also shows the subse-
quent response of the velocity in which for each
distance or time (2L/c) that waves travel, the veloc-
ity increases being duplicated from the first return
of the wave. This would indicate that the value
of resistance in the tip is considered very low or
almost zero.
Considering an efficiency of 100% input, the
model represents a transmission of energy of
475 Joules which is reached after the second return
of the wave (4L/c).
Figure 15. Permanent displacement results in the seg- With Quake conditions (p) = 0.003 m (0.1 inches)
ment m = 1 (Hammer). and damping J(p) of 5% at the tip it is able to keep
325
326
327
ABSTRACT: During the last few years we have faced difficult challenges several times, among them:
-execution of deep and very deep in situ tests (CPTU, permeability, etc) in non-penetrable soils, in
which penetration with standard methods was not possible i.e.:- tests in soils where penetrable layers are
alternated to non-penetrable ones-, execution of CPTU tests down hole, alternated with undisturbed
sampling and different kinds of testing in the same hole, execution of deep CPTU tests from jack-up and
simply floating barges. The results of the above experiences are shown and commented upon. Moreo-
ver, looking to the offshore market, where it is not possible to use jackup barges, due to the high level
of water, we purposely designed new equipment for pushing using the barge as a reaction, and allowing
compensation of the heave.
329
Figure 1. Tentative parametric correlation between Figure 2. CPTWD carried out at very low rate of pen-
RoP and Qc. etration in very stiff silt and clay.
330
331
332
333
334
335
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the first results of a system to carry out seismic SPT, which associates
the up-hole seismic technique to the currently used SPT test. This hybrid test allows determining the maxi-
mum shear modulus (G0) together with the SPT test. G0 is the most important dynamic soil parameter and
it is calculated based on the shear wave velocity (VS) measurements. The equipment and the method of
analysis will be briefly described. The Vs values measured using the S-SPT in one experimental research
site located inland of So Paulo StateBrazil are presented and compared with down-hole and Seismic
CPT test data. These preliminary results indicate that the S-SPT was satisfactory and can be used for
dynamic site characterization.
The first step in the site investigation in areas sub- 2.1 Maximum shearing modulus
jected to dynamic loading is defining the strati-
graphical logging and estimating geotechnical According to Campanella & Stewart (1992), the
soil parameters. In this case, it is also necessary to two most important dynamic soil parameters are
determine the dynamic soil parameters, mainly the the maximum shear modulus (G0) and the internal
maximum shear modulus (G0). The seismic SPT damping ratio (D); both of which can be deter-
(S-SPT) is a hybrid in situ test which combines mined from analyzing the shear wave propagation.
stratigraphic logging, estimative of geotechnical The Theory of Elasticity demonstrates that it is
parameters and determination of G0 values in one possible to determine G0 values based on the veloc-
unique test. ity of the shear wave propagation (equation 1).
Some authors, such as Bang & Kim (2007), have The shear distortion caused by the seismic waves is
shown that it is possible to incorporate the meas- very small, in the order of 104 (Hardin & Drnevich
urement of shear wave velocity using the SPT blow 1972). The shear modulus degradation curves pre-
with the up-hole technique. This approach has been sented by several authors, such as Seed & Idriss
used in the past, as presented by Ohata et al. (1978), (1970), indicate that the relationship G/G0 is equal
however there is no reference of using it in Brazil. to one for deformability of the same order.
Traditionally, the down-hole seismic technique
associated with the cone test (SCPT) has been widely
used for the same applications as that of the S-SPT G0 = Vs 2 (1)
g
test. The SCPT test has greater acceptance and expe-
rience, even though it is more expensive for those
2.2 The S-SPT
countries where its use is still scarce. So, the S-SPT
test could be another possibility for soil dynamic site The basic concept of this hybrid test is to incorpo-
characterization, mainly in countries such as Brazil, rate the up-hole seismic technique for determining
where the SPT is the most used in situ testing. Vs values during the traditional SPT test. However,
The possibility of measuring the SPT N value for each sampler depth (usually at every meter) a
together with the shear wave velocity (VS) at the seismic wave is generated and it can be recorded
same time and in the same borehole allows calcu- on the ground surface. A scheme for performing
lating the maximum shear modulus (G0). It also S-SPT test is represented in Figure 1.
opens up new possibilities for geotechnical site The equipment to carry out this test is the same
investigations, for example, in collapsible tropical as that one currently used for the conventional
soils, based on the relationship G0/N, which is simi- SPT tests. It also includes an arrangement of
lar to the relationship between G0/qc. transducers (usually geophones) placed inside of
337
Trigger &
Anvil
DAQ
System
Case with
geophones
H1 1
L1
H2 2 L2
H3
3 L3 Figure 2. Profile of seismic wave and the identification
of the common arrival point of the S waves.
Hi i Li
Incindent ray Reflected ray
1 1
Figure 1. Schematic representation of an S-SPT test
and a seismic refracted path (adapted from Bang & Kim
2007). V1
V2
appropriate boxes on the ground surface, a trigger- V2>V1
ing system (digital or analogical) and the seismic
source, which is the SPT sampler itself. 2
Refracted ray
2.3 Determining VS from the S-SPT
Velocity is calculated dividing space over time. How- Figure 3. Snells lawrefraction and reflection (Kearey
ever the determination of these two variables is not 2009).
so simple. When the path of the wave propagation
and the time necessary for its propagation inside a determining the refracted wave path. Snells Law
stratified medium, where wave refraction occurs, it deals with refraction and reflection during the
is necessary to considered the Snells Law. It can be propagation of waves in stratified layers of differ-
done employing specialized softwares, in order that ent densities. The Law in question, illustrated in
these variables can be determined. Bang & Kim Figure 3, is expressed by the equation 2.
(2007) described two methods for this calculation:
DTR (delay time between serial receivers) and DTS sin 1 sin
i 2
(delay time between serial sources). In this study the = (2)
V1 V2
DTS method was used. In this method, the first
step is to determine the shear wave velocity S, and It can be seen that the determination of the
to determine the time interval of the arrival of the refracted ray path based on Snells Law depends on
S waves for each sample depth in which the test was various wave velocities which are propagated. The
carried out (in other words, the time from when the refracted ray path can be determined by considering
wave was generated at the SPT sampler up to arrival two conditions; the first is Snells law and the second
at the geophones on the surface). Identifying the is the geometrical criteria (Bang & Kim 2007), there-
exact moment of the first arrival time can be made fore some assumptions are made. Considering that
plotting the wave receptions generated at different each sample layer is equal in depth where the SPT test
depths, as the SPT test is carried out. Figure 2 dem- was carried out in the same borehole. Considering
onstrates a typical profile of these wave recordings also that each layer is homogeneous, the propagated
as well as the identified point in the traces, which wave velocity will be constantfor example, layer h1
indicates the arrival point the first S wave. has a velocity of v1 and so on, respectively (Figure 1).
The second important point concerns the geom- In order to calculate the refracted ray path, it is also
etry. Bang & Kim (2007) recommend that Snells necessary to know the velocity of the wave in the pre-
Law should be taken into consideration when vious layer in which the test was performed, which is
338
339
SCPT
5
Browny red
clayey-silty
CPTU 3 S-SPT 2 DOWN-HOLE sand
SPT-T 10
CPTU 2
CPTU 1
Depth (m)
5.00
N.M.
15
20 Browny red
silty sand
Figure 5. Location map for the tests carried out at the
experimental research site. 25
Brown
clayey-silty
fine sand
30
An arrangement of six geophones installed Water table
not reached up
CPTU1 Seismic Probe
CPTU2 SCPT
inside of three appropriate boxes was placed on to 30 m CPTU3
340
8
+ Determination of VS3
1 2,62 2,62 0,777 3,67 217,99 0,003217
2 4,62 2,00 0,786 2,83 220,03 0,003217
10 3 6,62 2,00 1,147 4,86 283,30 0,003217
+ Determination of VS4
12 1 2,62 2,62 0,618 3,21 217,99 0,002658
2 4,62 2,00 0,625 2,47 220,03 0,002658
3 6,62 2,00 0,852 3,04 283,30 0,002658
14
4 8,59 1,97 1,048 3,95 325,97 0,002658
+ Determination of VS5
16
1 2,62 2,62 0,561 3,09 217,99 0,002440
2 4,62 2,00 0,567 2,37 220,03 0,002440
3 6,62 2,00 0,763 2,77 283,30 0,002440
Figure 7. Schematic representation of the refracted ray 4 8,59 1,97 0,920 3,25 325,97 0,002440
path based on Snells law and the straight ray path.
5 9,42 0,83 1,091 1,80 363,50 0,002440
+ Determination of VS6
5.2 SCPT x S-SPT 1 2,62 2,62 0,514 3,01 217,99 0,002254
2 4,62 2,00 0,519 2,30 220,03 0,002254
The major result of this paper is summarized in
3 6,62 2,00 0,692 2,60 283,30 0,002254
Figure 8, in which the velocity profiles were plot- 4 8,59 1,97 0,825 2,90 325,97 0,002254
ted from each position where the geophones were 5 9,42 0,83 0,960 1,45 363,50 0,002254
placed (Figure 8b). It is possible to observe that 6 10,58 1,16 0,885 1,82 342,79 0,002259
only for the position at 4.5 m distance from the
+ Determination of VS7
borehole presented significant differences from the
1 2,62 2,62 0,488 2,97 217,99 0,002150
reference velocity profile due to the signal record-
2 4,62 2,00 0,493 2,27 220,03 0,002150
ing traces was with lower quality to the other posi- 3 6,62 2,00 0,655 2,52 283,30 0,002150
tions, enabling a better interpretation for others. 4 8,59 1,97 0,777 2,76 325,97 0,002150
A new profile was established (Figure 8c), using 5 9,42 0,83 0,897 1,33 363,50 0,002150
the velocities from the remaining 5 positions and 6 10,58 1,16 0,829 1,71 342,79 0,002150
the average (AVR VS) of them, which was adopted 7 11,46 0,89 0,720 1,18 304,96 0,002162
as being the VS profile obtained with the S-SPT + Determination of VS8
test. In the graphic presented in Figure 8d Vs val- 1 2,62 2,62 0,440 2,90 217,99 0,001954
ues from the S-SPT test were superposed over the 2 4,62 2,00 0,444 2,22 220,03 0,001954
results from the seismic probe (Vitali 2011) and 3 6,62 2,00 0,587 2,40 283,30 0,001954
SCPT test. The relative errors between Vs measured 4 8,59 1,97 0,691 2,56 325,97 0,001954
with the S-SPT test and with the two others down- 5 9,42 0,83 0,790 1,18 363,50 0,001954
hole testing methods (seismic probe and SCPT) are 6 10,58 1,16 0,734 1,56 342,79 0,001954
presented in Figure 8e. The average relative error 7 11,46 0,89 0,638 1,10 304,96 0,001954
found is in the range of 10%. 8 12,53 1,07 0,896 1,71 399,55 0,001954
+ Determination of VS9
1 2,62 2,62 0,309 2,75 217,99 0,001395
6 CONCLUSION 2 4,62 2,00 0,312 2,10 220,03 0,001395
3 6,62 2,00 0,406 2,18 283,30 0,001395
The preliminary results from this ongoing research 4 8,59 1,97 0,472 2,21 325,97 0,001395
confirm that the S-SPT technique is adequate for 5 9,42 0,83 0,532 0,96 363,50 0,001395
Vs measurement. The assertion of Bang & Kim 6 10,58 1,16 0,498 1,32 342,79 0,001395
(2007) on the refracted ray path according to 7 11,46 0,89 0,439 0,98 304,96 0,001395
Snells Law is fundamental for achieving adequate 8 12,53 1,07 0,591 1,28 399,55 0,001395
9 16,46 3,94 0,715 5,21 467,68 0,001402
and reliable results. The comparison between Vs
341
6
Depth (m)
8
Browny red
clayey-silty
10 sand
12
14
16
Browny red
silty sand
18
Water table 4.5m 6.0m S-SPT (AVG VS) S-SPT vs Seismic Probe
was not reached 6.0m 7.5m Seismic Probe S-SPT x SCPT
up to 30m
7.5m 9.0m SCPT
9.0m 10.5m
10.5m 12.0m
12.0m AVG VS
AVG VS
Figure 8. Comparing S-SPT test results with down-hole and SCPT results.
results obtained with the S-SPT and with down- division. Proceedings of the American Society of Engi-
hole and SCPT tests validated the equipment and neers., Vol. 98. No. SM6.
method of analysis used since relative errors on Vs Kearey, P. 2009. Geofsica de explorao, Michael Brooks,
Ian Hill. Traduo: Maria Cristina Moreira Coelho.
are in the range of 10%. So Paulo: Oficina de Textos.
Ohta, Y., Goto, N., Kagami, H. & Shiono, K. 1978.
Shear wave velocity measurement during a standard
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS penetration test. Earthquake Engineering & Structural
Dynamics, 6: 4350.
Pedrini, R.A.A. 2012. Desenvolvimento de sistema para
The authors gratefully acknowledge the Brazilian realizao de ssmica up-hole em conjunto com sond-
Research Agencies FAPESP (State of So Paulo agem SPT. M.Sc. thesis, FEB/Unesp. Bauru.
Research Foundation) and CNPq (National Council Robertson, P.K., Campanella, R.G., Gillespie, D. & Rice,
for Scientific and Technological Development). A. 1986. Seismic CPT to measure in-situ shear wave
velocity, Journal of Geotechnical. Engineering. ASCE,
112(8): 791804.
Sancio, R.B. & Bray, J.D. 2010. An Assessment of the
REFERENCES Effect of Rod Length on SPT Energy Calculations
Based on Measured Field Data, Geotechnical Testing
Bang, E.S. & Kim, D.S. 2007. Evaluation of shear wave Journal, Vol. 28, No. 1 Paper ID GTJ11959. Available
velocity profile using SPT based up-hole method, Soil online at: www.astm.org
Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 27: 741758. Seed, H.B. & Idriss, I.M. 1970. Soil moduli and damping
Campanella, R.G. & Stewart, W. P. 1992. Seismic cone factors for dynamic response analyses, Report EERC
analysis using digital signal processing for dynamic 70-10. Earthquake Engineering Research Center, Uni-
site characterization, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, versity of California, Berkeley.
29(3): 477486. Vitali, O.M.P. 2011. Desenvolvimento de um sistema para
Hardin, B.O. & Drnevich, V.P. 1972. Shear Modulus realizao de ensaios ssmicos down-hole em conjunto
and Damping in Soils: Measurement and Parameter com o CPT. M.Sc. thesis. EESC-USP. So Carlos.
Effects. Journal of the soil mechanics and foundations
342
ABSTRACT: There have been various methods for characterizing consolidation behavior of clays with
application of dissipation results from piezocone penetration tests (PCPT). Little attention however has
been given to the evaluation of long-term compressibility that is represented by the compression index.
It is primarily because no measurement of volume change is made during PCPT dissipation tests. In this
study, a methodology for the estimation of long-term compressibility using PCPT dissipation results is
presented. The coupled relationship of time-stress-volume change during consolidation is introduced into
the investigation. Several case examples are selected and adopted to compare measured and predicted
compression indices.
343
344
345
SA 1 87 0.75 72
SA 2 1.10 106 185 0.90 46
0.6 SA 3 1.39 106 330 0.90 45
SP 1 7.10 107 96 0.90 50
SP 2 1.01 106 126 1.30 50
0.3 SP 3 1.11 106 162 0.80 50
T1 T2 T3 T4 BK 1.69 106 202 1.03 45
T5 T6 T7 T8
0.0
0.0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 soils near surface showed OC condition with OCR
in 28 range, below which soils were in slightly
Cc (measured) overconsolidated states with OCR around 1.5.
For SP site, upper and lower marine clay layers
(a) Comparison for U = 20%
were observed. Upper and lower marine clay lay-
ers extended down to depths of 15 and 30 m, and
1.2
showed quite compressible conditions with LL and
Degree of PI in ranges of 6095 and 2035, respectively. For
consolidation = 30% BK site, soils were inorganic clays of high plastic-
0.9 ity with LL and PI in 6580 and 2555 ranges,
Cc (calculated)
346
(b)
(b)
6 CONCLUSION
347
348
Murad Abu-Farsakh
Louisiana Transportation Research Center, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, US
Xinbao Yu
Department of Civil Engineering, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX, US
ABSTRACT: The in-situ piezocone penetration test (PCPT or CPTu) has been widely used by geotech-
nical engineers for soil classification and evaluation of many engineering soil properties including the
consolidation parameters. The PCPT-derived consolidation properties, such as constrained modulus (M)
and coefficient of consolidation (c), can be used to estimate the magnitude and time rate of consolidation
settlement of soils subjected to loading. The accurate estimation of embankment settlement is crucial
to the proper design of approach slabs for bridges and to the mitigation of the bump problem. This
paper presents a case study on estimating the embankment settlement at Courtableau Bridge site. The
soil underneath each embankment site of the bridge was instrumented with a horizontal inclinometer. In
each embankment site, PCPT tests were performed and the soundings of cone tip resistance (qt) were used
to estimate the profiles of constrained modulus (M) using Sanglerat and Abu-Farsakh et al. interpreta-
tion methods. Dissipation tests were also conducted at specified penetration depths and used to estimate
the coefficients of consolidation (c) using the Teh and Houlsby interpretation method. Shelby tube soil
samples were collected and used to carry out a laboratory testing program to evaluate the consolida-
tion properties. The embankments consolidation settlements were monitored with time and the field-
measured values were compared with the magnitude and rate of settlements estimated using parameters
derived from PCPT data and laboratory consolidation tests. The results of this study demonstrated that
the piezocone penetration and dissipation tests reasonably estimated the magnitude and rate of consolida-
tion settlement of both embankment sites.
349
Model Equation
Sanglerat (1972) qc, table of provided in the reference
Senneset et al. (1988) 2qt for qt 2.5 MPa
4qt for 2.5 < qt < 5 MPa silty soil
Senneset et al.(1989) p qn = p (qt vo) Pre-consolidation clay
n qn = n (qt vo) Normal consolidation clay
Kulhawy & Mayne (1990) 8.25 (qt vo)
Abu-Farsakh (2004) and 3.15 qt
Abu-Farsakh et al. (2007) 3.58 (qt vo)
the constrained modulus (M) predicted from PCPT of subsurface soils. Dissipation test consists of
measured data using the following equation: stopping the cone penetration at certain depth and
i recording the dissipation of excess pore pressure
Sc H i
M avi (1) (u) with time. The excess pore pressure is defined
as the difference between the penetration pore
where Hi is the thickness of the soil layer i, i is pressure (u) and the static equilibrium pore pres-
the induced stress in the mid of layer i, Mavi is the sure (uo).
average constrained modulus for a stress range In this study, the Teh & Houlsby (1991) method
from initial effective vertical stress ( voi) to final was used to estimate the horizontal coefficient of
effective vertical stress ( voi + i) estimated using consolidation of the soil (ch) near the cone tip as
the following equation (Senneset et al. 1988; Sen- shown in Eq. (4).
neset et al. 1989).
M avi Mi
voi + i / 2
(2)
(
ch ( piezo) = T *ro2 I r )t
50 (4)
voi
where, T*50 is a modified time factor at 50% dissipa-
tion (T*50 = 0.118 for the u1 piezocone and 0.245 for
2.1 Constrained modulus, M the u2 piezocone), Ir = G/su is the rigidity index, G is
the shear modulus, and su is the undrained shear
Several correlations have been proposed to estimate strength. The shear modulus at 50% of yield stress
the constrained modulus from either the cone tip (G50) is usually used, which represents an average
resistance (qc) or the corrected cone tip resistance value of stress levels. UU tests and ko-CU tests on
(qt) (Abu-Farsakh 2004). The general relationship retrieved soil samples were performed to determine
for M can be expressed as follows: unstrained shear strength su and shear modulus G
M qc M qt (3) at 50% yield stress respectively. The determined su
and G were used to determine the rigidity index
Some of the popular correlation equations of Ir. In this study, the ch (piezo) was converted to
constrained modulus are summarized in Table 1. the ch of normal soil following the procedure by
Sanglerat (1972) presented a comprehensive array Levadoux & Baligh (1986). Then, a ratio of kh to kv
of values for different soil types with different of 1.2 was used to calculate the vertical coefficient
cone tip resistance values. Senneset (1988) presented of consolidation of normal soil.
a correlation based on corrected tip resistance (qt)
for silty soils. Senneset et al. (1989) presented a cor-
relation based the tip resistance corrected by in situ 3 COURTABLEAU BRIDGE SITE
soil vertical stress (vo) for clayey soils. Abu-Farsakh
(2004) and Abu-Farsakh et al. (2007) evaluated the LADOTD decided to replace the old Bayou
aforementioned correlation equations based on Courtableau Bridge located in St. Landry parish
test data on Louisiana soils and proposed two cor- on LA route 103 about 8 miles north of Port Barre.
relation equations as shown in Table 1. The new bridge was built with precast prestressed
concrete girders supported by pile bents sitting on
square reinforced concrete driven piles.
2.2 Coefficients of consolidation
A comprehensive field and laboratory test-
The piezocone dissipation tests can provide the ing program was conducted to investigate the
estimation of in situ coefficient of consolidation soil properties of the study site, which included
350
5 Br Si Sa
m.c.
L.L.
Br/Gr Sa Si
P.L.
Depth (m) 10
15
Br/Gr
Lean Cl
20
25
Tip Resistance (MPa) Sleeve Friction (MPa) Rf (%) Probability of Soil Type (%)
0 4 8 12 16 20 0 0.1 0.2 0 2 4 6 8 0 20 40 60 80 100
0 0 0 0
Sandy
5 5 5 5
Silty
10 10 10 10
15 15 15 15
Depth (m)
Clayey
20 20 20 20
25 25 25 25
30 30 30 30
35 35 35 35
Figure 2. PCPT profiles and soil classification for Courtableau Bridge east site.
moisture content, density, Atterberg limits, parti- settlement estimation. The profiles of CPT test
cle size analysis, 1-D consolidation tests, UU tests, results (qt, fs, and Rf) and the corresponding CPT
ko-CU tests, and piezocone penetration and dissipa- soil classification using Zhang & Tumay (1999)
tion tests. The 1-D consolidation test results along CPT classification method are presented in Fig-
with soil strata from soil boring log are presented ure 2. As shown by the CPT soil classification, the
in Figure 1. The first column of the plots shows subgrade soil mainly consists of clayey silt in the
the soil strata obtained from the boring log of the upper 60 ft. below ground surface. Compared to
bridge site; the second column presents the mois- the west embankment site, the east site is a little
ture content, liquid limit, and plastic limit results sandier. Several dissipation tests were conducted
of Shelby tube samples obtained from the site; the at each side of the bridge as shown in Figure 3 to
undrained shear strength from UU test is shown obtain the consolidation parameters used for set-
in the next column; the constrained modulus and tlement estimation. The depths for the PCPT dissi-
coefficient of consolidation at the in-situ stress pation tests at the west side embankment are 1.96,
level determined from laboratory 1-D consolida- 2.64, 3.83, 7.56, 9.55, 13.88, 16.15, and 18.15 m
tion tests are shown in the following two columns, below the old pavement surface.
respectively; the last column plots the profile of
OCR. These parameters were used in the calcula-
3.1 Installation of horizontal inclinometer
tion of embankment settlement in the later section.
One CPT test was conducted on each embankment The newly constructed east embankment has a
site of the bridge to profile the subgrade soils for height of 8 ft. above the existing pavement and a
351
1.20 13.88m
1.10
1.00 9.55m
0.90
0.80 3.83m
2.64m
0.70
0.60
0.50 1.96m
0.40
0.30
0.20 16.15m
18.15m
0.10
0.00
0 1 10 100 1000
Time (sec)
INCLINOMETER
WEST APPROACH - STA. 111+35
Figure 5. Installation of horizontal inclinometer casing
2'-0"
CASING
(NTS)
2'-0"
A
and return pipe.
SECTION "A-A"
(NTS)
A
profile. The inclinometer readings were taken at
EAST APPROACH SLAB - STA. 114+20 specified time intervals until 6 months after the
(NTS)
complete of the construction.
Figure 4. Installation plan of the horizontal
inclinometers.
4 RESULTS AND ANALYSES
width of 120 ft.; while the newly constructed west
4.1 Constrained modulus and coefficient
embankment has a height of 6 ft. above the exist-
of consolidation
ing pavement and a width of 110 ft. One horizon-
tal inclinometer was installed at each embankment The PCPT data obtained on each embankment site
side underneath the middle of the approach slab to were used to estimate the constrained modulus, M,
monitor the profile of consolidation settlement of using the Sanglerat method and Abu-Farsakh (2004)
subgrade soil along the embankment cross section. correlation (M = 3.15qt), with qt representing the aver-
The installation plan of the inclinometers is shown age qt value of the soil layer. The PCPT estimated con-
in Figure 4. A 2 ft.-wide and 2 ft.-deep trench as strained modulus along with those obtained from 1-D
shown in Figure 5 was dug after the completion consolidation tests are depicted in Figure 6a. The fig-
of the first lift of embankment fill. The return ure shows that both Sanglerat and Abu-Farsakh meth-
pipe with a diameter of 3.34 in. (85 mm) and cas- ods have close estimation of the in situ constrained
ing were also aligned on the bottom of the trench. moduli, which are generally larger than the laboratory
The trench was then backfilled and manually com- measured values, especially in the upper 15 ft.
pacted with a hand compactor. In this study, a dig- The vertical coefficients of consolidation, cv,
ital horizontal inclinometer system manufactured were obtained using the Teh & Houlsby (1991)
by RST instruments Ltd. was used, which consists interpretation method from dissipation test results
of inclinometer casing, a horizontal probe, control as described by Equations 46. The Rigidity indi-
cable, and a readout unit. Each end of the incli- ces were determined using laboratory UU and
nometer casing extended about 10 ft. beyond the ko-CU test results. Coefficient of consolidation
embankment and was fastened to two wooden is difficult to determine accurately in nature. The
posts inserted deep into the natural ground to pro- PCPT estimated vertical coefficients of consolida-
vide stable reference points for future survey. A first tion generally agree well with laboratory measured
survey was conducted immediately after the trench values (Figure 6b).
was compacted to obtain the baseline survey plus
to check the function of the casing. The inclinome-
4.2 Settlement and settlement rate prediction
ter probe was pulled through the casing twice with
the probe in forward and backward position at 2 ft. The settlement calculation of Courtableau Bridge
interval, i.e. the length of probe. The two readings embankments was performed based on results of
can eliminate possible errors of the instrument laboratory tests on retrieved in-situ samples and
and provide accurate measurement of settlement the PCPT field tests. The embankment additional
352
Depth(ft.)
E-Sanglerat (West)
E-3.15qt(West)
40 E-Lab(West) 40 The 1-D consolidation test results conducted in
the laboratory were used for settlement calcula-
50 50
tion as indicated by -Lab shown in Figures 7
60 60 East-Lab
East-PCPT
and 8. The subgrade soil properties and the PCPT
70 70
West-Lab
West-CPT
and the dissipation test results were presented
earlier. The constrained modulus and vertical
coefficient of consolidation shown in Figure 6
(a) Constrained modulus (b) Coefficient of
were also used for settlement calculations. The
consolidation
PCPT-predicted settlements (using Sanglerat and
Figure 6. Comparison of constrained modulus and Abu-Farsakh correlations of M) were compared
coefficient of consolidation. with the laboratory-calculated settlement and the
field-measured settlement from the horizontal
inclinometers as shown in Figures 7 and 8. The fig-
ures show that the proposed PCPT interpretation
6 month-Measured (Inclinometer)
East Embankment
10 6 month-Predicted (Lab)
Surcharge Total Settlement- Predicted (Lab)
8 6 month- Predicted (Sanglerat)
Height (ft)
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
10
12
353
0 0
1
Field Measurement
1 Laboratory 2 Field Measurement
PCPT-Sanglerat Laboratory
PCPT-3.15qt PCPT-Sanglerat
3 PCPT-3.15qt
Settlement (inch)
Settlement (inch)
2 4
3 6
4 8
5 10
method predicted the total consolidation settle- engineers to use this method confidently. The
ment better than the Sanglerat PCPT method and work presented in this paper is part of continue
the laboratory method. The settlement predicted verification effort. When applying the recom-
from laboratory tests results in the largest settle- mended calibration equations in locations other
ment. The Sanglerat method resulted settlements than Louisiana, engineers should take cautions
are slightly larger than the settlement obtained by to check the accuracy.
Abu-Farsakh method.
The accurate prediction of the rate of embank-
ment settlement is very important to geotechni- 5 CONCLUSION
cal engineers for better planning the extent of
preloading period needed to overcome majority of This paper evaluated the capability of the PCPT
settlement. The rates of consolidation settlement method for predicting the embankment settlement
underneath the center of embankments predicted due to the consolidation of underlying saturated
from the laboratory parameters and the PCPT dis- fine-grained soils. The embankment construc-
sipation tests using Teh & Houlsby (1988) interpre- tion site at the Courtableau Bridge was selected to
tation method are presented in Figures 9a and 9b verify the PCPT-based settlement prediction meth-
for the east and west embankments, respectively. ods developed in a previous study (Abu-Farsakh
The figures indicated that although the predicted 2004). A comprehensive laboratory and field test-
magnitudes of settlement from laboratory and ing program was conducted to calculate and verify
PCPT methods vary from the actual field measure- the magnitude and rate of embankment settlement.
ments, the PCPT estimated rate of consolidation Field measurements from horizontal inclinometers
settlement from dissipation tests matches fairly were compared with consolidation settlements
well with the field monitoring. estimated using the PCPT and laboratory derived
parameters.
The results showed that the PCPT and dissi-
4.3 Reliability of settlement prediction
pation data were able to reasonably estimate the
The reliability of settlement prediction using magnitude and rate of consolidation settlement.
PCPT is determined by the calibration equa- The PCPT settlement prediction method using
tions for constrained modulus and coefficient Abu-Farsakh correlations of constrained modu-
of consolidation. These calibration equations lus (M = 3.15qt) has better performance than
are empirical and greatly depend on calibration Sanglerat PCPT method and the laboratory cal-
database. The empirical equations used in this culation in estimating the magnitude of consoli-
paper were developed from 7 embankment sites dation settlement of Courtableau embankments.
and verified with 3 embankment sites all located The estimation of rate of settlement from PCPT
in Louisiana (Abu-Farsakh 2004). LADOTD dissipation tests using Teh and Houlsby inter-
decided to continue the verification process until pretation method agrees fairly well with field
enough reliability is achieved for LADOTD measurements.
354
355
V.K. Singh
National Research Laboratory for Soft Ground, Dong-A University, Busan, Korea
S.G. Chung
Department of Civil Engineering, Dong-A University, Busan, Korea
ABSTRACT: Determination of design parameters from in-situ tests needs a reliable assessment of over-
burden stress, which is calculated from unit weight () of each soil layers. is usually determined indirectly
using empirical equations. The equations based on shear wave velocity (Vs) are considered more reliable
as it can reflect the in-situ inherent properties of soil. However, CPT is performed more commonly; is
usually estimated from CPT parameters. The proper evaluation of from CPT is thus needed for reliable
interpretation of other soil parameters. For this purpose, sand samples were retrieved, limit densities were
determined and the in-situ was back-calculated using CPT-based Dr equation. The comparison with
estimated from CPT-based and Vs-based methods showed that, the back calculated values were closer
to those estimated from Vs-based equations. Alternative empirical equation was developed using CPT
parameters, which appeared to provide reasonable estimation of .
357
358
Depth, m
(qt Pa ) 0.675 30
2.3 The soil behavior type index, Ic Figure 1. Typical soil profile at MJ site based on CPT
The Soil Behavior Type index (Ic) was proposed by profiles (Singh et al. 2011).
Robertson and Wride (1998) which is able to char-
acterize the grains directly from the CPT results. from the SPT sampler. Singh et al. (2009) reported
The Soil Behavior Type index, Ic is defined as: that the JIS A1224 (2000) yields both highest and
lowest values of the limit densities and requires a
0.5
( smaller volume of sample (about 170 cm3) com-
Qt ) + (log Fr + 1.22 )2
2
Ic (3)
pared to 2,830 cm3 volume of sample required by
ASTM (D4253/D4254) method. A scanning elec-
where, n = 0.5 for sandy soil and 1 for clay,
tron microscope was also adopted to investigate
Qt = [(qt vo)/pa] (Pa/vo)n,
the sand particle properties.
Fr = [fs/(qt vo)] 100%, and fs = sleeve friction.
4 SITE DESCRIPTION
3 INVESTIGATION PROGRAM
The in-situ tests and sampling were conducted at
3.1 Field tests and sampling
the Myeongji (MJ) site, which is located in the
Samples were retrieved using a conventional SPT southernmost part of the Nakdong River delta.
sampler from borehole MD1P-2 in the Nakdong Figure 1 shows a typical cross-section of the Late
River deltaic area, west of Busan city. The sam- Quaternary deposit constructed based on several
ples were collected from 33.5 to 42.5 m depths at CPT profiles across the test site. The upper clay
an interval of 100 cm. The sample numbers were layer is uniform, soft, and normally consolidated;
assigned based on the borehole number and the however, the lower sand varies significantly in local-
sampling depth. ity. The lower sand layer is about 2025 m thick
The piezocone test (CPTu) and the seismic flat and non-uniform which is deposited under the flu-
dilatometer test (SDMT) were conducted close to vial channel environment (Chung et al. 2006).
the sampling borehole. The piezocone, manufac-
tured by Geomil Co., Ltd., consists of a 60 apex
angle cone with a 15 cm2 base area, and a porous
5 TEST RESULTS
element located immediately behind the cone
(u2). The shear wave velocity was measured at an
5.1 Soil classification and physical properties
interval of 50 cm. using the Marchetti seismic flat
dilatometer. The data was acquired and analyzed Based on the grain size distribution properties
by using the SDMT Elab software. tested in the laboratory (Fig. 2) and the Soil Behav-
iour Type index Ic, the sands were largely divided
into three groups: fine to medium sand (type I,
3.2 Laboratory tests closed symbols), medium sand with more than
The physical properties were determined using the 10% coarse sand and a little gravel (type II, open
ASTM standard test methods. The limit densi- symbols), and gravelly sand with more than 10%
ties, however, were determined using the Japanese gravels (type III, line-crossed symbols).
Industrial Standards test method (JIS A1224, 2000) Figure 3 shows the summarized physical proper-
due to limited amount of sand samples retrieved ties of each sub-layer. The specific gravity varies
359
360
361
REFERENCES
362
363
ABSTRACT: Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is one of the most popular and economical field tests
and its derived parameters are still extensively used for practical applications. Although the test is very
popular in practice, its entire behavior during driving has rarely been depicted to date. This paper presents
a proposed approach to depict the relationship between blow counts and cumulative penetrations of the
SPT using energy balance approach. The driving mechanism of the SPT sampler is conceptually modeled
as that of a miniature open-ended steel pipe pile, and it requires only basic in-situ parameters of sand
as input parameters. Simulated curves of blow counts versus cumulative penetrations agree very well
with measured ones obtained from two experimental sites. The behavior of the relationship was found to
depend significantly on the soil plug mechanism in the SPT sampler. Simulated soil plug lengths in the
SPT sampler are found slightly less than the measured values.
365
r2n-1
independent solution of qc, the equation proposed
d3
di
...........
h1
Rtn rtn At h 0 ( I Rn ) At
IFR
h2
rin-i+1 (3)
dn-1
h3
...........
where rtn = unit base resistance (kPa) at the nth blow,
hi
rn-12
and rtn theoretically increases with decreasing of the
hn-1
dn
rn1
hn
366
Es Rssnn + Rttnn
(R dn (6)
3 VERIFICATION OF THE APPROACH
where dn = penetration corresponding to the nth
blow. The Rsn and Rtn values essentially increase Among the required input parameters, the hyper-
with increasing the number of blows, as the pen- bolic parameters ( and m) are the most difficult
etration becomes deeper and soil plug gets denser. ones to be determined. Thus, to verify a simulated
Based on the energy conservation law, the equal- curve, optimization of m and is first carried, fol-
ization of the energies (Es = Eh) gives: lowing by comparison between simulated curve
determined by the optimized m and and the
( si ti )di = ETR( )CR (7) measured curve.
367
RMSEm1
values, Equation 9 can be solved and updated Iteration length
continuously to get the first complete blow counts
cumulative penetrations curve. From the curve,
the first root mean squared error (RMSEm1,1) is
obtained as follows:
0.5
3 2
(
Em1,1 = ni ,mea ni,i ,sim ) (10)
i =1
RMSEm1,min
where ni,sim (i = 1, 2, 3) are simulated blow counts
corresponding to d1, d2, and d3.
By using the constant value of m1, an iteration
process is now started by increasing k = k1 +
0
m1,opt
(k = 2, 3, 4 . . .). The iteration process is stopped Coefficient of hypebolic funtion,
when the minimum root mean squared error
(RMSEm1,min) is obtained at = m1,opt: Figure 2. Relationship between the RMSEm1 and .
50
RMSE
Em1, i I RMSE
= MIN RMSE SE m1, 2 ... 11)
S m1, 1 RMSE
RMSE Best fit with = opt
45 Simulated with < opt
Measured points (n3,sim, d3) n3
Figure 2 schematically shows the general rela- Simulated points
Cumulative penetration di (cm)
40 (n3,mea, d3)
368
35
40
Depth (m)
MD1P-5
MD1P-2
45
SPT test
50 points
MD1P-2
Lower sand MD1P-5
Very dense
Very loose
55
Medium
Dense
Loose
Gravel
60
0 10 20 30 40 50 25 30 35 40 45 1.0 1.5 2.0 0 20 40 60 80 100
qc (MPa) ' (o) OCR Dr (%)
Table 1. Soil input parameters and output results at the sites from the simulation.
The proposed approach was applied to simu- to show clearly. The simulated curves appeared to
late the target curve with m and of 0.001 were match very well with the measured ones, except
both selected. The energy transfer ratio (ETR) of one test point at 36.5 m (MD1P-2) due to very
0.70 was averagely taken as resulted from the PDA loose sand disturbed during pre-boring. The simu-
test. Table 1 shows the soil input parameters for the lated total number of blows (n3) for each test point
simulation and output results. Figures 6 & 7 show is almost identical to the measured number.
the simulated results plotted against the measured
results at the two locations, respectively.
3.3 Experimental site 2: Kidd2, Vancouver, Canada
Note that due to similar profiles obtained from
each location, only first five and four data points at The second test site is referred to Daniels (2000)
MD1P-2 and MD1P-5, respectively, were selected experimental data on correlation between large
369
40 MD1P-2 5
Cumulative penetration, di (cm)
Sand
35
Depth (m)
30
10
25 Silty sand
20 SPT test
15 point
15 Sim. Mea. Depth
Very dense
Very loose
33.5m Sand
Medium
10 Seating 34.5m
Dense
Loose
drive 35.5m 20
zone 36.5m
5
37.5m 0 10 20 30 25 30 35 40 45 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0 0 20 40 60 80 100
0 qt (MPa) ' (o) OCR Dr (%)
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
Blow count, n
Figure 8. qt profile and interpreted parameters at Kidd2
site.
Figure 6. Simulated vs. measured results at MD1P-2
location.
50
45
50
40 KIDD2
45 Cumulative penetration, di (cm)
35
40
Cumulative penetration, di (cm)
MD1P-5 30
35
25
30
20
25
15 Sim. Mea. Depth
20
4.88m
10 7.92m
15 Sim. Mea. Depth Seating
9.45m
34.0m drive
Seating 5 zone 10.97m
10 18.53m
drive 36.0m
zone 37.0m 0
5
38.0m 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
0 Blow count, n
0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Blow count, n Figure 9. Simulated vs measured results at Kidd2 site.
Figure 7. Simulated vs. measured results at MD1P-5 Similar to the MJ site, the increments m and
location. were selected as 0.001 for the simulation. The
energy transfer ratio (ETR) of 0.68 was averagely
penetration test (LPT) and SPT at a site called taken as the result obtained from the energy meas-
Kidd2, located on the Fraser River delta, south urement test. CR varied from 0.8 to 1 depending on
Vancouver, BC, Canada. The site consists mostly of test depth. Soil input parameters and outputs are
loose to medium silty sand and sand. The ground- given in Table 1. Figure 9 shows five typical curves
water level was around 2.0 m below the ground of measured results plotted against the simulated
surface. More detailed information on geological ones for the SPT9901 location. The proposed
conditions at the site can be found from Daniel approach is again proven to provide very good
et al. (2003). Figure 8 shows qt profile and the cor- results compared with the measured ones.
responding profiles of , OCR and Dr interpreted
from the CPTU data.
3.4 Comparison of simulated and measured soil
The SPT was experimentally performed at two
plug lengths in the SPT sampler
locations (named as SPT9901 and SPT9904) by
using a safety hammer of 640 N (144lb) with a drop Using optimized mopt and opt values, the IFR value
height of 76 cm. A 0.61 m AW transducer rod was from each blow can be evaluated and consequently
attached below the NW anvil rod of the safety ham- the final soil plug length in the sampler can be
mer and the rest of the rod string consisted of 1.52 m calculated. The soil plug length at all test points
AWJ rods. The split spoon dimensions were within in the MJ site was carefully measured. Figure 10
ASTM standard. The number of blows required for shows a typical measurement of soil plug length at
each 2.54 cm (1 inch) of penetration was recorded. one test point. Figure 11 shows ratios of simulated
The effective energy transferred to the drill rods was soil plug length (Lp,sim) to measured one (Lp,mea) at
monitored by using an HPA system. the two locations in the MJ site. It is shown in the
370
0.3
0.1
0.0
Figure 10. A typical measurement of soil plug length 0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0
at MJ site. Normalized relative density, Dr/'v0 (%/kPa)
35 35
Depth (m)
30
25
20
40
15
371
Nsim = 1.0016Nmea
R2 = 0.9932
simulated curves of hyperbolic trend agree very
40
well with the measured ones; (iii) simulated soil
35
plug lengths were found to equal to around 90%
30
of the measured values; (ii) while more test points
are needed to figure out a reliable correlation of
25
Nsim = 0.8154Nmea
20 R2 = 0.9463
with basic soil parameters, the modified exponent
15
(m) can practically be taken as 0.6 with an insig-
10 mopt, opt
m = 1.0, corresponding opt
nificant effect on the N-value; (iv) As indicated in
5
m = 0.0, corresponding opt Figures 6, 7 & 9, after passing the seating drive
0
zone, the curve is almost linear. Thus, a simple
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Measured N value, Nmea (blow)
linear relationship can conservatively be used to
extrapolate the true N-value from the pre-mature
Figure 14. Correlation between Nmea and Nsim values. of N-value = 50 blows/<30 cm.
1.3
1.2
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
1.1
This work was supported by the Korea Science and
1.0 Engineering Foundation (KOSEF) NRL Program
Ratio of Nsim/Nmea
0.9
grant funded by the Korea government (MEST)
Standard deviation (No. R0A-2008-000-20076-0).
0.8
0.7
0.6 REFERENCES
0.5
Average Nsim/Nmea Clayton, C.R.I. 1993. The standard penetration test
0.4 (SPT): methods and use, Report Prepared under Con-
0.0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9 1.0 tract to CIRIA by the University of Surrey, 130p.
Modified exponent, m Daniel, C.R. 2000. Split spoon penetration testing in
gravels, Master thesis, The University of British
Figure 15. Correlation between Nmea and Nsim values. Columbia, p. 187.
372
373
ABSTRACT: Costa Rica is a country with highly diverse geological settings: residual soils, volcanic
soils, alluvial soils, lacustrine soils, coluvium soils, and artificial fills, are among the more common soil
deposits that can be found. The latter consequently induces diversity in geotechnical problems to deal
with such like: landslides, unstable fills, expansive soils, collapsible soils, liquefiable soils, and soft/highly
compressible soils. Due to this complexity, SPT is not enough to deal with each of the problems in a bal-
anced manner (cost vs. safety). A lack of proper geotechnical information often pushes the Geotechnical
Engineer to overly conservative recommendations in order to overcome uncertainty. Upon recognition of
this problem, the authors started to look for more efficient in situ exploration tools, being the DMT and
SDMT the first to be selected. Since then, the authors have performed more than 800 DMT soundings and
more than 30 SDMT soundings. The present paper presents a summary of the experience in this regard.
375
376
377
378
379
3 cm. The expected settlement was 45 cm. Figure 7 Figure 8. Kd-profiles for DMT soundings at the project
shows a view of the project during construction. site.
To date (year 2011), the foundation performance
for the 6 buildings has been deemed satisfactory on
the side of the client.
380
CONCLUSIONS
381
382
ABSTRACT: A consistent database of research-quality piezocone penetration tests (CPTU) and sub-
soil deformation measurements, assembled within an extensive research programme carried out at the
Treporti Test Site (Venice, Italy), is analyzed in order to study the secondary compression behaviour of
the heterogeneous, highly stratified Venetian Lagoon silty sediments and to examine the potential use
of CPTU for estimating the soil parameters describing the time-dependent mechanical response. The
relationship between the cone tip resistance and the secondary compression coefficient is examined and a
couple of empirical correlations are derived from field data.
383
4
4 3
2
2 1
Grading (%) qt (MPa) u2 (MPa)
0
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000
0 25 50 75 0 4 8 12 0.2 0.6 1
Time (days) 0 W.T.
0
40
Sliding Deformeters S4 qt
80 16
CPTU 5 SM-SP fs
120
GPS receiver 20 m
160 S3
Settlement (mm)
200
15 14 10
240 15 m S1
S2
ML
Depth (m)
280 17
320
S4 15
360
400
S2
S1
440
S3 20
480
520
9/02 1/03/03 8/08/03 4/02/04 3/07/04 9/01/05 8/06/05 5/12/05 3/06/06 0/11/06 9/05/07 6/10/07 3/04/08 25
12/0 0 1 0 2 0 2 1 0 2 0 2 1
Time CL
Furthermore, a very accurate geotechnical char- Such profiles fully confirm the highly stratified
acterization of the whole area, based on a large nature of the Venetian lagoon subsoil and provide
number of piezocone (CPTU) and dilatometer immediate evidence of a well-defined top layer of
(DMT) tests, boreholes and high-quality labora- fine clean sands, 67 m thick, followed by a silty
tory tests, was carried out. In particular, the exten- unit from 8 m to 20 m in depth. However, the thick-
sive in situ testing campaign was divided into three ness of this unit is not constant beneath the loaded
main different phases, by first performing a large area, being often interbedded with a clean sand
number of CPTU and DMT tests prior to the layer that progressively reduces its thickness mov-
loading bank construction, followed by a few tests ing eastwards. This is evident from comparison
carried out from the top of the bank, just at the of the qt profiles depicted side by side in Figure 3.
end of its construction, and by some additional Indeed, it can be easily observed that the sandy
tests carried out at the end of its gradual removal lens, particularly evident in the CPTU 15 profile,
(Tonni & Gottardi 2009, 2011). totally disappears in tests CPTU 14, CPTU 16
A scheme of the whole construction history of and CPTU 17.
the test bank (including its removal), together with Another significant sandy layer is located from
the associated settlements measured both in the 20 to 23 m depth, while a complex alternation of
centre and at the edge of the bank by four multiple silty sand, sandy silt and clayey silt, with occa-
micrometers, is shown in Figure 1. A plan with the sional presence of peat, can be identified down to
location of the solely CPTUs performed in the first a depth of 40 m.
testing phase within the loading bank area is also
provided in Figure 1. In particular, test CPTU 14,
2.3 Vertical deformations beneath the test bank
CPTU 15, CPTU 16 and CPTU 17 have been high-
lighted, since they are relevant to the study described A crucial role in the analysis of the compressibility
in this paper. Apart from the central test CPTU 14, characteristics of Treporti subsoil was played by
these tests are located on an imaginary 30 m diam- four sliding deformeters installed beneath the bank,
eter circumference, concentric with respect to the one in the centre and three symmetrically located
loading bank area, as clearly shown in the figure. along a 30 m diameter concentric circumference.
As shown in Figure 1, they were located very close
to the piezocone verticals CPTU 14, CPTU 15,
2.2 The piezocone data
CPTU 16, CPTU 17, the distance between each
Typical CPTU profiles of Venetian subsoil are pair of sliding deformeter and CPTU being not
reported in Figure 2, showing the corrected cone more than 4 m.
resistance qt, the sleeve friction fs and the pore pres- The sliding deformeter is a device for the meas-
sure u of CPTU 15, in conjunction with the grad- urement of soil axial strains along a vertical or
ing characteristics obtained from the soil samples inclined direction. Such a rather sophisticated
of a borehole located close to this test. piece of equipment was able to monitor, every
384
5 S2
S1
S4
10
S3
15
Depth (m)
qt qt qt qt
20 CPTU 15 CPTU 14 CPTU 16 CPTU 17
25
30
CPTU data
Displacements
35 March 2003
Displacements
April 2007
40
0 10 20 30 40 500 10 20 30 40 500 10 20 30 40 500 10 20 30 40 50
Local Local Local Local
displacements (mm) displacements (mm) displacements (mm) displacements (mm)
Figure 3. Local vertical displacements recorded at different times by the sliding deformeters S1, S2, S3 and S4,
together with cone resistance profiles obtained from adjacent piezocone tests.
meter and down to 57 m in depth, distance varia- later, just prior to the gradual removal of the bank,
tions with a probe precision of 30 m (Kovary & the sliding deformeter measurements provided
Amstad 1982). a total displacement of approximately 506 mm,
Plots of the local vertical displacements meas- mainly due to the silty unit (311 mm) and, to
ured by the sliding deformeters S1, S2, S3 and S4 a lesser extent, to both the shallow clayey layer
are shown in Figure 3. Curves have been obtained ( 69 mm) and upper sandy layer (42 mm).
by plotting the subsoil displacements measured Furthermore, as a consequence of the horizon-
just after the end of the bank construction (March tal spatial variability of the Treporti subsoil, the
2003) as well as just before starting the gradual deformation process didnt develop symmetrically
removal of the bank itself (April 2007). Further- with respect to the bank centerline. Indeed, a com-
more, the corrected cone resistance profiles of the parison of the sliding deformeter profiles depicted
adjacent piezocone tests have been superimposed in Figure 3 makes it clear that sandy laminations,
to the displacements plots. present at times within the silty unit, may have had
Field data show that larger vertical strains have some effect on the amount of deformation meas-
occurred in the shallow silty clay layer and within the ured from 8 to 20 m depth.
silty unit, from 8 to 20 m depth. On the other hand, On the other hand, it is worth remarking that
contribution of soil layers deeper than 2530 m the maximum horizontal displacements provided
appears negligible, also in relation to the rapid by the inclinometers located just outside the
reduction of the induced stress increment with bank, close to S1, S2 and S4, turned out to be one
depth. As expected, the largest vertical displace- order of magnitude smaller than the total verti-
ments were measured by the sliding deformeter S3, cal displacement recorded by the adjacent sliding
located very close to centerline. Here, the integral deformeters, thus confirming that the deformation
displacement at the end of the bank construc- process beneath the test bank prevalently devel-
tion turned out to be 389 mm, being 250 mm the oped in the vertical direction.
amount of vertical displacement occurred in the Furthermore, the pore pressure monitoring
only silty unit, from 8 to 20 m depth. Four years revealed that the rate of consolidation was quite
385
1000
100
10
2000
3000
700
200
300
400
500
600
800
900
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
0
1.00 5
Vertical strain v (%)
15
2.00
5m
6m 20
9m
12 m
25
3.00 14 m
6m
18 m
9m
19 m 30
12 m
21 m 14 m
23 m 35
18 m
21 m
4.00
23 m
60 70 80 90 200 300
100
40
Effective vertical stress 'v (kPa)
Figure 4. Field axial strains versus effective vertical Figure 5. Vertical displacements beneath the centreline
stress. of the loaded area vs. time.
high, hence it can be reasonably assumed that settle- The latter part of the vlogv curve is due to
ment due to primary compression developed simul- the strains occurred at constant vertical stress, i.e.
taneously with the loading bank construction. from the completion of the bank construction until
An effective description of the subsoil defor- its removal (March 2003April 2007).
mation throughout the loading process can be Alternatively, field differential displacements
obtained by plotting the field differential dis- recorded by the sliding deformeter S3 during both
placements in terms of the effective vertical stress loading and stationary stages, have been plotted as
v. As an example, Figure 4 shows a selection of curves of vertical strain v against log t (Figure 5).
the vlogv curves derived from strain meas- As evident from figure, the resulting curves have
urements occurred along the centreline (sliding very similar shapes to those obtained by plot-
deformeter S3), between 6 and 23 m depth. Both ting deformation dial readings versus real time
sandy and silty layer responses are thus depicted for a given load increment in an oedometer test.
in the plot. The graphs clearly show that the latter part of the
All curves, independently of the soil classes, curves, derived from deformations occurred after
exhibit a similar shape which basically recalls the the bank construction, is usually found to be slop-
typical trend of vlogv plots obtained from oed- ing and approximately linear.
ometer tests. As evident from figure, the first cycle
of loading has generally produced, on the semilog
plane, a somewhat straight and flat curve, followed
by a smooth but rather pronounced transition into 3 VERTICAL STRAIN ANALYSIS
a steep and relatively straight line. A similar trend
could be observed also in the curves derived from 3.1 Primary compression
measurements at S1, S2 and S4, although it must As already remarked, a proper interpretation of the
be emphasized that only for the central sliding Treporti field data must take into account that the
deformeter, S3, the assumption of 1D conditions time rate of consolidation turned out to be quite
can be reasonably accepted. high and that primary consolidation essentially
Simonini (2004) remarked that the slope change took place during the bank construction stage.
observed in the curves of Figure 4 can be inter- Therefore, deformations occurred after the bank
preted in terms of yielding stress Y, which can completion are most likely to be ascribed to second-
be in turn assumed as an approximation of the ary compression. Furthermore, although secondary
preconsolidation pressure p. Such interpretation compression might have certainly occurred as part
of the Treporti field data confirmed that Venetian of the primary consolidation phase, the widely-
sediments are basically normally consolidated or accepted assumption of treating such components
slightly overconsolidated, with OCR values rang- of deformation separately has been adopted in this
ing in the interval 1.12. study.
386
has been obtained from curves of the type depicted Sand (5-6 m)
Silt
in Figure 4, by calculating the slope of the straight
387
-2
10
10-2
Sand (5-6 m)
-3
Sand (5-6 m) 10 Silts (8-20 m)
-3
10 Silt (8-20 m) Sand (20-22 m)
Sand (20-22 m) Clayey silts (23-24 m)
Clayey silt (23-24 m) C* from S1
C* from S1 C* from S2
C* from S2 C* from S4
C* from S4 10
-4
10-4 1 10 100
0.1 1 10 Normalized Cone Resistance, Qtn
Corrected cone resistance qt (MPa)
Figure 8. In situ C as a function of the dimensionless
Figure 7. In situ C as a function of the corrected cone normalized cone resistance Qtn.
resistance qt.
388
389
S. Yimsiri
Department of Civil Engineering, Burapha University, Chonburi, Thailand
ABSTRACT: This study aims to measure the energy ratio of the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) by the
practice performed in Thailand. The study consists of 2 main parts: (i) development of SPT energy meas-
urement system and (ii) measurement of energy ratio of SPT practice performed in Thailand with different
types of hammer. The energy ratios are determined by both FV and F 2 methods and the comparison is
made. The energy ratios obtained from this study are also compared with other published data. The results
from this study are useful for energy correction of the SPT results obtained by practice performed in Thai-
land to the standard energy ratio for subsequent correlations to other engineering properties of soils.
391
392
Ei
Ri (%) =
ER 100% (4)
E*
393
Commercial Standard
Instrumented Rod
Length 1000 mm 600 mm Not less than N.A. 830 mm
600 mm
Size 54 mm. (OD) AW, NW Same as drill rod N.A. AW, 44.3 mm (OD)
Stain gauge
Number 2 sets 2 sets (350 ) 2 sets N.A. 2 sets (350 ) @ 4
strain gauges
Circuit Full bridge Full bridge Full bridge N.A. Full bridge
Installation location N.A. N.A. Not less than 10 da 300 mm from tip
300 mm
Accelerometer
Number 2 sets 2 sets (10000 g) Not less than more than 2 sets (10000 g)
10000 g 5000 g
Installation location N.A. N.A. Away from strain N.A. 400 mm from tip
gage 100 mm
Sampling rate N.A. N.A. 10,000 Hz N.A. 10,000 Hz
Sampling duration N.A. N.A. 50 msec N.A. 5 sec
100
Signal amplifier and
conditioning box Data acquisition
50
Load cell 2 sets Vin = 5 V and Data acquisition card
@ strain gauge
Load (kN)
-100
Battery 12 V
y = 122.198294x - 43.022168
-150 2
R = 0.999330
AW rod
83 cm length
-200
-1 -0.5 0 0.5 1 1.5
Figure 4. SPT energy measurement system.
Vout (V)
394
F orc e (kN)
0 0
-20 -1
-40
-2
-60
-3
-80
-100 -4
-120 -5
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16
T ime (ms ec )
(a) Force- and velocity-time data
500
450
400
350
E nerg y (J )
300
250
200
150
100 FV
50 F2
40 1
F orc e (kN)
20
0 0
-20
-40 -1
-60 140 6
120 F orc e
-80 -2
100 V eloc ity
-100 4
80
-120 -3 60
T ime (ms ec ) 20
0 0
(a) Force- and velocity-time data
-20
-40
-2
400 -60
-80
350 -4
-100
-120
300
-140 -6
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24
250
E nerg y (J )
T ime (ms ec )
200
(a) Force- and velocity-time data
150
100 500
FV 450
50
F2
400
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 350
300
T ime (ms ec )
E nerg y (J )
200
100
FV
analysis from donut, safety, and trip hammers are 50 F2
T ime (ms ec )
395
Depth 2L/c Energy Ei ERi Energy ratio (%) Donut Safety Trip
Hammer (m) (m sec) type (J) (%)
This research 49 68 95
FV 258 54 US/North America 45 7080 80100
23.0 9.2
F2 912 192 Japan 67
FV 206 43 UK 50 60
Donut 24.5 9.6
F2 643 136 China 50
FV 229 48
26.0 10.3 F2 331 70
FV 342 72 50
29.0 11.6 F2 401 84 45 FV
FV 304 64
% standard deviation
40 F2
Safety 30.5 12.2 F2 397 84 35
FV 320 67 30
32.0 12.8 F2 336 71
25
FV 481 101 20
50.0 19.8 F2 341 72
15
FV 400 84
Trip 51.5 20.4 10
F2 400 84
5
FV 467 98
53.0 21.0 0
F2 407 86
Donut Safety Trip
FV/F2 = 0.8
are relatively similar to the results of US/North 600
FV/F2 = 0.6
America.
Fig. 11 compares % standard deviation of 400
energy ratios from various hammers analyzed with FV/F2 = 0.4
396
397
S.J. Ibez
INGITER S.L.-University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain
C. Sagaseta
University of Cantabria, Santander, Spain
V. Lpez
INGITER S.L.-University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain
ABSTRACT: The penetration in these tests is intimately related to the potential energy of the hammer
(nominal energy). So, it is necessary to understand correctly and deeply how this energy is transferred to
the drive rods and how it is transmitted through the rods to the cone, to realize how the real behavior in
these tests is. The penetration length really depends on the energy, not on that nominal energy, but on a
portion of that energy that is effectively transferred to the rods (ENTHRU) and, in order to be more pre-
cise, the energy that reaches the cone (ENTHRUcone). The ENTHRU is measured by means of monitoring
the upper part of the drive rods (close to the anvil). To calculate the ENTHRUcone it is necessary to correct
the ENTHRU in three ways. First it is needed to take into account the energy loss in the energy transmis-
sion through the rods, and the energy loss due to the skin friction of the drive rods with the soil around
them. It is also necessary to add the energy due to the rod weight that is penetrating into the soil.
Several authors have studied and measured the SPT where 3 = energy efficiency factor; 2 = rod effi-
energy. In this paper we will use one of the latest ciency factor; and mr = rod mass.
investigations by Odebrecht & Schnaid, et al (2005). The experimental data were adjusted and the
Housel (1965) was the first who used the word proposed values for the efficiency factors were:
ENTHRU, that is the maximum energy transmit-
ted to the rod stem. The ENTHRU was measured 3 = 1 0.0042 l (3)
by means of integrating signals from some acceler-
ometer and some strain gauges located below the where l = rod length.
anvil, as usual for these kinds of tests. The value of 2 equals 1.
399
Ff r 2 r2 l T p Esampler
(5) Ef = 3.4 (11)
r mh g h
where T = maximum torque.
This way, the value of the skin friction is calcu-
lated in Equation 6 below: 5 ENTHRUCONE IN DYNAMIC PROBING
T
= (6) Using the Esampler in a SPT (Equation 2) as part
2 r2 l of the new ENTHRUcone, we only need to sub-
The energy used to overcome the friction stract that part of the ENTHRU that is used to
between the drive rods and the soil around them, overcome that skin friction (Ef). Thus, we get the
during the penetration, (frictional energy Ef) could Equation 12:
be calculated with the Equation 7 below:
Ef Ff p (7) U cone = Esampler
ENTHRU Ef (12)
400
401
1 44 0.681
2 39 0.688
3 27 0.718
4 17 0.739
5 37 0.774
6 38 0.771
7 CONCLUSIONS
402
403
404
Piezocone testing for use in the classification of soil behavior and flow
characteristics: An experience carried out in Suape, Pernambuco
ABSTRACT: Parameters obtained from measurements taken during piezocone penetration tests
(CPTU) are commonly used for soil profiling and geostratigraphy, along with the parameters used for
assessment of geotechnical design. Comprehensive research has been carried out by the Geotechnical
Group of the Federal University of Pernambuco in the soft clay deposits in Northeastern Brazil near
the City of Recife. The Group participated in important geotechnical investigations employing CPTU
in the Suape Industrial and Port Complex in Pernambuco, Brazil. This study paper presents an experi-
ence centered on the use of piezocone tests in two areas within the Suape Industrial and Port Complex,
in order to determine classifications concerning soil behavior, along with flow characteristics. The results
are compared with the results from reference tests, and discussed within the literature produced from the
experience. This study confirmed the potential for use of piezocone tests to obtain valid predictions for
geotechnical classification/parameters for soft clay deposits.
405
20
10
0
0 100 200 300 400 500
Sleeve Fricon, fs (kPa)
Figure 3. Chart method (Robertson & Campanella 1983).
Figure 1. Original Begemann chart (Begemann 1965).
Where Bq = pore pressure ratio; u0 = in-situ pore
pressure; v = total vertical overburden stress at the
depth z corresponding to the readings.
Robertson (1990) proposed refinement of the
Robertson et al. (1986) profiling chart, plotting
normalized cone resistance, Q, against nor-
malized friction ratio, F in a cone resistance test
presenting a nine-zone chart (Eqs. 3 and 4 respec-
tively). Normalization was proposed to compensate
for qc dependency on the overburden stress, and
when analyzing deep CPTU soundings (deeper than
about 30 m). Profiling charts developed for shal-
lower soundings do not apply well to deeper sites.
qt v 0
Q= (3)
v 0
fs
Figure 2. Schmertmann chart (Schmertmann 1978). FR = 100 (4)
qt v 0
Robertson & Campanella (1983), Robertson et al.
(1986) and Campanella & Robertson (1988) were Where fs = sleeve friction.
the first to present charts based on piezocone tests Recently, Robertson (2010) suggested an update
that include measurements for cone resistance (qt) for the charts supplied by Robertson et al. (1986),
corrected for pore pressure (Eq. 1). and Robertson (1990). The updated charts that are
Robertson & Campanella (1983) charted meth- dimensionless and color coded for improved pres-
ods (log qt versus FR) that classify five major soil entation, define 9 SBT zones that are consistent.
types: sands, silty sands, sandy silts, clayey silts, Schneider et al. (2008) developed general soil
and clays (Fig. 3). Robertson et al. (1986) profiled classification charts using parametric studies
a chart introducing pore pressure ratio, Bq (Eq. 2). (Fig. 5). The zones in the three charts are exactly
This chart indicates 12 possible zones, or soil cat- the same, but the plots are shown in different formats:
egories, obtained by plotting log qt vs. FR paired (1) coordinates log Qlog u2/ v 0; (2) coordinates
with sets of log qt vs. Bq (Fig. 4). Qu2/ v 0; (3) coordinates semi-log Qu2/ v 0.
qt = qc + u2 (1 a) (1) These formats are best used in cases of: (1) clays,
clayey silts, silts, sandy silts, and sands without neg-
Where: u2 = pore pressure measured at the cone
ative penetration pore pressures; (2) sands and tran-
shoulder; a = the ratio between the shoulder area
sitional soils with small negative excess penetration
unaffected by the pore water pressure, and the total
pore pressures; and (3) clay soils with large negative
shoulder area.
excess penetration pore pressure.
u2i u0 Moll (2005) used data from the literature
Bq = (2) to compare chart predictions from CPT/CPTU
q1 v
406
Figure 5. New proposals for classification of soils using piezocone testing for several forms of plotting (Schneider et al.
2008).
Schmertmann (1978) 63
Robertson et al. (1986): qtRf 55 80 83 41
Robertson et al. (1986): qtBq 78 80
Robertson (1990): QtFR 72 77 61 100
Robertson (1990): QtBq
Eslami & Fellenius (1997) 58 100
Olsen & Mitchell (1995) 68
Senneset et al. (1989) 2 30
Jones & Rust (1983) 30 58
Ramsey (2002) 7580
Jefferies & Davies (1991) 78
N points 107 51 200 40 12 18
tests, to the actual soil type as determined from Robertson (1990) charts yield reasonable to very
laboratory classification tests (Table 1). The data good results; (b) the Jefferies & Davies (1991), and
used was from a wide range of geological set- Ramsey (2002) charts also yield good results, but
tings. Some useful findings can be made from both of these charts are closely based on those
this summary: (a) the Robertson et al. (1986) and from Robertson (1990); (c) there appears to be
407
3 COEFFICIENT OF CONSOLIDATION
408
5 SOIL CLASSIFICATION
CHARTSRESULTS
Figure 8. Geotechnical profile and depth of sampleE106 (SUB-AREA A), Suape (Bello 2011).
Figure 9. Geotechnical profile and depth of sampleE121 (SUB-AREA C), Suape (Bello 2011).
409
Figure 11. Comparison between soil classification from grain-size, and piezocone testsE121 (SUB-AREA C)
(Bello 2011).
A total of 11 verticals were analyzed (6 verticals in the greatest difference between the results of clas-
SUB-AREA A, and 5 verticals in SUB-AREA B). sification from grain-size distribution, and CPTU
Figures 10 and 11 show results of CPTU classi- tests, occurs in the mixed soil regions, and in the
fication from boreholes E104 (SUB-AREA A) and transition zones between layers of the profile.
E121 (SUB-AREA C), respectively. For each of
the boreholes, classification of grain-size distribu-
5.2 Schneider et al. (2008) charts
tion, and NSPT values, were determined for the four
charts, the purpose being to be able to compare the The Schneider et al. (2008) chartCase 1 (Coordi-
classification for CPTU. nates log Qlog u2/ vo) features coordinates iden-
tical to the Robertson (1990) chart, allowing one to
directly compare results. (Figs. 10 and 11). In gen-
5.1 Robertson (1990) charts
eral, soil classification of the study area by the Sch-
In the Robertson (1990) chart (log QBq), it was neider et al. (2008) chartCase 1 was in agreement
observed that the points trend to rise when the over with classification from Robertson (1990).
consolidation ratio (OCR) value increases (Figs. 10 In the Schneider et al. (2008) chartCase 3
and 11). These points are relative to the superficial (Coordinates semi log Qu2/ vo), the results plot-
layer, and the layer below the clayed layer, where the ted only took into consideration material with
presence of silty and sandy material (bands 5, 6 and positive pore pressure values, since the horizon-
7) can be verified. These results were concordant with tal coordinate is a semi-log scale. In this manner,
OCR and sensibility (St) values obtained from oed- materials that present negative value of pore-
ometer and vane field tests, respectively. The points pressure during CPTU test, the results cannot be
indicating clayed soils are situated in bands 3 and 4. plotted in this chart.
In the Robertson (1990) chart (log QFr), the It is important to emphasize the care needed
points are situated in bands 3 and 4 (clay and silty when identifying the points relating to SPT tests.
clay). The FR values were greater than 1.0. Classification of layers indicating grain-size distri-
The Robertson (1990) charts are predictive of bution can demonstrate differences in the values
soil behavior, and not directly related to soil classi- for NSPT and water content, making it necessary to
fication criteria, using geologic descriptions based divide classification into sub-layers to be plotted
on grain-size distribution. It has been verified that into separate charts.
410
6 COEFFICIENT OF
CONSOLIDATIONRESULTS
411
412
413
A. Cavallaro
CNR-Ibam, Catania, Italy
ABSTRACT: A new container quay namely Calata Bettolo, will be built inside the Genova harbour.
Detailed in situ and laboratory tests have been made for site characterisation, to face all geotechnical design
aspects of the quay, including the evaluation of the seismic behaviour of the Calata Bettolo. Among the
in situ tests performed for the design, before of the construction, Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Tests
(SDMTs) have been carried out with the aim of general site characterisation of soil properties and the evalu-
ation of the soil profile of shear waves velocity (Vs) and horizontal stress index Kd. The Seismic Dilatometer
Marchetti Tests were performed up to a depth of 42 meters. The results show a very detailed and stable
shear waves profile. The shear waves profiles obtained by SDMT compare well with other laboratory tests.
415
416
Figure 4. Values of the angle of shear resistance obtained from the SDMTs.
As regards the SDMTs performed offshore, they synthetic vision is shown in Figure 5, concerning the
were carried out at a distance from existing docks comparison between all the SDMTs performed.
to not be affected by the presence of the quays. The value of the material index (Id) shows the
As regards the values of the angle of shear presence of a soil consisting of a sand that at a
resistance, it is variable from 30 to 35, with mini- greater depth becomes a silty clay sand.
mum value equal to 25 at a greater depth, where is As regards the values of the shear wave velocity,
the presence of the silt component (Figure 4). As the velocity profile shows a growing trend with the
regards the values of the remaining parameters, a depth of 150250 m/s, with an average higher than
417
Figure 5. Results of the SDMTs performed inland and offshore in terms of geotechnical parameters.
418
Figure 7. Example of seismograms obtained from SDMTs at the site of Calata Bettolo, Italy.
The determination of the delay from SDMT site of Calata Bettolo GE (it is a good practice to
seismograms, normally carried out using the cross- plot side by-side the seismograms as recorded and
correlation algorithm, is generally well conditioned, re-phased according to the calculated delay).
being based on the two seismogramsin particu- Figure 5 (Calata Bettolo GE) is an example of
lar the initial wavesrather than being based on the typical graphical format of the SDMT output.
the first arrival time or specific marker points in Such output displays the profile of VS as well
the seismogram. as the profiles of four basic DMT parametersthe
Figure 7 shows an example of seismograms material index Id that gives information on soil type
obtained by SDMT at various test depths at the (sand, silt, clay), the vertical drained constrained
419
1.2
S1C 1
1 S1C 2
S1C 4
0.8 S1C 6
Y okota et al. (1981)
G/Go
0.6
0.4
420
1 S1C1
S1C2
S1C4
0.1
S1C6
Yokota et al. (1981)
0.01
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1
G/Go
Figure 9. D-G/Go curves from RCT tests.
as that reported in Figure 9 for the Calata Bettolo test SDMTT1, since the land was performed
sandy formation: with coarse material, the test was carried out by
a borehole that passed this material. The tests
G ( ) carried out offshore were carried out by a float-
D( )
exp i (2)
Go ing barge, on which the SDMT equipment was
in which: placed by a crane;
the results show a very detailed soil characterisa-
D() [%] = strain dependent damping ratio;
tion profiles of the more relevant soil properties,
= shear strain;
such as the material index (Id), the dilatometric
, = soil constants.
modulus M from which the oedometer modulus
The values of = 8 and = 2.21 were obtained for can be evaluated, the angle of shear resistance ,
Calata Bettolo sandy formation. the undrained cohesion Cu for clayey and silty
The equation (2) assume maximum value soil, shear wave velocity Vs, the horizontal stress
Dmax = 8% for G()/Go = 0 and minimum value index KD.
Dmin = 0.87% for G()/Go = 1. the shear modulus obtained by the shear wave
Therefore, eq. (2) can be re-written in the follow- velocity profiles by SDMT compare well with
ing normalized form: resonant column test results at small strain;
for the evaluation of shear modulus at large
D( ) G ( ) strain, resonant column tests have been
= exp i (3) performed;
D( )max Go
the results interpreted by the equations sug-
gested by Yokota et al. (1981) describe the shear
modulus decay with shear strain level and the
5 CONCLUSIONS inverse variation of damping ratio with respect
to the normalized shear modulus.
A site characterization for the design and the execu-
tion of the container quay namely Calata Bettolo
has been presented in this paper, with particular REFERENCES
reference to SDMTs.
On the basis of the data shown it is possible to Battaglio, M. & Jamiolkowski, M. 1987. Analisi delle
Deformazioni. XII CGT, Politecnico di Torino.
draw the following conclusions: Berardi, R. & Lancellotta, R. 1991. Stiffness of Granu-
lar Soils from Field Performance. Geotechnique, 41(1):
SDMTs were performed up to a depth of 149157.
42 meters, inland (SDMTT1) and offshore Burland, J.B. 1989. Small is BeautifulThe stiffness of
(SDMT1-4, SDMT6). As regards the inland Soil at Small Strains. Proceedings of the 9th Laurits
421
422
M. Arroyo
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, UPC, Barcelona, Spain
ABSTRACT: The papers submitted to this session are varied in their methods, scope and in the charac-
terization techniques described or applied. However, two major themes are perhaps visible amongst them.
One is that of geotechnical profiling i.e. the process by which a spatial distribution of coherent geotech-
nical units is established. Many contributed papers are directly or indirectly (for instance by proposing
enhanced CPT-based techniques) concerned with this issue. The other major theme is that of in situ
measurement of soil stiffness be that by means of seismic-range methods or by means of the DMT. In
particular, the integration of these two types of measurements into a single stiffness-decay curve is also
treated in detail. Other highlights of the contributed papers to the session include the interpretation of
drilling records and the estimation of hydraulic conductivity from field tests.
425
Americas Europe
24% 58%
426
427
-2
-4
Depth (m)
-6
428
429
430
5.1 Integration
Good profiling would result from an adequate Figure 11. Use of CPTu to detect the extent of the
integration of the geological and geotechnical remoulded zone in a spread-type landslide (Locat et al.
2012).
engineering inputs within a project. The ideal
shape of such integration is nicely illustrated
(Figure 10) by Tutton et al. (2012) who also dem-
onstrate the benefits that can be derived from the the parallel CPT and seismic results presented
more continuous integration of both aspects in by Niederleithinger (2012) for the BAM test site
their account of a large industrial development in Germany (Figure 12). It is apparent that the
in the Australian coast. CPT profile (with measurements taken every cm)
The contribution from Locat et al. (2012) might is more rich in features that the meter spaced
provide an even more compelling example of the downhole profiles. It is also apparent that the
benefits forthcoming from a good integration horizontally averaged tomographic measure-
of geotechnical and geological knowledge. They ments represented in the figure are even more
present the different tools (topographic measure- uniform. This, as the author is careful to point,
ments, piezometric observations, in situ testing, is not the same result that the full tomographic
laboratory testing) that were employed in the post- reconstruction of the soil section reveals. It is
mortem study of a major landslide of the spread thus made clear how either by too coarse sam-
type in eastern Canada sensitive clays. The system- pling or by averaging the spatial variability of a
atic study performed was able to identify not only site can be masked.
the major features of the landslide (e.g. the shape Of course, test spatial density is not everything
and location of the slide basal surface) but also the that there is to stratigraphic delineation. The sen-
intrincate detail of the final arrangement of the sitivity of the measurement system employed is
displaced mass. This was the product of integrat- also crucial. If the intrinsic measurement uncer-
ing observations performed at very different scales, tainty is large there would be many missing fea-
from CAT sections of recovered cores to cone tip tures. On the other hand accurate measurements
resistance profiles that evidence the strength loss are advantageous for geotechnical profiling. This
that the landslide motion induced in these materi- issue is well ilusttrated by Figure 13, where paral-
als (Figure 11). lel profiles of S and P wave arrival times obtained
by cross-hole testing are depicted. The P-wave
arrival variation between different layers is of 5%
5.2 Discrimination of their average value. To detect that difference a
It is commonly appreciated that not all the tests very precise measurement system is needed. Note
employed in geotechnical site investigations have that in the S-wave profile a much larger varia-
the same ability to discriminate stratigraphic tion (20% of the average value) seems required to
features. One major controlling factor in such delineate a layer limit, and that such variation is
ability is the spatial sampling rate or density of unclear at the lower limit. In this respect, a more
testing. This can be seen clearly, for instance, in quantitative approach where measurement error is
431
6 6
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
8 8
10 10
12 12
14 14
16 16
Figure 12. Downhole seismic, tomography and CPT
results at the BAM test site (Niederleithinger 2012). 18 18
20 20
6 FINAL COMMENTS
systematically accounted for or displayed might be
an interesting development. A large deal of ingenuity is shown in the papers
Every test interacts differently with the soil and contributed to this session to illustrate, advance
thus probes different properties. Moreover, there is and extend the techniques of geotechnical char-
an intrinsic scale to every test that impacts in the acterisation. Despite that, it should be perhaps
variability of the test result. This can be illustrated questioned if the measurement variability that is
432
Silt
Gravel
Silt
M. 2012. A submersible drill rig for coring soils and
Clay Chalk rocks, Fourth International Conference on Site Charac-
1 terization, ISC4. Brasil, September 2012.
Godlewski, T. & Szczepaski, T. 2012. Determination of
1,5 soil stiffness parameters using in-situ seismic methods:
insight in repeatability and methodological aspects,
2
Fourth International Conference on Site Characteriza-
tion, ISC4. Recife, Brasil, September 2012.
2,5
Jannuzzi, G.M.F., Danziger, F.A.B., Martins, I.S.M. &
Guimares, G.V.M. 2012. The ability of in situ tests to
3
detect the soil region affected by an embankment on
soft clay. Fourth International Conference on Site Char-
3,5
acterization, ISC4. Recife, Brasil, September 2012.
depth (m)
4
Jardine, R.J., Potts, D.M., Fourie, A.B. & Burland, J.B.
1986. Studies of the influence of non-linear stress-
(a) (b) strain characteristics in soil-structure interaction.
Geotechnique, 36(3): 377396.
Figure 15. Influence of the drilling bit on the ability of Laudanski, G., Reiffsteck, Ph, Tacita, J.-L., Desanneaux,
Somerton index to separate different materials. Example G., & Benot, J. 2012. Experimental study of drilling
result from Laudanski et al. (2012). parameters using a test embankment. Fourth Inter-
national Conference on Site Characterization, ISC4.
Recife, Brasil, September 2012.
all apparent in many cases would not benefit from Lehane B.M., Doherty J.P. & Schneider J.A. 2009. Set-
a more formal treatment. The discrimination of tlement prediction for footings on sand. Keynote
signal and noise in time series (see the example Lecture, Proc. 4th International Symposium on defor-
of Baziw and Verbeek in this session) illustrates mation characteristics of Geomaterials, Atlanta, 1,
the advantages of a proper underlying statistical 133152, IOSpress, The Netherlands.
framework. That approach seems still more the Lehane, B. & Fahey, M. 2004. Using SCPT and DMT
data for settlement prediction in sand, Proc. ISC-2
exception than the rule when dealing with spatially
Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Characterization 4,
sampled series. Viana da Fonseca & Mayne (eds.), Vol. 2, 16731679.
Locat. A., Leroueil S., Locat, P., Demers, D., Robitaille
D. & Lefebvre G. 2012. In situ characterization of the
REFERENCES Saint-Jude landslide, Quebec, Canada. Fourth Inter-
national Conference on Site Characterization, ISC4.
Amoroso, S., Lehane, B.M. & Fahey, M. 2012a. Deter- Recife, Brasil, September 2012.
mining G- decay curves in sand from a seismic Martins, J.B., Gomes Correia A., Teixeira, A. & Mendes
dilatometer test (SDMT). Fourth International Con- P. M. 2012. Wireless in Geotechnical Engineering: A
ference on Site Characterization, ISC4. Recife, Brasil, CPTUwl prototype. Fourth International Conference
September 2012. on Site Characterization, ISC4. Recife, Brasil, Sep-
Amoroso, S., Monaco, P. & Marchetti, D. 2012b. Use of tember 2012
the seismic dilatometer (SDMT) to estimate in situ Monaco, P., Marchetti, S., Totani, G. & Marchetti, D.
G- decay curves in various soil types. Fourth Inter- 2009. Interrelationship between small strain modulus
national Conference on Site Characterization, ISC4. G0 and operative modulus. In T. Kokusho, Y. Tsu-
Recife, Brasil, September 2012 kamoto & M. Yoshimine (eds), Performance-Based
Amoroso, S., Monaco, P., Totani, F., Totani, G. & Design in Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering
Marchetti, D. 2012c. Site characterization by seismic from Case History to Practice, Proc. IS-Tokyo 2009,
dilatometer (SDMT) in the area of LAquila follow- Tsukuba, Japan, June 1517, 13151323. Taylor &
ing the April 6, 2009 earthquake. Fourth International Francis Group, London (CD-Rom).
Conference on Site Characterization, ISC4. Recife, Niederleithinger, E. 2012. Two in one: Parallel Seismic for
Brasil, September 2012. Foundation Length Determination and Downhole Seis-
Arroyo, M., Di Mariano, A., Monaco, P., Devincenzi, M. mic for Soil Properties Using a Single Borehole. Fourth
& Prez, N. 2008. SDMT-based deep excavation International Conference on Site Characterization,
design, Geotechnical and Geophysical Site Charac- ISC4. Recife, Brasil, September 2012.
terization 4Huang & Mayne (eds) Taylor & Francis Niederleithinger, E., Baessler, M., Herten, M., Rumpf, M.
Group, London, 967973. & Tronicke, J. 2012. Geotechnical and geophysical
Baziw, E. & Verbeek, G. 2012. Continuous SCPT Sig- characterization of a pile test site in postglacial soil.
nal Enhancement by Identifying, Quantifying and Fourth International Conference on Site Characteriza-
Extracting Frequency Anomalies within Statistically tion, ISC4. Recife, Brasil, September 2012.
Describable Background Noise. Fourth International
433
434
G. Laudanski
Universit Paris Est, IFSTTAR-Laboratoire des Ponts et Chausses, Paris, France
Universit Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, France
J. Benot
University of New Hampshire, Department of Civil Engineering, Durham, NH, US
ABSTRACT: This paper will present the results from a detailed experimental study of drilling param-
eters using a specially constructed test embankment. The drilling measurements were evaluated individu-
ally as well as combined into compound parameters to further enhance the ability of MWD to identify
material types, mechanical properties and stratigraphy as well as detect anomalies such as cavities. Results
from this study demonstrated that MWD as single measurements or as compound parameters can clearly
provide qualitative evaluation of soil types, density and permeability using both rotary and percussion
drilling methods. Statistical analyses of the results allowed for the development of empirical relationships
using the test results from Standard Penetration Testing (SPT), Cone Penetration Testing (CPT) and pres-
suremeter testing. The current state of this method suggests that specific test protocols need to be devel-
oped such that MWD can be considered as a test on its own. When appropriately adapted to the purpose
of a site investigation, MWD can be highly cost effective considering that costs of destructive drilling are
often less than one third of coring or sampling methods.
435
436
B B
GEO1 Gravel Clay Silt
GEO1
sandy clay, silt, sand, chalk and gravel. Two of the 0,5
embankment: 3,5
silt, (a)
5 button bit
(b) button bit
437
0 50
Rp (s/20 cm)
0 50
Rp (s/20 cm)
bicone
ous flight auger gives high values for the penetration
0,5
bicone
drag bit
0,5 drag bit resistance and low values for the Somerton index, as
cross bit
button bit 1
it is screwed in the soil mass by the helicoids.
1 1
button bit 2
The observed trends depend on the type of soil
CFA
1,5 1,5 encountered. It appears that in the softer ground the
2 2
difference is less evident. The signal obtained with
the auger is smoother which can be explained by the
2,5 2,5
friction generated on the outside of the auger flight
3 3
rather than just at the tip. Those results seem to indi-
cate that measurements from the continuous flight
cross bit
3,5 3,5
auger are not usable in the interpretation of MWD.
depth (m)
button bit
4
CFA
4 The type of drilling tool is obviously important
sand Rp (s/20 cm) gravel Rp (s/20 cm) and plays an important role in the study of drilling
0
0 100 200
0
0 50 100 150 200
parameters but at present a relationship that would
bicone
drag bit
standardized the energies as a function of the type
0,5 0,5
cross bit of tool is not available (Figure 6). Such relation-
button bit
1 CFA 1 ship will require further studies at numerous sites
1,5 1,5
under varying soil and rock conditions.
2 2
drag bit
cross bit
button bit
Figure 7 shows a comparison of the compound
4 4
parameters derived from two of these profiles. For
Figure 4. Comparison of the penetration resistance Rp
drilling parameter with different drill bits. chalk En clay En silt En
1 CFA
1,5
1,5
bicone 2
drag bit
2
CFA
2,5
button bit 1
cross bit
3
3,5
Depth (m)
3,5
Depth (m)
4 gravel En
sand En
sand Somerton index gravel Somerton index
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 0 5000
0 10000 20000 0 5000 10000 15000 20000 0
0
roller bit
bicone roller bit
drag bit
drag bit 0,5 drag bit
cross bit
0,5 button bit cross bit
button bit
cross bit button bit
1
CFA
1
bicone
button bit
1,5
cross bit
2
CFA
2
2,5
2,5
3
3
Depth (m)
3,5
Depth (m)
3,5 4
Figure 5. Equivalent of Somerton index Sd drilling Figure 6. Comparison of normalized energy En with
parameter with different drill bits. different tools.
438
1 1
1,5
1,5 1,5
2
2 2
2,5
2,5 2,5
3
3 3 3,5
depth (m)
3,5 3,5 4
4,5 4,5
z (m) Rotation z (m) Rotation 0,5
5 Rotopercussion 5 Rotopercussion
1
Gravel Silt
Chalk
Chalk
are overall smoother indicating less sensitivity to Figure 8. Comparison of drilling parameters as a func-
slight variations in materials. This is also explained tion of drilling tool and soil type.
by the fact that less energy in rotation and thrust is
required when using the percussion hammer.
Unfortunately, the actual hammer energy
was not recorded during this drilling campaign.
Recording of the hammer energy is difficult but
has been previously accomplished by Nishi et al.
(1998). They fitted accelerometers on the drill rods
to quantify the energy, a technology difficult to
apply in practice. It is however possible to measure
the hydraulic pressure in the hammer and calibrate
the energy for a specific system.
439
440
T. Godlewski
Building Research Institute, Warsaw, Poland
T. Szczepaski
Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology Institute, University of Warsaw, Poland
ABSTRACT: In this article the results of research on stiffness parameters (shear modulus G) derived
from seismic waves velocity measurements (CSWS/SAWS (Continuous Surface Wave System/Spectral
Analysis of Surface Waves) and SDMT (seismic flat dilatometer) methods) on a experimental test site have
been presented. The test sitegeologically uniform fluvial sand formation area, was carefully chosen and
checked in terms of uniformity with drillings and soundings. The research has been aimed at testing the
repeatability of the data and checking how results from indirect, non-invasive surface geophysical tests
(SASW and CSWS) will correspond with the ones from penetration test SDMT. Aspects of the influence
of different wave sources, geophones relative position, and interpretation methods were examined. The
last issue is of particular importance while using factored wavelength method of interpretation, where
inevitably subjective approach is crucial to results obtained. Discussion about influence of other exam-
ined factors is undertaken.
441
0 100 200 300 400 0 100 200 300 400 500 0 100 200 300 400 500
0 0 0
Figure 2. Variability of ground properties on test site.
-2 -2 -2
-4 -4 -4
-6 -6 -6
-8 -8 -8
Depth [m]
442
4 RESULTS
4.1 Source of energy influenceSDMT Figure 4. Results of SDMT tests with input energy
differentiated.
Measured shear wave velocity speed depends
mainly on type of soil, its density (porosity coef-
ficient e), state of effective stressp, geological hand, when the depth of the test goes below 8 m
history (overconsolidation). During tests different half energy method gives signals far too week
spectrum of frequencies and amplitudes are gener- and not enough distinct from the background
ated when using different kind of energy sources. noise thus burdened with big error. In that case
Consequently quality and repeatability of the data only full energy method gives sufficient signal
can be affected, as well as effective test depth. quality for unambiguous interpretation. In the
In case of SDMT tests the best results (Marchetti middle of the profile tested (4 8 m) both method
et al. 2008) in terms of above mentioned factors is give similar looking seismographs and shear wave
achieved with use of the hammer connected with a velocity results.
handle to the perpendicular beam is such way, that Quite obvious but important conclusion stem-
when dropped it moves in pendulum-like movements, ming from above is that planning tests based on
hitting at the lowest point steel beam. To explore how down hole principle (as is SMDT test), it is good to
amount of energy is affecting the quality of the signal start with lower energy input into vibration source,
in SDMT, two tests performed at the site was made in and to increase it with depth. In that way signals
double manners. At each test depth 3 measurements acquired will be of a higher quality and easier for
with drop of a hammer from a horizontal position interpretation.
(90, full energy), and 3 measurements with drop
of a hammer from a position 45 (for simplicity
4.2 Source of energy influenceSASW
called half energy). Output of the experiment is
depicted on Fig. 4. Surface seismic methods are based on interpreta-
It can be seen that differentiating of input tion of Rayleigh wave propagation. Those wave are
energy can have influence on the results. Differ- traveling at depths related to wavelength, so the depth
ences on particular test depths reach up to 40%. of the test depends on frequency generated. Using
These discrepancies are mainly connected with CSWS sub-method frequency controlled vibrator
recorded seismograms interpretation. At shal- allows as to decide on the signal content. On the other
low depths signals registered from geophones hand with SASW sub-method choice of a vibration
when half energy method was used were nice source can have big influence on the results.
and tidy, while with use of a full energy were in Authors have been experimenting for a couple of
many cases exceeding geophone amplitude range, years with generally two kinds of energy sources
or were full of interferences and noise. Even when traditional sledge hammer and car wheel. As it is
filtered with available software tools, such signal clear dependency between wavelength (thus fre-
is often difficult for interpretation. On the other quency) and test penetration depth, it is why the
443
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
-6 -6 -6
-7 -7 -7
-8 -8 -8
-9 -9 -9
-4 -10 -10 -10
-11 -11 -11
Depth (m)
444
-1 -1
CSWS CSWS
-2 -2
SDMT SDMT
-3 -3
-4 -4
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
-5 -5
-6 -6
-7 -7
-8 -8
-9 -9
-10
-10
-11
-11
-12
-12
Location A Location B
-4 -4
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
-5 -5
-6 -6
-7 -7
-8 -8
-9 -9
-10 -10
-11 -11
-12 -12
Location B Location D
445
5 CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
The comparison of two methods of stiffness
parameters determination showed that both meth- Baraski, M., Godlewski, T. & Szczepaski, T. 2010.
ods give reasonably similar results, despite differ- Determination of soil stiffness parameters on cho-
ent character of measurements (invasive SDMT sen test sites, using in situ seismic methods. Proc. 4th
and non-invasive CSWS/SASW). Intern. workshop: Soil parameters from in situ and lab-
oratory tests. Pozna: 149157.
Some methodological aspects of those tests Baraski, M. & Szczepaski, T. 2007. Zastosowanie
were examined. metod sejsmiki powierzchniowej do oceny moduu G
SDMT and SASW tests results can be influenced gruntu. Czasopismo Techniczne. Pub. PK, z. 1-/2007.
by energy amount and way of application while Foti, S., Lancellotta, R., Marchetti, D., Monaco, P. &
vibration spectrum is generated. Factor important Totani, G. 2006. Interpretation of SDMT tests in a
in seismic dilatometer is to have signal amplitude transversely isotropic medium. Proc. Second Intern.
not exaggerated, and of proper quality, so adjust- Conf. on the Flat Dilatometer, Washington D.C.:
ing impact energy with depth is advised solution. 275280.
Surface spectral analysis is highly influenced by Marchetti, D. et al. 2008. In Situ Tests by Seismic
Dilatometer (SDMT). ASCE Geot. Special Publica-
frequency spectrum of a generated signal. CSWS tion GSP, No. 170 Schmertmann Volume.
has fully controlled vibration source in terms Matthews, M.C., Clayton, C.R.I. & Own, Y. 2000. The
of frequency, but limitation is in relatively small use of geophysical techniques to determine geotechni-
vibrating mass, often not able to generate waves cal stiffness parameters. Proc. Instn. Civ. Engrs Geo-
strong enough at low frequencies (610 Hz) to tech. Eng, 143: 3142.
achieve deep propagation. Menzies, B. 2000. Near-surface site characterization by
Other methodological issue in surface seismic ground stiffness profiling using surface wave geophys-
tests is geophone spacing. Using three different ics. In H. C. Verma Commemorative Volume. Indian
patterns authors came to conclusion that the one Geotechnical Society: New Delhi.
Mynarek, Z. 2007. Site investigation and mapping in
most commonly used (first geophone 1 m from urban area. Proc. XIV European Conference on Soil
source, each next 0.5 m away) seems to be most Mechanics and Geotechnical Eng, Madrid: vol. 1.
suitable giving as a result good stiffness profile Robertson, P.K. 2009. Interpretation of cone penetra-
coverage with reliable data and the biggest depth. tion testsunified approach. Can. Geotech. J. 46:
The experimental SDMT tests performed by 13371355.
placing the source at three different distances from
the test place, show that the obtained measurements
446
S. Amoroso
University of LAquila, LAquila, Abruzzo, Italy
ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the use of the Seismic Dilatometer Test (SDMT) for the determi-
nation of in situ decay curves of sand stiffness with strain level (G- curves or similar). In situ, laboratory
and field data (including footing and self-boring pressuremeter tests) obtained at a silica sand site and a
calcareous sand site in Western Australia are used for this investigation. The approach adopted relies on
the ability of SDMT to provide a small strain modulus (G0 from Vs), a working strain modulus (GDMT
from MDMT) and an operational strain modulus (GDV from MDV). Thus, in situ G- decay curves are
tentatively constructed by fitting curves through these three points. The approach is based on the premise
that MDMT is a reasonable estimate of the working strain modulus (e.g. Monaco et al. 2006 and Marchetti
et al. 2008), while MDV is a modulus operating at the settlement ratio s/B of 1.8%, applied by the flat
dilatometer, derived using Lehane & Fahey (2004). The paper illustrates the potential of using the SDMT
to obtain in situ G- decay curves, but also indicates that additional research is required to improve the
reliability of the proposed approach.
447
448
449
160
G0 (Vs) from SCPT
Figure 2. Shenton Park test site in 20062007 (Schneider
et al. 2008).
100
80
0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
160
G0 (Vs) from SCPT
140
shear modulus, G (MPa)
120
Figure 3. DMT results at Shenton Park: Material index
ID, constrained modulus MDMT, friction angle , horizon- 100
60
Gp from SBP
(Jardine, 1992)
40
GDV from DMT
20 DV 0.95-2.20
0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
450
30
SCPT-07 DMT-01
25
CPT-04
20 CPT-03
y (m)
15
SCPT-06
10 SCPT-09
BH-A CPT-05
5 BH-B PILE-A
DMT-02
CPT-02 CPT-08
0
PILE-B
-5
40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0 -5 -10 -15 -20
x (m)
451
452
E. Niederleithinger
BAM Federal Institute for Materials Research & Testing, Berlin, Germany
ABSTRACT: Parallel Seismic was introduced about four decades ago for foundation length estimation.
As the borehole required by this test is in most cases more expensive than the test itself, the usage is limited
so far. In addition the graphical interpretation technique which is still state of the art tends to overestimate
the length and neglects several geometrical parameters. New interpretation algorithms have been recently
introduced rely on model based travel time curve fitting. They improve the accuracy and extend the maxi-
mum range (distance pile to borehole) of the method. Borehole or pile inclination as well as soil layering
can be considered. If the location is properly chosen, several piles can be tested using a single borehole.
The capabilities and limitations of the methods have been tested using simulations and measurements
at the BAM-TTS test site in Horstwalde south of Berlin and several commercial projects involving piles,
pile secant walls and sheet piles. To improve the accuracy of the method as well as to provide additional
parameters to the geotechnical engineer it is recommended to use the borehole for Downhole Seismic
measurements. Determination of compressional and shear wave velocities can be used to determine the
dynamic elastic properties of the subsoil. The approach is evaluated again on the BAM-TTS test site. The
affectivity of this kind of combination can be further enhanced by using a seismic cone.
453
454
3.1 Location
BAM maintains a test site for technical safety
issues north of the village Horstwalde about 60 km
south of Berlin, German. Explosives certification,
safety containments drop test up to 200 t as well as
large fire experiments are performed here (BAM
2011). Since 2003 BAMs division 8.2, which is
focused on non-destructive testing in civil engi-
neering has started to set up a test and validation
facility for various investigation purposes and
techniques (Niederleithinger et al. 2009), mainly
dedicated to non-destructive testing in civil engi-
neeruing (NDT-CE). Details can also be found in
the same volume (Niederleithinger et al. 2012a).
Experimental models resembling parts of founda-
tions, bridges, walls or concrete railway tracks are
available as well as real objects, e.g. bored piles or
parts of deconstructed bridges (Figure 6).
The near surface geology is dominated by post
glacial sediments. The main part of the site (includ-
ing the test site discussed here) consists mainly of
sandy layers of varying grain size and admixtures
of silt and organic material. Peat lenses are known
Figure 4. Principle of the crosshole seismic method. to exist locally. The groundwater table is about
The first geophone borehole may be omitted if the source 3 1 m below the surface, varies seasonally and is
can be triggered precisely. influenced by a nearby water works.
3.2 Setup
The NDT-CE test and validation center features
ten bored piles (912 m length, 60 cm diameter,
some with flaws and or access tubes, Figure 7)
which have been used as reference for various low
strain NDT methods for pile testing (E. Nieder-
leithinger, Wiggenhauser, und Taffe 2009) Nieder-
leithinger 2012a). The boreholes are 1722 m deep,
80 mm diameter with a PVC casing. The University
455
456
457
458
M. Herten
BAW Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute, Karlsruhe, Germany
ABSTRACT: Two research institutes are currently evaluating dynamic pile load testing methods on
bored piles in a sandy environment. A test site has been prepared, which ensures comparable conditions
at all pile locations and provides detailed knowledge on soil and other boundary conditions. A detailed
site investigation program was performed at a dedicated area on the BAM test site south of Berlin,
Germany. Undisturbed soil samples have been collected from boreholes. In addition several CPTs and
geophysical surveys have been performed. The site consists mainly of well graded, partly well compacted
medium sands. But at depth an inhomogeneous gravel layer was detected in some parts of the site. This
has led to a redesign of the test piles. They are now shorter than originally intended to avoid gravel layers
at depth and to ensure that the drop weight available for dynamic test is capable to mobilize the required
load.
459
3.1 Requirements
The test site should not just provide space and
technical environment to conduct the planned
experiment. In a first place favorable and compa-
rable subsoil conditions for all tests at all pile had
to be ensured. Subsoil conditions are also govern-
ing pile load capacities. It had to be assured that
Figure 2. Parts of the NDT-CE test and validation the selected pile type, diameter and length reflects
center (view direction southeast, aerial photograph 2010 the constructions typically used at German water-
by University of Potsdam). ways but also does not provide too much resistance
to dynamic load test (mobilization of skin fric-
2.2 Geological setting tion). Current regulations emphasize that the drop
weight used for dynamic tests should not be less
The site is part of the northern German Basin,
that 12% of the estimated load capacity. Taking
which consists of various sediments with a thick-
into account that the maximum drop weight cur-
ness of several thousand meters, affected by salt
rently used is 8 t, this puts some restriction on the
tectonics. Local geology is affected by a glacial
favorable soil conditions.
valley (Baruther Urstromtal). The near surface
geology is dominated by post glacial sediments
3.2 Location and layout
of the Nuthe-Nieplitz lowland. The main part
of the site (including the test site discussed here) The location preliminary chosen is located in the
consists mainly of sandy layers of varying grain southwest of the NDT test and validation cen-
size and admixtures of silt and organic material. ter. An area of about 30 by 20 m, which can be
Peat lenses are known to exist locally. The ground- expanded northwards if required, was prepared
water table is about 3 1 m below the surface, var- for use (Figure 3: Test site). After removing small
ies seasonally and is influenced by a nearby water trees, shrubbery and an old wooden building it was
works. The southern part of the area is covered by recognized, that a cable for electricity supply of the
palaeodunes with a height up to 15 m, whilst the entire area is crossing the site. The final layout of
northeast encloses some swampy areas. piles, boreholes and CPTs is shown in Figure 4.
460
461
Classification
Depth
462
in B7240-1. Data were taken on weekends to avoid Figure 10. Cross hole seismic results. Dots: p-waves,
noise from construction sites nearby. The arrival crosses: s-waves. The weak layer shows by low velocities.
times of p- and s-waves are clearly visible.
Cross-hole data (meaning measurements with
source and receiver at the same depth) were com-
piled from the dataset. Arrival times were picked
manually for both p- and s-waves, the correspond-
ing velocities were calculated. The results are
shown in Figure 10.
The velocities in the topmost part are quite
varying. The reason might be, that the upper layer,
mostly well compacted medium sands, has some
weaker inclusions at some places, but not con-
tinuous between the boreholes. CPT 7240-2 shows
such an inclusion in a depth from 5 to 7 m (Fig-
ure 6). Below 7 m the velocities are smooth. The
weak middle layer (less compacted, more organic
content) shows up by very low, but constant veloc-
ity values between 9 and 15 m. This would prob-
ably mean that this layer is continuous between the Figure 11. Seismic p-wave tomogram between bore-
boreholes. Below that velocities increase (slowly for holes B7240-1 and -2. Result of combined seismic and
s-waves, fast for p-wave) due to the harder mate- GPR inversion (Rumpf et al. 2012).
rial at depth. The variability, which can be seen
especially in the s-wave velocities, might reflect the
inhomogeneities detected by the CPT soundings These data have been processed using an inno-
(gravel layers not present everywhere). vative approach combining seimic and ground
As cross-hole investigations are showing aver- penetrating radar measurements (Rumpf et al.
age values between boreholes only, a tomographic 2012). The results for the seismic data are shown in
survey (additional measurements with transmitter/ Figure 11. The upper part (near and above ground-
receiver at different depths) was performed. water table) has been cut off. The general structure
463
464
P.M. Rao
Chevron Energy Technology Company, Houston, US
C.A. Waterton
c/o Chevron Australia, Perth, Western Australia, Australia
ABSTRACT: A three dimensional geological model was developed for a proposed extensive greenfield
plant site in Australia. The process of building the geological model, using data from a field investigation
program including boreholes, in situ and laboratory testing is described. Important inputs to the geologi-
cal model included geomorphic and geological field mapping, geophysical surveys and the influence of
contemporary episodic events such as cyclones and Pleistocene/Holocene sea level variations.
Importance was placed on planning and structuring the model specifically to support and complement
geotechnical analyses that are relevant to the proposed development. A geotechnical model was derived
from the geological model to provide ordered information for the analysis and design. The process enabled
the generation of maps that display spatial variability in the time and magnitude of primary consolidation
settlement and the spatial variability of secondary compression settlement. Maps of liquefaction poten-
tial were also prepared, thereby minimizing geotechnical risk.
465
466
467
across the river mouth. The large bodies of stand- are boulder sized and occur at various elevations
ing water remaining in the riverbed are subject to up to about 3 metres above the level of the high-
weeks and months of evaporation in the hot dry est astronomical tide (HAT). The lower and less
tropical climate of northern Australia. Inspection prominent strandlines are likely the result of equi-
of the riverbed close to the plant site reveals large nox high tides combined with strong winds, but
sheets of calcrete, an evaporative form of calcium those above HAT and containing gravel, cobble
carbonate. and boulder sized particles likely formed during
These observations form part of an observational cyclones. These observations are testament to the
geological model for the onshore geology, but they power of cyclones to change the landscape even
also form part of the conceptual geological model for over a relatively short time-frame. It was therefore
the nearshore area where the associated port facili- anticipated that during cyclonic events sand grains
ties are to be located. The reason for this is that with could be carried by stormwater sheeting off the
past sea levels having been several hundred metres higher land (dunes and sandplains) out onto the
lower, there is an expectation that a palaeochannel surface of the mudflats. This conceptual element
associated with an earlier course of the current river of the geological model becomes important when
must exist in the vicinity. Careful study of the seabed anticipating the rate of consolidation of the mud-
landform reveals a gap between two low ridges which flat deposits, which underlie the plant site. This is
are only about 1 m in height above the adjacent sea- particularly relevant as these compressible depos-
bed. The form of these ridges almost exactly mirrors its underlie important structures within the plant
the current river mouth where it passes between two site and will consolidate under several metres of
flanking spits and crosses an ebb delta bars. Thus fill that must be placed to raise the development
the seabed geomorphology appeared to indicate the level above the highest predicted levels of the
position of a palaeo-delta and therefore a palaeo- cyclonic storm surges. The rate of consolidation
channel can be expected upstream of this feature. would dictate whether ground improvement will
Marine geophysics comprising sub-bottom pro- be required.
filing was undertaken as part of the project and
indicated a feature that was likely to be a palaeo-
channel extending upstream of the delta feature 5 FABRIC STUDY
noted in the seabed landform. Subsequent drill-
ing confirmed a sequence of loose and potentially The conceptual element of the model was devel-
liquefiable sediments below which, within the oped further into an observational model by
confines of the channel, a zone of calcrete was undertaking a detailed fabric study of the mudflat
encountered. Similar to that observed is the bed of materials. Undisturbed tubes of the soft clays taken
the contemporary river. from this unit were taken and carefully extruded.
Geomorphological observations at the site They were split by prizing the core into two halves
reveal extensive strandlines comprising wood, so not to smear the split surface. Detailed exami-
pieces of coral and clumps of oyster shells which nation under magnification revealed, as expected,
468
regular sand partings, just a few grains thick (See usage. For instance a model that breaks down the
Figure 4). However there did not appear to be stratigraphy entirely based on age is not necessar-
sufficient stratigraghic regularity in these sandy ily going to be useful in delineating units of similar
horizons from location to location to deduce that geotechnical properties. Likewise in many cases it
they were spatially extensive and as such they were would not necessarily be helpful to define geologi-
unlikely to offer drainage paths that might contrib- cal units based entirely on geotechnical character-
ute to more rapid consolidation. The fabric study istics. For instance in the case of a sequences of
was also used to evaluate the ratio of vertical to interbedded sands and clay it would be very dif-
horizontal permeability and therefore the ratio of ficult to delineate each sand and clay layer and it
vertical to horizontal coefficient of consolidation would be best to treat the sequence as a single unit
for subsequent comparison with CV derived from for the purposes of a geological model, at least ini-
laboratory test results and CH derived from CPT tially. If required at a later stage for geotechnical
dissipation testing purposes, for instance consolidation purposes, the
The elements of geomorphology and surface percentage of clay versus sand can be assessed to
geology described above are just a selection of yield a thickness of compressible material for set-
many features that contributed initially to both the tlement calculation purposes and an average layer
conceptual and observational geological models. thickness for the purpose of assessing the time for
Understanding the Pleistocene and Holocene geo- consolidation to occur.
logical processes through studying maps and charts In the case of the plant site; sand dunes and sand
and geomorphological observations was the biggest plains were defined as Unit 1. Although principally
single contribution to understanding the geology aeolian in origin, a number of the dunes originated
and geotechnical engineering of the site. All too as beach ridges and contained fragments of shells,
often, the main emphasis is given to the physical often weakly cemented as a beachrock. Thus a sin-
investigations, and insufficient effort given to the gle unit was chosen to represent a formation that
broader understanding of the regional and local was principally uncemented sand, but did contain
landform and the geological environment, which some cemented material, and coarser grained mate-
can anticipate features such as palaeochannels that rial. Although the ultimate three dimensional model
might not necessarily be revealed by subsurface did not delineate these additional lithologies the
investigations or subtleties in the sedimentation geological model did anticipate their presence. For
history that can effect geotechnical behavior such a example beachrock was anticipated to outcrop on
drainage paths within a fine drained sediment. the seaward face of the coastal dune and underlie
the main longitudinal dunes, whilst cemented sand
(aeolianite) was anticipated within the body of the
6 RECOGNISING INTER-RELATIONSHIPS dunes.
BETWEEN GEOLOGICAL UNITS The main dunes created an impoundment for
the accumulation of fine-grained soils introduced
The assignment of geological units is an important into a low energy estuarine environment by tidal
part of any geological model. It is important when creeks. These mudflat units were defined as Unit
planning the model to understand the likely end 2a. These soft clayey deposits were underlain
469
470
471
472
473
Qiang Wang
School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Anhui University of Science and Technology Huainan Anhui, China
ABSTRACT: Characterization of the hydraulic conductivity (k) of soil deposits is one of the most
critical aspects in the geotechnical engineering. It is significant for geotechnical projects involving ground-
water inflow into excavation and basement. The current in-situ quantification of k values using the pump-
ing tests can be time-consuming and expensive, therefore, during the initial stages of site characterization
it is helpful to estimate soil permeability based on CPT or CPTu. This paper firstly summarized common
methods using CPTs or CPTu, and compared the results obtained from CPTu dissipation tests and soil
type index method, as well as laboratory tests performed on the same soil deposits. The test results indi-
cate that the method of soil type index can reasonably determine the k values of soil profile.
475
476
477
12 1.4 18.1 34.3 1.030 17.5 0.76 24 7.2 0.60 3.29 1.9 5.7
22 17.2 18.6 27.8 0.847 9.2 1.34 10 28.5 0.24 7.77 4.2 5.3
31 4.9 17.6 38.4 1.132 16.4 1.10 16 5.8 0.66 3.28 4.8 14.4
32 7.0 17.8 32.8 1.026 10.8 1.00 21 12.4 0.42 4.76 4.7 9.6
478
X Axis Title
Depth(m)
479
480
D. Marchetti
Marchetti, Roma, Italy
ABSTRACT: This paper comments on the results obtained by a large number of Seismic Dilatometer
Tests (SDMT) executed in the area of LAquila (Italy) following the April 6, 2009 earthquake. SDMT
soundings were executed by the normal penetration procedure only in a limited number of sites, mostly
in silt. At the majority of the sites, in coarse-grained non-penetrable soils, VS measurements by SDMT
but not the other DMT parameterswere obtained in backfilled boreholes, using the technique briefly
described in the paper. The test results illustrated in the paper include: (a) SDMT results obtained by the
normal penetration procedure, (b) VS -only profiles obtained by the backfilling procedure, (c) comparisons
of VS profiles obtained by SDMT and by other techniques (Down-Hole, Cross-Hole, surface waves tests),
and (d) comparisons of profiles of VS measured by SDMT and estimated from mechanical DMT data.
481
482
z (m)
z (m)
z (m)
z (m)
10 10 10 10 10
12 12 12 12 12
14 14 14 14 14
16 16 16 16 16
18 18 18 18 18
20 20 20 20 20
22 22 22 22 22
24 24 24 24 24
Figure 4. SDMT results at the site of Cese di Preturo (C.A.S.E. Project), LAquila. On the right: Comparison of
profiles of VS from SDMT and Down-Hole (Polo Geologico, MSAQ Working Group 2010).
characteristics of the soils commonly encountered M, the undrained shear strength cu (in clay) and
in this area (mostly coarse-grained, non-penetra- the horizontal stress index KD (related to OCR),
ble), SDMT measurements (VS -only) were gener- calculated with usual DMT interpretation formu-
ally executed in backfilled boreholes, according lae (Marchetti 1980, TC16 2001).
to the Totani et al. (2009) procedure previously The diagrams on the right in Figures 4, 5 and
described. 6 show the comparison between the VS profiles
obtained by SDMT and the VS profiles obtained
by parallel Down-Hole tests executed by Polo
3.2 SDMT results by the penetration procedure
Geologico (Figs. 4, 5, 6) and by surface waves
Figures 4, 5 and 6 show the SDMT results obtained tests (MASW) executed by Politecnico di Torino
at three C.A.S.E. Project sites (Cese di Preturo, (Figs. 5, 6). The results of Down-Hole and surface
Pianola, Roio Piano), in fine- to medium-grained waves tests, entrusted by the Italian Department of
soils, investigated by the standard penetration Civil Protection, are included in MSAQ Working
procedure. Group (2010). It can be noted that the VS profiles
The soils at the above sites, mostly composed obtained by SDMT are generally in satisfactory
of silts or silty sands, belong to the Pleistocene agreement with the VS profiles obtained by Down-
lacustrine deposits which fill the bottom of the Hole and MASW.
LAquila basin. Additional SDMT results obtained by the pen-
The typical graphical SDMT output in Figures 4 etration procedure in the area of LAquila can be
to 6 displays the profile of VS as well as the profiles found in Amoroso et al. (2011). A case of liquefac-
of four basic DMT parameters: the material index tion triggered by the April 6, 2009 main shock at Vit-
ID (indicating soil type), the constrained modulus torito (45 km far from the epicenter), analyzed by
483
z (m)
z (m)
z (m)
z (m)
10 10 10 10 10
z (m)
12 12 12 12 12
14 14 14 14 14
16 16 16 16 16
18 18 18 18 18
20 20 20 20 20
22 22 22 22 22
24 24 24 24 24
Figure 5. SDMT results at the site of Roio Piano (C.A.S.E. Project), LAquila. On the right: Comparison of profiles
of VS from SDMT, Down-Hole (Polo Geologico) and MASW (Politecnico di Torino, MSAQ Working Group 2010).
z (m)
z (m)
z (m)
z (m)
10 10 10 10 10
12 12 12 12 12
14 14 14 14 14
16 16 16 16 16
18 18 18 18 18
20 20 20 20 20
22 22 22 22 22
24 24 24 24 24
Figure 6. SDMT results at the site of Pianola (C.A.S.E. Project), LAquila. On the right: Comparison of profiles of
VS from SDMT, Down-Hole (Polo Geologico) and MASW (Politecnico di Torino, MSAQ Working Group 2010).
use of SDMT results, was presented by Monaco et calcareous fragments of variable size (mostly of some
al. (2011a). In general, at all sites investigated by the centimeters) embedded in sandy or silty matrix. In
penetration procedure in this area, the maximum test the city center the breccias, about 80100 m thick, are
depth (limited by the push capacity of the penetrom- superimposed to the fine- to medium-grained, mostly
eter rig) was 17 to 23 m. The measured VS values silty lacustrine deposits, which are placed on the cal-
seldom trespass 400 m/s within 20 m depth. careous bedrock located below 300 m depth.
It can be noted in Figures 7 to 10 that the val-
ues of VS measured in the breccias (down to 74 m
3.3 SDMT results by the backfilling procedure
depth at Palazzo Camponeschi, Fig. 7) are mostly
in non-penetrable soils
6001000 m/s or higher, generally increasing with
Figures 7 to 14 show the SDMT results (in terms depth. Lower values (VS 200300 m/s) have been
of VS profile onlyno DMT parameters) obtained locally measured in shallow fill materials. The
by the backfilling procedure in non-penetrable soils observed dispersion of the VS values measured
at various sites in the area of LAquila. in the breccias possibly reflects some variabil-
In particular, Figures 7 to 11 show the VS profiles ity in grain size distribution, cementation and/or
obtained by SDMT in backfilled boreholes and the mechanical properties typical of this material.
schematic soil profiles at various sites in the city center The underlying lacustrine silty deposit was inves-
of LAquila (see detail on the right in Fig. 3), which tigated by SDMT at the site of Fontana 99 Can-
includes most of the historical heritage and several old nelle, located at 100 m lower elevation near the
masonry buildings, heavily damaged by the April 6, south-western border of the city center (see detail
2009 earthquake. At all the above sites the upper por- on the right in Fig. 3). Here the thickness of the bre-
tion of the subsoil, investigated by SDMT, belongs ccias is reduced to the first 1520 m or less. At Fon-
to the deposit known as Brecce dellAquila (typical tana 99 Cannelle (Fig. 11) the backfilling procedure
of LAquila city center), composed of fine to coarse permitted to obtain VS measurements by SDMT
484
0
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 S1-S6 0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 S1-S2
0
FILL MATERIAL FILL MATERIAL
5
5
10
Depth (m)
10
Depth (m)
15
15
20
CALCAREOUS
20 BRECCIA
25
30 25
CALCAREOUS
35 BRECCIA 30
40 35
45
40
SDMT 1 SDMT 2
50
55
Figure 9. Profile of VS measured by SDMT in 2 back-
60 filled borehole and schematic soil profile at the site of
65 Palazzo Margherita, LAquila.
70
Shear wave velocity VS (m/s)
75
0
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 S1-S2
SDMT 1 SDMT 2 SDMT 3
Piazza del Teatro FILL MATERIAL
DH 4 SDMT 5 SDMT 6
Scuola De Amicis
5
LAquila. 20
25
5
FILL MATERIAL
Figure 10. Profile of VS measured by SDMT in 2 back-
10
filled borehole and schematic soil profile at the site of
Depth (m)
20 CALCAREOUS
BRECCIA
25
at the site of Madonna del Ponte, located at 500 m
distance and 15 m lower elevation, in which the
30
35
same lacustrine deposit is outcropping. Accounting
40
SDMT 1 SDMT 2 SDMT 3
for the different elevation of the ground surface at the
two sites, the VS values measured by SDMT, mostly
Figure 8. Profiles of VS measured by SDMT in 3 back- comprised between 400 m/s to 600700 m/s, are in
filled boreholes and schematic soil profile at the site of reasonable agreement with the trend of VS obtained
Palazzo Carli, LAquila. by Cross-Hole at Madonna del Ponte.
Figures 12 to 14 show the profiles of VS obtained
by SDMT in backfilled boreholes at various sites
down to 133 m. Below 100 m depth the ratio sig- located in the western suburban area of LAquila
nal/noise of the SDMT seismograms was found too (see Fig. 3), in the densely populated districts of
low to determine VS by the usual interpretation. Coppito (San Salvatore Hospital, Fig. 12), Cansa-
In this case VS was obtained using the stacking tessa (Via Solaria, Fig. 13) and Pettino (Via Sila
technique, consisting of summing up the signals Persichelli, Fig. 14). These recently developed resi-
recorded by the receivers at the same depth and in dential districts, generally composed of 36 sto-
the same conditions. (In this way the energy of the rey reinforced concrete frame buildings, were also
signal is summed, while the energy of the noise, hav- considerably damaged by the earthquake. The sites
ing a zero mean value, remains the same). investigated in these area are mostly characterized
Also shown in Figure 11, superimposed to the VS by the presence of coarse-grained soils (calcareous
profile obtained by SDMT at Fontana 99 Cannelle, gravel in sandy-silty matrix or sand). The VS meas-
is the profile of VS obtained by a Cross-Hole test to ured at the above sites are generally 400600 m/s
78 m depth executed by Cardarelli & Cercato (2010) to 1000 m/s or higher, increasing with depth.
485
5 5
CALCAREOUS
10 BRECCIA 10
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
ALTERNATING
15 15 LAYERS OF SILTY
SAND, SANDY
SILT AND SILTY
20 20 CLAY INCLUDING
GRAVEL
25 25
30 30
35 35
40 40
SDMT 1 SDMT 2 SDMT 3 SDMT 4
SDMT 5 SDMT 6 SDMT 7 SDMT 7 bis
45 SDMT 8 A SDMT 8 B
50
0
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 S1
75
CLAYEY SILT
80
SDMT
5
MASW
85 10
90 Depth (m)
15
95
20
100 CALCAREOUS
25 GRAVEL
105
30
110
35
115
40
120
45
125
50
130
135
SDMT 1 SDMT 2 Figure 13. Profile of VS measured by SDMT in a back-
CH
140 filled borehole, VS measured by MASW (IAMC-CNR,
MSAQ Working Group 2010) and schematic soil profile
Figure 11. Profiles of VS measured by SDMT in 2 back- at the site of Via Solaria (Cansatessa), LAquila.
filled boreholes, VS measured by Cross-Hole in a nearby
site (Cardarelli & Cercato 2010) and schematic soil pro-
file at the site of Fontana 99 Cannelle, LAquila. Shear wave velocity VS (m/s)
0
0 400 800 1200 1600 2000 S1-S3
SDMT 1
5 SDMT 2
SDMT 3 CLAYEY SILT
in acceptable agreement.
At some sites in the area of Pettino (Via Sila Figure 14. Profile of VS measured by SDMT in 3 back-
Persichelli, Fig. 14), characterized by the presence filled boreholes and schematic soil profile at the site of
of an upper layer of soft silty-clayey sediments Via Sila Persichelli (Pettino), LAquila.
of maximum thickness 1015 m overlying stiff
gravel, the profiles of VS obtained by SDMT clearly
identified a contrast of shear wave velocity Additional SDMT results obtained by the back-
potential source of local amplification of the filling procedure in the area of LAquila are pre-
ground motionbetween the upper soft clay layer sented by Amoroso et al. (2011).
(VS 300 m/s) and the lower gravel layer (VS The VS profiles obtained by SDMT illustrated in
600900 m/s). this section have been used to define the input data
486
Cese di Preturo Pianola Roio Piano Santa Rufina (Ripa) Santa Rufina (Mazzini) Ponte Rasarolo
Shear wave velocity Shear wave velocity Shear wave velocity Shear wave velocity Shear wave velocity Shear wave velocity
VS (m/s) VS (m/s) VS (m/s) VS (m/s) VS (m/s) VS (m/s)
0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600 0 200 400 600
0 0 0 0 0 0
measured
measured measured measured measured
2 2 2 measured 2 estimated 2 2
estimated estimated from DMT estimated estimated
from DMT from DMT estimated from DMT from DMT
4 4 4 from DMT 4 4 4
6 6 6 6 6 6
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
8 8 8 8 8 8
10 10 10 10 10 10
12 12 12 12 12 12
14 14 14 14 14 14
16 16 16 16 16 16
18 18 18 18 18 18
20 20 20 20 20 20
Figure 16. Comparison of profiles of VS measured by SDMT and estimated from mechanical DMT data, by use of
the correlations in Figure 15, at six sites in the area of LAquila.
487
488
D. Marchetti
Marchetti, Rome, Italy
ABSTRACT: This paper illustrates the use of the Seismic Dilatometer (SDMT) to assess the in situ
decay of stiffness with strain level (G- curves or similar) in different soil types. The approach adopted
in this study relies on the ability of the SDMT to provide routinely at each test depth both a small strain
stiffness (G0 from VS) and a working strain stiffness (constrained modulus MDMT from usual DMT inter-
pretation). At various test sites working strain DMT moduli (GDMT or EDMT, derived from MDMT by elastic-
ity theory) have been compared with same-depth reference stiffness decay curves back-figured from the
observed behavior under a full-scale test embankment (Treporti) or footings (Texas), obtained by labora-
tory tests (LAquila) or reconstructed by combining different in situ/laboratory techniques (Western Aus-
tralia). Typical ranges of the shear strain DMT associated to GDMT in different soil types have been inferred
from the intersection of the DMT data points with the reference stiffness decay curves.
The seismic dilatometer (SDMT) is the combina- The seismic dilatometer (SDMT) is the combina-
tion of the flat dilatometer (DMT) with an add-on tion of the mechanical flat dilatometer (DMT),
seismic module for the measurement of the shear introduced by Marchetti (1980), with an add-on
wave velocity VS. seismic module for measuring the shear wave
This paper is aimed at investigating the possible velocity VS. First introduced by Hepton (1988),
use of the SDMT to estimate in situ decay curves the SDMT was subsequently improved at Georgia
of soil stiffness with strain level (G- curves or sim- Tech, Atlanta, USA (Martin & Mayne 1997, 1998;
ilar), suitable to describe with reasonable accuracy Mayne et al. 1999). A new SDMT system (Fig. 1)
the non-linear pre-failure soil behavior. has been recently developed in Italy (Marchetti
Methods for deriving G- curves from in situ et al. 2008).
tests have been proposed by various Authors (e.g. The seismic module (Fig. 1a) is a cylindrical
Robertson & Ferrera 1993 and Fahey 1998, from element placed above the DMT blade, equipped
U/R cycles of the self-boring pressuremeter; Mayne with two receivers spaced 0.50 m. The shear wave
et al. 1999 and Marchetti et al. 2008, from SDMT; source, located at ground surface, is an automatic
Elhakim & Mayne 2003 and Mayne 2003, from the hammer or a pendulum hammer (10 kg) which
seismic cone SCPT; Lehane & Fahey 2004, from hits horizontally a steel rectangular plate pressed
SCPT and DMT). vertically against the soil (by the weight of the
The approach adopted in this study relies on truck) and oriented with its long axis parallel to the
the ability of the SDMT to provide routinely, at axis of the receivers, so that they can offer the high-
each test depth, both the stiffness at small strains est sensitivity to the generated shear wave. When a
(the small strain shear modulus G0 obtained from shear wave is generated at the surface (Fig. 1b), it
the shear wave velocity VS as G0 = VS 2) and the reaches first the upper receiver, then, after a delay,
stiffness at operative strains (as represented by the the lower receiver. The seismograms acquired by
constrained modulus MDMT obtained by the usual the two receivers, amplified and digitized at depth,
DMT interpretation). Such two stiffness values are transmitted to a PC at the surface, which deter-
may offer guidance when selecting the G- curves, mines the delay. VS is obtained as the ratio between
i.e. the decay of the shear modulus G with the the difference in distance between the source and
shear strain . the two receivers (S2S1) and the delay of the
489
Figure 1. Seismic dilatometer test: (a) SDMT equip- ence typical-shape laboratory G- curves (see e.g.
ment (blade and seismic module); (b) Schematic test Fig. 2, where G is normalized to G0) through two
layout. points, both obtained by SDMT: (1) the initial
small strain modulus G0 (obtained as G0 = VS 2),
arrival of the impulse from the first to the second and (2) a working strain modulus GDMT.
receiver (t). To locate the second point on the G- curve it
The determination of the delay from SDMT is necessary to know, at least approximately, the
seismograms, normally obtained using a cross- shear strain corresponding to GDMT. Indications by
correlation algorithm rather than relying on the Mayne (2001) locate the DMT moduli at an inter-
first arrival time or specific single points in the mediate level of strain ( 0.050.1 %) along the
seismogram, is generally well conditioned. The G- curve. Similarly Ishihara (2001) classified the
true-interval test configuration with two receivers DMT within the group of methods of measure-
avoids possible inaccuracy in the determination ment of soil deformation characteristics involv-
of the zero time at the hammer impact, some- ing an intermediate level of strain (0.011 %). The
times observed in the pseudo-interval one-receiver above qualitative indications need to be confirmed
configuration. Moreover, the couple of seismo- by further investigations.
grams recorded by the two receivers at a given test As suggested by Marchetti et al. (2008), a work-
depth corresponds to the same hammer blow and ing strain shear modulus GDMT can be derived from
not to different blows in sequence, which are not the constrained modulus MDMT provided by the
necessarily identical. Hence the repeatability of VS usual DMT interpretation (Marchetti 1980, TC16
measurements is considerably improved (observed 2001). As a first approximation, by referring to lin-
VS repeatability 1 %, i.e. a few m/s). VS measure- ear elasticity:
ments are taken every 0.50 m of depth (while the
mechanical DMT readings are taken every 0.20 1 22v
m). Validations of VS measurements by SDMT G= M (1)
2(1 v )
by comparison with VS measured by other in situ
seismic tests at various research sites are reported where = Poissons ratio. E.g. assuming = 0.2 (as fre-
by Marchetti et al. (2008). Besides the shear wave quently used), the working strain shear modulus may
velocity VS, the SDMT provides the parameters be obtained from Eq. (1) as GDMT = 0.375 MDMT.
obtained from the usual DMT interpretation, e.g. The potentiality of the above tentative method is
the constrained modulus MDMT (Marchetti 1980, heavily founded on the basic premise that MDMT is
TC16 2001). a reasonable estimate of the operative or working
strain modulus (i.e. the modulus that, introduced
into the linear elasticity formulae, provides realistic
3 TENTATIVE METHOD FOR DERIVING estimates of the settlement of a shallow founda-
IN SITU G- DECAY CURVES FROM tion under working loads). This assumption is sup-
SDMT ported by the good agreement observed in a large
number of well documented comparisons between
Research in progress, outlined by Marchetti et al. measured and DMT-predicted settlements or mod-
(2008), investigates the possible use of the SDMT uli (see Monaco et al. 2006; Marchetti et al. 2008).
for deriving in situ decay curves of soil stiffness The next section illustrates the use of the SDMT
with strain level (G- curves or similar). Such curves to assess the in situ decay of stiffness at various test
could be tentatively constructed by fitting refer- sites, in different soil types, where both SDMT data
490
491
ing deformeters did not provide measurements of 0.8 Footing 1.5 m x 1.5 m
M DMT ( + ) ( )
E DMT = (3) 0
( ) 0 1 2 3 4 5
relave dis placement, w/B (%)
where = Poisson's ratio (assumed equal to 0.15).
The rectangular shaded areas in Figure 4 denote, Figure 5. Stiffness decay curve at Texas A&M Univer-
for each soil layer, the range of values of the ratio sity National Geotechnical Experimentation Site (Berardi
KE /KE0 corresponding to EDMT /E0. The intersec- 1999) and superimposed EDMT /E0 data points.
492
Table 1. LAquilaValues of GDMT /G0 obtained from SDMT and corresponding shear strain DMT determined from
the intersection with the G/G0 - laboratory curves at three test sites (Amoroso 2011).
493
1.2
1.2 G/G0 P erth C BD, z = 9.45 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH1A, z = 1.3 m G/G0 (Vs) SILTY CLAY G/G0 P erth C BD, z = 10.65 m
G/G0 (Vs) SAND G/G0 S henton P ark BH2A, z = 1.3 m G/G0 P erth C BD, z = 12.05 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH2B, z = 2.3 m from S C PT G/G0 P erth C BD, z = 13.35 m
from S C PT SILICA SAND G/G0 S henton P ark BH3A, z = 2.3 m
G/G0 P erth C BD, z = 15.20 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH2C , z = 3.3 m 1 G/G0 P erth C BD, z = 16.70 m
1 GDMT /G0 P erth C BD, z = 9.45 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH3B, z = 3.3 m GDMT /G0 P erth C BD, z = 10.65 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH1B, z = 3.3 m GDMT /G0 P erth C BD, z = 12.05 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH2D, z = 3.9 m GDMT /G0 P erth C BD, z = 13.35 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH1C , z = 4.3 m GDMT /G0 P erth C BD, z = 15.20 m
G/G0 S henton P ark BH3C , z = 4.6 m GDMT /G0 P erth C BD, z = 16.70 m
0.8
0.8 G/G0 L edge P oint BHB, z = 1.3 m
G/G0 L edge P oint BHB, z = 3.3 m
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH1A, z = 1.3 m
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH2A, z = 1.3 m
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH2B, z = 2.3 m
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH3A, z = 2.3 m
0.6
0.6 GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH2C , z = 3.3 m
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH3B, z = 3.3 m
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH1B, z = 3.3 m
G/G0 from S B P
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH2D, z = 3.9 m (J ardine, 1992) and
GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH1C , z = 4.3 m
0.4 GDMT /G 0 S henton P ark BH3C , z = 4.6 m 0.4
GDMT /G 0 L edge P oint BHB, z = 1.3 m
GDMT /G 0 L edge P oint BHB, z = 3.3 m
G DMT/G0 from DMT
G DMT/G0 from DMT G/G0 from S B P
0.2 (J ardine, 1992) and 0.2 and S C PT
and S C PT
DMT 0.43-1.90 %
DMT 0.04-0.15 %
0 0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
shear strain, (%) shear strain, (%)
Figure 7. In situ G/G0- decay curves and superim- Figure 8. In situ G/G0- decay curves and superimposed
posed GDMT /G0 data points at Shenton Park and Ledge GDMT /G0 data points at Perth CBD (silty clay), Western
Point (sand), Western Australia (Amoroso 2011). Australia (Amoroso 2011).
Table 2. Western AustraliaValues of GDMT /G0 obtained from SDMT (or DMT + SCPT) and corresponding shear
strain DMT determined from the intersection with the G/G0 - reference curves at five test sites (Amoroso 2011).
Shenton Park BH1A 1.30 Silica sand 252 105 42 0.20 16 0.15 0.09
Shenton Park BH2A 1.30 Silica sand 252 105 40 0.20 15 0.14 0.07
Shenton Park BH2B 2.30 Silica sand 267 118 35 0.20 13 0.11 0.06
Shenton Park BH3A 2.30 Silica sand 267 118 33 0.20 12 0.11 0.04
Shenton Park BH2C 3.30 Silica sand 280 129 36 0.20 14 0.11 0.15
Shenton Park BH3B 3.30 Silica sand 280 129 36 0.20 13 0.10 0.09
Shenton Park BH1B 3.30 Silica sand 280 129 35 0.20 13 0.10 0.05
Shenton Park BH2D 3.90 Silica sand 282 132 42 0.20 16 0.12 0.07
Shenton Park BH1C 4.30 Silica sand 283 132 63 0.20 23 0.17 0.04
Shenton Park BH3C 4.60 Silica sand 283 132 72 0.20 27 0.20 0.05
Ledge Point BHB 1.30 Calcareous sand 217 78 16 0.20 6 0.08 0.09
Ledge Point BHB 3.30 Calcareous sand 361 215 176 0.20 76 0.31 0.06
Perth CBD NML4 9.45 Silty clay 334 212 52 0.30 15 0.07 0.50
Perth CBD NML4 10.65 Silty clay 373 264 67 0.30 19 0.07 1.80
Perth CBD NML4 12.05 Silty clay 388 286 130 0.30 37 0.13 0.63
Perth CBD NML4 13.35 Silty clay 319 193 86 0.30 25 0.13 1.40
Perth CBD NML4 15.20 Silty clay 324 199 56 0.30 16 0.08 1.90
Perth CBD NML4 16.70 Silty clay 260 128 101 0.30 29 0.23 0.43
East Perth BH6 16.00 Soft clay 87 12 1.8 0.20 0.5 0.04 5.50
Margaret River BH3 6.00 Soft clay 174 55 13 0.20 4 0.07 1.75
Margaret River BH5 9.00 Silty clay 362 256 68 0.20 20 0.07 0.36
494
1.2
Gs/G0 Margaret River z = 6 m
G/G0 (Vs) Gs/G0 Margaret River z = 9 m
from S DMT GDMT/G0 Margaret River z = 6 m
normalized shear modulus, G/G0
0.8
G/G0 from triaxial tests and SDMT
(Atkinson, 2000)
0.6
0.4
0.2
GDMT/G0 from SDMT
DMT 0.36-1.75 %
0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10
shear strain, (%)
Figure 10. In situ G/G0- decay curves and superim- Figure 11. Possible use of the SDMT for calibrating the
posed GDMT /G0 data points at Margaret River (silty clay), selection of in situ G/G0 - decay curves in various soil
Western Australia (Amoroso 2011). types.
495
496
497
Walter Steiner
B+S AG, Bern, Switzerland
ABSTRACT: Glacial soils are very heterogeneous; with alternating layers of widely varying soil types
and having complex stress histories; thus pose severe challenges for proper characterization. Fine grained
soils, silts and clays may often be covered by gravel, where testing methods used in fine-grained soils may
not be used and predrilling through these coarser deposits is necessary. Many of these soils show partly
drained behavior for interpretation often drained or undrained soil mechanics behavior is assumed; thus
the determination of the characteristics becomes difficult. The combined use of different in-situ test, such
as flat dilatometer tests DMT, cone penetration tests CPTU with pore pressure measurements, together
with soil mechanics laboratory tests (consolidation, triaxial compression and extension tests and direct
simple shear tests) may lead to a satisfactory characterization of the underground by applying engineering
judgment to the sometimes contradictory results.
499
500
501
test per se but to disturbance in the soil. In order The normalized penetration rate P is defined by:
to be able to identify such problems a sufficient
v d
number of tests should be carried out and inter- P=
preted with engineering and geologic judgement. ch
In contrast to more homogeneous deposits, varved v = penetration rate of cone = 2 cm/s
clays prove to be particularly demanding for an d = diameter of cone = 31.6 mm for 10 cm2 cone
adequate characterisation of geotechnical proper- ch = horizontal coefficient of consolidation m2/s
ties that are highly anisotropic. (see Table 1)
The normalized penetration rate determined from
3.4 Geotechnical parameters from CPTU tests
dissipation tests varies from 2.6 to 19, thus the soil
Cone penetrations tests were carried out in tested is partly draining. In Figure 8 the computed
accordance with international standards (EN- undrained shear strength is shown which shows
ISO22476-1) and recommendations (Lunne et al. amplified variations compared to the remoulded
1997). The gravel layer was crossed by pre-drilling shear strength that corresponds to the skin fric-
cased bore holes, which were back filled with sand tion fs. Partial drainage has a two-fold effect in the
and the casing pulled back. Measurements were ground: the mechanical resistance will increase and
carried out with a standard 10 cm2 cone with tip the pore pressures decrease, this parallel effect on
resistance, side friction and pore pressure meas- both will amplify each other in the estimation of
urements behind the cone u2, a penetration rate of derived parameters. The lower bound of the esti-
2 cm/s, and electronic registration of the data every mated undrained shear strength su from CPT (Fig-
2 cm. For each sounding several pore pressure dis- ure 8) corresponds to the upper limit of undrained
sipation test were carried out approximately every shear strength obtained from measurements with
two meters in the layer of the varved clay. the Marchetti flat dilatometer DMT (Figure 3).
The contractor delivered the raw with data with When comparing CPTU2 (Figure 8) and CPTU3
depth, qc, fs, us and inclination. The design engineer (Figure 9) that were both located under the preloaded
interpreted the data using the program CePTiT zone, one still notes a difference in undrained shear
(Geologsmiki, 2009). strength, this may be probably explained by local
Typical raw data from CPT02, located to the variation of sand content in the layers. Partial drain-
east of DMT 09 below the preloaded area are age has an important effect on the determination of
shown on Figures 5 to 7. From 7.5 m to 12.5 m the undrained shear strength, which was recogniz-
depth sand was encountered and from 12.5 m to able by comparing measurements from CPTU with
17 m varved clay was crossed. In this layer all three DMT. In CPTU 07 (Figure 10) with essentially no
measured parameters by CPTU show fluctuations preloading the fluctuation of measured undrained
with depth in the range of several centimetres to shear strength is larger than for CPTU 02 (Figure 8)
one decimetre. and CPTU 02 (Figure 9) in the preloaded zones.
502
4 LABORATORY TESTS
503
504
505
G. Lefebvre
Dpartement de Gnie civil, Universit de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Canada
ABSTRACT: On May 10th 2010, a landslide occurred in the municipality of Saint-Jude (Qubec,
Canada). The displaced mass was constituted of several blocks having horst and graben shapes. This
morphology is characteristic of spreads in sensitive clays. The investigation of the landslide, conducted by
the Ministry of Transportation of Quebec, began the day after the event. It included aerial photographs
as well as aerial and terrestrial Light detector and ranging surveys. In addition, 4 boreholes, 35 piezocone
tests, 2 vane tests profiles were carried out and 3 piezometers nests were installed on the site and its imme-
diate surroundings. 4 trenches were also excavated into the crater of the landslide. This work enabled to
get information on the morphology, the stratigraphy and the geotechnical properties of the site, to locate
the failure surface of the landslide, to acquire knowledge about its failure kinematic and to specify the
probable triggering and failure mechanisms.
Keywords: landslide, geotechnical investigation, piezocone tests, vane tests, piezometers, CAT scan
507
of the failure surface, characteristics of features near the back scarp of the landslide (about zone 4
found in the debris and the ground water regime), on Figure 1).
and discusses the initiation and formation of the The intact soil was characterized by 9 CPTUs,
landslide as well as its failure mechanism. 2 boreholes and 2 vane tests profiles near the bore-
hole locations. The location of 6 of these CPTUs is
shown on Figure 1. One of them, on site 32060, was
2 INVESTIGATION METHODS done in 2004 by the MTQ and is located in the cra-
ter of the 2010 landslide. It gives information on the
The detailed investigation of the site included soil conditions before the event. These CPTUs give
detailed field observations, aerial photographs, detailed and continuous strength profiles (corrected
Light detector and ranging (LIDAR) surveys, tip resistance, qt, and water pressure, u), which give
4 boreholes, 35 piezocone tests (CPTU), 2 vane information on the stratigraphy of the deposit. This
tests profiles, the installation of 3 piezometers information, combined with samplings from the
nests and the excavation of 4 trenches located in boreholes and shear strength profiles from the vane
the debris of the landslide and its surroundings. tests (su vane), enable to define the geotechnical prop-
Aerial photographs were taken on May 11th erties of the material involved in the landslide.
2010, a few hours after the event (Figure 1). Com- The debris were studied with 26 CPTUs and
paring these aerial photographs to previous ones, it 2 boreholes. Their location is shown on Figure 1.
was possible to found several targets and to meas- These CPTUs enabled to locate precisely the fail-
ure their displacement after the ground movement. ure surface and to observe the stratigraphy of the
This gives valuable information on the movement disturbed debris. Samples were taken in the debris
kinematic. in order to get information and to validate the
Detailed topographic data was obtained from stratigraphy of the debris.
LIDAR surveys. Two types of surveys were per- Samples of soft clayey materials were taken with
formed: aerial LIDAR survey, performed on May thin wall tubes of ~70 mm in diameter by a piston
13th 2010, and terrestrial LIDAR survey taken on sampler. In stiff and coarse materials, split-spoon
May 19th and 20th 2010. The first survey covered sampler was used. Several of the thin wall tubes were
the entire landslide and its surroundings. The sec- examined with a computer tomogram (CAT scan)
ond survey covered only the east part of the debris, to obtain images of the stratigraphy of the samples.
508
Figure 2. Cross-section A-A, view toward the north-east, showing the morphology before and after the landslide and
its failure surface (see Figure 1 for location of the cross-section).
509
Figure 4. Geotechnical profile at location 32100 (see Figure 1); (qt v)/Nkt is the CPTU shear strength and v the
vertical stress.
510
511
Figure 7. (a) Approximate interpretation of the stratigraphy near trench 32152 (Figure 6), view toward the south-
west, including localisation of soundings (C: CPTU and F: borehole); and (b) Example of CPTU and CAT scan results
for site 32140 (see Figures 1 and 2 for location).
made up of silty soil having a thickness close to Samples coming from boreholes at the same loca-
2 mm. The contact between the horst and the slices tions (32140 and 32141, located on Figure 1) were
had an angle of 70 to the horizontal. collected and CAT scan images were obtained
CPTUs were also made inside the inclined slices from all samples.
(at location 32140 and 32141) and inside the horst Figure 7 shows an example of the data obtained
(32120) shown on Figure 6 (see Figure 1 for loca- from location 32140 (CPTU and CAT scan images).
tion). They present very variable strength profiles CAT scan images show that the stratification is
showing the complex stratigraphy of the debris. inclined down to a depth of 5.1 m. A sandy crust
512
was then found from 5.1 to 8.6 m depth. Below, this Close to the toe of the slope, at location 32145,
depth, the soil became more clayey and stratifica- the measured water elevations increase with depth.
tion more disturbed down to 12.8 m depth. Below The piezometers in unit D and unit E are above
12.8 m the stratification of the clay is horizontal. the ground level elevation (Figure 8). Therefore, an
At location 32141, about 2 m apart, the stratigra- upward seepage is present at the toe of the slope
phy was inclined down to a depth of 9 m. Below with artesian water pressure conditions.
this depth, the stratigraphy was horizontal. At loca-
tion 32120, a CPTU was done on the horst. A stiff
layer, corresponding to sandy crust, was observed 4 DISCUSSION
between 3.5 and 8 m depth. No sample was taken.
Analysis of the morphological data, the CPTUs Considering the results presented above, the fol-
and the samples enabled to obtain information on lowing points can be stated:
the stratigraphy of the debris at the location of the
trench 32152, as shown on Figure 7. The data sug- At the level of the river, the artesian water pres-
gests that the inclined slices may have swept away the sure conditions give vertical effective stresses
tip of the horst (shown on Figures 6 and 7) over the close to zero. In addition, active river erosion
leading, downstream graben (graben A on Figure 7). near the toe of the initial slope was observed on
The inclined slices therefore lay on graben A and on aerial photographs taken in 2009.
what seems to be the base of an underlying horst. Instability was probably initiated by high water
pressures under the river combined with river
erosion at the toe of the slope. Such condi-
3.5 Ground water regime tions develop with time during river valley
Piezometers were installed at locations 32146, formation.
32100, on the horizontal top of the slope, and at The failure surface started under the river and
location 32145, near the toe of the slope (open propagated almost horizontally inside the intact
triangles on Figure 1). Figure 8 presents the dif- deposit (Figure 2).
ferent piezometers installed at these locations (cir- The initial slope moved over the other side of
cles) and the measured water levels (open triangles) the river with only little disturbance, forming
on cross-section B-B (located on Figure 1 by the zones 1 and 2 (Figures 1 and 2). Behind, the soil
dashed white line). mass dislocated in several blocks, some of them
It can be observed that the water levels meas- having horst and graben shapes (zones 3 and 4
ured at location 32146, indicate a slight downward on Figure 1).
flow with a groundwater table close to the surface. The movement might have happen in two suc-
Similar observations are made for piezometers at cessive parts, along two failure surfaces at dif-
location 32100. ferent elevations.
513
514
ABSTRACT: The ability of in situ tests to detect the soil region most affected by an embankment on
soft clay was investigated. CPTU tests, vane tests, T-bar tests and SPTs have been performed in Sarapu II
soft clay deposit, both in a natural condition and under an embankment 7 m in width and 1 m high.
Water content was measured from samples taken from the SPT sampler every meter. Based on the water
content, the region affected by the embankment was sharply identified to a depth of about 2.0 m, consist-
ently with the results obtained by the T-bar tests and the vane tests. However, the vane testswhich were
performed at intervals of 0.5 malso presented different results with respect to the tests performed in the
natural soil at 3.5 m and 5.5 m depth. The quantities measured in CPTU tests showed different trends.
Cone resistance detected the region affected by the embankment to a depth of 5.2 m, friction sleeve to
3.0 m depth, pore pressure at the cone face u1 to 3.7 m depth and at the cone shoulder u2 to 2.0 m depth.
Thus, the different tests detected the region most affected by the embankment at different depths. In the
case of CPTU tests, the different quantities measured provided different depths related to the region most
affected by the embankment.
515
3.1 SPTs
SPTs are performed in Brazil each 1 m. In the par-
ticular case of very soft clays, however, the test
doesnt have enough resolution, since the penetra-
tion of the sampler is much more than the standard
penetration of 0.15 m (in each interval) per blow.
In fact, the penetration of the sampler without any
blow (just setting the hammer on the top of the rod
Figure 1. Characteristics of Sarapu soft clay deposit stem) is in many cases higher than 1 m.
(Almeida & Marques 2003). On the other hand, the determination of the
water content, w, even from a highly disturbed sam-
ple from the SPT has been considered a valuable
information (e.g., Coutinho et al. 1998; Sandroni
2001). Therefore it has been proposed a change in
the regular SPT procedure in the case of very soft
clays (Danziger et al. 2008), which consists of not
performing the test itself and just take a sample in
the regular depth interval, by holding the rod stem
when the 0.45 m have been penetrated. The sample
is then used to determine the water content of the
soil. This has been the procedure followed in the
research, and the corresponding results are shown
in Figure 5.
It can be shown that the water content values
from SPT-B3 (SPTs from borehole 3), which was
performed from the embankment, are smaller than
those from SPT-B2 and SPT-B4, performed in
the natural material. The difference is more pro-
nounced in the upper part of the clay layer. It can
be concluded that the water content from the SPT
samples have been able to detect the influence of
the embankment to a depth of 5.5 m and more evi-
dently to a depth of 2 m.
Figure 2. Stresses and compressibility parameter pro-
files (Almeida & Marques 2003).
Figure 3. Sarapu II test site with respect to the early Figure 4. Location of the tests performed at Sarapu II
Sarapu I test site. test site.
516
su VT 02
sur VT 02
2
su VT 03
sur VT 03
su VT 04
3 sur VT 04
su VT 05 embankment
sur VT 05 embankment
Depth (m)
4
517
qT = qc + u2 (1 a) (2) fs CPTU 01
fs CPTU 02
where: 2
fs CPTU 03
a = area ratio, obtained from calibration fs CPTU 04
It must be pointed out that the regular procedure fs CPTU 05 embankment
3 fs CPTU 06
to saturate the filters at COPPE is to use water as
fs CPTU 07
the saturation fluid, and never allow the penetrom-
Depth (m)
eter to pass in the air. Therefore, in the case of the
4
natural soil a small hole is used to start the test,
which is thus initiated roughly at 0.1 m depth. In
the case of the embankment, a hole was executed
5
throughout the whole thickness, which was filled
with water, and the penetrometer was inserted on
it to start the test. 6
Since the aim of the research was to evaluate
the ability of each quantity to detect the region
affected by the embankment, each quantity is pre- 7
sented separately (Figs. 710). A first observation
is the excellent repeatability of all quantities, espe-
cially considering the magnified scale in which all 8
quantities have been presented and the fact that
2 penetrometers have been used. All quantities Figure 8. fs versus depth.
in CPTU 05 identified the bottom of the u1 (kPa)
0 50 100 150 200 250 300
qT (kPa)
0
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 400 u1 CPTU01
0 u1 CPTU02
u1 CPTU03
1 u1 CPTU04
u1 CPTU05 embankment
1
u1 CPTU06
u1 CPTU07
qT CPTU 01 2
qT CPTU 02
2
qT CPTU 03
qT CPTU 04
qT CPTU 05 embankment 3
3 qT CPTU 06
qT CPTU 07
Depth (m)
Depth (m)
4
4
5
5
6 6
7 7
8 8
518
Depth (m)
4 4
5
5
6
6
7
7
8
8
embankment at 0.75 m depth with respect to the Figure 11. qm versus depth.
ground surface.
As far as cone resistance is concerned, it can be A hole was executed in the embankment, as in the
observed (Fig. 7) that the values of qT in the test case of the piezocone tests, and the T-bar test started
performed under the embankment were greater at the level of the surface of the embankment.
than all other values to a depth of around 5.2 m, Comparing the tests in the natural soil, it can
although in the last 1.5 m the difference was small. be seen that the values of qm corresponding to
The trend of the sleeve friction was different than T-bar 03 are greater than the other tests, which
that of cone resistance. In fact, fs values from the was attributed to the shape of the T-bar allowing
test performed under the embankment were greater the existing roots of the vegetation to be pushed
than the values in the natural soil to a depth of together with the penetrometer, increasing the cor-
about 3 m (Fig. 8). responding resistance. Similar phenomenon was
A quite interesting feature is that the pore pres- verified by Macedo (2004), see also Almeida et al.
sures u1 and u2 showed different trends. In fact, u1 (2006) and Danziger (2007).
values have shown the influence of the embank- As in the case of the piezocone test, it can be
ment to a depth of 3.7 m (Fig. 9) and u2 to a depth observed that T-bar 04 has detected the bottom of
of 2.0 m (Fig. 10). the embankment roughly at 0.75 m depth.
It can also be observed that T-bar 04 test has
recorded qm values greater than the other tests until
3.4 T-bar tests
2.0 m depth. Even if T-bar 03 test is not consid-
Four T-bar tests have been performed, one of them ered, qm values of T-bar 04 test get into the general
under the embankment. The T-bar used comprised trend of the other tests roughly at 2.5 m depth.
a 40 mm in diameter and 250 mm long bar, which
was a result of a modification of a COPPE/UFRJ-
Grom piezocone. All tests were performed with the 4 COMPARISON AMONG THE TESTS
rate of 20 mm/s. Values of the measured penetra-
tion resistance, qm, obtained from the load meas- The limit depths where the influence of the
ured at the load cell divided by the projected area embankment was detected by the different tests are
of the T-bar, i.e. 100 cm2 are presented in Figure 11. presented in Table 1.
519
520
521
ABSTRACT: Among in-situ engineers there is considerable interest in the development of a Continuous
Seismic Cone Penetration Test (C-SCPT). Until now the seismic measurements are done during pauses in
the penetration of the CPT cone. The C-SCPT will make SCPT much more efficient. The most important
consideration in C-SCPT is the real-time signal enhancement and event detection. The algorithm outlined
in this paper for this application, the so-called C-SCPT SEED algorithm, uses real time Bayesian Recur-
sive Estimation digital filtering techniques to analyze the raw data. This paper discusses this algorithm and
provide examples to demonstrate that the C-SCPT SEED algorithm provides considerable SCPT signal
enhancement and event detection advantages when processing C-SCPT seismic data, such as: ability to
identify source wave events embedded in high variance and correlated noise environments; significant
S/N improvement; source wave arrival time estimation; ability to derive noise statistics; and dominant
frequency estimation
Keywords: continuous seismic CPT, real-time event detection, Kalman filter, hidden Markov models
523
524
nk = aw nk bwwk
(2)
aw e and bw e 2
In eq. (2), is the sampling rate and wk is a
Figure 1. AMS real data example recorded during a zero-mean, timewise-uncorrelated, unit-variance
SCPT. sequence with a Gaussian probability distribution
function. nk is therefore a zero-mean, exponentially-
correlated random variable whose standard devia-
tion is . The constant aw can have a range of values
from 1 to +1. For a stable variable, aw is restricted
to values between 0 and +1. For aw 0, nk changes
rapidly and tends to be uncorrelated from sample
to sample. For aw 1, the behavior of nk becomes
more sluggish and it tends to change little from
sample to sample.
Figure 2. Seismic trace in Fig. 2 filtered with a 10 Hz to 2.3 C-SCPT SEED formulation
150 Hz frequency filtered applied and a 73 Hz sinusoid
superimposed. The C-SCPT SEED algorithm uses real-time
Bayesian Recursive Estimation (BRE) digital fil-
tering techniques to analyze the raw SCPT data.
extension rods and due to the close radial proxim- Baziw (2002b, 2004b, 2005, 2006, and 2011)) out-
ity of the source (Baziw (1993)). Figure 2 illustrates lines in detail the different mathematical tools
the seismic data shown in Fig. 1 superimposed such as Kalman filtering (KF), particle filter, and
upon the same seismic trace filtered with a zero Hidden Markov Model filtering (HMM) which
phase shift 8th order Butterworth 10 Hz to 150 Hz are offered in BRE. In general terms, AMS source
bandpass filter applied. Also superimposed upon waves defined as frequency anomalies are identi-
the filtered seismic trace is a 73 Hz sinusoid. As is fied and extracted within statistically describable
evident from Fig. 2, the real SCPT source wave can (Gauss-Markov) background noise.
be modeled as amplitude modulated sinusoid. As a first step the C-SCPT SEED algorithm
applies a bank of finite sinusoids (i = 1 to N)
with dominant frequencies varying from low to
2.2 Gauss-Markov measurement noise model
high (e.g., 30 Hz to 430 Hz). The seismic event is
To facilitate greater source wave and measurement approximated as an AMS, whereby the sinusoid
noise characterization the measurement noise is is modulated by an amplitude modulating term
modeled as a Gauss-Markov process as opposed to (AMT) as previously described. As illustrated in
simply being defined by a band of frequencies. By Figure 3, a fixed set of possible sinusoids with
analyzing the autocorrelation and power spectrum corresponding dominant frequencies is speci-
of a large number of SCPT measurement noise fied at the outset. A bank of Kalman Filters are
time series it was possible to identify a mathemati- then utilized, whereby the possible seismic event
cal model which sufficiently fits the SCPT meas- is approximated as a sinusoid multiplied by an
urement noise process. A Gauss-Markov process AMT. The KF system equations include the AMT
can be used to describe many physical phenomena components which are modeled as a two state first
(Gelb (1974) and Baziw (2002)) and is a good can- order Taylor series with the velocity component
didate to model the SCPT background noise. represented by a Gauss-Markov process. The KF
The Gauss-Markov process has a relatively measurement equations incorporate the sinusoi-
simple mathematical description. As in the case dal components sin(it) where i = 2fi and fi is
of all stationary Gaussian processes, specification the dominant frequency. The frequency compo-
of the process autocorrelation completely defines nents are incorporated as states within a HMM
the process. The variance, 2, and time constant, Tc filter formulation. The background noise is also
(ie., = 1/Tc ), define the first-order Gauss-Markov included within the KF system equations through
process. These parameters are derived from the the Gauss-Markov process.
seismic time series by windowing on the noise The background noise parameters of variance,
portion of the trace and calculating the autocor- 2, and time constant, Tc, are automatically derived
relation of the ambient noises (Baziw (2002b and from the recorded seismic data by windowing on
525
AMT+ V(t)
.
.
HMM Filter:
estimating
AMT+ V(t) AMT and
. dominant fre-
. quency
AMT+ V(t)
KFn
526
3.1 Example 1
The SC source wave shown in Fig. 4 is embed-
ded within measurement noise with vari-
ance 2 of 6 units2 and time constant TC
of 1 ms as illustrated in Fig. 5(A). The C-SCPT
SEED algorithm is then applied on this noisy
seismogram with a HMM frequency bandwith and
resolution of 30430 Hz and 2 Hz, respectively. A
STA/LTA threshold of 1.2 was specified.
The resulting AMT and STA/LTA is illustrated
in Figs. 5(B) and 5(C), respectively. The C-SCPT
SEED algorithm also provides the dominant
frequencies when the STA/LTA ratio exceeds the
threshold of 1.2 as shown in Fig. 5(D).
The results using the using the C-SCPT SEED Figure 7. (A) Seismogram with source wave of Figure 4
algorithm can be compared with the outcome when embedded in measurement noise with C-SCPT SEED
using a standard frequency filtering algorithm estimated arrival time, dominant frequency and ambi-
(applying an eight order digital bandpass (30 Hz ent noise statistics illustrated; (B) C-SCPT SEED esti-
to 150 HZ filter) as illustrated in Fig. 6. It is clear mated AMT; (C) C-SCPT SEED estimated STA/LTA;
that the C-SCPT SEED algorithm provides a (D) C-SCPT SEED estimated frequencies when STA/
LTA threshold of 1.2 exceeded.
considerable SNR improvement compared to the
standard frequency filtering.
of 30 Hz to 430 Hz and 2 Hz is applied, respec-
2 2 tively. A STA/LTA threshold of 1.2 was specified.
3.2 Example 2 ( = 9 units , TC = 3 ms)
The C-SCPT SEED estimated AMT and
The source wave shown in Figure 4 is embed- STA/LTA is illustrated in Figs. 7(B) and 7(C),
ded within measurement noise with variance of respectively. Dominant frequencies are estimated
9 units2 and time constant of 3 ms as illustrated when the STA/LTA ratio exceeds the threshold
in Figure 7(A). The C-SCPT SEED algorithm is of 1.2 as shown in Fig. 7(D). Figure 7(A) shows
then applied on the noisy seismogram of Fig. 7(A) the C-SCPT SEED estimated noise statistics
where a HMM frequency bandwith and resolution (variance = 6.9 and time constant = 2 ms), the
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529
J.B. Martins
Centro de Matemtica, University of Minho, Braga, Portugal
P.M. Mendes
Centro Algoritmi, University of Minho, Guimares, Portugal
ABSTRACT: Wireless technology has huge developments that can be implemented in many of the soil
mechanics test equipment. However, nowadays it is still far from being of full use in geotechnical engineer-
ing all over the world. This paper reports a brief state of art of the wireless use in geotechnical engineering
and presents in detail a wireless CPTU prototype (CPTUwl) developed in University of Minho. In this
prototype a new solution was developed leading to significant improvements in relation to the existing
wireless CPTU. The new proposed solution provides simultaneous remote data acquisition and system
power supply, allowing for long term data acquisition, without the need of cables or batteries. The CPTUwl
prototype allows the data acquisition in a laptop of the continuous measurements. Moreover, since this
solution also delivers the required power supply for the down-hole sensing and communication devices, this
prototype has the potential to support more complex and bandwidth demanding monitoring devices.
531
532
533
534
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES
Furthermore, since a priori the depth of
the bed rock where the CPTU point stops is Baronti, P., Pillai, P., Chook, V., Chessa, S., Gotta, A. &
unknown, there is need, with the traditional cable- Hu, Y. 2007. Wireless sensor networks: a survey on
based CPTU, of a starting quick test to locate the the state of the art and the 802.15.4 and ZigBee stan-
bed rock. These processes are time consuming and dards. Computer Communications, 30: 16551695.
in method developed by the University of Minho Begemann, H.K.S. 1965. The friction jacket cone as an
there is no need for this time consuming operations, aid in determining the soil profile. Proceedings of
since a micro emission-receptor is installed inside the 6th International Conference on Soil Mechanics
and Foundation Engineering, ICSMFE, vol. 2: 1720,
the electrical CPTU probe and the collected signals Montreal, FR.
are continuously transmitted to the surface. Chae, M.J., Yoo, H.S., Kim, J.Y. & Cho, M.Y. 2012.
Figure 3 shows a software application devel- Development of a wireless sensor network system for
oped to record the values measured from CPTUwl suspension bridge health monitoring. Automation in
sensors. Construction, 21: 237252.
Envi, A.B. 2012. CPTu probes. Retrieved from http://
www.envi.se/Products-Cone-Penetration-Test-CPTu.
5 FINAL REMARKS html (Jan 12).
Garich, E.A. 2007. Wireless, automated monitoring for
potential landslide hazards. Texas A&M University.
Since the mid 90s researchers have realized the Master thesis.
need to reduce the cost of testing and monito- Geotech. 2012. CPT NOVA system. Retrieved from
ring civil engineering structures and infrastructu- http://www.geotech.eu/index.php/en/cpt-nova-system
res, and therefore increase the capabilities of the (Jan 2012).
existing systems. The use of wireless technologies Geotech. 2012. CPT NOVA system. Retrieved from http://
technologies, with a more limited human inter- www.geotech.eu/index.php/en/cpt-nova-system &
vention, can make geotechnical engineering and http://geoprobe.com/cpt-cone-penetration-testing
management operations more efficient, therefore, (Jan 12).
less expensive. Ghalib, A.M., Hryciw, R.D. & Susila, E. 2000. Soil Stratigra-
phy Delineation by VisCPT. Proceedings of Innovations
In this context a wireless CPTU prototype and Applications in Geotechnical Site Characterization
(CPTUwl) was developed at the University of Minho. (Geotechnical Special Publication No. 97). Mayne &
To the best of the authors knowledge, this develop- Hryciw (eds). Denver, Colorado.
ment leads to significant improvements in relation to Gu, C., Li, X.-J., Zhu, H. & Ji Z. 2012. Development
the existing methods, particularly for working in het- and application fo tunnel monitoring system based
erogeneous and stratified soils, and also because the on WebGIS. Advances in Ground Technology &
traditional cable based solutions present some inher- Geo-information. 441449. GeoSS. K.K. Phoon et al.
ent limitations such as installation and maintenance (eds.) Research Publishing: Singapore.
cost, scalability and visual impact. Healy, M., Newe, T. & Lewis, E. 2008. Wireless sensor
node hardware: a review. Conference 2008 IEEE
Moreover the developed system allows a real Sensors 621624.
time and 24/7 continuous data acquisition during Houlsby, G.T. & Ruck, B.M. 1998. Interpretation of signals
penetration. from an acoustic cone penetrometer. Geotechnical Site
With this equipment there is no need for the Characterization, Robertson & Mayne (eds). Balkema,
time consuming operations to locate bed rock, Rotterdam.
535
536
J.A. Howie
Department of Civil Engineering, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT: The sixteen papers assigned to the session are reviewed and common themes discussed.
Ten of the papers involve some variation on penetration testing, two deal with instrumentation used to
monitor ground movements in unstable ground, two describe new developments in drilling and sampling
and one presents a new method of geophysics survey. One paper makes a plea for development of an
international database of site characterization data.
539
in pile design. It comprises a 60 mm diameter steel ment of the torque required. No information is
tube rotated into the ground. The torque required provided as to how it is to be determined that all
to install the pipe to the desired depth is recorded. pore pressures have dissipated as there is no indica-
The pipe is left in the ground sufficiently long to tion of the presence of any piezometer in the TPT.
allow all pore pressures to dissipate and then is The authors state that their primary objective
rotated out of the ground, again with a measure- was to measure side resistance with the same
540
541
542
543
544
Amy C. Larrabee
Sanborn Head and Associates, Inc., Westford, MA, US
Jean Benot
University of New Hampshire, Department of Civil Engineering, Durham, NH, US
Philippe Reiffsteck
Universit Paris Est/Laboratoire Central des Ponts et Chausses, Paris, France
ABSTRACT: Hydraulic conductivity is a characteristic that describes the flow of water through geo-
logic materials due to the presence of interconnected voids. This property is difficult to accurately and
rapidly evaluate in the laboratory and in the field. A device known as the Permafor has been developed
in Strasbourg, France aimed at evaluating hydraulic conductivity in situ. The tool is approximately 80 cen-
timeters in length, and is specifically designed to test lateral hydraulic conductivity. A half-scale of the Per-
mafor was constructed at the University of New Hampshire in order to test soils at shallow depths using
a portable penetration system. The half-scale model was used in laboratory simulations and field testing
of a fine-grained sand for the determination of hydraulic conductivity. Preliminary results seem to indi-
cate the reduced size tool has the potential to evaluate permeability in situ, rapidly and with accuracy.
545
546
547
2
ductivity. A common expression of flow is shown
in Equation 6.
1
HHT = 0.049Q2 + 0.406Q - 0.601
Q = 2 l
D( ) 2
log l + l 2 + 1 * k * H * D (6)
D D
H = H TH (4)
m
s ( )
k = Q ( m * H * D ) = c * Q H
(8)
where H = total head of water in the field in meters, For the case of the Permafor, Equation
HT = theoretical head losses within the system. 7 is used for the value of m which is equal to
In field testing the head of water acting on the 7.02. The diameter of the probe is 5 centimeters
Permafor system is also influenced by the ground (0.05 meters) resulting in a value of 2.8 for the
water table. The head level in field testing is a com- pocket coefficient c. The hydraulic conductivity for
bination of the height of the water column above the probe is then defined by Equation 9.
the test zone, the depth of the water table, and the
( )( ) ( )
head added from the hydraulic pumping system m
(if in use). The total head in the field is shown in k = Q H * 1 ( .02 * .05) = 2.8 Q H (9)
s
Equation 5.
The value of hydraulic conductivity produced
H = He + Dw + p (5) in Equation 9 is a function of the results of
Permafor testing. The pocket coefficient remains
where H = total head of water in field testing constant. Hydraulic conductivity measured with
in meters, He, head of water column above the the Permafor can then be compared to other
ground surface in meters, Dw = depth of water table laboratory testing methods. Figure 4 illustrates
in meters, Hp = head produced by hydraulic pump different laboratory measurements of hydraulic
in meters. conductivity compared to testing results with the
Using field measurements of the depth of the Permafor.
probe and water flow, Permafor parameters can Preliminary results indicate that the Permafor
be calculated to evaluate the Q/H for each test in holds a close correlation to traditional hydraulic
a sounding. conductivity testing methods.
548
549
Q/H' (m2/s)
1E-002
1E-006
1E-005
1E-004
1E-003
No. of Blows
0 10 20 30
0
DCH 1
DCH 2
40
Depth (cm)
80
120 DCH 1
DCH 2
HR 1
HR 2
HR 3
160
Figure 5. Field testing results.
550
1E+000
as it increased the flow. As flow increases the head
1E-002
1E-001
1E-004
1E-003
losses in the system also increase. The increasing
head losses will decrease the corrected head, H.
For this reason, the decrease corrected head will 0
produce an increase ratio of Q/H. In this case, the
external head on the system played a major role in
the resulting Q/H.
Similar to the laboratory testing, the parameter
of Q/H decreases as the density increases. The
density of the soil become greater as the probe is 100
Depth (cm)
advanced deeper into the subsurface. Overall, the
results follow the same trend where the relative
hydraulic conductivity decreases with depth.
At depths greater than 150 centimeters a total
of 45 or more blows of the dynamic cone penetro-
200
meter hammer were needed to advance the tool a
distance of five centimeters. This method is both
time consuming and physically exhausting. With
that many blows within a short distance, water is
likely to erode the test zone.
Additional tests with the Permafor were con- 300
ducted using the hydraulic rig to advance to tool. DCH 1
Three profiles were conducted with the hydraulic DCH 2
Hazen
system which all had vertical flow present through- Alyamani and Sen
out the entire push of the probe. Several variations Rawls and Brakensiek
of this layout were evaluated, but proved unsuc- Range of Laboratory
Proctor Hydraulic
cessful such that lateral flow was never fully estab- Conductivity Tests
lished. The results of the tests conducted with the
dynamic cone penetrometer hammer (DCH) and Figure 6. Comparison of Permafor testing results to
the hydraulic rig (HC) are shown in Figure 5. Also hydraulic conductivity tests and correlations.
represented in Figure 5 are the number of blows
needed to penetrate the probe to each test depth.
The variation of Q/H is similar for all three modified Proctor tests. After horizontal flow is
tests conducted with the hydraulic rig. The trend established with the Permafor the results prove
of the curve follows the same path as both tests to be approximately an order of magnitude higher
conducted with the DCH. The hydraulic rig would than the measured values of hydraulic conductiv-
be ideal for testing as it provides easy and signifi- ity based on laboratory Proctor testing. On the
cantly faster testing. Due to lateral flow never being other hand, the empirical correlations are similar
established, the results can only provide a basis for to the results with the probe after vertical flow
partial lateral flow. has stopped.
Of the empirical correlations the Hazen formula
proves to be the median value. It should be noted
4.2 Hydraulic conductivity based on grain size
that laboratory testing result are a function of ver-
Empirical correlations for hydraulic conductivity tical flow, where as the Permafor measures lateral
can be assessed based on the grain size analysis of flow. Permafor testing results within the zone
the samples collected in the field. For the purpose where lateral flow is not established are an order of
of this research the Hazen formula, the Alyamani & magnitude greater than any empirical correlation.
Sen formula and the Rawls & Brakensiek formula
were evaluated, as outlined in Section 1.2. Permafor
test results are corrected to represent values of 5 SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
hydraulic conductivity using the pocket coefficient.
The results of the Permafor field testing, empiri- The Permafor is a new in situ testing tool which
cal correlations and measured laboratory testing under certain conditions provides a continuous
are shown in Figure 6. qualitative and quantitative profile of the chang-
The laboratory testing results shown are the ing hydraulic conductivity with depth. The testing
range of applicable values of hydraulic conduc- results can be presented in terms of the ratio of
tivity measured using both the standard and flow and corrected hydraulic head versus depth.
551
552
Ali Heydarzadeh
Moshanir Power Engineering Consultants, Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT: Over the past decade a useful simple complementary test has been recommended for
SPT and it is the measurement of torque required to rotate the SPT sampler. This modified test is named
SPT-T. To present the feasibility of SPT-T in Iran, the paper includes the results of the first trial tests
performed in Iran. To perform SPT-T, a special setup was built and it is described in the paper. According
to the local experiences gained from performing SPT-T at the site, the following findings are presented:
(1) a local experience to run the test, (2) the limitation of equipment and the possibility of performing this
test in Iran (3) Consistency of test results under the same circumstances, (4) the use of the test results for
estimation of the change in unit skin friction over time.
553
554
555
The consistency of results obtained from a test graph T5 and T20 indicate torque measured 5 and
carried out repeatedly at the same condition is one 20 minutes after EOD and R2 is correlation coef-
of the factors governing the efficiency of the test. ficient between T and N.
If the results can be obtained repeatedly, a large As seen in Figure 7, there are logical relations
number of tests can be performed, and the results between the applied torque and Depth with cor-
can be generated. As seen in Figure 6, there are relation coefficient around 0.8 which show the
logical relations between the applied torque and consistency of the test results. In this graph D indi-
NSPT with correlation coefficient around 0.7 which cates depth of test and R2 is correlation coefficient
show the consistency of the test results. In this between T and D.
556
Figure 8. Estimation of unit skin friction (USF): (a) In BH1, 5 and 20 minutes after EOD; (b) In BH, 5 and 20 min-
utes after EOD.
T
fs = F = R = T = 2T2 (1)
A DDL D ( D
DL ) D L
2
Where T = Maximum torque; D = Diameter of
sampler; and L = Length of sampler.
The unit skin friction, (USF), at different depths
is shown in Figure 8.
The graph shows the average strength at vari-
ous depths, (down to 31.5 m in BH1 and 48.5 m in
BH2), at 5 and 20 minutes after finishing driving
the sampler.
The average strength can be calculated by multiply-
ing the unit skin friction by the lateral surface area.
557
20
0 1 5 1
A= = = 1.66 20 1 (2)
log t t log ( ) 5
0
558
559
Alan J. Lutenegger
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, US
ABSTRACT: The use of a rigid flat-plate Push-In Spade Cell (PISC) for estimating soil properties
in situ is described. The cell is similar in geometry to the Marchetti Flat Dilatometer, except that the
PISC is used as a passive in situ test; i.e., unlike the Dilatometer, there is no active operation, such
as membrane expansion, performed. The PISC consists of a stainless steel blade with dimensions of
102 mm 250 mm with a thickness of 12.5 mm and, like the Dilatometer, is pushed in from the ground
surface without a borehole. The blade is equipped with a 72 mm diameter flush mounted circular vibrat-
ing wire total earth pressure cell. The pressure cell measures the response of the soil as the blade is pushed
into the soil as total horizontal stress. Test results from two sites are presented and a comparison between
the results obtained with the PISC and the Dilatometer is presented.
Push-in earth pressure cells have been used previ- The spade consists of a stainless steel blade with
ously by geotechnical engineers to evaluate in situ dimensions of 102 mm 250 mm 12.5 mm and
lateral earth pressures in soils (e.g., Massarch 1975; has an leading apex angle of 60 degrees at the front
Tavenas et al. 1975; Tedd & Charles 1981; Chan & as shown in Figure 1. This geometry was intention-
Morgenstern 1988; Lutenegger 2006). There is no ally selected to be similar in design to the Flat Plate
standard geometry for push-in earth pressure cells, Dilatometer. The PISC is equipped with a 72 mm
but most have been on the order of 90 to 100 mm diameter flat pressure cell mounted flush with the
in width and 4 to 7 mm in thickness and have typi- face of the blade. The earth pressure cell is fluid
cally been fluid filled. All have been total earth filled and connected to a vibrating wire pressure
pressure cells and have generally been designed transducer that senses changes in total stress. The
using different types of pressure sensors. transducer has a working stress range of 350 kPa
Previous use of push-in earth pressure cells and a sensitivity of 0.7 kPa. Pressure readings are
has primarily been as a form of field instrumen- obtained using a Geokon Model GK403 portable
tation, to estimate existing lateral earth pressure digital readout.
or changes in lateral earth pressure at a specific A temperature reading is also obtained at each
point in the subsurface. The pressure cell has test depth using the internal thermister built into
typically been pushed from the bottom of a bore- the vibrating wire transducer. Tests were per-
hole and then left in place to monitor changes in formed by advancing the spade from the ground
total stress over time or in response to some other surface to the desired test depth at a rate of 2 cm/
construction activity, such as excavation or pile sec. Pressure readings were obtained immediately
driving. after stopping penetration (t = 0 sec.) and at inter-
The Push-In Spade Cell (PISC) described in this vals of 15, 30 and 60 sec. after stopping penetra-
paper is a departure from this previous approach tion. After obtaining the 60 sec. reading, the PISC
and is more in line with an in situ test used to esti- was advanced to the next test depth by quasi-static
mate soil properties throughout a subsurface pro- penetration. Tests were performed at depth inter-
file, much like the Marchetti Flat Plate Dilatometer vals of 0.3 m.
(DMT). This paper presents results obtained using Unlike the DMT, the PISC only has the ini-
the PISC at two test sites to evaluate proof of con- tial passive phase of testing, i.e., there is no
cept. No correlations with other soil properties at active membrane expansion phase. This means
either of the sites are given at this time. Results that the PISC cannot be used to give a direct esti-
from the PISC are compared with results from the mate of soil stiffness or modulus. In contrast to
DMT at both sites. the Dilatometer, which has a central diaphragm
561
4 TEST SITES
UMass-DOE
Initial tests were performed at the UMass DOE
site located on the campus of the University of
Figure 1. Photo of push-in spade cell.
Massachusetts in Amherst. The stratigraphy at
the site consists of about 1.5 m of fine-grained fill
that must be activated using air pressure from the overlying natural Connecticut Valley Varved Clay
ground surface, the PISC only responds to the (CVVC) which in turn overlies a thin layer of sand
horizontal stress and does not involve any active and gravel over bedrock, The CVVC is overcon-
expansion phase. solidated through a depth of about 6 m and then
In addition to obtaining readings during profil- transitions into a lightly overconsolidated to near
ing, at one of the sites total stress dissipation tests normally consolidated and very soft throughout
were performed at selected depths to determine the the remainder of the profile. The water table at the
change in total stress over time to obtain equilib- site was located at a depth of about 1.4 m.
rium total stress conditions. These tests typically
lasted several days. UMass-AgFarm
A second set of tests were performed at the UMass
AgFarm site located about 10 km away from the
3 INTERPRETATION OF first site in South Deerfield, Ma. The profile at the
RESULTSPROFILING site consists of about 1.5 m of silty sand overlying
medium to coarse sand to a depth of 4 m overlying
The PISC, like the DMT, provides a measurement medium stiff Connecticut Valley Varved Clay. The
of total lateral earth pressure. One of the primary water table at this site is located at a depth of about
indices derived from the DMT is KD, the Horizontal 5 m, at the top of the clay.
Stress Index, defined as:
KD = (PO UO)/VO
where: 5 RESULTS
PO = Initial Total Stress
UO = In Situ Pore Water Pressure Figures 2 and 3 show the test results obtained with
VO = In Situ Vertical Effective Stress the PISC at both test sites. The 0, 15 and 60 sec.
pressure readings are shown throughout the profile.
The value of PO is obtained about 15 sec. after At the UMass-DOE clay site, the upper fill and stiff
penetration by obtaining the DMT A-Reading. In overconsolidated crust are clearly indicated with
a similar fashion, we may define the Horizontal the slow transition to the underlying softer clay also
Stress Index, KS, from the PISC as: indicated. There is a consistent decay (reduction) is
total stress with time and a gradual increase in total
KS = (P15 UO)/VO stress through the soft clay with depth as expected.
At the UMass-AgFarm site, the transition from
where: the surficial silty sand to the underlying sand and
P15 = 15 Sec. Total Stress then to the underlying clay can also clearly be seen
UO = In Situ Pore Water Pressure at depths of about 2 m and 5 m. At this site, where
VO = In Situ Vertical Effective Stress the clay is stiffer than the UMass-DOE site, there
562
2
2
4
4
6
0 sec. 6
8 15 sec.
60 sec.
DEPTH (m)
DEPTH (m)
10
8
0 sec.
12 10 15 sec.
60 sec.
14
12
16
14
18
16
20
18
22
0 200 400 600 800 1000
0 100 200 300 400 500 600
PRESSURE (kPa)
PRESSURE (kPa)
Figure 2. PISC results at UMass-DOE site. Figure 4. Horizontal stress index from PISC and
DMTUMass-DOE site.
0 0
2 2
4
4
6
KD
6
8 KS
KD
KS
DEPTH (m)
DEPTH (m)
10 8
12 10
14
12
16
14
18
20 16
22 18
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
KD and KS KD and KS
Figure 3. PISC results at UMass-AgFarm site. Figure 5. Horizontal stress index from PISC and
DMTUMass-AgFarm site.
is much less decay in total stress with time over the both test sites. As can be seen, the two tests give
first 60 sec. similar general trends of results and similar numer-
Figures 4 and 5 give a comparison between KS ical values although there is clearly not an exact
from the PISC and KD from the DMT obtained at match of the data. This may be related in part to
563
6 DISSIPATION TESTS
REFERENCES
The PISC may also be used to evaluate the change
is total stress with time (time rate of total stress Chan, A.C.Y. & Morgenstern, N.R. 1986. Measurement
dissipation) by leaving the spade in place at any of Lateral Stresses in a Lacustrine Clay Deposit. Pro-
specific test depth and recording the total stress ceedings of the 39th Canadian Geotechnical Confer-
ence, pp. 285290.
at given time intervals after penetration. As previ-
Lutenegger, A.J. 2006. Consolidation Lateral Stress
ously noted, this has been the primary use of other Ratios in Clay from Flat Dilatometer. Proceedings of
push-in spade cells in the past. Typical results of the 2nd International Conference on the Flat Dilatom-
a dissipation test obtained from the UMass DOE eter, pp. 327333.
site are shown in Figure 6. These results may be Marchetti, S. & Totani, G. 1989. ch Evaluations from
interpreted as has previously been done for DMT DMTA Dissipation Curves. Proceedings of the 12th
total stress dissipation tests (e.g., Marchetti & International Conference on Soil Mechanics and Foun-
Totani 1989; Lutenegger 2006). dation Engineering, Vol. 1 pp. 281286.
Massarch, R. 1975. New Method for Measurement of
Lateral Earth Pressure in Cohesive Soils. Canadian
Geotechnical Journal, 12(1): 142146.
7 SUMMARY Tavenas, F.A., Blanchete, G., Leroueil, S., Roy, M. &
LaRochelle, P. 1975. Difficulties in the In Situ Deter-
A new push-in spade cell device for profiling mination of Ko in Soft Sensitive Clays. Proceedings of
soil properties has been presented. The feasibil- the Conference on In Situ Measurements of Soil Prop-
ity of the devices was evaluated at two test sites. erties, ASCE, Vol. 1, pp. 450476.
A comparison between the results obtained with Tedd, P. & Charles, J.A. 1981. In Situ Measurement of
the device and with parallel results obtained with Horizontal Stress in Overconsolidated Clay Using
the Flat Plate Dilatometer at both sites shows Push-in Spade-Shaped Pressure Cells. Geotechnique,
31(4): 554558.
that the two tests give similar results. Additional
testing is underway at other sites and correlations
564
R. Colcott
WorleyParsons Pty Ltd, Perth, Australia (formerly The University of Western Australia)
B.M. Lehane
The University of Western Australia, Australia
ABSTRACT: The Marchetti flat plate dilatometer has now been in use for over 30 years. The dilatom-
eter provides a measure of soil stiffness, after the instrument is inserted into the ground, by recording the
lift off stress and the stress required to move a membrane a distance of 1.1 mm. This paper describes the
development of a new flat plate dilatometer, which allows the full pressure-displacement response to be
recorded after the instrument installation. The flat plate section of the device has identical dimensions to
that of the Marchetti dilatometer but the membrane is replaced by a solid piston. Expansion of this piston
is achieved using an oil filled hydraulic system and the piston displacement is inferred from the calibrated
variation with the displacement of the plunger into the hydraulic cylinder at ground level. A pressure
transducer, also at ground level, records the applied pressure to the dilatometer piston. Details associated
with the design and calibration of the device are presented in the paper. Measurements obtained with the
new device are compared with those obtained using the standard DMT and also with the results from
simplified Finite Element analyses.
565
Accurate measurement of the volume of fluid With the first prototype completed (as shown
displaced to the device through the tests; in Figures 1 and 2), the next step was to test the
Precise and continuous measurement of device under controlled laboratory conditions. In
pressure; addition to deriving calibration coefficients, this
566
4 FIELD TESTING
567
0.8m
1600
1.2m
400 1.6m
1400
Lift off pressure, p 0 (kPa)
2.0m
Pressure (kPa)
1200
300
1000
200 800
600
100
New device 400
Adjacent standard DMT
0 200
0 1 2 3
Depth (m)
0
0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
1000
the limit pressures of between 1 and 2 MPa that
can be inferred from the curves on Figure 7. This
800 difference reflects the influence of sand displace-
ment imparted during installation of a DMT.
600 The dilatometer stiffness values (ED) inferred
from the data on Figure 7 are presented on Fig-
400
ure 8. These were derived from the following equa-
tion for a rigid punch:
200 New device
(p p0 )( 2
)
Adjacent standard DMT E D ( new device ) = (1)
4 s /D
0
0 1 2 3 where Poissons ratio () was assumed equal to
Depth (m)
0.2, s = piston displacement and D is the piston
Figure 6. Values of p0 and p1 measured with new device diameter.
and with standard DMT. Figure 8 shows an expected reduction in stiffness
with s/D. Relatively low ED values were recorded at
assisted by the trend for a short term peak in pres- s/D < 0.005, indicating that the current design of
sure to be observed when the piston moves. the device is not sufficient to provide reliable stiff-
The variations of pressure with displacement ness values at s/D < 0.005.
recorded with the new device at 4 separate depths
are plotted on Figure 7. It is seen that after lift-off
occurs at a pressure of about 200 kPa, the pressure 5 NUMERICAL ANALYSIS
increases in a non-linear fashion with the displace-
ment. It would appear that a limiting pressure is Some insights into the behavior observed with
being approached at a piston displacement of the new DMT were obtained in approximate 2D
3 mm for the tests conducted at 1.6 m and 2.0 m, Finite Element (FE) analyses. These analyses were
but clearly limiting pressures are not attained for conducted using Plaxis 2D (version 9) and the
tests at 0.8 m and 1.2 m depths. It is of interest Hardening Soil constitutive model (with small
to note that the limit pressure measured using a strain overlay) for the Shenton Park sand. This
self-boring pressuremeter at a depth of 1.3 m was model, which is described in detail by Schanz et al.
about 0.5 MPa, which is significantly lower than (1999), and others, has a non-linear elastic plastic
568
0.8m
Axisymmetric expansion
35 1.2m 1200 with blade insertion
1.6m
30 2.0m 1000
Pressure (kPa)
800
ED (kPa)
20
600
15
Unreliable at 200
5
s/D<0.005 Plane strain expansion
without blade insertion
0 0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0 0.5 1 1.5 2 2.5 3
Displacement (mm)
s/D
Figure 10. FE predictions compared with observed
Figure 8. Non-linear stiffness values derived from the pressure-displacement relationships.
new dilatometer device.
569
1
ED /[ED at s/D=1.8%]
6 CONCLUSIONS
0.8 This paper has described the development of a new
DMT that can measure the pressure-displacement
0.6
response as a 60 mm diameter piston is pushed
into the ground after insertion of the DMT blade.
Data from 1.6m
The results are shown to be consistent with those
0.4 Data from 2.0m of the standard DMT p0 and p1 values. Numerical
Plaxis with no blade insertion analyses illustrate the potential of the new device
for assessment of the non-linear soil stiffness of
0.2 Plaxis with Plane Strain blade insertion the in-situ soil.
Plaxis with Axisymmetric blade insertion
0
0 0.01 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 REFERENCES
s/D Akbar, A. 2001. Development of low cost in-situ tesing
devices. PhD Thesis, University of Newcastle Upon
Figure 11. Measured and FE predictions for soil stiff- Tyne, UK.
ness non-linearity. Lehane, B.M., Doherty, J.P. & Schneider, J.A. 2009.
Settlement prediction for footings on sand. Proc. 4th
International Symposium on deformation characteris-
insertion was modeled. Such a factor is indicative of tics of Geomaterials, Atlanta, 1: 133152.
the disturbance that the dilatometer blade imposes Lehane, B.M., Ismail, M. & Fahey, M. 2004. Seasonal
to the in-situ ground and confirms the need for cor- dependence of in-situ test parameters in sand above
rections to be applied to DMT data to derive the the water table, Geotechnique, 54 (3): 215218.
operational stiffness for the in-situ soil. Marchetti, S. 1980. In situ tests by flat dilatometer. J.
Values of ED calculated using equation (1) and Geotech. Engrg. Div., ASCE, 106(GT3): 299321.
normalized by the ED value at s/D = 1.8% (i.e. the Marchetti, S., Monaco, P., Calabrese, M. & Totani, G.
ED value of the standard DMT) are plotted on 2006. Comparison of moduli determined by DMT
and backfigured from local strain measurements
Figure 11 for measured and predicted data. This under a 40 m diameter circular test load in the Ven-
figure shows that the stiffness non-linearity, as ice area. Proc. 2nd Int. Conf. on the Flat Dilatometer.
measured by the new device and predicted using Washington 220230.
Plaxis, are comparable and similar to the stiffness Schanz, T., Vermeer, P.A. & Bonnier, P.G. 1999. The
non-linearity predicted using Plaxis for the soil that hardening soil model: formulation and verification. In
had not been disturbed by blade insertion. Such Beyond 2000 in Computational Geotechnics10 Years
similarities suggest that a single correction factor of Plaxis, Rotterdam, 116.
570
ABSTRACT: The inclinodeformometer (IDM) is a novel device for measuring changes in earth pres-
sures in a sliding layer of a creeping landslide. The change of earth pressures in the sliding layer leads to
the changes in the inclinometer pipe shape and dimensions. If these changes are carefully measured, the
pressure increment can be back-calculated from the solution of a boundary value problem with prop-
erly described constitutive behavior of all the involved materials: i.e. the pipe, the grout and the soil.
The paper is focusing on time dependent mechanical properties of the inclinometer pipe and their effect
on the measured pipe diameter changes. Viscoelastic parameters of the pipe material have been obtained
from creep tests and loading tests at a constant stress rate. For validation, full scale laboratory creep tests
were performed in a 2 m high calibration chamber. A numerical model allows for a reasonably accurate
back-calculation of the applied pressures at any time of the creep test.
571
50
30
(a) (b) (c)
572
(3) -4.5E-04
573
574
575
ior after 10 days. A rather good agreement has calculated (FE): axial parameters
also been achieved in the period between 1 and 10 calculated (FE): transversal parameters
-0.4
days, which is mainly controlled by the exponential
calculated (FE): transversal parameters
-0.6 and reduced stiffness of sand
E1,M 1,M -0.8
-1.0
-1.2
0 100 200 300
time [d]
(a)
0.0
E2,M 2,M measured in IDM box
-0.2
change in diameter 1 [mm]
576
577
ABSTRACT: This paper shows an application of soil-embedded fiber optic strain sensors in a landslide
susceptible area for the purpose of geotechnical monitoring and site investigation by applying Brillouin
Optical Time Domain Analysis (BOTDA). In a field test, two different sensor integration concepts were
used and the strain measurements are compared to inclinometer readings in a neighboring borehole. In
addition to that, an experimental setup is presented, where fiber optic strain sensors can be subjected to
soil displacements from various directions and the ability of the sensors to indicate ground movements
can be investigated.
579
2 TESTING PROCEDURE
580
581
3.1 Motivation
In the previous sections, the ability of soil-
embedded fiber optic sensors to detect local soil dis-
placements occurring on a relatively sharp boundary
between a stable and a moving ground was demon-
strated in a large scale test. The question is, whether
this type of sensor could also serve as a qualitative
sensor tool to indicate smaller differential soil dis-
placements within a moving soil mass. In order to Figure 8. Cross section of the trench.
investigate this possible site investigation applica-
tion, a fiber optic sensor was integrated in a test site in order to figure out, whether this area is located
susceptible to ground movements (Iten 2011). on a slowly creeping landslide or not. This monitor-
ing campaign offered the possibility of having inde-
3.2 Field test site pendent measurement data for comparison and
therefore, an 80 m long fiber optic sensor for testing
The site for the field application is located on a steep purpose was embedded in July 2008 into this slope.
slope in a Swiss mountain resort. In the vicinity of
the sensor location, the slope inclination is 3033 3.2.1 Site conditions
to south east (Fig. 7). During the construction of The site is located approximately 1900 m a.s.l. and the
a building on this slope, a neighboring building climatic conditions are rather harsh. During the win-
located sideways downhill, was heavily damaged. ter season, the precipitation is mainly accumulated
A comparison between old and current geodetical as snow, and soil around the fiber optic cable can be
coordinates of this slope indicated a possible exist- expected to be frozen. Furthermore, the access to the
ence of ground movements in this area. However, site is limited during this time. In spring, snowmelt
the existing data was arguable and therefore, a mon- causes an additional amount of water in this slope.
itoring campaign with inclinometers and geodetical Samples from the core drilling for the inclinom-
measurements was initiated by the local authority, eter D08 (Fig. 7) consisted of gravelly and sandy
silts (hillside waste) up to a depth of 16 m. Beyond
that depth, a heavily weathered rock was found.
582
Figure 10. Measurement results for both type of cables from July 2008 until December 2009 (starting from shaft No. 4).
583
3.5 Comparison
Both of the sensors, the inclinometer as well as the
fiber optic cable showed a seasonal dependence of
the measured ground movements. In order to com-
pare these trends, the fiber optic measurements
were also related to time. For that purpose, the
cable elongation in the V1a section was calculated Figure 13. Inclinometer head and sliding surface dis-
in four characteristic zones (Fig. 11, AD). The placements and cable elongation in zones AD in time.
584
5 CONCLUSIONS
4 DISCUSSION
Three soft, tight buffered fiber optic cables have been
The large scale test in the laboratory was conducted soil-embedded in a test setup, which allows for apply-
within relatively short time, under controlled condi- ing displacements from various directions. From the
tions with constant soil temperature and water con- test results, the ability of the soil-embedded sensor to
tent. Thus, the strain measured in these conditions measure local soil displacements was demonstrated.
is purely the result of the applied soil displacements. The advantageous effect of attaching small block
In the field experiment, temperature and the degree anchors to the cable, in order to prevent large longi-
of water saturation are changing both in time (sea- tudinal slippage between cable and soil and to local-
sonal dependence) and along the cable (due to the ize strains, has been clearly pointed out. Numerical
non-uniformities in soil properties and in exposure integration of strains along cable sections reason-
to environmental factors). The cable jacket mate- ably matched the applied shear zone elongation,
rial will therefore in general also induce additional which implies that the lateral cable position does not
strains due to thermal expansion and swelling due strongly deviate from the applied soil displacement.
to water absorption (as e.g. reported by Kurashima In a field experiment, an 80 m long fiber optic sen-
et al. 1990, Facchini 2002), which are not caused by sor was embedded in an area susceptible to ground
soil displacements. However, in case of a soil-embed- movements in order (a) to detect a possible displace-
ded fiber optic sensor, these effects are at least par- ment discontinuity and (b) as a feasibility study of
tially restricted by the friction between cable and soil. using the sensor as a site investigation tool for an early
A deeper assessment of this effect for the specific detection of unstable ground surface. The results of
cables applied in this study with results from labo- this field test can be summarized as follows.
ratory swelling and temperature tests is currently in First, no single large displacement discontinu-
progress, but the preliminary results show that they ity could be detected along the sensor. Instead,
could not have caused the strains of the magnitude the sensor indicates existence of a non-uniform
585
586
ABSTRACT: The current development of geophysical prospecting tends to adapt existing methods to
acquire more data in less time. Pushing the use of these materials within their limit state service tends to
integrate a large quantity of noise to the measurements obtained. This study aims to present a special case
of application of prospecting electrical resistivity tomography in high yield. Actually, the implementation
of all equipment includes one hour of installation. The question is to quantify and qualify the level of
noise integrated to the measures when these can be acquired in a few minutes with an experimental mate-
rial adapted to the high yield kinematic exploration. The integration of new sources of noise measure-
ments in electrical resistivity tomography needs to develop new processes for processing such data in order
to make them usable. The exploitation of these new data should take into account the different levels of
high yield prospection and therefore the different results which can be derived from these data.
587
588
589
Points 0 1 2 3 4 5
Weight(%) 17.62 16.02 12.01 7.39 3.70 1.48
Points 6 7 8 9 10
Weight(%) 0.46 0.11 0.02 2E-03 1E-04
590
591
Figure 8. ERT apparent resistivity vs N-WMA KERT To study the impact on measures of surface
apparent resistivity corresponding to the same location lithology, a new measurement campaign is carried
(x, y, z). out. The study of data retrieved in this field shows
that the quality of measurements is linked to the
This difference can be particularly attached to soil type surface. The type of soil mainly impact
electrodes bias contact, the contact resistances or on the quality of the coupling between the elec-
the cinematic of K.E.R.T. The bias of this process trodes and the ground prospected. The quality of
is that it can be made only if the K.E.R.T. data the coupling is underscored by calculating Xc ratio,
and E.R.T. data are made at the same coordinates. they are all equal to 1 (0.01). For this special case,
Due to the fact that all of these processes cannot only the treatment W.M.A. is necessary to make
completely eliminate the chaotic aspect of data, the K.E.R.T. data usable. The results of this survey
therefore, in the same frame work of McDonough in terms of comparison of results with an E.R.T.
(1995), it is necessary to make measurements to (always necessary to calibrate the K.E.R.T. device)
calibrate the K.E.R.T. data. This calibration can are illustrated in Figure 8.
be linked to a quantification of the disposition of
K.E.R.T. data to be subject to chaotic data.
In all following calculations, the Xc ratio used 4 IMPACTS OF PROCESSS
are reduced to only two significant digits. Thus on ON THE NOISY DATA
a considered level, the apparent resistivity meas-
ured (app) (after a W.M.A.) is treated according to The study of the evolution of the correlation
Equation 4 to obtain a normalized W.M.A. appar- between the E.R.T. and K.E.R.T. data, accord-
ent resistivity (N-W.M.A.) (app): ing to the different noiseless process made, could
be supplemented by analysis of the Root Mean
p = a( pp )
ap (4) Square Error indicator (R.M.S.E.) of the data set
(Equ. 5). The comparison of the relative R.M.S.E.
The value of apparent resistivity app so cal- allows qualifying the proportion of difference
culated is called normalized. This treatment is between the data obtained from different process.
then performed on the set of points consisting a This comparison allows to quantify the potential
K.E.R.T. prospection, using the Xc ratio corre- of the noiseless process studied, compared with
sponding to the level considered for the normaliza- a limen of noise present in the reference data
tion of data. Figure 9 illustrates the impact of this (Table 7). The choice of this indicator is based on
treatment on the data set. Reading the correlation the fact that its calculation method, the RMSE
coefficient over the entire N-W.M.A. data (Table 6) highlights the major differences between the data
it appears that the K.E.R.T. device allows results and minimizes the small differences.
comparable to the E.R.T. static method. Table 7
1
( ERTT ERTi )
N 2
summarizes a complementary approach to the RMSE = i =1 i K
KER (5)
N
impact of different treatments on the organization
of data, and reducing the noise inherent to data in With N, the number of points with the same
front of the reference E.R.T. data noise also present coordinates (x, y, z) in the tomography compared.
in the data. Figure 9 also illustrates the impact of ERTi, reference resistivity and KERTi resistiv-
this process within the obtained pseudo sections. ity compared to the reference, measured with the
592
593
594
595
D. Ward
In Situ SI Ltd., UK
ABSTRACT: This paper presents results from of a series cone, T-bar and piezoball penetration tests
carried out at a lakebed test site in Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Penetration tests
were conducted from a floating pontoon in water depths up to 4 m. Preliminary laboratory analysis shows
the lakebed sediment to have very unusual geotechnical properties. The penetration test results are dis-
cussed with a view towards assessing the relative merit of the piezoball in soft lacustrine soils. The piezo-
ball used in this study is capable of measuring pore pressure at the tip, mid-face and equator positions. Tip
resistance and pore pressure profiles are compared. Tip resistances measured in the lakebed sediment are
found to be extremely low. While the T-bar and ball resistances are very consistent, the net cone resistance
is negative. Correction to the measured T-bar and ball resistances were found to be significant. The ratio
of extraction to penetration resistance is higher for the T-bar than the ball.
597
3.3 Piezoball
The piezoball used in this study is that used by
Colreavy et al. (2010) and similar to that used by
DeJong et al. (2008). It comprises several modular
components that can be interchanged to facilitate
Figure 1. Site location. pore pressure measurements at either the tip, mid-
598
qt = qc + (1 )u2 (1)
qc net = qt v (2)
face or equator (see Figure 3c). The piezoball was qball or qT-bar = qm [v u0(1 )]As/Ap (3)
also constructed from hardened steel, with a diame-
ter of 113 mm and a projected area of 10,000 mm2. where qball and qT-bar is the net ball and T-bar
Like the T-bar, the piezoball was designed so resistances respectively, u0 is the hydrostatic pore
as to screw on to the piezocone cone shaft. Tip water pressure and As /Ap is the ratio of the cross
resistance and pore pressure are measured by the sectional area of the shaft to the projected area of
piezocone load cell and pore pressure transducer. the penetrometer. Often, this correction is so small
As with the piezocone, tests were carried out at the that there is little need to apply it (Randolph 2004;
standard rate of 20 mm/s. Kelleher & Randolph 2005; Colreavy et al. 2010).
However in cases where the pore pressure and over-
burden effects are large, such as in offshore cases, it
3.4 Testing rig is necessary to apply the correction.
The rig used in this study was a standard 3.5 tonne
tracked rig which was mounted on a floating pon- 4.2 Penetration results
toon (Figure 4). The pontoon, which measures 6 m
by 8 m. The rig is located in the centre of the pon- Figure 5 shows the measured tip resistance. The
toon and testing is carried out from water surface. measured T-bar and ball resistance profiles are in
very close agreement and increase with depth. This
is in keeping with previous observations of Boylan
4 TEST RESULTS et al. (2007) and Colreavy et al. (2010) that the
resistance measurements are broadly similar. The
4.1 General cone tip resistance varies between 10 kPa and
A total of 10 piezocone, T-bar and piezoball pen- 20 kPa. Note that the resistance resolution for the
etration tests were carried out in the same gen- cone is 10 kPa, whereas the larger projected area of
eral vicinity. All penetration test data have been the T-bar and ball probes improves the resistance
599
10
Ball
T-Bar
12
(a) (b)
Figure 5. (a) Measured penetration tip resistance; (b) Ratio of net tip resistance to measured tip resistance.
Figure 6. (a) Net tip resistance; (b) Measured excess pore pressure; (c) Ball pore pressure parameter, BBall.
resolution (with the same load cell) to 1 kPa. The Figure 6 show the corrected tip resistances for
higher resolution of the T-bar and ball is useful, all of the penetration tests. Again the T-bar and
particularly in the very soft soil encountered here. ball profiles are very close, while the cone profile is
Each penetration result has been corrected for negative throughout.
overburden and pore pressure. The correction Excess pore pressure profiles for a number of
applied to the cone resulted in negative net tip piezocone (with pore pressure measured at the u2
resistance values as low as 80 kPa. The ratio of position) and piezoball (with pore pressure meas-
net tip resistance to measured tip resistance for the ured at the equator, ueq) are shown in Figure 6b.
T-bar and ball is shown in Figure 5b. Correction Interestingly, there is very good agreement between
to the two probes is as high as 20% but in typically the piezocone and piezoball profiles. In contrast,
10% throughout. This correction is more signifi- previous studies (Boylan et al. 2007; Low et al. 2007
cant than that previously reported; e.g. Chung & and Colreavy et al. 2010) showed the measured
Randolph (2002) and Long & Gudjonsson (2004) pore pressure at the ball equator was consistently
both found the correction in Equation 3 resulted in lower than the pore pressure measured by the cone
a reduction to the measured tip resistance of 4%. at the u2 position. A number of tests were carried
The high correction in this case is primarily due to out with the piezoball with pore pressure measured
the extremely low tip resistance. at the tip and mid-face. However the results from
600
601
602
J. Monnet
UJF-Grenoble 1, CNRS UMR, 3SR Lab, Grenoble, France
ABSTRACT: A new in situ testing apparatus, the Geomechameter, has been designed and built. It is
an evolution of the pressuremeter, using the forces generated by water flow around the measurement
probe. The hydraulic flow allows controlling the level of the vertical stress at the test level. The influence
of this stress is taken into account in the interpretation of the test results. Originally designed for the soil
mechanical characteristics characterization, the apparatus was modified for the erosion detection through
a measurement of the turbidity of the extracted water flow. This new version of the 2004 apparatus is
equipped with numerical gauge for pressure and radial displacement and video camera for turbidity meas-
urement. One of its interests is the measurement of suffusion sensitivity into the dikes and embankments,
where the Jet Erosion Test measures only at the surface. Hostun thin sand was chosen as a material to
undergo the experimental study in laboratory. Isre loam is chosen to experiment the second model of this
in situ apparatus. Results show the influence of the hydraulic stream flow on the expansion curves and the
possibility of erosion detection.
603
2 DESCRIPTION OF THE
GEOMECHAMETER
604
400
350
Pressure at borehole (kPa)
300
250
200
Experience i=5,25
150
Plaxis
100
50
0
0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6
Figure 7. The module 5toe packer.
Radial strain at borehole dR/R0
605
i=
(H i Hp )
(3)
le
le
v = (i w ) (4)
2
The vertical stress and the simulated depth are
found (56):
Figure 10. Variation of the effective stresses along the
le
sim = ( + ) radiusPlaxis calculation.
v = Zsim
+ vi (5)
2
l
Zsiim 1 i w e + Zi (6)
2
The numerical modeling (Senouci & Mon-
net 1999) by Plaxis finite element program shows
(Fig. 9) that the variation of the hydraulic gradi-
ent gives a variation of the vertical stress (5) which
allows to define a simulated depth of the probe
(6). The differences between the numerical curve
found by Plaxis at the simulated depth of 2.74m (6) Figure 11. Evolution of the pore pressures into the soil,
and the experimental curve for the corresponding at different levelsPlaxis calculations.
hydraulic gradient (i = 5.25) are very small.
The calculated hydraulic head variation into the red, at middle height) and the hydraulic head dis-
soil mass (Fig. 9) shows the increase of hydraulic charge imposed by the pumping cell (on the left in
head imposed by the injection cell (on the left in blue and bottom). It can be seen in the middle plane
that the hydraulic water head remains constant.
The evolution of the effective stresses along the
radius is presented (Fig. 10) to the level of the cell
of injection, pumping and on the average level
of the probe. It shows that the vertical stress is
increased by the effect of the hydraulic flow close
to the probe, in accordance with the theory.
The evolution of the pore water pressure along
the radius is presented (Figure 11) at the level of
the injection cell, pumping cell and at the middle
level of the probe. It can be seen at the middle of
the probe, a constant pore water pressure.
4 IN SITU TESTS
606
wQ l 1
50
k= ln + (7)
2 l ( p p ) r0 2
0
( )
0,3 0,35 0,4 0,45 0,5 0,55
E k
Cv =
Radial strain
w ( + )(
)( ) (8)
Figure 12. An example of in-situ Geomechameter test
at 2.2 m depth. The Geomechameter test was used in the Isre
river sandy loamy deposit and gives the following
results:
Table 1. Results of triaxial tests on remoulded samples
of Isre river loam. permeability coefficient 1.4 10 6 m/s,
consolidation coefficient 9.10 4 m2/s
3 E c
kPa MPa kPa degree
These results can be compared with the Lefranc
tests (Table 2) which was carried out by IMSRN
60 2,7 0,47 company along the Isre river embankments for
100 4,5 0,42 0 33.5 the Symbhi. If we except the P250 borehole, the
200 10 0,3 mean permeability measured by Lefranc test is
300 18,9 0,28 1,1 10 5 m/s and the minimum permeability is
1,07 10 6 m/s. Is appears that the permeability
measured by the Geomechameter test is in the
scale of values of the Lefranc test, but close to
the minimum value measured. Further experi-
range of the excepted ones. It can be seen (Fig. 12) ments must be achieved to confirm and explain
that the theoretical results fit the experimental such a difference.
curve so that the control of mechanical parameters
is valided with:
4.3 Determination of suffusion
Elastic modulus 5 MPa,
cohesion 5 kPa, The micro camera used on the Geomechameter was
friction angle 30.5 calibrated with different concentration of eroded
soil (Figure 13). The mean value of the image was
The volumetric flow is about 40 l/mn with 5 h of not representative of the erosion, and it was decided
test duration. This time is needed to reach a satu- to use the red component of the image to measure
rated stabilised flow, so that the vertical stress is the suffusion. The system was used in a tank filled
modified by the geomechameter probe. The simu- with a mix of sand and gravel, and the turbidity of
lated vertical stress is 119 kPa for an at rest verti- the effluent water was measured by this system. It
cal stress of 55 kPa so that the increase of stress appears that a suffusion appears for an hydraulic
is 64 kPa. Some triaxial tests were carried out on gradient close to 3. After a value of an hydraulic
remoulded recompacted samples in drained condi- gradient of 6, the analyse of the image show that
tion of shearing. The results are shown (Table 1). the water is clear, but that sometimes some particles
It can be seen:
for the same level of stress (100 kPa) than the geo- Table 2. Results of Lefranc test carried out along Isre
mechameters ones, the Young modulus is closed river embankments.
to the in situ one with a difference of 10%,
the cohesion 5 kPa is not found in laboratory test Depth k
the friction angle is 3 larger than the in situ one. Profils m m/s
These results can be explained by the way the P 252 2 2,81 105
sample is placed on the triaxial test, after remould- P 252 4 6.63 106
ing and recompaction, whereas the geomecham- P 250 3 1,07 106
eter test does not disturb the soil around the probe. P 248 2 > 103
Anyway the cohesion value is small and a defini- P 248 5,8 6,62 106
tive conclusion is not reached. Some tests in more P 248 7,5 1,09 105
cohesive soil are needed.
607
REFERENCES
Baguelin, F., Jzquel, J.F. & Shield, D.H. 1978. The pres-
suremeter and foundation engineering, Series on Rock
and Soil Mechanics, Vol. 2, Trans. Tech. Publication,
Figure 13. Calibration of the micro camera. 335406.
Cambou, B. & Bahar, R. 1993. Lutilisation de lessai
pressiomtrique pour lidentification de paramtres
intrinsques du comportement du sol, Revue Franaise
Gotechnique (N63): 3953.
Clarke, B.G., Carter, J.P. & Wroth, C.P. 1979. In-situ
determination of the consolidation characteristics
of saturated clays, Proc. 5th Europ. Conf. SMFE,
Brighton, Vol. 2, 207213.
Fell, R. & Fry, J.J. 2007. Internal Erosion of Dams and
Their Foundations, Taylor & Francis Publishers.
Foster, M., Fell, R. & Spannagle, M. 2000. The statistics
of embankment dam failure and accidents, Canadian
Geotechnical Journal, 37: 10001024.
Frank, R. & Nahra, R. 1986. Contribution numrique
et analytique ltude de la consolidation autour du
Figure 14. Measurement of a suffusion between an pressiomtre, Rapport recherche LCPC (N137).
injection point and a pumping point. Hughes, J.M.O., Wroth, C.P. & Windles, D. 1977. Pres-
suremeter tests in sand, Geotechnique, Jnl 27 (N 4):
455477.
pass in front of the camera and change the value of Mnard, L. 1957. Mesure in situ des proprits physiques
the density of red color (Fig. 14). des sols, Annales Ponts Chausses (N14): 356377.
Monnet, J. 1990. Theoretical study of elasto-plastic equi-
librium around pressuremeter in sands, Proc. 3rd Int.
Symp. Pressuremeter, Oxford, 137148.
5 CONCLUSIONS Monnet, J. 2012. An Elasto-Plastic analysis of the Pres-
suremeter Test in Granular Soilpart 1: theory, Euro-
A new in-situ test was though out to test the soil pean Journal of Environmental and Civil Engineering,
into condition of three dimensional stress. The to be published.
Geomechameter numerical model probe shows Monnet, J. & Allagnat, D. 2002. Design of a large soil
its ability to increase the vertical stress around the retaining structure with pressuremeter analysis, Geo-
probe so that the pressuremeter expansion should technical Engineering 155, Issue 1, 7178.
Monnet, J. & Khlif, J. 1994. Etude thorique de lqui-
be under vertical and horizontal stress control. libre lastoplastique dun sol pulvrulent autour du
Such conditions allow measuring the mechanical pressiomtre, Revue Franaise Gotechnique (N67):
characteristics of the soil as friction angle, perme- 7180.
ability with a good accuracy. Monnet, J. & Senouci, S.M. 2004. A new in situ appara-
The in-situ Geomechameter probe is design in tus: the Geomechameter, 2d Int. Symp. International
6 modules, which have each one a precise function. Site Characterisation, Porto, 2004, 741748.
The addition of a video micro camera allows the Senouci, S.M. & Monnet, J. 1999. Modlisation numri-
Geomechameter to measure the turbidity of the que du Gomcamtre, Revue Franaise de Gotechni-
extracted water, and to detect the suffusion of que (N88): 2135.
Wan, C.F. & Fell, R. 2004. Laboratory tests on the rate of
the soil into the earth dams and embankments piping erosion of soils in embankment dams, Geotech-
under temporary hydraulic loads. nical Testing Journal, 27(3): 295303.
608
ABSTRACT: Static analysis methods for determining axial resistance of deep foundations have poor reli-
ability as evidenced by the low resistance factors assigned to them. The primary cause of the poor reliability
is the methods used to generate design parameters used in them. North Carolina Department of Transpor-
tation (NCDOT) has developed the Torque Penetrometer Test (TPT) to improve reliability of static analy-
sis. TPT has a penetration phase and an extraction phase representing undrained and drained conditions,
respectively. Methods were developed for computing effective friction angle, undrained shear strength, and
geostatic horizontal stress coefficient using extraction phase data. This study also identified an objective
method for distinguishing between drained and undrained soils. Axial static resistances obtained by TPT
and NCDOTs current method were compared in two cases and TPT resistances were 250% greater in both.
Thus, better testing methods, such as TPT, can improve the reliability of static analysis methods.
609
610
611
612
613
614
615
616
ABSTRACT: The evaluation of soil properties in the local area has become important for understand-
ing the subsurface spatial variability. The objective of this study is the development and application of
new apparatus, Cone Resistivity Penetrometer (CRP), which measures the cone tip resistance, sleeve fric-
tion and electrical resistivity to evaluate the soil behaviors. The CRP developed is 15 mm in diameter with
a projected area of 1.76 cm2. The strain gauges are used to measure the cone tip resistance and sleeve
friction. The cone tip resistance is effectively separated by using a friction sleeve. The electrical resistivity
module, which consists of two electrodes and insulator, is installed at the cone tip to increase its resolu-
tion with minimum disturbance during penetration. The application test in the field is conducted and the
measured results are compared with those by the standard piezocone test. The results show that the CRP,
which measures cone tip resistance, sleeve friction and electrical resistivity, clearly evaluates the subsurface
profile. This study suggests that the CRP may be a useful tool for the evaluation of the subsurface spatial
variability during in-situ penetration tests.
617
56mm
installed behind the CPT. Kim et al. (2011a) devel- Friction sleeve
oped the electrical resistivity cone probe (ERCP),
whose the module is installed at the tip of, for reduc-
ing the disturbance effect during penetration. Kim
et al. (2011b) developed the four electrode resistivity Strain gauges for
probe to minimize the electrical polarization tip resistance
The objective of this study is the development
and application of the Cone Resistivity Penetrom-
eter (CRP), which can measure both the electrical Insulator
resistance and the mechanical resistance at the cone
tip during penetration. This paper concerns the 15mm
design consideration including the size, the shape,
the electrical circuits for the cone tip resistance, the
Figure 1. Schematic drawing of a CRP.
cable connections for the electrical resistivity, and
the measurements of the mechanical resistance and
the electrical resistance at the cone tip. The penetra- 2.2 Cone tip resistance and sleeve friction
tion tests carried out in the field are also presented. The mechanical strengths including cone tip resist-
ance and sleeve friction were measured by strain
gauges diametrically attached on the outer surface
2 CONE RESISTIVITY PENETROMETER of the outer electrode in order to eliminate eccentric
loading as shown in Figure 1. In this study, the half-
The subsurface characteristics including the den- active Wheatstone bridge, which is known to the
sity and effective stress can be obtained by meas- voltage amplifier of the electrical circuit, was applied
ured mechanical strength. The water content, fluid for measuring the cone tip resistance and sleeve fric-
characteristics and porosity can be estimated from tion. The sensing length of used strain gauges was
electrical resistivity. Thus, the mechanical strength 1 mm because the attached area was limited. For
and the electrical resistivity were essential to clearly operating the circuit of the CRP, the power supply
understand the soil parameters. The Cone Resis- for generating the input voltage and multimeter for
tivity Penetrometer (CRP) was developed for the measuring output voltage changes were used.
characterization of the subsurface spatial vari- The CRP was calibrated for converting the meas-
ability with high resolution. The CRP can measure ured voltage into mechanical strength including cone
both the mechanical strength and electrical resistiv- tip resistance and sleeve friction. The preliminary
ity at the cone tip. experiments were carried out for determining the
input voltage and temperature condition before per-
2.1 Shape forming the calibration. The experiments were car-
ried out under different temperature condition with
The diameter and projected cross-sectional area of a constant applied input voltage (2.0 V) at the zero
the CRP were 15 mm and 1.76 cm2, respectively. The loading on the cone. When the temperature of the
sleeve length of the CRP was determined to 56 mm water was about 20C, the output voltage with time
with consideration of ratio between the cone diam- remained almost constant. Thus, the calibration per-
eter and the sleeve friction length of the standard formed under the temperature of 20C with a fixed
cone penetrometer as shown in Figure 1. Note the input voltage of 2.0 V. The cone tip resistance and
apex angle was designed to 60. The CRP consisted sleeve friction change, which corresponded to the
of the inner electrode, electrical insulator, outer applied load, were calibrated with the output volt-
electrode, and outer tube as shown in Figure 1. The age. The Figure 2 shows the calibration results, which
coaxial conductor system was applied to measure demonstrate that both mechanical strength and out-
the electrical resistivity by using the inner and outer put voltages change linearly with the applied load.
electrodes at the tip. To avoid an electrical short cir-
cuit, the polyethylene insulator installed between
2.3 Electrical resistivity
two electrodes. The inner and outer electrodes were
made of a stainless steel to increase mechanical The four-terminal pair configuration (see details
strength during penetration test. in Kim et al. 2011a and 2011b) was applied for
618
qc[kPa]=717,000V[mV]
=8.1 mS/cm
Resistance R [ ]
=16.1 mS/cm
1000 =32.3 mS/cm
300
100
Loading
Unloading
10
0 1 10 100 300
0 0.0005 0.001 Frequency [kHz]
(a) Voltage V [mV]
Figure 3. Frequency sweeping.
20
100
fs[kPa]=14,000V[mV]
[ m]=0.009R[ ]
Sleeve friction fs [kPa]
Resistivity [ m]
10
10
1
Loading
Unloading
0
0 0.0006 0.0012 0.1
10 100 1000 10000
(b) Voltage V [mV]
Resistance R [ ]
Figure 2. Strength calibration: (a) Cone tip resistance; Figure 4. Electrical resistivity calibration (input
(b) Sleeve friction. voltage = 1.0 V, input frequency = 100 kHz).
measuring the electrical resistance with the con- sweeping tests were carried out using salt water with
nection of the electrical cables to the CRP. The different salt concentration of the electrical conduc-
four coaxial cables were extended from the LCR tivities () of 8.1, 16.1, and 32.3 mS/cm by the low
meter to the electrical resistance module which frequency impedance analyzer. The Figure 3 shows
consists of inner and outer electrodes. The inner the frequency sweeping test result at the frequency
electrode of the CRP was welded with the high of 1 kHz300 kHz. The results demonstrate that
voltage (Hp) and high current (Hc) parts. And the the CRP produces a stable electrical resistance at the
outer electrode of the CRP was also connected frequency of 10 kHz100 kHz with input voltage of
with the low voltage (Lp) and low current (Lc) 1.0 V. Thus, input parameters were selected 100 kHz
circuits. The all ground cables of four coaxial and 1.0 V as the operating frequency and input volt-
cables were connected to obtain the high resolu- age, respectively.
tion value without the electrical interference. The The electrode including the length, shape and
LCR meter was used to measure the electrical material affected on the electrical resistance. Thus,
resistance of soils. the measured electrical resistance R [] should be
The operating frequency and the input volt- converted into the electrical resistivity, called as
age are input parameters to measure the accurate specific resistance, [ m]. The Figure 4 shows
electrical resistivity without resonance effect. For the relationship between the electrical resistance
the selecting the input parameters, the frequency and the electrical resistivity of the developed CRP.
619
Depth [m]
which are sensitivity to underground condition. 13 15
Sand test test
The studies about the penetration rate effects have 15
been performed by many researchers (Bemben &
Myers 1974; De Lima & Tumay 1991; Randolph 20
& Hope 2004). 20
According to the study performed by Randolph Silty clay
620
Depth [m]
Depth [m]
Depth [m]
Hydrostatic
10 10 pressure
ize the spatial variability in the field. The measured
mechanical profiles by the CRP matched well with
those by the CPT.
155 15
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The electrical resistance was only measured by Bemben, S.M. & Myers, H.J. 1974. The influence of rate of
the CRP. The electrical resistance was converted penetration on static cone resistance in connecticut river
valley varved Clay. Proceedings of the European Sympo-
into the electrical resistivity through the calibra- sium on Penetration Testing, Stockholm, 2(2): 3334.
tion factor and the converted values ranged from Campanella, R.G. & Weemees, I. 1990. Development and
2.3 m to 5.6 m. The electrical resistivity use of an electrical resistivity cone for groundwater
profile shows the similar trend with measured contamination studies. Canadian Geotechnical Jour-
mechanical strength profile including the cone nal, 27: 557567.
tip resistance and sleeve friction. The thin-layered Cho, G.C., Lee, J.S. & Santamarina, J.C. 2004. Spatial
soil profiles were detected at the similar depth. variability in soils: high resolution assessment with
The pore water pressure detected by CPT was also electrical needle probe. Journal of Geotechnical and
plotted. The measured pore water pressure shows Geoenvironmental Engineering, 130(8): 843850.
De Lima, D.C. & Tumay, M.T. 1991. Scale effects in
the thin-layer soils are detected at the depth of cone penetration tests. Proceedings of the Geotech-
12, 13.5 and 14.5 m. Note that the spatial varia- nical Engineering Congress 1991, ASCE, Boulder,
tion detected by the electrical resistivity of CRP Colorado, 1: 3851.
is clearer than that measured by the pore water Ferreira, M.P. & Negrao, J.H. 2006. Effects of spatial var-
pressure. iability of earthquake ground motion in cable-stayed
621
622
M. Magagnoli
Carmacoring Srl, Bologna, Italy
ABSTRACT: During geologic and geotechnical surveys which require obtaining samples of seabeds
using a corer, usually one of the standard methods for coring is used: gravity or free fall using a trigger.
For scientific and geotechnical studies the most important objective is to obtain a very high recovery/
penetration rate. A new method of coring will be discussed, which further reduces possible disturbances
in the column of sediment samples, especially at the top, by varying the speed of penetration. This theory
has been verified in an Italian port where core samples were taken using a Piston Corer in 6 meters of
water with 8 meter long barrels; the piston was attached with a kevlar rope to a stationary point and the
corer was dropped using a winch so that the speed can be changed and controlled, thus allowing the speed
to be increased during penetration, in order to obtain a high quality sample.
623
624
625
626
627
628
G.L. Hebeler
Golder Associates Inc., Atlanta, GA, US
ABSTRACT: The Multi Piezo Friction Attachment (MPFA) allows for characterization of interface
behavior in situ within the context of an effective stress framework by providing, in addition to conven-
tional piezocone penetrometer measurements, four independent measures of interface shear response and
five independent measures of induced pore pressure with textured sleeves serially located along an attach-
ment shaft. This paper summarizes aspects of the development of the device to directly characterize inter-
face strength in situ while accounting for the influence of penetration and shear induced pore pressures as
a function of varying counterface roughness. Selected results from tests demonstrating the capabilities of
the MPFA device where quasi-static and cyclic pore pressure generation and dissipation was monitored are
presented. The results highlight the potential of the MPFA to be used as the basis for a new approach to
assessing liquefaction potential in a wide range of soil types in-situ, including clays, silts, and sand strata.
629
630
631
Depth (m)
7
ing that are typically applied to foundation ele-
ments by phenomena such as earthquakes, wind 8
632
633
634
3 CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
The MPFA has been shown to offer additional
advantages over the CPTU, such as the ability Bayne, J.M. & Tjelta, T.I. 1987. Advanced Cone Pene-
trometer Development for In Situ Testing at Gulfaks
to investigate additional soil parameters such as
C. Offshore Technology Conference, OTC, Richardson.
interface friction strength and pore water gen- 531540.
eration along the penetrometer attachment shaft Camp, W.M. III. 2004. Drilled and Driven Founda-
(Hebeler 2005), the prediction of a more accurate tion Behavior in a Calcareous Clay. Proceedings of
soil type behavior for selected strata (Hebeler & Geosupport 2004, Joint ADSC-ASCE GeoInstitute
Frost 2008), the ability to determine the Annular ConferenceGSP 124, Orlando. 118.
Penetration Force (APF) exerted by the penetrom- Campanella, R.G. & Robertson, P.K. 1988. Current Sta-
eter textured sleeves (Frost & DeJong 2005), and tus of the Piezocone Test. Proceedings of the Interna-
the ability to predict qt and fs values when the tional Symposium on Penetration Testing, ISOPT-1,
Orlando. 1, 93116.
MPFA is equipped with an uninstrumented steel
Campanella, R.G., Sully, J.P., Greig, J.W. & Jolly, G.
tip (Hebeler et al. 2004). 1990. Research and Development of a Lateral Stress
The MPFA also offers the opportunity to per- Piezocone. Transportation Research Record, No. 1278,
form measurements as presented in this paper to 215224.
induce pore pressures under a variety of test and DeJong, J.T. 2001. Investigation of Particulate-Continuum
device configurations. Cyclic strength degradation Interface Mechanics and Their Assessment Through
and excess pore water pressure generation during a Multi-Friction Sleeve Penetrometer Attachment.
both installation as well as subsequent cyclic load- PhD Dissertation. Georgia Institute of Technology,
ing of foundation elements can be investigated. Atlanta, May, p. 360.
DeJong, J.T. & Frost, J.D. 2002. A Multi-Friction Sleeve
Additionally, the MPFA can provide a better
Attachment for the Cone Penetrometer. ASTM Geo-
insight into the groundwater conditions in differ- technical Testing Journal, 25(2): 111127.
ent geologies. The ability to present the measured DeJong, J.T., Frost, J.D. & Cargill, P.E. 2001. Effect of
tip resistance and sleeve friction measurements in Surface Texturing on CPT Friction Sleeve Measure-
an effective stress framework and to study the rela- ments. Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental
tionship between interface surface roughness and Engineering, 127(2): 158168.
635
636
A. Cavallaro
CNR-Ibam, Catania, Italy
ABSTRACT: A new container quay namely Calata Bettolo, will be built inside the Genova harbour.
The length of the quay is of about 750 m and the area is of about 22,000 m2. The depth of water will reach
17 m along the quay. The material to fill the area of the quay derives from the dragging of the bottom of
the harbour to increase in some areas the depth of water. Detailed in situ and laboratory tests have been
made for site characterisation, to face all geotechnical design aspects of the quay. In this paper will be
discussed the in-situ tests for the evaluation of the seismic behaviour of the Calata Bettolo. Among the in
situ tests, Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Tests (SDMTs) have been carried out with the aim of general site
characterisation, with particular reference to the evaluation of the soil profile of shear waves velocity (Vs)
and horizontal stress index Kd for liquefaction potential analysis. The SDMT test program includes tests
on the land and on the sea. The latter have been made by an innovative technique by means of floating
barge. This technique allowed to perform the SDMT tests at considerably reduced cost in comparison with
tests executed from a self elevating platform. The Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Tests were performed up
to a depth of 42 meters. The results show a very detailed and stable shear waves profile. The SDMT test
results enable to evaluate the potential liquefaction hazard by two independent measurements, Kd and VS.
The results obtained for potential liquefaction by Kd and VS are compared and discussed.
Keywords: Marine harbour, SDMT, shear waves, liquefaction potential, horizontal stress index
637
Below, as highlighted in the stratigraphy of the to 25 at a greater depth, where is the presence of
borehole S1, the soil consists of a fine sand weakly the silt component. The value of the material index
gray silty, which extends from the depth of 24 m up (Id) shows the presence of a soil consisting of a sand
to the bottom of the hole. that at a greater depth becomes a silty clay sand.
The survey was carried out up to 24 m in As regards the values of the shear wave veloc-
destruction of core and from 24 to 42 m coring ity, the velocity profile shows a growing trend with
continued. As a result of the survey were collected the depth of 150250 m/s, with an average value in
No. 6 undisturbed samples, starting from the depth the first 30 m higher than 180 m/s, which allows to
of 30 m, to execute laboratory tests. classify the soil type C, for the purposes of evalu-
The geotechnical characterisation of the soil was ation of amplification factor Ss, which is between
also deduced from the results of SDMTs, carried 1 and 1.2 (Figure 2). As regards the values of the
out inland (SDMTT1) and offshore (SDMT1-4, horizontal stress index Kd, it varies from about 4 in
SDMT6). As regards the inland test SDMTT1, the sandy type soil, up to a value of about 2 more in
since the land was performed with coarse material, depth where increases the content of silt (Figure 3).
the test was carried out by a drill-hole that passed It was not possible to make tests to determine the
this material. characteristics of the filler from dredging.
The tests carried out offshore were carried out
by a floating pontoon, on which the SDMT equip-
ment was placed by a crane. The floating pontoon 3 CURRENT METHODS FOR
was towed to be positioned in test sites (Figure 1). EVALUATING LIQUEFACTION
In the interpretation of the test results of the POTENTIAL
must be taken into account that the soil below the
quays is subjected to a load corresponding to the The traditional procedure, introduced by Seed &
weight of the quays. Idriss (1971), has been applied for evaluating the
As regards the SDMTs performed offshore, they liquefaction resistance of Calata Bettolo sandy
were carried out at a distance from existing docks soils in the Genova harbour. This method requires
to not be affected by the presence of the quays. the calculation of the cyclic stress ratio CSR, and
As regards the values of the friction angle, it is cyclic resistance ratio CRR. If CSR is greater than
variable from 30 to 35, with minimum value equal CRR, liquefaction can occur. The cyclic stress
638
Figure 3. Horizontal stress index Kd profiles obtained from SDMTs performed inland and offshore.
ratio CSR is calculated by the following equation generated by the earthquake, g = acceleration of
(Seed and Idriss 1971): gravity, vo and vo = total and effective overbur-
den stresses and rd = stress reduction coefficient
CSR = av/vo = 0.65 (amax/ g) (vo/vo)rd (1) depending on depth. The rd has been evaluated
according to Liao and Whitman (1986). As regards
where av = average cyclic shear stress, amax = peak the value of amax = peak horizontal acceleration at
horizontal acceleration at the ground surface the ground surface generated by the earthquake,
639
640
CRR
0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0 1,2 1,4 1,6 1,8 2,0 2,2 2,4 2,6 2,8 3,0
0
Depth.[m]
8
10
641
(5)
8
CRR = 0.0111 Kd 2.5307
(6)
have been proposed by the authors (Grasso &
10 Maugeri, 2006) as interpolation of the Kd curves
derived from SPT and CPT.
The evaluation of CRR according to equa-
12
PL (Iwasaki et al. 1978)
tions 4, 5 and 6 at Calata Bettolo site for Kd pro-
file obtained by SDMT1 (Figure 3) is reported in
Figure 8.
14 Figure 9 shows the evaluation of liquefaction
potential index, PL, according to Iwasaki et al.
1978, which shows that the liquefaction potential
Figure 7. Evaluation of liquefaction potential index PL
from Vs data at calata bettolo site.
Cyclic Resistance Ratio
curve.
The new tentative CRR-Kd curve is approxi-
mated by the equation: 14
CRR = 0.0107
0107 K 0.0741 K + 0.2169 K d 0.1306 (4)
3
d
2
d
was proposed by Monaco et al. (2005) as conserv- Figure 8. Evaluation of CRR at Calata Bettolo using
ative average interpolation of the curves derived equations (4), (5) and (6) and Kd profile obtained from
from CPT and SPT. SDMT1.
642
8 REFERENCES
Depth.[m]
643
644
Gianni Togliani
Gradinata Forghee, Massagno, Switzerland
ABSTRACT: In the SOA-1 Summary (Alexandria 2009) Mayne et al. suggest, about Geomaterials
Behaviour and Testing, some initiatives that are theoretically sharable but often inapplicable at least in
Switzerland and Italy. The Author, active in this working area, explains his opinion on the matter with
examples and proposals.
645
5
Driven Length (m)
10
646
this parameter with different in situ test and the len- 7 If SBT>4 M=4 q c OCR
0.1
647
interpretation of different in situ tests, compari- 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
0
sons among correlations, lab. analysis, disclosure 0.8
1 CPTU1; su=0.23 'v OCR (Ladd, 1991)
graphs, etc.) were joined on Excel spreadsheets that 2
can be provided to anyone who needs them (6). 3 su: OCR=1; 0CR=2; OCR=3
4
In both case the reference software was CPTe-IT, 5 CPTU1; CPTeT-IT
certainly one of the best on the specific matter. 6
The analysis of these examples allows the next 7
DMT1
8
considerations some of which are illustrated by 9
graphs: 10
11
the sites lithology is correctly detected by the 12
Robertson Soil Charts (1986, 1990), with prefer- 13
Depth (m)
14
ence for the last one in the OC Clays. However 15
also the Zhang & Tumay and Eslami-Fellenius 16
methods give significant results as, after all, the 17
18
ID Chart (DMT) for the Mixed Soils;
19
the undrained cohesion su should be calculated 20
for soils classifiable as Ic > 2.58 ( Jefferies & Been 21
648
5 CONCLUSIONS
649
650
651
M. Arroyo
Department of Geotechnical Engineering and Geosciences, UPC, Spain
ABSTRACT: The paper describes the design and initial field-testing of a remotely operated submersible
drill rig able to obtain continuous cores of soil and/or rock up to 6 m long. The rig mast angle is hydrau-
lically actuated covering 90 degrees of altitude. This enables both a fully horizontal position used for
deployment onto and recovery of the rig from the seabed, as well as a fully vertical position during coring.
The frame is equipped with positioning and inclination sensors for accurate register of core orientation.
Coring equipment with diameter of up to 133 mm can be mounted in the rig, thus enabling the recov-
ery of relatively large-diameter cores. The coring operation is fully instrumented and all the drill opera-
tion parameters like torque, thrust, advance, injection rate and pressure are recorded. The equipment is
adapted for geotechnical investigation of the renewable energy industry, as well as pipelines, cables and
dredging requiring platform or near shore site investigation. The equipment is deployable from a variety
of platforms and does not require a fully-fledged drill ship.
653
654
3 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE
MINIDRILL
3.1 Layout
The equipment is assembled within a self-support- Figure 3. MiniDrill with tower standing and dimensions.
ing rectangular frame, on top of which the drill
mast is allowed an altitude rotation from 0 to 120
with respect to the base. The tower support struc-
ture occupies 8.4 m2, the length of the whole sys-
tem with the tower folded in horizontal direction
is 7.51 m (Figure 2). These dimensions allow for
easy storage of the system and ancillary equipment
within a 40 container that is well suited for trans-
portation purposes.
The height of the system when the tower is
placed at vertical position is 7.5 m. The equipment
weight is 56 kN in air. These characteristics allow
deployment from most conventional ship-mounted
frames.
Three sealed vessels able to withstand 3 MPa
of external pressure house the hydraulic central
plant, the distribution unit (Figure 4) and the Figure 4. Hydraulic distribution unit.
655
656
4 FIELD TESTING
657
658
Dong-Soo Kim
KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Daejeon, Korea
Jun-Ung Youn
Doosan Engineering & Construction Co., Ltd, Seoul, Korea
Heon-Joon Park
KAIST (Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology), Daejeon, Korea
ABSTRACT: The shear wave velocity (Vs), which is directly related to the small strain shear modulus,
Gmax, has a great potential in the applications of various geotechnical problems. In this paper, the
advantages of using Vs in geotechnical applications are illustrated and the main features of various
intrusive and non-intrusive Vs measuring techniques in the field are summarized. The Vs has been applied
to the various geotechnical problems including not only traditional earthquake related problems but static
deformation analysis. The procedure to evaluate the degree of consolidation using Vs during the ground
improvement of soft clay is discussed in detail and applied in the Busan Newport construction site. The
degree of consolidation evaluated using the Vs matched well with that obtained from field settlement
record, showing the potential of using Vs in the evaluation of degree of consolidation. Finally, the papers
submitted to the session TS6 are briefly discussed.
661
662
Key features
Intrusive Regions of site
methods Borehole Source Receivers Waves Data reduction sampled
Crosshole 2 or more Piezoelectric 2 or 3 com- S and P waves Direct travel 1D or 2D
(Mok et or mechani- ponent times tomography
al. 1988) cal impact geophones
source in the
borehole
Downhole 1 Hammer and 3 component S and P waves Direct method, 1D
(Mok et plate, on the geophones, Interval
al. 1989, surface coupled with method,
Kim et al. borehole Refracted ray
2004) path method
SPT based 1 SPT sampler 2 component S and P waves Refracted ray 1D or 2D
uphole impact source geophones, on path method tomography
(Bang & the surface
Kim 2007)
Suspension 1 Mechanical 2 geophones, Various propa- Interval travel 1D
PS-logging Fluid- source or within the gation mode time between
(Ohya filled solenoid fluid-filled (S, P and 2 receivers
et al. 1984) borehole hammer, in borehole interface
the borehole waves)
determine the distribution of the Vs of the ground. ground from the earth surface. Lately, diverse tech-
The test techniques can be classified in accordance niques are developed and evolved to overcome the
with the sensor arrangement or the propagation limitations of the conventional surface wave meth-
characteristics of the seismic wave that is used. It ods. The special features of surface wave methods
is important to select and apply a reasonable test in each step are summarized in Table 2 (Stokoe et
method by considering various things including al. 2004; Kim et al. 2009). Most of the methods use
the ground characteristics of the site, test expenses the active ground sources, but some methods use
and time, and the accessibility. the passive ambient vibrations. The surface wave
The testing borehole is utilized in the intrusive method which uses the dispersion characteristics in
method whereas the source and receivers are on the layered media consists of three steps: field test-
the ground surface in the non-intrusive methods. ing, evaluation of dispersion curve, and determina-
Typical intrusive methods include crosshole, down- tion of Vs profile using inversion. The schematic
hole, SPT based uphole and suspension PS-logging diagram for field seismic tests and the regions
methods. The special features of each intrusive of site sampled during each testing are shown in
method are summarized in Table 1 (Stokoe et al. Figure 2 and the round robin testing program was
2004; Kim et al. 2009). carried to assess the reliability and limitation of
There are reflection method, refraction method, various intrusive and non-intrusive methods (Kim
and surface wave method for the surface investiga- et al. 2012).
tion. While the surface investigation can be applied
even when there is no borehole, the vertical resolu-
tion is weaker than in the borehole investigation. 4 APPLICATIONS OF SHEAR
The surface investigation that is mostly utilized in WAVE VELOCITY ON VARIOUS
measuring the Vs of the ground is inspection by sur- GEOTECHNICAL PROBLEMS
face wave (Rayleigh wave mostly used). For the sur-
face wave tests, the spectral analysis of surface waves The Vs has been used to be an essential input
(SASW), multichannel analysis of surface waves parameter for dynamic studies, such as geotechni-
(MASW), frequency-wavenumber (f-k) spectrum, cal earthquake engineering or vibration problems,
continuous surface wave (CSW), harmonic wavelet but recently its application is being widened to a
analysis of waves (HWAW), and refraction micro- material property to solve static deformational
tremor (ReMi) methods are frequently utilized. problems. The Vs has been applied for various
At present, the inspection by surface wave is geotechnical problems, which are ground response
mainly used for the measurement of Vs of the analysis for seismic load, evaluation of potential
663
Key features
Field testing Determination of Vs profile
Evaluation of experi-
mental dispersion Forward
Non-intrusive methods Source Receivers curve model Mode Inversion
SASW Active impul- 2 receiv- Apparent phase Dynamic Superposed Inversion
(Stokoesive or ers are velocity from stiffness mode analysis
et al. random generally phase differ- matrix
1994) vibration used ences between 2 method
source receivers
MASW Active impul- 12 or 24 Swept-frequency Transfer Fundamental Inversion
(Park et sive source channel record or matrix and higher analysis
al. 1999) or Passive is usually frequency-wave method mode (mode
ambient used number spectrum separation)
vibrations approach
F-k method Active impul- Multiple Phase velocities from Transfer Fundamental
(Gabriels sive source receivers frequency-wave matrix and higher
et al. or Passive (128, 256 number spectrum method mode (mode
1987) ambient receivers) using 2D FFT or separation)
vibrations slant stacking,
Surface Frequency domain
wave beamforming
methods
CSW (Mat- Steady-state 4 to 6 Apparent phase Superposed
thews et harmonic receivers velocity from aver- mode
al. 1996) source age phase-angle
slope over receiv-
er-spread area
HWAW Active impul- 2 receiv- Based on the har- Dynamic Superposed Iterative
(Park sive source ers are monic wavelet stiffness mode forward
& Kim generally transform to matrix modeling
2004) used evaluate dispersive method
phase and group
velocities.
ReMi Passive 12 to 48 Two-dimensional Compound Fundamental Iterative
(Louie ambient receivers slowness- matrix mode forward
2001) vibrations frequency (p-f) method modeling
transform
664
665
666
667
Vs v /1kPa)
=5.7
100
Stress range
In-situ v under surcharging
H1-2 BE (Oedometer)
10
10 100 1000
vertical effecitve stress, kPa
668
-5
-10
Depth (DL, m)
`
-15 Lab.
(Surcharging
DL+8m) Lab.
-20 (Surcharging
DL+12m)
Figure 7. Surcharge and downhole test history with
-25
embankment settlements. Test No.1 (Original cond.)
Test No.2 (2 months after Surcharging DL+8m)
V s (m/s) -30
0 50 100 150 200 250 300 Test No.3 (5 months after Surcharging DL+12m)
15 Test No.4 (9 months after Surcharging DL+12m)
-35
10 Boundary between
sandmat and clay Figure 9. Comparison of laboratory and field seismic
: by settlement records
5 test results.
-5
Depth (DL, m)
669
6 SESSION REPORTDEVELOPMENT
Figure 10. Comparison between the U from the Vs and OF NEW EQUIPMENT AND METHODS
U from the settlements.
Total 17 papers have been submitted for session
5.4 Summary
Development of new equipment and methods.
The evaluation method of the degree of consoli- The title, author(s), and summary of each paper
dation of soft clays using shear wave velocity was are tabulated in Table 3. The papers in this session
Table 3. Summary for submitted papers in session Development of new equipment and methods.
(Continued)
670
671
present various topics in geotechnical engineering Burland, J.B. 1989. Ninth Lauritis Bjerrum Memorial Lec-
and include numerical analysis, laboratory test as ture: Small is Beautiful the Stiffness of Soils at Small
well as field tests. Strains, Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 26: 499516.
Chang, I.H. & Cho, G.C. 2007. A Laboratory Procedure
to Characterize Reclaimed Clay Deposits using Shear
Wave. Geotechinical special publication, 164: 2937.
7 CONCLUSION Fam, M. & Santamarina, J.C. 1997. A Study of Consoli-
dation using Mechanical and Electromagnetic Waves.
The shear wave velocity (Vs), which is directly Gotechnique, 47(2): 203219.
related to the small strain shear modulus, Gmax, has Gabriels, P., Snider, R. & Nolet, G. 1987. In situ measure-
a great potential in the applications of various geo- ments of shear wave velocity in sediments with high-
technical problems. This paper summarizes the in er-mode Rayleigh waves. Geophysical Prospecting 35:
situ intrusive and non-intrusive Vs measuring tech- 187196.
niques and presents the advantages of using Vs in Kim, D.S. 1991. Deformational characteristics of soils at
small to intermediate strains from cyclic tests. Ph.D.
the various geotechnical applications.
Dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin.
The procedure for evaluation of ground improve- Kim, D.S., Bang, E.S. & Park, H.J. 2012. Round robin test
ment of soft clay deposit using Vs measurements for comparative study of in-situ seismic tests, 4th Inter-
was introduced in detail and a field case study was national Conference on Geotechnical and Geophysical
performed at Busan Newport construction site. Site Characterization 4 (ISC4), Porto de Galinhas,
The degree of consolidation evaluated using the Vs Brazil.
matched well with that obtained from field settle- Kim, D.S., Chung, C.K., Sun, C.G. & Bang, E.S. 2002.
ment record, showing the potential of using Vs in Site Assessment and Evaluation of Spatial Earthquake
the evaluation of degree of consolidation. Ground Motion of Kyeongju, Soil Dynamics and
Earthquake Engineering, 22(5): 371387.
Finally, the papers submitted to the session TS6
Kim, D.S. & Kim, H.W. 2004. Evaluation of the Base Con-
are briefly discussed. dition of Drilled Shafts by the Impact-Echo Method,
Geotechnical Testing Journal, 27(5):496503.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Kim, D.S., Kim, J.T., Bang, E.S., Park, H.J. & Park, H.C.
2006. Comparative study of Seismic Field Test using
This research was supported by a Basic Science Multi Layered Model Testing Site, ASCE Geotechnical
Research Program through the National Research Special Publication 149: 204211.
Kim, D.S., Kweon, G.C. & Lee, K.H. 1997. Alternative
Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Min-
Method of Determining Resilient Modulus of Com-
istry of Education, Science and Technology (grant pacted Subgrade Soils Using Free-Free Resonant
number: 2012-0000154). Column Test, Transportation Research Record, 1557:
6269.
REFERENCES Kim, D.S., Kweon, G.C. & Lee, K.H. 2001. Alternative
Method of Determining Resilient Modulus of Sub-
Asaoka, A. 1978. Observation Procedure of Settlement grade Soils Using Static Triaxial Test, Canadian Geo-
Prediction. Soil and Foundation, 18(1): 3956. technical Journal, 38(1): 107116.
Bang, E.S. & Kim, D.S. 2007. Evaluation of shear wave Kim, D.S. & Lee, J.S. 2000. Propagation and Attenuation
velocity profile using SPT based uphole method, Soil Characteristics of Various Ground Vibrations, Soil
Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering 27: 741758 Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, 19(2):115126.
672
673
Su Minh Dang
Minho University, Braga, Portugal
Tian Ho Seah
Geotechnical Engineering and Management Program (PME-GEM), School of Engineering and Technology
Asian Institute of Technology, HCM City, Vietnam
ABSTRACT: Application of vacuum assisted preloading is helpful when a considerable load is required
to meet the desired rate of settlement and an increase in the undrained shear strength in a relative short
time. To facilitate the vacuum propagation, vertical drains are usually employed in conjunction. The instal-
lation of vertical drains using a steel mandrel creates significant remoulding of the subsoil surrounding
the drains thereby, reducing soil permeability and adversely affecting the soil consolidation process. In this
research study, performance of a test embankment on a soft clay ground improved by vacuum combined
with PVD and surcharge preloading at the site of Saigon International Terminals Vietnam (SITV) in Ba
Ria-Vung Tau Province is presented and analyzed. The calculated settlement results are compared with
the available observation data. Besides, soil parameters were back calculated and compared with those
obtained from soil investigation.
Keywords: soil improvement, vacuum-assisted preloading, negative pore pressure, surcharge load, SITV
project
675
Layer
Physical & mechanical properties Units Weathered crust Very soft clay Soft clay Medium clay
W % 67.8 79.7 70.2 60.9
e 1.73 2.02 1.84 1.57
CR 0.179 0.31 0.23 0.28
RR 0.023 0.034 0.034 0.032
OCR 5.2 2.2 1.3 1.3
OC m2/yr 5.5 5.9 5.7 5.7
Cv90
NC m2/yr 2.3 1.1 1.1 1.2
OC m2/yr 25.6 11.3 8.9 8.2
Ch m2/yr 10.6 2.1 1.7 1.8
NC
676
(a) (b)
677
678
4 ESTIMATION OF SETTLEMENTS
Sn Sn 1 (1)
3.0
in Fig. 8.
In case of staged construction and when a large Figure 9. Field settlements, Asaokas method plots for
increment of surcharge load is applied, there is settlement plate SP04.
normally an obvious increase in the gradient of the
settlement-time curve. In order to determine the
ultimate settlement under these conditions, data
obtained from the final stage of loading should be
used. The ultimate settlement calculated based on
the field records at the settlement plate SP04 using
Asaokas method are shown in Fig. 9.
679
+ v
us ( z ) = w z s (4) Sc H RR log vm + CR log vo (5a)
vo vm
u0 (z) is initial pore water pressure at depth z;
is the stress increment due to surcharge at a given St U Sc (5b)
Por e w ater pr es s ur e [k Pa]
0
-100 -50 0 50 100 150 200 250 300
with
-2 U 1 ( U h ) ( Uv ) (6)
-4
and
-6
8Th
U h = 1 exp (7)
-8
Elevation [m]
-10
Where St is the settlement versus time, CR is com-
-12 pression ratio, RR is recompression ratio, vo is
-14
effective overburden stress, vm is precompression
stress, v is increment loading, Sc is the primary
-16 us-Suction line settlement, Uh and Uv is the horizontal and vertical
uw-Hydrostatic P.W.P line
ut- P.W.P at t=171 days
degree of consolidation.
-18
ut- P.W.P at t=64 days The calculated settlements versus time are plot-
-20
uo+Ds-Initial P.W.P plus surcharge load
ted in comparison with the measured values as
shown in Fig. 12. The data used in the settlement
Figure 11. Pore water pressure versus depths. calculation are tabulated in Table 2
Figure 12. Comparison of settlement between analytical results and monitoring data.
680
681
1 + wnG -2
S
Su = S
0.434Cc u h (10)
-4
Elevation, [m]
where Su, Su are the original and change of und-
rained shear strength; wn, wn are the original and -6
change of natural water content; G is the special
-8
gravity of soil grains, Cc is the coefficient of com-
pressibility, is the settlement under preloading, -10
and h is the thickness of compressible soils.
The increase in undrained shear strength, Su, -12
was also obtained from piezocone penetration tests
as follows: -14 FVT02-After treatment
FVT03-After treatment
q vvo
Su = t (11) -16 FVT01-After treatment
Su-Initial
N kt Su-SHANSEP Technique (Eq.[6])
-18
where qt, is the corrected cone resistance; vo is the Su-Stamatopoulos & Kotzias (Eq.[7])
Su-CPTu (Eq.[8])
total overburden stress, Nkt is the cone factor (Nkt = -20
12 for soft clay in this area).
The increase of shear strength can be estimated Figure 14. Undrained shear strength before and after
from the SHANSEP technique (Eq. 9). In this treatment.
project, the SHANSEP equation can be obtained
from field vane shear tests, oedometer tests and
Constant Rate of Strain (CRS) tests as follows:
Cone r es is tance - q c , k Pa
Su 0 200 400 600 800 1000
= 0.215 OCR
C 0.805 (12)
vo 4
CPTU03-After
5.3 Back-calculation of ch values from pore water -18
CPTU13 - Before
pressure measurements
-20
In case of radial drainage consolidation, Barrons
solution (1948) in perfect drain condition (without Figure 15. Cone resistance before and after treatment.
682
considering the effect of smear and well resistance) where, n is drain spacing ratio n = De /d, d is equiva-
which is given by: lent diameter of prefabricated drain, t is time
increment.
8Th Back-calculation of Ch value based on field set-
U h = 1 exp (13) tlements and pore pressure measurements were
shown in Table 4.
where Uh is average horizontal coefficient of con-
solidation, Th is time factor, is factor for the effect
of drain spacing
6 CONCLUSIONS
Aboshi & Monden (1963) presented a curve fit-
ting method using logU and linear t. This method
is developed by taking log of both sides of 1. The ultimate settlement was predicted using
Barrons solution (Eq. 13), which results in the fol- Asaokas method, while the time-depdent set-
lowing expression: tlement was estimated based on Barrons solu-
tion. The predicted and measured settlement are
ln( U h ) within an error of 36%, which are considered
Th = (14) to be exceptional.
8
2. The average degree of consolidation was
where Th is time factor: assessed based on both settlement and pore
pressure data. The results indicated that the
Ch t average degree of consolidation estimated from
Th = (15) the settlement data was higher than that esti-
De2
mated from the pore water pressure data due to
By combining Eqs. 15 and 16, the coefficient of non-linearity of the soil.
radial consolidation Ch can be calculated as follows: 3. There is a good agreement between the meas-
ured and predicted undrained shear strength
De2 l (1 U h ) profiles after preloading based on SHANSEP
Ch = (16) technique and results from the piezocone pene-
8t
tration tests. The results indicates that the shear
strength increase with 75%.
5.4 Back-calculation of ch values from settlement 4. The measured water contents of the treated soil
measurements after preloading agreed well with values com-
For estimating the in situ coefficient of consolida- puted from the consolidation settlements. The
tion, Magnan and Deroy (1980) determined that results indicated that the reduction of water
for radial drainage only, in situ Ch can be estimated content is about 13%.
by: 5. There is a good agreement between the hori-
zontal coefficient of consolidation back-cal-
ln 1 8ch culated from field measurements and from
= (17) soil investigation before treatment (refer
t De 2 Table 1&4).
where, De is diameter of an equivalent soil cylinder,
S is drain spacing, is factor for the effect of drain
spacing
REFERENCES
= 2n ln( n ) 3n 2 1
2 2
Asaoka, A. 1978. Observational procedure of settlement
n 1 4n (18) prediction, Soils and Foundations, 18(4): 87101.
683
684
A. Cheshomi
Tehran University, Science Faculty, Iran
A. Fakher
Tehran University, Civil Engineering Faculty, Iran
ABSTRACT: In most coarse grain alluviums, it is impossible to take small undisturbed samples from
boreholes due to the large and variable grains. The execution of large scale in-situ tests are also difficult
and can not be undertaken in small projects due to expenses. This is a general challenging problem with
the site characterization of coarse grain alluvium. The city of Tehran is founded on Quaternary coarse
grain alluvium, which has been geologically classified in the past. In geological classifications, age and
general characteristics of alluviums are considered rather than geotechnical properties. In the paper, based
on filed and laboratory observation, geological factors that affect geotechnical characterization of Tehran
alluvium are discussed. Then in order to determine geotechnical properties of the Tehran alluvia, a number
of in-situ tests have been undertaken. The test results have been compared with published research results.
Accordingly a geologicalgeotechnical classification system is proposed to assess the engineering proper-
ties of coarse grain soils to be use in small-medium construction projects. A well locally established clas-
sification system extended to cover geotechnical properties. A similar framework could be used to create
local geotechnical-geological classification systems of other coarse alluvia in other locations.
Keywords: coarse grain alluvium; in-situ direct shear test, Tehran alluvium, geological classification,
geotechnical properties, geologicalgeotechnical classification
685
686
687
Table 2. Major geological factors which affect the geotechnical properties of Tehran alluvia.
688
689
690
enough data available to include B and D in because of the very coarse grain non-cemented
the system. In most cases B and D alluvia have structure, and heterogeneous nature. In this case
very coarse and fine particles. Geotechnical inves- it is possible to determine engineering proper-
tigations of fine grained particles is possible by ties based upon the monitoring of new construc-
conventional geotechnical investigation methods, tions. These soils should be the subject of further
but investigation of coarse grain soils are difficult research.
692
693
694
ABSTRACT: This paper presented methodic of testing pile by ASTM D1143/D1143M-07 (USA) stand-
ard and GOST 5686-94 (Kazakhstan) standard. The methodic of testing piles by these standards have
some differences as long as Kazakhstan Standard is out of date and has not changed science 1994 whereas
ASTM is updating and will update taking latest technology developments, technical methods and provides
for the use of more modern equipment. Discussion of using control equipments, technological features,
advantages and disadvantages of aforementioned standards might be important for understanding and
elimination of existing differences, because harmonization with international standards seems to be quietly
actual today question. The papers include the results of static tests of piles by using two standards. This
full field scale piling tests were performed in problematical soil ground of construction sites of new capital
Astana (Kazakhstan). Present Kazakhstan Standard are confined application of modern pile technol-
ogy and big difference between experimental bearing capacity obtained by static loading test and design
(vary from 1.5 to 3 times) is still exist. The analysis are presented in the paper shows that ASTM methodic
gives detailed information about the process testing and makes more reliable results. And so researcher of
advanced pile technologies is very important for the feature Kazakhstan geotechnic development.
695
400 kN
0,42 0,45 800 kN
0,5 0,47 0,49 0,5
1200 kN
1400 kN
1600 kN
0,9 0,93 1800 kN
1 0,96 0,99 1 1900 kN
2000 kN
2100 kN
2200 kN
1,5 1,46 1,5 1,52 1,54 1,56
Settlment, mm
1,76 1,8 1,82 1,84 1,87 1,89
2
2,13 2,17 2,2 2,23 2,26
2,31 2,33
Figure 1. Painted test pile.
2,5
2,58
2,63 2,66 2,69 2,72
2,77 2,78
2,88
2,93 2,95 2,97
3 2,99 3
3,15 3,19 3,23 3,25 3,25
3,4 3,43 3,44
3,5
3,45 3,46
3,56 3,6 3,63 3,66 3,69 3,69
696
697
Embedded depth L , m
4
9
K
e
10
11
Figure 9. Construction site Embassy of the USA in 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
Astana. Quantity blows
Table 2. Results of the dynamic test. Figure 10. Results of dynamic load test.
Embedded Refusal of Table 3. Results of static load test.
Number of depth in Design load, pile at driv-
stee H-piles soil, m kN ing, cm Design Design Applied
Number Embedded load, load, Settlement, load,
LT-1 7.00 600 1.00
of pile depth, m kN kN mm kN
LT-2 9.00 600 1.09
LT-3 10.00 600 1.14 LT-1 7.00 600 1.00 43.03 900
LT-7 8.25 600 1.00 LT-9 9.25 600 1.25 52.55 900
LT-8 10.25 600 1.25 LT-4 8.00 400 1.56 39.88 600
LT-9 9.25 600 1.25
LT-4 8.00 400 1.56 Load , kN
LT-5 8.25 400 1.47 0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900
22
should be equal 1.67 cm (25 cm/15 blows). 24
26 Pile LT-1, L=7 m
Results of dynamic tests showed in Table 2 and 28
30 Pile LT-9, L=9.25 m
Figure 10. 32
Pile LT-4, L=8.0 m
34
Static load test: 36
The ultimate testing load for steel H-piles doubly 38
40
exceed the allowable design load (according to the 42
Standard ASTM D 1143-81): for 600 kN design 44
allowable loading 1200 kN ultimate tasting load, 46
48
and for 400 kN accordingly 800 kN. Results of 50
dynamic tests showed in Table 3 and Figure 11. 52
After extension lengths of a steel Hpiles by 54
electric welding, were driven according to design
load and preliminary criteria of refusal: Figure 11. Results of static load test.
698
LT-1 9.75 600 0.31 4.66 1200 Distance between 5 d < L1 > 2.5 m 3 d < L1 > 1.5 m
LT-2 15.00 600 0.31 7.34 1200 testing pile till
LT-3 13.00 600 0.32 7.00 1200 anchoring pile
LT-7 11.00 600 0.28 4.41 1200 Distance between 5 d < L2 > 2.5 m L2 < 2 m
LT-8 16.00 600 0.30 6.27 1200 testing pile till
LT-9 12.75 600 0.27 4.96 1200
Devices and equipment
LT-4 11.25 400 0.78 3.38 800
LT-5 11.25 400 0.74 2.17 800 For loading Jack Jack with Spheri-
LT-6 9.75 400 0.63 3.17 800 cal prop
Measurement of Manometer Manometer
load on top Dynamometer
for 600 kN, refusal of 0.33 cm (25 cm/75 blows); pile (more 100 tc)
for 400 kN, refusal of 0.83 cm (25 cm/30 blows).
fixed for each
and carried out static load tests again. jack
Measurement Tensometer
Results of dynamic and static tests showed in of load on all
Table 4. length pile
Measurement of Transducer of Transducer of
axial displace- axial displace- axial displace-
5 COMPARATIVE ANALYSES ment of top ment of cap ment of cap
pile Visual control
Technical specificity of ASTM D1143/D1143M-07 Optical instru-
[2] has some differences with national Kazakhstan mental control
standard GOST 5686-94. Some devices and con- Measurement of Transducer of
trol equipment didnt use by requirement of GOST sway top pile sway top pile
5686-94 Soils. Field test. Principal differences Optical control
between American Standard and Kazakhstan
norms showed in Table 5.
In practice requirements by American Standard Thus, we can determine the distribution of the
showed that results of test more safety [3]. Because lateral resistance of piles.
use many control equipment and devices for deter-
mination, measurement reverberated.
Also GOST regulated only two out of six meas- 6 CONCLUSIONS
urements with reducers provided by ASTM. By
requirement of both standards loading on pile Since 1994 year Kazakhstan Standard has not
transferred by jack. But GOST does not consider changed, ASTM standard was updated in 2007,
that each jack need to provide by manometer if we and therefore takes latest developments in technol-
used more than one jack. Its important for control ogy and technical terms and provides for the use of
of work of jack and to do correct test. more modern equipment.
In other case sometimes reducers of axial dis- The analysis in the article shows that the tests
placement of pile showed undirected displacement with ASTM makes them more reliable and gives
and regarding requirement of GOST isnt instruc- detailed information about the process of testing
tions. In this case regarding ASTM need to fix and the results.
reducers of sway. Actual question today is to update the national
Transducer of measurement of axial displace- standards, harmonization with international
ment serve for measure the movement of the bot- standards.
tom of the pile on its top. This measurement more The introduction of innovations described will
exactly determined settlement of soil. avoid making wrong results of test.
For the purposes, ASTM proposes to use a Along with TC 55 work Design Academy
system of measurement of the indicator displace- Kazgor conducts research on the existing interna-
ment, installed on top of the pile. tional experience of technical regulations to ensure
Force transducer to measure the lateral resist- the safe construction processes and products.
ance pile used to measure the friction force on his And members of these Committees registered
side the entire length of the pile. that in practice tester sometimes has situations
699
700
Farzad Daliri
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada
ABSTRACT: A reinforced earth structures are usually in contact with water, especially if these struc-
tures are designed as waterfront structures such as a riverbank protection structure, an earth dam or a
marine wall. In these cases, the effects of saturation must be considered in the design and analysis stages.
For reinforced earth seawalls, which are located in a tidal environment and subjected to the dynamic
loading of sea waves, the effects of saturation are of particular concern. This paper aims to examine
the behaviour of a saturated reinforced sand element (e.g. a reinforced sample in triaxial test) in an und-
rained fully saturated condition. The results of this study will be used later to describe the behaviour of
a fully saturated reinforced earth seawall under the effect of rapid impact loading due to sea wave or ship
impact. Initially, triaxial tests were performed on fully saturated reinforced and unreinforced beach sands.
Aluminium foil disks were used as reinforcments. The results of saturated reinforced and unreinforced
samples were compared under different monotonic loading. In this comparison, different features such as
the stress-strain relationship, failure mode and strength parameters and c were considered.
701
702
703
704
705
4 CONCLUSION
706
707
ABSTRACT: A technique is presented to invert two-dimensional (2-D) full waveforms using two global
optimization methods, a genetic algorithm and simulated annealing. The inversion scheme is based on a
finite-difference solution of the 2-D elastic wave equation in the time-distance domain. The strength of
this approach is the ability to generate all possible wave types (body waves and surface waves, etc.) and
thus to simulate complex seismic wavefields that are then compared with observed data to infer subsur-
face properties. The capability of this inversion technique is tested herein with synthetic data sets. The
inversion results show the ability of characterizing both low- and high-velocity layers in laterally inhomo-
geneous profiles. Based upon the cases presented, coupling of global optimization with full waveforms
is computationally practical, as the results presented herein were all achieved in a few hours of computer
time on a standard laptop computer.
709
710
711
4 4
8 8
3 3
2 50 2 6 6
1 1
100 200 300 100 200 300 100 200 300 200 300 400 500
5 5 10 10
4 4
8 8
3 3
2 75 2 6 6
1 1
100 200 300 100 200 300 100 200 300 200 300 400 500
5 5 10 10
4 4
8 8
3 3
2 100 2 6 6
1 1
100 200 300 100 200 300 100 200 300 200 300 400 500
Velocity (m/s)
Figure 2. Synthetic model 1: Distribution of 100 models at end of generations 1, 25, 50, 75, and 100. The square dot
in each plot presents true thickness and velocity values of layer.
1
modeling. Based on the receiver spacing and the
minimum true S-wave velocity, the grid size was 0.9
712
receiver 3 receiver 4
1 1
0 0
-1 -1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
Normalized magnitude
Normalized magnitude
receiver 5 receiver 6
1 1
0 0
-1 -1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
time (s)
receiver 7 receiver 8
1 1
0 0
-1 -1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
receiver 9 receiver 10
1 1
0 0
-1 -1
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8
time (s) time (s)
Estimated
Observed
713
700
-5
-15
500
-20
-25 400
-30
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80
(b) Distance (m)
receiver 1 receiver 2
1 1
Estimated
0.5 0.5
Observed
0 0
-0.5 -0.5
-1 -1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
receiver 3 receiver 4
Normalized magnitude
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
-0.5 -0.5
-1 -1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
receiver 5 receiver 6
1 1
0.5 0.5
0 0
-0.5 -0.5
-1 -1
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5
time (s) time (s)
4 Layer#1 Layer#2
x 10
Number of accepted models
5 8000
4 6000
3
4000
2
2000
1
0 0
200 400 600 800 1000 200 400 600 800 1000
Velocity (m/s) Velocity (m/s)
Layer#3 Layer#4
Number of accepted models
10000 5000
8000 4000
6000 3000
4000 2000
2000 1000
0 0
200 400 600 800 1000 200 400 600 800 1000
Velocity (m/s) Velocity (m/s)
714
700
-5
600
-10
500
-15
400
-20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
300
Distance (m)
b)
0
800
-5
-10 600
-15 500
400
-20
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Distance (m) 300
Therefore, the last 2000 accepted models at the tested more than 150,000 trial models in about half
final temperature were arithmetically averaged to a day on a standard laptop computer.
produce the inversion result shown in Figure 5b, Figure 8b represents the inverted model, which
and it is observed that the inversion result is very was determined as the arithmetic average of the
close to the true model. By definition, these last last 5000 accepted models at the final temperature.
2000 accepted models all produce least-squared Again, good recovery of the true model is found:
errors within the convergence criterion specified both layer velocities and interfaces are inverted
by the user. with differences of less than 10% compared to
those of the true model. The observed waveforms,
the estimated waveforms associated with the last
4.3 Synthetic model 3
accepted model, and the residuals are set alongside
Model 3 consists of three low- and high-velocity in Figure 9. It is observed that the data has been
layers followed by a half space, with six horizontal well fit across the whole range of spatial offsets,
linear segments in each interface (Figure 8a). The and the two wavefields are almost identical. Again,
observed waveforms were generated by the finite- the accepted models were observed to cluster near
difference forward model using 51 receivers at 1-m to those of the true model.
spacing on the surface, and an active source placed Of course, this good recovery of the true model
10 m away from the first receiver. The active source is aided by several assumptions: the finite differ-
was modeled as a Ricker wavelet having a central ence solution was used to generate the observed
frequency of 15 Hz. wavefield and as the forward model during inver-
To run the simulated annealing inversion, sion, and the model for both the generation of
the source, Poissons ratio, mass density, and observations and for inversion used the same Pois-
the number of linear segments in each interface sons ratio, mass density, and horizontal interface
were kept the same as values used to generate the segments. However, the inversion result does dem-
observed waveforms, thus the number of model onstrate that it is possible using full waveforms
parameters was 25 (7 thicknesses in each layer of from only one shot to characterize 2-D profiles
the 3 layers, and 4 velocities). The velocity was with interfaces of linear segments of a few meters.
allowed to vary between 200 m/s and 900 m/s, and
the thickness was allowed to vary between 2 m and
10 m. The inversion began with the initial model 5 CONCLUSIONS
of a constant velocity of 400 m/s, parameters were
perturbed, and the temperature was reduced after Results from an initial feasibility study of global
5000 accepted models until convergence. The run optimization schemes based on a genetic algorithm
715
time (s)
time (s)
0.2 0.2 0.2
0 0 0
0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60 0 20 40 60
Receiver position (m) Receiver position (m) Receiver position (m)
and simulated annealing for inverting full elas- Nazarian, S. 1984. In situ determination of elastic mod-
tic waveforms are presented. The results from a uli of soil deposits and pavement systems by spectral-
1-D synthetic model suggest that it is possible to analysis-of-surface-waves method, Ph.D. Dissertation,
characterize low-velocity layers with the proposed The University of Texas at Austin.
ONeill, A., Dentith, M. & List, R. 2003. Full-waveform
genetic algorithm. Both the thickness and shear P-SV reflectivity inversion of surface waves for shal-
wave velocity of the LVL, and the thickness and low engineering applications, Exploration Geophysics,
shear wave velocities of the underlying layers are 34(3): 158173.
all well recovered. The results from two 2-D syn- Park, C.B., Miller, R.D. & Xia, J. 1999. Multi-channel
thetic models suggest that it is possible to charac- analysis of surface wave (MASW), Geophysics, 64(3):
terize both low- and high-velocity layers in laterally 800808.
inhomogeneous profiles with simulated annealing. Richart, F.E., Jr., Hall, J.R., Jr. & Woods, R.D. 1970.
Like many inversion algorithms, the proposed Vibrations of Soils and Foundations, Prentice-Hall,
techniques do require careful selection of model Inc., Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, p. 414.
Sambridge, M. & Mosegaard, K. 2002. Monte Carlo
constraints and algorithm control parameters. methods in geophysical inverse problems, Reviews of
Based upon the cases presented, coupling of global Geophysics, 40(3).
optimization with full waveforms is computation- Sen, M.K. & Stoffa, P.L. 1991. Nonlinear multiparam-
ally practical, as the results presented herein were eter optimization using genetic algorithms: Inver-
all achieved in a few hours of computer time on a sion of plane-wave seismograms: Geophysics, 56(11):
standard laptop computer. 17941810.
Sen, M.K. & Stoffa, P.L. 1995. Global optimization
methods in geophysical inversion, Adv. Explor. Geo-
REFERENCES physics, Vol. 4, Elsevier Sci., New York.
Sharma, S.P. & Kaikkonen, P. 1998. Two-dimensional
non-linear inversion of VLF-R data using simulated
Goldberg, D.E. 1989. Genetic algorithms in search,
annealing, Geophysics J, Int. 133: 649668.
optimization and machine learning, Addison Wesley
Tokimatsu, K., Tamura, S. & Kojima, H. 1992. Effects of
Publishing Company.
multiple modes on Rayleigh wave dispersion charac-
Ingber, L. 1989. Very fast simulated re-annealing, Math.
teristics, Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmen-
Comput. Modeling, 12(8): 967993.
tal Engineering, 118(2): 15291543.
Ingber, L. 1993. Simulated annealing: practice versus
Virieux, J. 1986. P-SV wave propagation in heterogene-
theory: Math. Comput. Modeling, 18(11): 2957.
ous media: Velocity-stress finite-difference method,
Louie, J.N. 2001. Faster, better, shear-wave velocity to
Geophysics, 51(4): 889901.
100 meters depth from refraction microtremor arrays,
Bulletin of Seismological Society of America, 91(2):
347364.
716
M.J. Arai
System Measure Co. Ltd., Tokyo, Japan
Kim Cholho
Hokoku Engineering, Tokyo, Japan
ABSTRACT: While the deep-mixing soil stabilization method can create an improved soil-cement col-
umn by mixing cement binders and ground soil, the quality of the improved ground must be evaluated
constantly. Conventional methods such as rotary sounding test, integrity test and unconfined compres-
sion test of core samples, can be used to directly evaluate the soundness of the improved columns. These
methods are normally applied long after the column is complete and, depending on the results of the tests,
rework may be necessary. The authors have developed and studied the applicability of a resistivity method
that can be used to evaluate variations in the quality of improved ground immediately after construction.
In this method, the changes in the axial resistivity of a cone sensor pressed in the hardening body are
measured, and this has been proven to be very effective for evaluating soil-cement columns.
717
40
30
20
10
0
0 200 400 600 Figure 3. Schematic of the construction process.
Amount of cement kg/m3
718
3 EXPERIMENTS & RESULTS The grain-size distribution for soil at each loca-
tion is shown in Fig. 6.
3.1 Experiment 1 Figures 7(a) & (b) show an example of the
measurement of resistivity. In (a), the resistivity is
In this experiment, the resistivity of non-consolidated uniform to a depth of around 5 m. It reflects the
soil-cement columns was measured and the coeffi- value of qu at a depth of around 4.5 m. In (b), the
cients of variation of the core sample strength and resistivity shows a large variation at depths of 2 m,
resistivity were calculated. 3.5 m, 5 m and more than 5 m. These results sug-
The resistivity and core strength of 19 soil-cement gest that the column was not homogeneous.
columns were measured in 11 different locations: The coefficient of variation of the core strength
diameter 500~1300 mm, length 2~10 m, amount of (Vqu) is the ratio of the standard deviation to the
cement 300 kg/m3, and water: cement ratio 60~80%. average of strength of the stratum in a soil-cement
The speed of penetration was 0.7~1.0 m/min, and column.
the blade frequency was 420~733 revolutions/m. The coefficient of variation of resistivity (Vpr) is
the ratio of the standard deviation to the average
resistivity of the stratum in the soil-cement body.
Based on our experimental results, the relation-
ship between the coefficients can be expressed by
equation (2) and is shown in Fig. 8:
719
50
Vqu = Vpr+ 5
40
R2 = 0.73
30
20
10
0
0 10 20 30 40
Coeff. of variation of resistivity Vpr(%)
3.2 Experiment 2
Experiment 1 demonstrated the relationship
between the variation of strength and the vari-
ation of resistivity of soil-cement. However, the
resistivity of the column was only measured for
weak stratum, and did not include an analysis of (b)
other strata. In this experiment, resistivity was
measured throughout the entire length of columns Figure 9. (a) Ground condition at Kameoka; (b) Ground
to determine homogeneity from the coefficient of condition at Chikusei.
variation in different soil strata. The experiment
was conducted for columns constructed under 11 and measured at a pitch of 25 cm. Figure 10 shows
different construction conditions in two locations: the results of resistivity measurements for soil-ce-
Kameoka city and Chikusei city. The construction ment columns in Kameoka.
conditions are shown in Table 1. The ground con- Figure 11 shows the results of resistivity meas-
ditions are shown in Figs. 9 (a) & (b). urements for columns in Chikusei.
The resistivity of columns was measured using In addition, the 11 columns constructed in
a Swedish-weight sounding test machine. The elec- Chikusei did not solidify. Investigations of the soil
trode probe was inserted into the improved column verified the presence of 54% allophene in loam
720
R
0.5
0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11
Column No.
Figure 10. Results of column resistivity measurements
in Kameoka. Figure 13. Results of R for all strata.
4 CONCLUSIONS
Figure 11. Results of column resistivity measurements The present resistivity method can be used to eval-
in Chikusei. uate variations in the quality of improved ground
immediately after preparation by measuring the
2
changes in axial resistivity through the use of core
Kameoka
sensors pressed in the unhardened column. The
Chikusei
1.5 major findings were as follows:
There is a relationship between the coefficient
of variation of the core strength and the coeffi-
1
R
721
722
F.-W. Gerressen
BAUER Maschinen GmbH, Schrobenhausen, Germany
ABSTRACT: Diaphragm walls are known as underground structural elements commonly used for reten-
tion systems and permanent foundation walls or elements. It can be anticipated that, with the increasing
trend of utilizing more and more underground space to accommodate environmental considerations and
urban/suburban development, there will be an increasing requirement for diaphragm walling in even more
difficult conditions. Of course they can also be used as deep groundwater barriers. Here it can be seen
that the demand for these walls reaches more and more difficult soil conditions or required depth which
are not standard anymore. Therefore the paper will describe the construction method and the sequence
of activities required for the construction of diaphragm walls using a trench cutter system. It will describe
also the main equipment which will be needed to execute these works. In addition to the general descrip-
tion of the system and the required equipment the paper will show some site examples for urban projects
as well as for some cut off walls for big depth and challenging ground conditions.
1 GENERAL
Diaphragm walls are constructed using the slurry Stability of the upper trench that could be
trench technique. The technique involves excavating a affected by the vertical surcharge induced by the
narrow trench that is kept full of an engineered fluid Cutter and other heavy jobsite traffic adjacent
or slurry. The slurry exerts hydraulic pressure against to the trench.
the trench walls and acts as shoring to prevent col- Protection against instability of the uppermost
lapse. Slurry trench excavations can be constructed in layers of soil caused by washing and fluctuating
all types of soil, even below the ground water table. levels of bentonite slurry during excavation.
Prevent collapse of the top of the trench due to
equipment loads close to the trench.
2 PROCESS Support for the vertical loads imposed by the
reinforcement cages that are suspended off the
2.1 Working sequence top of the guide wall. Abstract frame.
The working sequence for the construction of a
diaphragm wall comprises the following key steps:
2.3 Pre-excavation
Site preparation,
For the cutter to operate properly the circulation of
Guide wall construction
bentonite must be established before the machine
Trench pre-excavation
starts to excavate the trench.
Panel excavation
The cutters mud pump is located above the
Panel cleaning (desanding)
cutting wheels and in order to prime this pump it
Reinforcement installation (for retaining walls)
should be fully submersed in the bentonite fluid.
Concreting
Some pre-excavation of the trench must be carried
out therefore, using other tools, to facilitate prim-
ing of the mud pump.
2.2 Guide wall
For the cutter to operate properly the circulation
Guide Walls need to be constructed prior to the 2.4 Excavation
diaphragm wall to provide:
Following preparation of the site and construction
Guidance to ensure the correct alignment of the of the guide walls, excavation of the diaphragm wall
pre-excavation. can begin using BC trench cutter. In order to ensure
723
724
3 EQUIPMENT
3.1 General
The trench cutter itself is a reverse circulation
excavation tool. It consists of a heavy steel frame 6
(1) with two drive gears (2) attached to its bottom
end, which rotates in opposite direction round hor-
izontal axes. Cutter wheels (3) are mounted onto 5
the drive gears. As they rotate, the soil beneath the
cutter is continuously removed, broken up, mixed
3
with the bentonite slurry in the trench and moved
towards the opening of the suction box (4). The
slurry charged with soil or rock particles is pumped 2
by a centrifugal pump (5) which is located right 4
above the cutter wheels through a ring main of
hose pipes to a desanding plant where it is cleaned Figure 4. BAUER trench cutter.
and returned into the trench. The torque of the
cutter wheels in combination with the weight of activate the highly sensitive main winch mounted on
the cutter is strong enough to cut in hard soil and the base carrier.
even to crush stones and to overcut the concrete of
adjacent panels. Depending on the soil type, differ-
ent types of teeth can be deployed, ranging from 3.2 Circulation and desanding equipment
aggressive teeth for cutting fine-grained soil to per- Bentonite slurry is required to stabilise the trench.
cussive teeth for crushing boulders. Changing the In addition, when working with the trench cut-
wheels itself the system can be used for rock appli- ter, the slurry is used to convey excavated material
cations as well. Experiences exist for rock strength out of the trench. Charged slurry is pumped to a
up to 250 MPa. desanding plant, where the solid content of the
The verticality of the trench cutter and thus the charged slurry is separated from the liquid fraction
trench alignment are generally measured on two that is pumped back to the trench.
axis by means of two independent inclinometers (6): The treatment plant is made up of four essential
the X-axis, normal to the trench alignment and components:
the perpendicular Y-axis. Data provided by
these in-clinometers is processed by the computer The mixing unit,
on-board the base carrier and displayed on-line.
In this way the operator can monitor continuously An efficient mixing unit mixes bentonite powder
and, if necessary, correct the verticality of the cut- with water and pumps it to a holding and hydration
ter. Adjustment of verticality in the two directions tank where the slurry is kept in motion and aerated
is carried out by a system of steering plates (7). for 12 hours before being put to use. This process
Throughout the excavation process the rigs opera- is necessary for the bentonite to fully develop its
tor is prompted by the machines software that cal- properties of viscosity and thixotropy. Hydrated
culates its status and indicates the most appropriate bentonite slurry is then transferred by a pump to
action take. All information can be downloaded on the main reservoir.
a Panel report that can be printed after comple-
tion of each panel and used for QA/QM purposes. The desanding unit
The Cutters progress can be controlled selectively,
in relation to either the rate of penetration (in soft The desanding unit is made up of three items: a
soils) or the cutter weight (crowd force in hard soils), central Coarse Screen Separator (Scalping unit) that
by using the push buttons on the control panel. These removes all particles larger than 8 mm through a
725
726
4.2.1 Geology
compressive strength but generally speaking are in The geotechnical and hydraulic conditions at the site
the range of 70 to 120 MPa. starts with overburden ground to approx. 8 m depth
The extremely hard layers of Caliche rock is consisting mainly fill, postglacial sediments and
beginning 3 m below grade coupled with the high glacial clay till. It is overlying a transition zone of
water table of approximately 6 m below grade, as moraine clay, rubble and boulders above the lime-
well as the neighboring property lateral pressure stone bedrock. These layers constituted no major
constraints to the site, and an extremely aggres- difficulties for pre-excavation with grabs.
sive schedule made the Cosmopolitan a perfect site The bedrock consists of tertiary limestone. It is
for diaphragm wall installation by using the latest layered with banks of varying thickness and hard-
trench cutter technology. ness containing major zones of silicified limestone
and nodules and bands of flint. Its being generally
of hardness class H5 with maximum compressive
4.2 City Tunnel Malm, Malm, Sweden strengths of 400 MPa and above. The excavation
The initial subcontract required the construction of the limestone was carried out with a trench cut-
of some 11,700 m2 of concrete diaphragm walls ter. Nevertheless, extreme hardness of flint and of
727
728
729
5 SUMMARY
4.3.4 Equipment
A hydraulic cutter was commissioned, the CBS
CBC 135, at that time the biggest ever manufac-
tured, which included new features, able to reach
730
Alan J. Lutenegger
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, US
Gary L. Seider
Chance Civil Construction, Hubbell Power Systems, Centralia, MO, US
ABSTRACT: The use of installation torque required to advance a single-helix helical plate to deter-
mine soil stratigraphy and site characteristics is described. The steel plate has a diameter of 203 mm
and a pitch of 76 mm and is advanced with a hydraulic drive head positioned at the ground surface.
Square steel rods 38 mm 38 mm are used to transmit the torque from the hydraulic head to the helical
plate. Torque is measured at the ground surface every 0.3 m of advance of the plate to give a profile
of subsurface conditions. Results obtained at several sites representing a wide range of geologic condi-
tions are presented to illustrate the concept. The technique provides a rapid and economic alternative
to conventional site investigation methods for situations in which test borings or other in situ tests are
not available or are cost prohibitive.
731
3 CONCEPT OF TEST
Qult = kT
where:
k = an empirical coefficient
732
CCC-Centralia
2
A = 8 in.
5
E = 10 in.
4 J = 11.3 in.
N = 13.5 in.
S = 15 in. 10
6
15
Depth (ft.)
DEPTH (ft)
10
20
12
25
14
30
16
18 35
500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 4500
CCC-Centralia Stiff to Very Stiff Silty Clay-Clay sites represent a range of soil conditions and
(016 m) composition and consistency, from very soft to
CCC-Leadwood Loose-Medium Dense Sand very stiff.
(012 m)
CCC-Azdell Very Stiff to Hard Clay (05 m)
4.1 CCC-Centralia
UMass-DOE Stiff Clay Fill (02.4 m)
Stiff Clay (2.46 m) Test results obtained in a stiff silty clay (weathered
Soft Clay (618 m) till) in Centralia, Mo. are shown in Figure 5.
UMass-AF GT Silty Sand and Sand (04.5 m)
Medium Stiff Silty Clay
(4.512 m) 4.2 CCC-Leadwood
Results obtained in a relatively uniform loose to
medium dense sand with SPT blowcounts N60 from
a general tendency for the Installation Torque to about 4 to 12 are shown in Figure 6. The Installa-
increase. Assuming that the Installation Torque is tion Torque is relatively low and generally constant
related to the soils through which the helical plate throughout the profile, suggesting uniform condi-
penetrates, a profile of Installation Torque at a tions. The fact that the Installation Torque gener-
given site should give an indication of changes in ally is constant throughout the profile even though
soil conditions. the effective stress is increasing with depth suggests
that the sand is becoming less dense with depth,
i.e., Relative Density is decreasing.
4 RESULTS
Results from five test sites are used to illustrate 4.3 CCC-Azdell
typical results obtained from the Helical Profil- Results obtained in very stiff to hard high plastic-
ing Test. Table 1 gives a summary of the site con- ity clay are shown in Figure 7. Note that the Instal-
ditions at each of the six sites investigated. The lation Torque starts off relatively high and remains
733
5
5
10
10 15
DEPTH (ft.)
DEPTH (ft.)
20
15
25
20 30
CCC-Leadwood
35
25
0 200 400 600 800 1000 1200 40
INSTALLATION TORQUE (ft-lbs.) 0 100 200 300 400 500 600
16 4.5 UMass-AF-GT
0 2000 4000 6000 8000
This site consists of a thin layer of silt and silty sand
INSTALLATION TORQUE (ft-lbs) over about 4 m of medium to coarse sand. The sand
overlies medium stiff silty clay. The Installation
Figure 7. Installation torque in very stiff to hard plastic Torque is shown in Figure 9. The highest torque
clay.
values represent the middle of the sand layer. The
transition to the underlying silty clay can be seen
high. Two very high torque values at the lower end very clearly. The torque values in the silty clay are
of the profile indicate an obstruction or in this case similar in magnitude to those previously shown for
weathered bedrock and are near the limiting value similar materials in Figure 7 which is to be expected
of the equipment. since these are the same geologic deposit.
734
<500 15 48
10 5001500 515 510
10006000 1230 820
DEPTH (ft)
15
0 5 SUMMARY
735
ABSTRACT: A new large-diameter sampler for sensitive soils has been constructed and tested at the
Swedish Geotechnical Institute. The construction was initiated by two current projects. The first is a
research project requiring large, high quality samples from which a number of identical specimens can
be cut out and tested under various conditions. The project includes studies of the behaviour of the soil in
the elastic range of deformations up to failure in undrained conditions, which puts extra high demands
on the sample quality. The second project is a large investigation on slope stability along the Gta river
including large areas with quick clays, in which it has been found difficult to obtain high quality samples
with ordinary samplers. The new sampler provides 1 metre high samples with a diameter of 200 mm,
which are divided into 6 parts with heights of about 150 mm before being sealed and transported to the
laboratory. The design of the equipment is based on previous experience from Swedish, Norwegian and
Canadian samplers. Considerations have also been made regarding robustness, easy operation and com-
patibility with auxiliary equipment and drill rigs normally used in Sweden. The equipment has now been
tried out in a wide variety of Swedish clays and the results from tests on the obtained samples have been
compared to the results from Swedish standard piston samples and internationally proposed criteria for
classification of sample quality. The samples have been found to be uniform and to fulfil the proposed
criteria for high quality samples
737
738
3 OPERATION
Figure 2. Cutting edge with cutting cord.
The operation is started by predrilling a hole down
to the sampling level. This is done by a 250 mm
of the edge, there is a just below 3 mm wide and diameter hollow stem auger down to 50100 mm
deep groove which runs around the inner surface. above the intended bottom of the hole. The auger
The cutting cord, which is of high strength, low is rotated down in about 1 m long intervals and
friction, plaited and prestretched polyethene with then retracted to the surface to remove the soil
3 mm diameter, is pressed into this groove, Fig. 2. between the flanges. The retraction is made slowly
One end of the cord is led through a hole in the wall and at the same time drill mud is pumped down at
of the tube and fixed by a knot. The other end is a rate adjusted to fill the void that is created below
led through a nearby connector in the wall. A plas- the auger. The tool for preparing and cleaning the
tic tube for compressed air, in which the cord runs, bottom of the hole is then used. It has the shape of
is attached to the connector. At the other end of a straight bucket with a plane bottom. In the bot-
this tube there is a T-shaped three-way connector tom there are two radial slots below which cutting
in which the cutting cord runs straight out through edges protrude. The tool is advanced to the full
an adjustable seal and a lead for compressed air predrilling depth during rotation. It cuts the soil
can be attached in the angled connector. at the bottom into thin slices that enter the bucket
739
740
741
10
Hight, D.W., Bese, R., Butcher, A.P., Clayton, C.R.I.
8 Poor & Smith, P.R. 1992. Disturbance of the Bothkennar
clay prior to laboratory testing. Gotechnique, 42(2):
6 199218.
Good to fair Holm, G. & Holtz, R.D. 1977. Study of large diameter
4
piston samplers. Proceedings of International Sympo-
2 Very good to sium on Soft Clay. Bangkok, pp. 375386.
excellent Kallstenius, T. 1958. Mechanical disturbances in clay
0 samples taken with piston samplers. Proceedings
0 50 100 150 No. 16, Swedish Geotechnical Institute, Stockhlom.
(a) Water content, % Kallstenius, T. 1963. Studies on clay samples taken with
14 standard piston sampler. Proceedings No. 21, Swedish
Very poor
Geotechnical Institute, Stockhlom.
12 Large diameter samples
LaRochelle, P., Sarrailh, J., Tavenas, F., Roy, M. &
Standard piston samples Leroueil, S. 1981. Causes of sampling disturbance and
Volume change, %
10
design of a new sampler for sensitive soils. Canadian
8 Poor Geotechnical Journal, 18(1): 5266.
Larsson, R. 1981a. Drained behaviour of Swedish
6 clays. Report No. 12, Swedish Geotechnical Institute,
4 Good to fair Linkping.
Larsson, R. 1981b. Fr vi ngra ostrda prover med stand-
2 Very good to ardkolvborren? (Do we obtain undisturbed samples
excellent
with the standard piston sampler?) Varia No. 60, Swed-
0 ish Geotechnical Institute, Linkping (In Swedish).
0 50 100 150 Lefebvre, G. & Poulin, C. 1979. New method of sampling
(b) Water content, % in sensitive clay. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 16(1):
226233.
Figure 7. Estimated sample quality in: (a) Triaxial tests; Lfroth, H. 2009. Sampling in quick claycomparative
(b) CRS oedometer tests.. studies of samples taken with the SGI block sampler
and the standard piston sampler. Research project
in progress. Dnr. 1-0911-0770. Swedish Geotechnical
Institute, Linkping.
5 CONCLUSIONS Lunne, T., Berre, T. & Strandvik.S. 1997. Sample dis-
turbance effects in soft plastic Norwegian clay. Pro-
ceedings of Recent Developments in Soil and Pavement
A new sampler with large diameter for taking of Mechanics. Rio de Janeiro, pp. 81102.
undisturbed samples in soft to medium strength Otter, R. 1996. Technical specifications for block-sam-
fine-grained soils has been constructed. It has plingSimplified manual for the Sherbrooke sampler.
been tried out in a number of soils, of which many Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, Oslo.
have previously been considered difficult to sam- SGF 2009. Metodbeskrivning fr provtagning med
ple with high quality. The sampling operation has standardkolvprovtagareOstrd provtagning i finko-
been elaborated and the equipment has been found rnig jord. (Guidelines for sampling with standard pis-
to be robust and fairly easy to operate, although ton sampler). Swedish Geotechnical Society, Report
1:2009. www.sgf.net, (In Swedish).
somewhat cumbersome. The sampling has been
SGI 2011. Metodbeskrivning fr SGI:s 200 mm diam-
successful in all cases and the samples have been eter blockprovtagareOstrd provtagning i finko-
found to meet the most common criterion for high rnig jord. (Guidelines for sampling with SGI 200 mm
quality samples. diameter sampler). Swedish Geotechnical Institute,
Linkping. (In Swedish).
Statens jrnvgars geotekniska kommission 19141922
REFERENCES 1922. Slutbetnkande avgivet till till Kungl. Jrnvgss-
tyrelsen den 31 maj 1922. (Final report to the Rail-
hnberg, H. 2009. Degradation of undrained shear way Board). Geotekniska meddelanden Nr 2, Statens
strength due to dynamic actions and large strains. Jrnvgar, Stockholm. (In Swedish).
Research project in progress. Dnr. 1-0809-0290. Swed- Tavenas, F., Jean, P. LeBlond, P. & Leroueil, S. 1983.
ish Geotechnical Institute, Linkping. Permeability of natural soft clays, 2: Permeability
Andersen, K.H., Lunne, T., Kvalstad, T.J. & Forsberg, characteristics. Canadian Geotechnical Journal, 20(4):
C.F. 2008. Deep Water Geotechnical Engineering. 645660.
Proceedings XXIV Nat. Conf. of the Mexican Soc. of
Soil Mechanics. Aguascalientes, pp. 157.
742
ABSTRACT: The occurrence of quick clay has a large impact on the risks associated with slope stability
and construction works. Even relatively small and superficial slides can then, for example, often develop
into major landslides involving large areas. The existence of quick clay is confirmed by tests on samples
brought into the laboratory or by field vane tests. However, these determinations are normally limited
to a number of depths at certain points in an area. Additional information is therefore sought from
penetration tests with continuous registration with depth and from area covering methods. Traditionally,
occurrence of quick clay has been estimated from studies of the steepness of the curves for total penetra-
tion force versus depth obtained by different penetration tests. However, the total penetration force is the
sum of tip resistance and friction against the sounding rods, where in clays the tip resistance is related
to the undrained shear strength and the friction against the rods is related to the residual or remoulded
shear strength. In Cone Penetration Tests, (CPTs) the tip resistance is measured and it is thereby possible
to separate the two components if the total penetration force is measured as an additional parameter. A
study of different penetration tests to estimate occurrence of quick clay has been performed, and CPTs
with measurement of the total penetration force were found to be superior to the traditionally used pen-
etration tests to establish occurrence and depth intervals of quick clay in the test points. The friction is
also measured against the friction sleeve just above the tip, but the accuracy is generally too poor to yield
relevant measures of the friction in highly sensitive clays. This resulted in a recommendation to use CPTs
with additional continuous measurement of the total penetration force versus depth for this purpose, and
the method is now used in large scale in practise. In western Sweden, the main cause for quick clay forma-
tion is leaching of salts in the marine clays, which also affects the resistivity of the soil. As a method to
obtain more area covering information, the use of surface resistivity measurements was therefore tried in
areas where quick clays had been found in geotechnical investigation points. The results in terms of indi-
cations of how far the leaching process had progressed in different parts were found to be consistent with
the occurrence of quick clay and the method was proposed to be used as a supplement to the geotechnical
investigation methods.
743
744
745
R od friction , kN, corrected sleeve frictio n and Rod frictio n, kN, corrected sleeve f rict ion an d Rod friction , kN, corrected sleeve frictio n and
remo ulded shear streng th, kPa rem oulded sh ear st ren gth, kPa remould ed shear strength, kPa
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
0 0 0
Sensitivi ty S ensi tivity
15 25 15 36
Djup m
Djup m
Djup m
15 1 18
20 15 20 33
20 1 90
25 19 25 146
25 1 90
30 17 12 8
30
35 43 30
35
Figure 4. Examples of CPT test results in terms of side friction in: (a) Normal clay profile; (b) Clay profile with
quick clay below 20 m depth; (c) Clay profile with quick clay below 5 m depth.
746
747
748
B. Zakizadeh
College of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
O. Naeeni
Hydraulics group, College of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
A. Fakher
Geotechnical group, College of Engineering, School of Civil Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran
ABSTRACT: Subsurface erosion of soil is caused by water seeping through a porous medium of a
non-cohesive soil. The groundwater flow will create critical condition for piping. In this paper, a simple
probabilistic method has been developed. A game theory that is known as a two personzero sum ruin
game, has been applied. The method of modeling consists of the three steps, at the first step, soil grains
are divided into two groups, called protective part and erodible zone. In the second step, an assembly of
spherical grains is formed to model the soil structure. In the last step, potential subsurface erosion is calcu-
lated using a game theory. The use of this method requires an iterative calculation so a computer program
is developed. The input data are particle size distribution and porosity of soil sample and the results are
the probability of subsurface erosion, which is expressed by eroded grains volume and size.
749
750
751
752
Figure 2. Flowchart shows the algorithm of developed Figure 3. Comparison of Laboratory test [11] and pre-
program. sented probabilistic method.
753
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Grain Size D, mm Grain Size D, mm
100 100
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Grain Size D, mm Grain Size D, mm
100 100
60 60
50 50
40 40
30 30
20 20
10 10
0 0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Grain Size D, mm Grain Size D, mm
754
After Erosion
According to the Figure 3, the average error
70 Probabilistic method between two methods is 8.1, which means that
the presented probabilistic method, predict about
Soil Passing (%)
60
8.1% more than laboratory test. However, this
50
average error is not reliable because there were not
40 adequate laboratory test data is this study. All the
30
soil samples are concave-upward, so the presented
probabilistic method verified with concave-upward
20 soils.
10
0
0.01 0.1 1 10
4 CONCLUSION
Grain Size D, mm
60
eroded part of soil in laboratory tests because the
50 time as a limited parameter in these laboratory tests
affects the process of erosion.
40
In the presented probabilistic method, the grain
30 size distribution of soil is the input parameter to
20
predict the potential erosion. Therefore, in any
site characterization project, it suggested that the
10
potential of internal erosion of soil is determined
0 before any construction and supplementary tests
0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Grain Size D, mm are performed. The presented method could be
used for preliminarily estimation of potential ero-
Figure 11. Grain size distributionBe#8. sion. if potential is high, then further investiga-
tion could be undertaken in a site characterization
the initial grain size distribution and the final grain project.
size distribution, which is performed by probabil-
istic method.
According to the Figure 3, there is incoherence
between the laboratory test results and probabil- REFERENCES
istic method results. These differences are derived
1. Bryan, R.B. & Jones, J.A.A. 1997. The significance
from a tiny difference between the definitions of of soil piping processes: inventory and prospect.
two methods. The probabilistic method shows the Geomorphology, 20: 209218
maximum potential of erosion in the soils sam- 2. Srbulov, M. 1988. Estimation of Soil Internal Erosion
ples within unlimited time but the laboratory tests Potential. Computers and Geotechnics, 6: 265276.
show the amount of eroded soil during test within 3. Lane, E.W. 1935. Security from Under-Seepage:
specific conditions and restrictions. It is expectable Masonry Dams on earth Foundation, Trans.,
that the probabilistic method predicts more erosion A.S.C.E., 100: 1235.
for a specific soil sample compare with laboratory 4. Kenney, T. & Lau, D. 1985. Internal Stability of
test and this fact is obvious in Figure 3. In 6 out Granular Filters, Canadian Geotech. Journal, 22:
215225.
of 8 soil samples, Be#1Be#6, there is an obvious 5. Al-Raoush, R. & Alsaleh, M. 2007. Simulation of
gap in soil gradation curve which divide soil sam- random packing of polydisperse particles, Powder
ple into two parts, fine fraction and coarse fraction Technology, 176: 4755.
and it is obvious that the most probable erodible 6. Mason, G. & Mellor, D.W. 1995. Simulation of
part is fine fraction. In following soil samples the drainage and imbibition in a random packing of
755
756
Marcelo Devincenzi
Igeotest, Spain
Santiago Pea
Acciona Ingeniera, Spain
ABSTRACT: In the geological context of the delta zone formed by the estuary of the River Paraiba,
near So Joo da Barra, Rio de Janeiro State, LLX Au Operaoes Portuarias S.A., a member of the EBX
Group, is planning the construction of a large-scale seaport: Superporto Do Au. Owing to the generally
poor subsoil conditions, an intensive near-shore geotechnical Site Investigation (SI) campaign was car-
ried out in order to determine the most appropriate breakwater typology. Core-barrel rotary drillings and
CPTUs up to 50 m below the seabed were performed from a jack-up platform deployed from Europe to
the work site specifically for this project. Water depth varies from 13.8 to 18.1 metres. Laboratory tests
were also carried out on high-quality undisturbed samples. This paper presents the outcomes of the SI
campaign and sets out the alignment with standard correlations for Quaternary submarine near-shore
delta soils in Brazil.
757
758
A mono-hull IG-IV jack-up platform was towed It is capable of generating thrusts of up to 200 KN
across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain, as this was with firm anchoring to the platform deck.
held to be a reliable method to guarantee the neces- The existence of very compact ground at shal-
sary thrust and the verticality of the tests. At 24 m low depths made it necessary to re-drill in the event
in length by 18 m in width, and 45 m spuds, she can of CPT refusal, which can be easily done with this
work with draughts of up to 35 m under favour- configuration (drill rig + TOTEMCPT).
able conditions (Fig. 5). The fact that the penetration test thrust equip-
The jack-up platform in question is a complete ment and the rotation and drilling equipment are
geotechnical investigation unit fitted with all the independent provides greater efficiency in re-drill-
equipment required to carry out rotary drilling ing operations, as the rods can be extracted in sec-
with full borelog recovery within which different tions of 3 m to 6 m, the TOTEM being decoupled
types of undisturbed samples can be taken, in addi- and re-drilling carried out with the same casing by
tion to which SPT and other types of geotechnical rotation with pressurised water injection.
in situ tests can be carried out. Guidance casing of the piezocone rods not only
For CPT tests a TOTEMCPT marine research guarantees the verticality of the test, avoiding any
rig was used (Fig. 6). The apparatus was designed buckling as a result of the specific design, with a
and developed by the Igeotest R&D department to guidance cross section tightly fitted to the diameter
perform all types of static-drive marine geotechni- of the piezocone rods, but also has a toothed head
cal surveys (Prez & Devincenzi 2010). allowing for non-recoverable drilling.
The system is independent of, but can be used in The CPTU apparatus used was a NOVA
conjunction with, the drilling machine and permits RW (Geotech AB) 10 cm2 model that uses radio
borehole drilling and sampling and CPTu to be per- waves to transmit the gathered data to the surface
formed at a single location without repositioning. receiver. It is a wireless system, and this once again
makes for more efficient manoeuvres while avoid-
ing the interference by noise of uncertain origin
that would occur with an acoustic system.
759
Time (sec)
Mean Standard deviation
760
ACC-2
SD-19
SD-15
ACC-4
SD-16
ACC-5
10
12.6 12.4
13.9 14.0
16.3
14.6 14.9 10
20
22.0 22.0
22.8
24.4
25.4
27.9
30
32.1
15
40
DEPTH
20
50 Intermediate
60
Thickness of drainage edges
588400 7588200 7588000 7587800 7587600 7587400 7587200 7587000 25
soft soil
30
35
40
761
2.5
r = 0.641 validity of the Ic for the soil profiling.
2
6.3 Piezocone and laboratory
FR%
1.5
1
Out of the total number of dissipation tests per-
formed, a 100% degree of dissipation was achieved
0.5
(T100) in 38% and T80 in 66%. It was required that
0 at least T50 be achieved in all tests in order for them
0 20 40
% Finos
60 80 100
to be considered complete.
The horizontal consolidation coefficients were
calculated by both the Baligh and Levadoux and
Figure 11. Variation of FR with percent fines.
Teh and Houlsby methods, giving similar values
for a rigidity index of 500.
Determination of Cv was established by means of
At depth, the mixture of sand and clay is much the relationship between the Ch (piezocone) and esti-
more diffuse and homogeneous, in the sense that mated Cv values at the same level, giving a ratio of:
no predominance of one over the other can be
Ch piezocono
established. 21 (7)
Cv _ oedometer
6.2 Piezocone and laboratory Ratios of this order have previously been found
in the field, as set out in Gmez-Escoubs et al.
Given the centimetre fineness of the data pro-
(2004), among others, while the authors experi-
vided by the piezocones and the surplus informa-
ence confirms that Ch(piezocone) > Cv(real) > Cv(oedometer)
tion they provide, statistical processing of the data
Assuming that:
using weighted values is essential if they are to be
understood. The abundance of information allows
k C
a large number of correlations to be established. Cv v s Ch (8)
For example, a relationship between the loga- kh Cc piezocone
rithm of the percent fines and the FR% was One obtains a permeability ratio of:
obtained (Fig. 11). It is, however, evident that this
does not apply for high Friction Ratio values. The
kh
k 4
fact is that the campaign performed did not reveal (9)
any section with consistently high FRs, with only v
very occasional peak FR values above 3.54%, lack-
ing statistical validity outside the zone studied. Which is consistent with the standard
The relationship between the compression index bibliography.
and natural water content was also established. Taking this ratio as valid, and given, as would be
expected, the much higher number of dissipation
Cc 0.014 w(%) 0.1685 (r = 0.787 ) (2) tests rather than oedometer tests, the reliability
Cc 0 00 9 w 1 034
(r = 0.756 ) (3) of the parameter is estimated on the basis of the
former. In any event the reliability of the Cv calculation
Cc 0 1061 e 0 028 w
(r = 0.792 ) (4) estimated will not be affected by the choice of the
Ir, since the regression coefficient of the linear
The relationship between the compression and function f(Cv) = Ch will not be affected by varia-
swelling coefficients, after subsequent elimination tions in the latter.
of those values diverging the farthest from the Meanwhile, in all the dissipation tests performed
mean to give a variation coefficient of 0.16, was: it was observed that the variation coefficient
Cc obtained for Ch80 was lower than for Ch50, with the
5 (5) Teh and Houlsby method giving a mean variation
Cs coefficient of:
thus lying within the typical range. Variation coefficient Ch50 = 2.475
Correlations with the Ic and fine content were Variation coefficient Ch80 = 2.052
also sought, giving a reasonable correlation pro-
vided by: Nonetheless, the direct correlation with the labora-
tory tests is highly disperse in both cases, giving
% .38 I c 2.56 (r = 0. ) (6) only slightly improved statistical affinity with Ch80.
762
The aim was to establish traditional correlations The piezocone and borehole campaign provides
between the parameters obtained with the piezo- greater precision and accuracy in terms of strati-
cone and the laboratory results. graphic interpretation, proving a highly efficient
As the short-term conditions are generally more means of geotechnical characterisation.
critical, a particular emphasis was placed on estab- The results of the campaign reveal ground with
lishing the undrained shear strength of cohesive reasonable strength characteristics with regard to
soils, based on both the piezocones and the labo- overall long-term stability. However, the results
ratory tests with unconfined compression strength also confirm the considerable variability of the
tests and a number of non-consolidated triaxial ground, with the intercalation within predominant
tests with undrained failure (UU). sandy sections of smaller-scale cohesive traces in
The three standard formulae were used to esti- the zones closer to the surface. This confirms the
mate Su, the value employed by the overall cone presence of soft zones at depth that would seem to
resistance being taken as prevalent. The N factors take the form of paleochannels with an accumula-
employed for each of the formulations were: tion of sedimentary material.
These features are difficult to define using only
(qc ) percussion drilling with SPT tests every metre.
su = v0
Nk = 20 (12) Continuous supervision by specialist personnel
Nk
familiar with the principles of geotechnical port
(qt u2 ) engineering serves to increase the efficiency of the
su = Nke = 12 (13)
N ke campaign.
The existence of zones with widely differing
u
su = Nu= 10 (14) deformation behaviour in nearby locations means
N u that consideration must be given to possible dif-
ferential settlements. However, given the number
Similar values were obtained using all three, and of dissipation tests (corroborated using laboratory
were in all cases of the same order of magnitude. tests), and the precise location of drainage edges,
The results obtained by means of the unconfined the construction process can be planned with a
compression tests were clearly lower than those high degree of security with regard to differential
deduced using the above formulations, even more settlements in operation.
than would be typical given the absence of confine- The fine stratigraphy provided by the piezocones
ment in these tests. allows for reliable examination of the possibil-
A smaller number of triaxial UU tests were per- ity of planar failure in response to the instanta-
formed, giving values higher than those obtained neous actions to which the ground is subjected
in the unconfined compression, but likewise when loaded. Thus, special attention was paid to
lower than the estimates based on the piezocones. the clayey silt laminations, which were repeatedly
Although the values obtained in the in situ tests found embedded in shallow layers.
were weighted downwards, it is felt that the param- The assumption of the parameter of Ch50 as the
eters which may be deduced from the piezocone benchmark in estimating the consolidation coeffi-
offer a more reliable insight into the real state of cient may in this campaign be considered on the safe
the ground. The formula proposed by Robertson side, as one typically obtains greater Ch80 values.
763
764
P. Plotto
IMSRN, Montbonnot, France
ABSTRACT: Internal erosion is the displacement of the fine particles of a soil under the action of an
internal flow. This mechanisms could be the origin of the damage on embankments and earth dams. Risks
are linked to the nature of the floods but also to the construction of the embankments and the inappropri-
ate monitoring system. It is necessary to detect the weak zones which could be the local site of a failure. It
is also important to understand the phenomena of internal erosion. A new experimental device has been
carried out in our laboratory. This experiment named Cross Erosion Test has been calibrated with a
numerical simulation. The test consists of the injection, in a first drilling, of clean water and the recovery,
in another drilling, of water charged with particles. In function of the soils, the flow and the initial state of
the soils, it is possible to measure and characterize internal erosion by visualisation of the water flow and
measurement of the weight of the extracted water. In this paper we present this new experimental device
and the first analyzed results.
765
766
Figure 8. hP = 0.74 m.
Figure 9. hP< = 2 m.
Figure 6. hP = 0.1 m.
Figure 10. hP = 7 m.
Figure 7. hP = 0.5 m.
767
768
FOS dI
mm Cu mm Rr = FOS/dI Result
769
770
S.C. Chien
Department of Information Tourism, Aletheia University, Chen-Li, Tamsui, Taiwan, ROC
ABSTRACT: Previous studies have shown that the application of Direct Current (DC) during electro-
osmosis with injection is effective in strengthening soft clay. However, the DC can be obtained from an
alternating current supply by use of a current-switching arrangement called a rectifier and a filter. In this
study, a novel technique of using harmonic waves (half wave rectification or full wave rectification) during
electro-osmosis with injection was developed to expand the different types of power supply and to achieve
practical goal. Results of this study indicate that an effective improvement was observed by using a half
wave rectification or full wave rectification on the soils mechanical properties such as CPT. In particular,
the improvement effect by using the full wave rectification is close to that using the rectification and filter
in terms of region of improvement and average cone resistance. Hence, the technique of the harmonic
waves may be practically applied in electro-osmotic chemical treatment for soil improvement.
771
(b)
(c)
(d)
reduction in the filter component, the price of using a circular experimental cell made of a Plex-
a power supply may be reduced. Hence, differ- iglas tube (280 mm diameter and 330 mm height),
ent types of power supply may be considered for bounded by a top and bottom Plexiglas plate
application of electro-osmosis. A novel technique (Fig. 2). Plexiglas was used because of its electri-
of harmonic waves (half wave rectification or full cal and hydraulic impermeability. The top plate
wave rectification) was developed to achieve eco- was bored with holes for connecting the perforated
nomic and practical goals owing to a reduction in tubular electrodes (anode and cathode), pressure
the filter component for electro-osmosis with injec- probes for pressure consolidation, and draining
tion. For comparison, the traditional type (recti- tubes for consolidation. The bottom plate was
fication and filter) was also studied. Moreover, a laid out with the relay pipe (perforated tubular
relay pipe system, which was installed between the tube) and draining tubes for consolidation. Both
anode and the cathode, was used to increase the the electrodes were connected to a power supply
region of improvement and increase the strength device that was 200 mm apart. Drainage could be
of the treated soil in this study. Chien et al. (2010) controlled at both the ends of the cell during the
made good progress in an electro-osmotic appli- consolidation stage. Tubular stainless steel pipes
cation by using a relay pipe system. The results were used as electrodes and the relay pipe, with the
showed that the region and power of improvement holes drilled along the surface of the pipe to inject
could be efficiently enhanced. Hence, a relay pipe (anode and relay pipe) and drain (cathode) during
system was adopted during electro-osmosis in this the electro-osmotic stages. Several O-rings were
study. fastened onto both the ends of the cell to house
electrodes.
772
773
774
775
776
ABSTRACT: Most large-scale landslides involve creeping displacement behavior due to presence of
greater composition of minerals like Smectites, Chlorites, and Micas and illites. The past works are con-
fined to pre-peak creep study, however; landslide mass is supposed to reach residual-state of shear which
naturally demands post-peak creep study, especially residual-state creep study. So modified ring shear
machine is used to study the creeping displacement behavior of representative landslide soil samples hav-
ing higher percentage of Smectite, Chlorite, and Mica. The results thus obtained are interpreted in terms
of Residual state Creep Stress Ratio (RCSR), at which the soil specimen failed in its residual-state of shear.
The term RCSR is the ratio of applied constant shear stress with residual strength. The test results show
that when RCSR 1, the soil does not show creeping displacement behavior where as the soil undergo
creeping displacement behavior when RCSR > 1.This paper mainly focus on the residual-state creeping
displacement behavior of landslide soils and further possibilities for landslide displacement prediction.
777
778
Start
Data Strain-controlled,
Figure 4. Typical residual-state creep test on Smectite-
Recording motor-driven shear rich sample.
System Continue
Residual shearing
No
state
< Ring shear test >
Yes
Figure 2. Overall experimental flow of residual-state Figure 5. Typical residual-state creep test on Chlorite-
creep test. rich sample.
55
2
44 r = 44.86 kN/m
Shear stress, (kN/m )
2
Smectite-rich sample
Chlorite-rich sample
33
Mica-rich sample
2
r = 24.13 kN/m
22
2
v = 98.1 kN/m 2
r = 8.86 kN/m
11
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
Displacement (cm)
Figure 3. Typical ring shear test of representative land- Figure 6. Typical residual-state creep test on Mica-rich
slide soil samples. sample.
779
Mica-rich sample
no. RCSR sec mm sec mm Remarks 10000
failure (sec)
780
4.5
Smectite-rich sample
3.8 Chlorite-rich sample ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Mica-rich sample
complete failure (mm)
Displacement until
3.0
The authors wish to thank Assistant Professor
2.3 Jinghe Tan of the College of Civil and Construc-
tion Engineering, Guilin University of Technol-
1.5 ogy, China for his valuable support and advice
0.8
during the experiments. We also wish to Technical
Assistant Mr. Osamu Futagami, for his regular
0.0 support during the set up, repair and maintenance
1.000 1.005 1.010 1.015 1.020 1.025 of the apparatus. Research was funded by Special
RCSR Graduate Course on Disaster Mitigation Study
for Asian Students, Graduate school of science
Figure 8. Prediction curve (Displacement until com- and Engineering, Ehime University Matsuyama
plete failure Vs RCSR). Japan.
781
782
ABSTRACT: A laboratory study was undertaken to evaluate the effect of ageing on the indirect ten-
sile characteristics of a typical granular base material lightly stabilized with cement-flyash. Cylindrical
samples were prepared using a gyratory compactor and cured for various curing periods in a moist room
maintained at constant temperature and controlled humidity. After curing, specimens were tested for
Indirect Diametrical Tensile (IDT) strength and stiffness modulus under indirect tension mode. Results
indicate increase in IDT strength and stiffness modulus values with increasing curing period.
783
784
785
LVDT
Perspex
strips
Plan view
4.2 Stiffness Modulus period. It is evident that the IDT strength and stiff-
The stiffness modulus of the stabilized materials ness modulus increased with increases in the curing
is calculated from the following equation based on period. It should be noted that the average value
BSI (1993) from the linear part of the load versus were calculated from three specimens of each batch
deformation curve obtained from the monotonic for a specific curing period. Coefficients of varia-
load IDT test. tion (CoV) were also shown in Table 2 which was
usually less than 15% except for 7-day cured speci-
P (v + 0.27 ) men that showed 16.6% of CoV.
Sm = 1000 (2)
t
5.1 Effect of curing time on IDT strength
Where Sm is stiffness modulus in MPa; P is the load
in kN; is corresponding horizontal deformation Figure 4 shows the effect of curing time on the
in mm; is Poissons ratio and t is the thickness of IDT strength of a lightly stabilized material. As
the specimen in mm. can be seen, the IDT strength the lightly stabilized
material was found to increase with longer curing
times; for example, the strength gained at 90 days
5 TEST RESULTS AND DISCUSSION was almost 1.5 time that at 7 days of age. Moreo-
ver, the IDT strength increased by about 20% for
Table 2 illustrates the variation in the tensile prop- an increase in the curing period from 28 days to
erties of lightly stabilized materials with the curing 90 days, which is much lower than the 55% obtained
786
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
787
788
Fernando Schnaid
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil
ABSTRACT: This Report provides an overview of the themes covered by ISC4 Session New
approaches for interpreting testing data. The sixteen published papers make reference to three in situ test-
ing techniques: piezocone, SPT and pressuremeter and are here divided in five general categories for easy
reference. Discussion related to each category is preceded by a brief prologue to stress the importance and
potential of the area, followed by a review and summary of published information. Innovative concepts
are highlighted in order to demonstrate their usefulness for interpreting testing data, whereas newbut
already provenapproaches are selected for dissemination and adoption in engineering practice.
791
Figure 1. Data smoothing and reduction effects on soil Figure 2. Quadratic trend removal, CN1.
classification J4 data set.
of the soil prior to any construction activity and weight from CPTU data based on the compilation
prediction of the stress-strain-time and strength of 34 reported case studies in normally-consolidated
characteristics of the encountered soil layers. to lighty-overconsolidated clays. The method is
Interpretation methods are based on a variety based on the resistance-depth ratio mq (=qt/z) which
of approaches ranging from formal analytical or is the slope of the (corrected) cone resistance ver-
numerical solutions to well accepted semi-empirical sus depth. Since a zero intercept is enforced, the
approaches. In this session contributions on the method does not apply to any overconsolidated
prediction of soil parameters are referred to the or cemented clay. Typical predictions are shown in
piezocone, adding further experience to well estab- Figure 3 and results are approximated by equation:
lished approaches based on the measured cone
resistance to derive profiles of undrained shear t = 0 63 (qt )
0.072
( + mq ) (1)
strength, overconsolidation ratio, internal friction
angle and soil stiffness (e.g. Lunne et al. 1997). where t and mq are both in kN/m3 and qt is in
In addition to existing approaches, Mayne and kN/m2. Considerable scatter is observed in pre-
Peuchen proposed a method for estimating soil unit dicted values (r2 0.75).
792
0 0
-1 -1
-3 -3
-4 -4
-5 -5
-6 -6
-7 -7
CPTU 1
Figure 3. Statistical trend for unit weight in terms of qt ZHC Elevation Type of soil Parameters
(m) ' () E (MPa)
and mq with separation of offshore and onshore data.
up to 0,77 Water
[0,77; 0,25] Silty sand / Sandy silt 31.4 2.1
[0,25; -1,01] Clean sand / silty sand 37.8 11.8
Rios and Viana da Fonseca explore the Uni- [-1,01; -2,79] Silty sand / Sandy silt 34.8 11.3
fied Approach for soil classification proposed by [-2,79; -4,37] Silty sand 37.3 22.7
( )
300 300
cv + 14.44 log Qttn,cn 22.31 (2) 280 280
793
400
qt (kPa)
300
200
100
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
v (mm/sec)
(a)
90
80
70
60
u2 (kPa)
50
40
30
Figure 6. Steady state tip resistance for isotropically 20
consolidated VCC CPT performed under BC1 vs. empiri- 10
cally based prediction. 0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
tion in sand, in order to overcome the difficulties (b)
v (mm/sec)
794
120
1E-1 1E+0 1E+1 1E+2
t [min] measurement for the prediction of soil parameters
from SPT results.
Figure 8. Measuredfitted data, method A. Five papers report in this session make refer-
ence to energy measurements and dynamic vis-
The approach previously described has been cous effects, as well as on applications of these
used by Bishop, Bates, Fityus, Hegedus and Imre concepts to derive soil property and assess pile
to characterize the geological layer boundaries performance.
in two sites in Australia. Results indicate reliable Santana, Danziger and Danziger recognize the
solutions for both monotonic and non-monotonic importance of measuring the energy reaching the
pore pressure dissipation tests, as demonstrated sample. The authors measured the energy below
the comparison between measured and predicted the anvil and just above the sampler by watertight
data (Figure 8). accelerometers and force transducers in SPTs per-
formed with 22.7 m rod length. The ratio between
the energy measured below the anvil and above
1.4 SPT energy based approach
the sampler was 0.89. Results are summarized in
Different SPT apparatus (e.g. those employing Table 2 in terms of potential energy Ep, kinetic
manual and automatic trip hammers) produce var- energy Ek, enthru energy Ei and sampler energy Es.
iable energy losses (e.g. Schmertmann & Palacios Information at the last column gives overall energy
1979), which are accounted for by standardiz- losses during the entire process of energy propa-
ing the measured N value to a reference value of gation. Starting from the potential energy, 8% in
60% of the potential energy of the SPT hammer average was lost during the hammer fall, another
(N60), following recommendation from Skempton 10% below the anvil, and a further 10% above the
(1986). Although this procedure reduces the Nspt sampler, i.e. the system efficiency of these test was
index inaccuracy, it does not contribute to improve 72% in average.
the effectiveness in assessing soil parameters from Another example of energy measurements
empirically based methods of interpreting the test along the rods are reported in the investigation car-
results. This requires a method to compute the ried out by Lukiantchuki, Bernardes and Esquivel.
dynamic force Fd, that corresponds to the dynamic Direct measurements of normal forces acting in a
soil reaction to sampler penetration based on the section just above the sampler were used to plot
amount of energy delivered to the sampler Es the experimental dynamic force Fd. A comparison
(Odebrecht et al. 2004; Schnaid 2005): between measured and calculated values obtained
using equation (5) suggests that the experimental
Es 31 (0.75M h g ) + ( M h g ) + 32 ( M r g ) dynamic force values were lower than the theoreti-
Fd = cal dynamic force values. Additionally, the differ-
(5) ence between these values increases with increasing
rod length, strengthening the importance of recali-
where Mh is the hammer mass, Mr the rod mass, H brating efficiency coefficients 1, 2 and 3 to find
the height of fall, the permanent penetration representative values of local practice.
under one blow, g the gravitational acceleration Measured energy and derived dynamic force can
and 1, 2 e 3 the efficiency coefficients, calibrated offer a feasible alternative to refine the prediction
as: 1 = 0.76; 2 = 1 e 3 = (1 0.0042), where is of soil parameters from dynamic penetration tests
the total rod length. Equation 5 indicates that the provided that compensatory changes in static and
potential energy resulting from the penetration of viscous components of soil resistance (i.e stiffness
the sampler should be considered when computing and damping variations) are properly accounted
the overall potential energy reaching the sampler, for. Lobo, Schnaid, Rocha and Howie describe a
an effect that is particularly important in tests car- numerical sensitivity analysis of sampler-soil inter-
ried out in soft clay and loose sand. The dynamic action mechanism based on constitutive equa-
force Fd can be considered as a fundamental tions using energy concepts associated to dynamic
795
15000
300/Nref (mm)
10000
0 (2:1)
5000
4 Qulmate measured (kN)
0
0 5000 10000 15000 20000
6
Figure 10. Comparison of measured and predicted ulti-
mate load.
8
Depth (m)
796
( )
1/n approaches adopted in engineering practice.
qcv qcv0 v0 (7) b. Penetration rate effects are now recognized and
v better understood. It is likely that cone penetra-
where qcv0 and 0 are coordinates of a reference tion rates other than the standard 20 mm/s will
point and n is a creep index. Field an laboratory be used in site investigation programs for evalu-
measurements in permafrost soils tested within the ating the response of intermediate permeability
range of 106 to 2 m/min are shown in Figure 12. soils such as clayey and sandy silts and man-
Whereas the measured soil resistance depends on made tailings.
soil temperature, the creep index is relatively inde- c. Energy-Based approaches will offer better means
pendent on temperature. The author suggest that of interpreting dynamic penetration tests.
the TCPT can be successfully used in plastic frozen d. Prediction of small strain properties from large
soils to evaluate soil strength and stiffness, as well strain measurements (qc, Nspt) are routine in
as on the prediction of bearing capacity and set- engineering practice (as well as in case studies
tlements, provided that different penetration rates reported here). Although a critical appraisal
are used. of this approach has not been covered in this
session, this practice should be restricted to
1.6 Comments preliminary design and in the absence of direct
measurements of shear wave velocities, given
In a general observation from the review of the scatter observed on existing empirical cor-
the 18 papers submitted to the Session on New relations (see Figure 13).
797
798
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of CPTU tests performed at the shore of Douro River in
Portugal, obtained by the application of the Unified Approach proposed by Robertson (2009). The results
provided a better understanding of the soil profile as well as the evaluation of design parameters. From
this information, a new solution was conceived for the retaining wall of a new small port that is being
built in that area.
1 INTRODUCTION q v0 Pa
n
Q= t (2)
The Unified Approach (UA) was proposed by Pa v0
Robertson (2009) with the aim of enabling geo-
technical engineers to interpret results of static F = fs /(qc v0) 100 (3)
cone penetration tests (CPT or CPTU, or even Pa represents the atmospheric pressure, and v 0 and
SCPT) with a more comprehensive way and over v0 the total and effective vertical stress, respec-
a very broad range of soils. This was applied with tively. According to Robertson (2009) the stress
great success in a case study in Porto, Portugal, exponent n is typically close to 0.5 in the clean sand
in terms of soil classification and estimation of region, and close to 1.0 in the clay region.
design parameters. In terms of strength parameters, the angle of shear
The aim of this geotechnical characterization resistance, can be obtained by the following expres-
was to understand the predominance of clay or sion proposed by Robertson (2010) in function of the
silty clay layers within the sand layers, as well as to angle of shearing strength at critical state ( cv),
obtain values of angles of shearing resistance and
stiffness modulus. For this reason, nine CPTU pro- = cv + 14.44 (log Qtn,cs) 22.31 (4)
files were performed whose results were analyzed
by recurring to the UA methodology which will be where,
expressed in detail in this paper. Qtn,cs = KC Q (5)
KC = 1.0 if, Ic < 1.64
799
CPTU 7
CPTU 9
CPTU4 CPTU1
CPTU6
800
4 RESULTS
801
802
Figure 11. CPTU 7 soil profile. Figure 13. CPTU 9 soil profile.
803
0 0 0 0
-1 -1 -1
-1
ZHC Elevaon (m)
-2 -2 -2
-2
ZHC Elevaon (m)
-3 -3
-3 -3
-4 -4
-4 -4
-5 -5
-5 -5
-6 -6
-6 -6
-7 -7
-7 -7
CPTU 3
CPTU 1
ZHC Elevation Type of soil Parameters ZHC Elevation Type of soil Parameters
(m) ' () E (MPa) (m) ' () E (MPa)
up to 0,77 Water [0,74; 0,18] Clayey silt / Silty clay 28.6 1.3
[0,77; 0,25] Silty sand / Sandy silt 31.4 2.1 [0,18; -0,76] Silty sand / Sandy silt 33.5 6.2
[0,25; -1,01] Clean sand / silty sand 37.8 11.8 [-0,76; -1,46] Clay 26.6 1.8
[-1,01; -2,79] Silty sand / Sandy silt 34.8 11.3 [-1,46; -2,24] Clayey silt / Silty clay 29.7 4.9
[-2,79; -4,37] Silty sand 37.3 22.7 [-2,24; -3,84] Silty sand / Sandy silt 33.8 12.4
Figure 14. Design parameters for the CPTU 1 soil Figure 16. Design parameters for the CPTU 3 soil
profile. profile.
804
0 0 0
0
-1 -1 -1
-1
-2 -2 -2
-2
ZHC Elevaon (m)
-4 -4 -4
-4
-5 -5 -5
-5
-6 -6 -6
-6
-7 -7 -7
CPTU 4 -7
Figure 17. Design parameters for the CPTU 4 soil Figure 19. Design parameters for the CPTU 6 soil
profile. profile.
' E (MPa)
' E (MPa)
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
0 10 20 30 40 50 0 10 20 30 40 50
-3 -3
1 1
0 0
-4 -4
-1 -1
-5 -5
-2 -2
ZHC Elevaon (m)
-6 -6
-3 -3
-4 -4
-7 -7
-5 -5
-8 -8
-6 -6
-9 -9
-7 -7
CPTU 5 CPTU 7
ZHC Elevation Type of soil Parameters
ZHC Elevation Type of soil Parameters (m) ' () E (MPa)
(m) ' () E (MPa)
[-3,59; -4,31] Heterogeneous (sands) 34.1 3.6
[0,68; 0,42] Silty sand / sandy silt 29.3 1.0 [-4,31; -4,87] Clean sand / silty sand 36.5 8.8
[0,42; 0,12] Clayey silt / Silty clay 29.4 1.8 [-4,87; -5,29] Silty sand / sandy silt 33.0 6.6
[0,12; -2,68] Silty sand / sandy silt 34.5 9.4 [-5,29; -6,41] Sand (with some silt) 36.8 14.8
[-2,68; -3,1] Clean sand / silty sand 40.1 30.6 [-6,41; -6,79] Clean sand / silty sand 38.1 20.6
[-6,79; -8,15] Sand (with a few silt) 37.5 21.9
Figure 18. Design parameters for the CPTU 5 soil
profile. Figure 20. Design parameters for the CPTU 7 soil profile.
805
-5 -5
0 0
-5 -5
-6 -6 -1 -1
-6 -6
ZHC Elevaon (m)
-7 -7
-3 -3
-7 -7
-8 -8
-4 -4
-8 -8
-5 -5
-9 -9
-9 -9 -6 -6
CPTU 8 CPTU 9
ZHC Elevation Type of soil Parameters ZHC Elevation Type of soil Parameters
(m) ' () E (MPa) (m) ' () E (MPa)
[-4,05; -4,63] Silty sand / sandy silt 36.5 11.9 [0,87; 0,19] Silty sand / sandy silt 31.2 3.1
[-4,63; -5,51] Clean sand / silty sand 38.8 14.5 [0,19; -0,37] Clean sand / silty sand 34.7 7.8
[-5,51; -6,33] Silty sand / sandy silt 36.9 15.9 [-0,37; -1,49] Silty sand / sandy silt 31.6 6.9
[-6,33; -7,33] Clean sand / silty sand 39.0 26.1 [-1,49; -3,47] Sand (with some silt) 36.2 19.3
[-7,33; -8,31] Clean sand / silty sand 40.5 37.7 [-3,47; -5,13] Silty sand / sandy silt 34.2 45.4
Figure 21. Design parameters for the CPTU 8 soil Figure 22. Design parameters for the CPTU 9 soil
profile. profile.
for application in simplified elastic solutions is modulus highly increases indicating the presence
approximately, of granular materials probably more compacted
in some cases.
E 0.8 G0 (10) It should be noted that these stiffness modulus
can be considered conservative since the final solu-
In the first solution the retaining wall was tion was not conceived in a flexible sheet pile wall
intended to be in a flexible sheet pile wall, so as initially proposed but in a much stiffer concrete
the assumption for that relation was more pile wall. Hence equation (10) could have been
conservative, used instead of equation (11).
E 0.5 G0 (11)
5 CONCLUSIONS
The results obtained in each profile are
expressed in the following graphs in terms of the This paper shows the results of nine CPTU tests
angle of shearing strength and stiffness modulus. performed at the shore of Douro river close to
For each profile, zones with the same type of soil its mouth where a new port is being built. These
and similar parameters were identified and the tests were very important to design the geotech-
average parameters in that zone were obtained. nical solution of the retaining wall of the small
The results show angles of shearing strength port. Initially, SPT tests lead the engineers to the
around 35 except in the test 3 and 6 which present idea that the soil was mainly clay and silt and
materials with lower strength between 25 and 30. more consistent materials could only be found
In terms of the stiffness modulus, it increases with at very deep zones (15 m ZHC). The analysis
depth, showing that in the shallow zones (up to of CPTU tests with the Unified Approach pro-
2 or 3 m) the stiffness modulus is not higher than posed by Robertson (2009) gave very interesting
10 MPa, while in the deeper zones the stiffness results indicating that soil profiles were mainly
806
807
ABSTRACT: This paper presents the results of piezocone tests (CPTUs) conducted at various penetra-
tion rates in the two silty soils near Perth, West Australia. One of the soils was found on a tailings beach
at Gingin while the other was an estuarine deposit located in Bassendean on the banks of the Perths Swan
River. The standard CPTUs were carried out to investigate the site stratigraphy prior to the constant
velocity tests which involved rates down to 0.02 mm/s in Gingin and 0.002 mm/s in Bassendean; dissipa-
tion tests were also performed. Cone end resistance resistances are shown to increase with reducing pen-
etrometer velocity while excess pressures reduce. The results, which are shown to be generally consistent
with other studies on the effect of penetrometer rate, provide much needed data to extend the currently
sparse database of variable rate piezocone tests in the field.
809
810
Depth (m)
1.0 0.02mm/s at
4 PENETRATION TEST RESULTS 0.96-1.16m
811
3.4
4 4
Depth (m)
3.6
6 6 3.8
4
8 8
4.2
10 10 (b)
812
813
400 10
qcnet/'vo
qt (kPa)
300
200 5
100
0 0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
v (mm/sec) v (mm/s)
(a) (a)
90 2.5
80 2
70
60 1.5
u/'vo
u2 (kPa)
50 1
40
30 0.5
20
0
10
0 -0.5
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
v (mm/sec) v (mm/s)
(b) (b)
Figure 8. Comparison of penetration rate effects on: Figure 9. Penetration rate effect on: (a) qcnet/ vo;
(a) qt; (b) u2. (b) u/ vo.
The variations of u2 with cone velocity at both the same format. The scatter of the Bassendean
sites are broadly similar, although they show more results (as indicated by the small dots) arose due to
variation than the qt values. The significant drop the subtle layering within the deposit as discussed
in u2 as v reduces from 0.2 mm/s to 0.02 mm/s is previously.
consistent with the great increase in qt. The normalized end resistance for the Burswood
clay varies by less than 20% between velocities of
0.01 mm/s and 20 mm/s. However, in contrast, the
7 DISCUSSION normalized resistance at Bassendean between
0.1 mm/s and 0.01 mm/s is 1.5 to 2.2 times the
It is of interest to compare the data measured at corresponding Burswood resistances. It is clear
Bassendean with the results obtained in another from the normalised excess pore pressure plot
piezocone rate effects study conducted at Burswood that conditions are close to being fully drained
by Schneider et al. (2004). The Burswood site is at Bassendean at v = 0.01 mm/s whereas the nor-
located on the opposite bank of the Swan River malised excess pore pressures at Burswood are
in Perth to the Bassendean site (the distance still half of the maximum (undrained) values
between these two sites is 8 km). The properties recorded at 20 mm/s.
of the Burswood clay are summarized in detail by The disparity between the Burswood and
Low et al. (2011). This clay has an average liquid Bassendean data evident on Figure 9 supports
limit of 85%, plastic limit of 32%, clay fraction of the use of a normalized velocity term that can
14% and silt fraction of 82%. Piezocone dissipa- account for differences in consolidation charac-
tion tests indicated ch values ranging from 0.19 and teristics. Figure 10 presents the data on Figure 9
1.46 mm2/s, which can be approximately an order using the normalised velocity term given by
of magnitude lower than at Bassendean. Equation 1, but using ch rather than cv, as ch might
The variation with cone velocity of qcnet (= qt v0) be expected to control the dissipation process in
and excess pore pressure (u) normalised by ver- the field. To account for different frictional char-
tical effective stress (v0), after modified data acteristics and undrained strength ratios of the
based on Schneider et al. (2004), is compared on two soils, this figure also normalises the net cone
Figure 9 with the Bassendean data re-plotted in resistances by the minimum value; this minimum
814
Bassendean; ch=6.5mm2/s The authors would like to thank the land owners;
? Iluka Resources Ltd and people supervising the
qcnet/qcnet_min
2
Gingin site for their assistances, and people who
provide their private site at Bassendean. The con-
? tributions of many technicians in UWA as well
1 as one final year student, Simon Van Kleef, are
Burswood; ch=0.65mm2/s
greatly appreciated.
0
0.01 0.1 1 10 100 1000 REFERENCES
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Finne, I. & Randolph, M. 1994. Punch-through and liq-
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Behaviour of Offshore Structures, Boston, 217230.
House, A., Oliveira, J. & Randolph, M. 2001. Evaluat-
ing the coefficient of consolidation using penetration
is likely to occur at the slowest velocity at which tests. International Journal of Physical Modelling in
conditions are effectively undrained. Geotechnics, 1(3): 1725.
Figure 10 shows that drained conditions at Kim, K., Prezzi, M., Salgado, R. & Lee, W. 2008. Effect
Bassendean occur at normalised velocities (V = of penetration rate on cone penetration resistance
vd/ch) less than about 0.05 and that the onset of in saturated clayey soils. Journal of Geotechnical and
partial drainage occurs at a V value of about 5 Geoenvironmental Engineering, 134: 11421153.
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M. 2009. Rate effects on penetrometer resistance in
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of the drained to undrained penetration resist- Lunne, T., Robertson, P. & Powell, J. 1997. Cone penetra-
ance of a particular soil. tion testing in geotechnical practice. London: Blackie
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Mahmoodzadeh, H., Boylan, N., Randolph, M. &
Cassidy, M. 2011. The effect of partial drainage on
8 CONCLUSIONS measurements by a piezoball penetrometer. The 30th
Int. Conf. on Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering
This paper reports the results of piezocone tests (OMAE2011). Rotterdam, Netherlands.
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a clayey sand and a clayey/sandy silt. The experi- ity on cone resistance and excess pore pressures. IS
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151158.
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drained range are not a fixed multiple of the mini- ical Modelling in Geotechnics, 7(2): 234.
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terization of soft soils for deep water developments
The field experiments also showed how conduct- Report on variable rate penetration tests at Burswood
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detection of subtle changes in soil grading; such tion Systems, University of Western Australia.
subtleties were not evident in the qt and u2 data Teh, C. & Houlsby, G. 1991. An analytical study of the cone
recorded at the standard cone rate. penetration test in clay. Gotechnique, 41(1): 1734.
815
ABSTRACT: The paper contains an overview of the results obtained in a research project exploring
the ability of 3D DEM models to reproduce cone penetration in sands. The sand whose behaviour is
mimicked by the discrete material is Ticino sand, a well known reference material for cone penetration
tests. A large series of numerical experiments in a cylindrical virtual calibration chambers was performed
in materials of medium and high density. Point resistance is shown to fit well with results from previous
physical tests when the various scaling factors affecting the problem are taken into account. The effect of
different boundary conditions on the test results is illustrated. The appearance of friction fatigue in the
shaft resistance is also revealed by the analysis of the numerical results. The micromechanics of cone pene-
tration is also illustrated, showing that a stationary condition is clearly attained for point/soil contacts and
how particle flow is affected by boundary conditions. From the results presented it can be inferred that
3D DEM simulations offer a feasible alternative to extend and/or partially substitute the more expensive
physical calibration tests in the development of CPT based correlations, as well as powerful capabilities to
explore the micromechanics of the problem.
817
D1D2
kn K efff
D1 D2 (1)
ks kn
818
819
820
4.1 Stress
Calculation of stresses in DEM is rather straight-
forward and based on an averaging of contact Figure 11. Shear strain isolines in a vertical plane during
forces acting at the selected volume boundary a CPT test at high density, low K0, under BC1 condition.
(OSullivan 2011). In Figure 10 the radial stress is
evaluated in a stack of cylindrical shells close to
the cone, for the two cases of BC1 and BC3 illus- is calculated from the displacement data. However,
trated in the previous sections. the definition of continuum strain is based upon
For both cases the radial stress profile is fairly calculation of the partial derivatives of the dis-
similar with a large bulb extending below the cone placement. The discrete particle displacement data
tip and decreasing afterwards up around the shaft. requires some treatment to obtain a differentiable
This stress reduction pattern along the shaft is now field that, however, includes some discontinuities
well established for driven piles and accepted as a to reveal localization patterns. Broadly speaking
basis for design (Jardine & Chow 2007). The stress most methods use some sort of projection and/or
decrease, however, is far more dramatic for the BC1 averaging of the particle displacements on a reg-
case than for the BC3 case, for which the previously ular network. OSullivan et al. (2003) proposed
illustrated stronger forces result in much higher a non-linear interpolation procedure for strain
radial stresses. It is worth noting that the stress calculations that showed good ability to capture
increases that are predicted by the model would localization patterns in 2D DEM simulations. This
likely result in some grain crushing in physical tests. procedure (see Butlanska et al. 2011) has been
adapted to obtain strain fields in the 3D case of
4.2 Strain the VCC CPT simulations.
Examples of the strain maps that can be obtained
The post-processing of microscopic displacements are illustrated in Figure 11 and Figure 12 for the
to obtain strains is trickier. Particle displacements two boundary conditions BC1 and BC3. The
are generated in the DEM simulation and strain strain measure represented is the second invariant
821
5 MACROSCOPIC RESULTS
822
( DR )
b
=a (4)
5.3 Comparison with physical database feature is, as illustrated in the paper, the ability
In principle, using the correction just described, to telescope between macro outcomes and micro
the asymptotic VCC cone penetration values can phenomena.
be compared with the results derived from the The method presented has also some signifi-
physical database. For instance, Jamiolkowski et al. cant limitations that should be mentioned. For
(2003) proposed to summarise physical CC results instance, it is difficult to create samples at relative
on Ticino sand (corrected for CC size effects) using densities below 60% without extra features (fluid
the following relation with mean stress and relative coupling, non-spherical particles) that complicate
density. and/or slow the model performance. Non-isotropic
sample formation and testing has proven also dif-
0.56 ficult, because of the complex interaction of rigid
p and servo-controlled boundaries that is required.
qc* 23 19 pa e 2.97 DR (6)
pa Incorporation of granular conminution and grain
size evolution is complex, but seems necessary if
In Arroyo et al. (2011) the details of two VCC shaft friction is to be investigated.
test series covering a range of relative density However, none of the problems just mentioned
from 60% to 90% and of confining isotropic seems fatal and it seems likely that the attractive
pressure from 40 to 400 kPa are given. The cone of the VCC method will ensure a steady progress
tip resistance from those VCC test is compared in this area.
with that predicted by (5) in Figure 15. The fig-
ure includes also results from a few more tests,
performed later at intermediate densities. The ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
mean discrepancy with the empirical prediction
for these tests is 7%. The support of IGEOTEST for the performance
of the work reported in this paper is gratefully
acknowledged. The first author was also sup-
6 FINAL COMMENTS ported by the Ministry of Science and Innovation
of Spain through research grant BIA2008-06537.
The good adjustment illustrated in Figure 15 is
more remarkable, if it is appreciated that all the REFERENCES
material parameters of the numerical model were
obtained curve-fitting a single triaxial test. This Ahmadi, M.M., Byrne, P.M. & Campanella, R.G. 2005.
simplicity of calibration is one of the main attrac- Cone tip resistance in sand: modeling, verification,
tive of the proposed approach. Another attractive and applications, Can. Geotech. J., 42: 977993.
823
824
ABSTRACT: This paper presents a new method for predicting the bearing capacity of steel piles based
on the concepts of soil dynamics and principles of energy conservation to interpret results from dynamic
penetration tests. The energy delivered to the hammer-rod-sampler system to the soil is computed from
the numbers of blow counts Nspt and is analytically converted in a penetration dynamic force. The dynamic
force allows the unit resistance mobilized in the SPT sampler (model) to be determined, which is then
used to predict the unit resistance mobilized in a prototype pile. No empirical parameters are required
for predictions of driven steel piles given the direct relation between the SPT sampler and steel piles once
scale factors are properly accounted for. Applicability of the suggested methodology is demonstrated,
the reduction of standard deviations is showed and advantages over semi-empirical and other theoretical
approaches are discussed. In the present paper, the accuracy of the method is evaluated by predicting the
bearing capacity of a number of instrumented static steel pile load tests.
825
826
Wlt / Wultt
Similarity
Average
N60 (SHAFT)
Average
N60 (TOE)
fig. L Qskin Qtoe Qult Qskin Qtoe Qult Qskin Qtoe Qult Observations Reference
1 48 0.30 3299 701 4000 2785 568.3 3354 0.8 0.8 0.8 0.6 H, variable section, SML, BRA Gerdau, not published 11 18
2 7 0.36 435 495 930 333.4 904.3 1238 0.8 1.8 1.3 2.4 OP, SML, residual loads considered, EUA A Paik et al. 2003 14 22
3 49 0.31 3490 40 3530 2758 431.6 3190 0.8 10.8 0.9 1.6 H, variable section, QML, BRA Falconi; Perez 2008 10 12
4 9 0.27 154.9 225.2 195.8 285.1 480.9 1.3 1.3 1.3 1.5 CP, .1 = 40%, EUA Briaud; Tucker, 1989 8 10
5 7 0.36 455 995 1450 3334 904.3 1238 0.7 0.9 0.9 2.5 CP, SML, residual loads considered, EUA A Paik et al. 2003 13 22
6 17 0.35 845 905 1750 1870 2177 4047 2.2 2.4 2.3 2.3 H, SML, residual load considered, EUA Seo et al. 2009 20 69
7 55 0.43 4148 6152 10300 7720 2486 10206 1.9 0.4 1.0 0.8 H, SPT extrap., CHN B Yu, F. 2008 37 145
8 40 0.45 3813 6088 9900 5097 2580 7677 1.3 0.4 0.8 1.3 H, SPT extrap., CHN B Yu, F. 2008 27 94
9 80 1.50 22800 16200 39000 21230 35657 56887 0.9 2.2 1.5 1.0 OP, QML, SPT extrap, JPN C Kikuchi, et al. 2007 23 68
10 66 1.50 14500 16000 30500 12041 38445 50486 0.8 2.4 1.7 1.3 OP, QML, SPT extrap, JPN C Kikuchi, et al. 2007 15 68
11 36 0.61 4160 240 4400 2640 3117 5757 0.6 13.0 1.3 1.1 Conical toe, TWN, QML, residual loads considered Yen 1989 13 30
12 33 0.61 2620 2880 5500 1577 3666 5243 0.6 1.3 1.0 0.1 CP, SINGAPORE Moh 1994 8 43
13 15 0.70 3961 2139 6100 3717 9127 12844 0.9 4.3 2.1 0.5 OP, BRA Lopes 1986 34 71
14 41 0.60 3800 4200 8000 1428 1842 3270 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 OP, bitumen 26.0 m, JPN D Gyoten et al. 1982 7 20
15 38 0.60 3380 4120 7500 1016 3155 4171 0.3 0.8 0.6 0.4 OP, bitumen 26.0 m, JPN D Gyoten et al. 1982 16 42
16 17 0.36 755 345 1100 1008 2183 3191 1.3 6.3 2.9 2.8 CP, EUA Kim et al. 2009 20 87
17 52 0.37 9655 2100 11755 12389 2985 15374 1.3 1.4 1.3 1.0 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 61 118
18 45 0.37 8950 1350 10300 7345 3084 10429 0.8 2.3 1.0 1.0 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 36 118
19 48 0.37 6150 2850 9000 7451 3042 10493 1.2 1.1 1.2 1.2 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 35 118
20 59 0.37 9100 2600 11700 12606 2885 15491 1.4 1.4 1.3 1.0 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 53 118
21 39 3.37 4300 8700 13000 7232 3169 10400 1.7 0.4 0.8 1.0 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 41 118
22 56 3.37 4250 7250 11500 11775 2928 14703 2.8 0.4 1.3 0.7 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 48 118
23 53 3.37 7050 5450 12500 11324 2971 14295 1.6 0.5 1.1 0.8 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 55 118
24 60 3.37 4000 8000 12000 11977 2831 14808 3.0 0.4 1.2 0.7 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 39 79
25 56 3.37 10350 7650 18000 14861 2928 17789 1.4 0.4 1.0 0.4 H, SPT extrap., residual loads considered, HKG E Zhang; Wang 2007 69 118
Wult = settlemtent at ultimate load (mm) SML = slow maintain load CP = closed pipe pile Loads in kN
Wlt = load test maximum settlement (mn) QML = quick maintain load OP = opended pipe pile Dimensions in meters
H = "H" section pile SPT extrap. = extrapolated SPT
8/13/2012 6:15:38 PM
Table 2. Results semi-empirical methods and theoretical approach.
0 48 0.30 3299 701 4000 3795 550 4345 1.2 0.8 1.1 3946 527 4472 1.2 0.8 1.1 2460 1103 3563 0.7 1.6 0.9
1 7 0.36 435 495 930 437 1233 1671 1.0 2.5 1.8 443 863 1306 1.0 1.7 1.4 67 963 1030 0.2 1.9 1.1
2 49 0.31 3490 40 3530 3753 361 4113 1.1 9.0 1.2 3932 287 4219 1.1 7.2 1.2 2704 1039 3743 0.8 26.0 1.1
3 9 0.27 155 225 380 252 381 632 1.6 1.7 1.7 287 267 553 1.9 1.2 1.5 98 321 419 0.6 1.4 1.1
4 7 0.36 455 995 1450 437 1233 1671 1.0 1.2 1.2 443 863 1306 1.0 0.9 0.9 67 963 1030 0.1 1.0 0.7
5 17 0.35 845 905 1750 1955 1077 3032 2.3 1.2 1.7 2396.9 1100.1 3497 2.8 1.2 2.0 657 548 1205 0.8 0.6 0.7
6 55 0.43 4148 6152 10300 13363 3401 16764 3.2 0.6 1.6 10750 2976 13726 2.6 0.5 1.3 7578 4214 11792 1.8 0.7 1.1
8 40 0.45 3813 6088 9900 8407 3291 11699 2.2 0.5 1.2 6868.6 2880 9748.6 1.8 0.5 1.0 4153 3129 7282 1.1 0.5 0.7
9 80 1.50 22800 16200 39000 33861 69001 102862 1.5 4.3 2.6 32697 48300 80997 1.4 3.0 2.1 19376 48347 67724 0.8 3.0 1.7
10 66 1.50 14500 16000 30500 17213 69001 86214 1.2 4.3 2.8 18164 48300 66464 1.3 3.0 2.2 11182 44852 56034 0.8 2.8 1.8
11 36 0.61 4160 240 4400 3392 3032 6423 0.8 12.6 1.5 3655.4 2264.5 5919.9 0.9 9.4 1.3 2266 4035 6300 0.5 16.8 1.4
12 33 0.61 2620 2880 5500 1942 4357 6299 0.7 1.5 1.1 2276 3814.6 6090.5 0.9 1.3 1.1 1567 3869 5436 0.6 1.3 1.0
13 15 0.70 3961 2139 6100 4744 7884 12628 1.2 3.7 2.1 4590.9 9197.8 13789 1.2 4.3 2.3 490 7501 7991 0.1 3.5 1.3
14 41 0.60 3800 4200 8000 2231 3556 5788 0.6 0.8 0.7 2642.6 2489.3 5131.9 0.7 0.6 0.6 1022 3148 4171 0.3 0.7 0.5
15 38 0.60 3380 4120 7500 1435 6223 7658 0.4 1.5 1.0 1922.2 4356.3 6278.6 0.6 1.1 0.8 1191 4765 5956 0.4 1.2 0.8
16 17 0.356 755 345 1100 908 998 1906 1.2 2.9 1.7 1320.2 1100.5 2420.7 1.7 3.2 2.2 761 1867 2628 1.0 5.4 2.4
17 52 0.37 9655 2100 11755 21061 4024 25084 2.2 1.9 2.1 16677 3520.6 20198 1.7 1.7 1.7 4146 4197 8343 0.4 2.0 0.7
18 45 0.37 8950 1350 10300 12090 4024 16113 1.4 3.0 1.6 9965.5 3520.6 13486 1.1 2.6 1.3 2788 4599 7387 0.3 3.4 0.7
19 48 0.37 6150 2850 9000 12257 4024 16281 2.0 1.4 1.8 10139 3520.6 13660 1.6 1.2 1.5 3601 4315 7916 0.6 1.5 0.9
20 59 0.37 9100 2600 11700 21849 4024 25872 2.4 1.5 2.2 17406 3520.6 20926 1.9 1.4 1.8 5613 4197 9811 0.6 1.6 0.8
21 39 0.37 4300 8700 13000 11543 4024 15566 2.7 0.5 1.2 9557.8 3520.6 13078 2.2 0.4 1.0 2164 4749 6913 0.5 0.5 0.5
22 56 0.37 4250 7250 11500 20154 4024 24177 4.7 0.6 2.1 16149 3520.6 19670 3.8 0.5 1.7 4794 4219 9013 1.1 0.6 0.8
23 53 0.37 7050 5450 12500 19092 4024 23116 2.7 0.7 1.8 15398 3520.6 18919 2.2 0.6 1.5 4180 4200 8380 0.6 0.8 0.7
24 60 0.37 4000 8000 12000 20784 3965 24750 5.2 0.5 2.1 16657 3469.7 20127 4.2 0.4 1.7 5737 3266 9003 1.4 0.4 0.8
25 56 0.37 10350 7650 18000 25160 4024 29184 2.4 0.5 1.6 19981 3520.6 23501 1.9 0.5 1.3 5020 4212 9231 0.5 0.6 0.5
8/13/2012 6:15:39 PM
Table 3. Accuracy after statistical cuts.
10000 15000 20000 25000 30000
UFRGS method
(1:2) (1:1)
Predicted/measured
Qskin predicted (kN)
DeQ
Theoretical approach
AeV Predicted/measured
6000
UFRGS
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 on empirical statistical type of analysis and
(b) there appears to be room for reducing scatter
Figure 3. Comparison of measured and predicted toe by local calibration of dynamic penetration test
resistance. energy efficiency.
It is important to observe that, by incorporat-
ing the concepts of energy and wave propagation,
20000
DeQ
AeV
UFRGS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
10000
(2:1)
The writers wish to express their gratitude to the
Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, as well
5000
829
830
A. Eslami Kenarsari
Lahijan Branch, Islamic Azad University, Lahijan, Iran
ABSTRACT: This variation of soil properties from one location to another is termed spatial variability.
Cone penetration test is one of the most useful in-situ site investigation methods, which can be used to deter-
mine soil spatial variability. While using cone penetration test to investigate the soil properties, statistical
analyses of cone tip resistance data become necessary and it is important to know the maximum likelihood
estimation of the qc measurements representing a random field. In this regard it is required to assume a
distribution for qc data measurements. Different types of distribution functions for qc data are found in lit-
erature. Some researchers use lognormal distribution while some others prefer to raise qc data to some power
between 0 and 1 and each of these procedures has their own benefits and drawbacks. In this study, results of
cone penetration tests from different sites are collected and statistical properties of cone tip resistance data
are evaluated. Considering different soil types, the relevant Probability Distribution Functions (PDF) for
cone tip resistance data are evaluated and appropriate distribution for each soil type is suggested.
lus, permeability, for example see Lumb 1966, of a new airport just north of Oslo, Norway. He
Hoeksema & Kitanidis 1985, and Sudicky 1986), concluded that a function with the power of 0.74
so this is often a reasonable assumption. Perhaps provides the best fit for the investigated data.
more importantly, and also a significant motiva-
tion for its use by many researchers, it leads to a
simple model since the distribution of lnqc is then 3 CPT DATABASE
normal. The jointly normal distribution is fully
specified by only its first two moments (mean and 8 sets of CPT profiles sourced from Urmia Lake
covariance). In that this is generally all that can be located in Urmia city, Iran, are investigated and
estimated with any degree of confidence in geo- subjected to statistical analyses. Table 1 provides
technical applications, the normal distribution is brief information about the data profiles. It
then at least appropriate as a minimal assumption includes the original name, site location, number
model. of data points for each sounding, Nd, and sampling
Other transformations are also available. In par- interval in each case.
ticular, rising qc to some power between 0 and 1 Eslami-Fellenius soil classification chart, illus-
is quite common. The disadvantage to these trans- trated in Figure 2 was adopted to provide a soil
formations is that they do not nicely lead to a non description profile for investigated sites (Figure 3).
negative distribution on qc. In fact, if X = qcr is There are several technical problems embed-
normally distributed, then X ranges over the entire ded in the evaluation of soil vertical variability
real line and for negative values of X, the inverse using CPT data, but cone bearing, qc profiles are
is only defined for certain r and, of these, usually preferred for processing (Kenarsari et al.
some are imaginary. However, if the probability of 2012).
X being negative under the normal assumption is The sleeve friction, fs is also measured during
negligible (having small coefficient of variation), the tests, but this is generally considered to be
these transformations can give reasonable results unreliable due to technical drawbacks, e.g., sleeve
(Fenton 1999). wears (Zuidberg 1982). At what follows, the cone
Fenton (1999) conducted research to investigate tip resistance from CPT data was chosen to evalu-
the appropriate power on data collected by Nor- ate stochastic variation of soil properties and the
wegian Geotechnical Institute (NGI) at the site correlation structure identification in other words.
832
833
(1)
5 DISTRIBUTION FUNCTION
834
The RMS value of a set of values (or a continu- CN1 0.78 0.015 0.99 0.005
ous-time wave form) is the square root of the arith- CN2 0.72 0.026 0.78 0.036
metic mean (average) of the squares of the original CN3 0.85 0.050 0.66 0.129
values (or the square of the function that defines CN4 0.78 0.021 0.61 0.132
the continuous waveform). CN5 0.52 0.044 0.73 0.037
In the case of a set of n values {x1, x2, . . . , xn}, CN6 0.82 0.044 0.65 0.147
the RMS value is given by: CN7 0.72 0.037 0.52 0.124
CN8 0.88 0.071 0.94 0.030
(3) Average power 0.76 0.74
The corresponding formula for a continuous The RMS over all time of a periodic function is
function (or waveform) f(t) defined over the inter- equal to the RMS of one period of the function.
val T1 t T2 is The RMS value of a continuous function or signal
can be approximated by taking the RMS of a series
of equally spaced samples. In the case of the RMS
(4)
statistic of a random process, the expected value is
used instead of the mean.
And the RMS for a function over all time is
It was shown that power distribution function,
with minimum RMS is the best probability distri-
bution function, although the calculated powers
(5)
are not the same. It is possible; this variation is due
to soil profile, CPT procedure, lag distance, sam-
pling interval, fractal nature and etc. So it has pro-
posed for future researches. There are some graphs
of the analysis that was shown below.
6 CONCLUSION
835
REFERENCES
836
S.F. Marchezini
Department of Civil Construction, Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Mato Grosso, Brazil
R.P. Cunha
Department of Civil & Environment Engineering, University of Braslia, Brazil
W. Conciani
Department of Civil Construction, Federal Institute of Education, Science, and Technology of Mato Grosso, Brazil
ABSTRACT: This paper compares the results of two distinct campaigns of Dynamic Standard Penetra-
tion Tests (SPT) performed at different times of the year, where the season and the soil moisture differ in
this particular studied site. The study was done at a construction site located at Federal District of Brazil,
in its central flat portion where the Brazilian capital, Braslia, is located. The soil of the Federal District
is composed of distinct strata of silty clays and clayeys silts, which are generally porous, unsaturated and
lateritic. To assess the influence of seasonality on the soil characteristics measured in two different sea-
sons, two distinct test campaigns with the use of the standard penetration test (SPT) were carried out. It
shall be said that the seasonality relates to the dry and wet season of the region, and this directly changes
the soil moisture in the region studied. The first campaign was performed in March 2006, whereas the
second campaign was done in October of 2007. These months respectively represent the periods of higher
and lower moisture content of the local soils. Each of campaign were performed with approximately
21 boreholes spread over an area of 40,000 m2. For each campaign it was determined the average SPT
blow count value (NSPT) per depth as well as its standard deviation, so that was able to compare the results
for both seasons. It is shown that, when comparing the mean and standard deviation at each depth for all
the gathered borings, that the SPT resistance in the rainy, wet season, is about 60% of the equivalent on
dry season. Therefore, the paper concludes that, in regard to the rate of the penetration resistance meas-
ured in the porous unsaturated clay of Brasilia, that the time of the year in which the tests are carried out
do interfere somehow on the magnitude of the results on soils located at soil profile down from surface,
where moisture content vary with rain and evaporation.
837
838
3 GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
OF TEST SITE AND WORK
839
840
841
842
Mehmet T. Tmay
Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, US
Boazii University, stanbul, Turkey
Ylmaz Hatipkarasulu
University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX, US
ABSTRACT: The Cone Penetration Test (CPT) is a commonly accepted approach of assessing stratig-
raphy, lithology, behavior and geotechnical parameters of soil substrata. In the last three decades, 2 and
5 cm/sec frequencies were commonly used in the CPT data collection. The collection frequency may
directly affect CPT-based soil classification and characterization efforts. This paper discusses the effect
of data smoothing and reduction on CPT-Based soil classification. Two sample data sets were included
in the paper to present the effects of data smoothing with 5 and 10-point moving averages and 5 and
10-point average data reduction. The analyses showed that the data reduction has a significant effect in
soil classification by avoiding thin layers and misinterpreting the location and thickness of the layers.
Data smoothing technique showed much better performance in recognizing the thin layers, however thick-
ness and location of the soils layers were observed different than the original data set.
843
Probability (%)
Douglas & Olsen (1981) chart to transfer the chart 60
axis from the CPT data (qc, Rf) to the soil classi-
50
fication index (U) and in-situ behavior index (V).
The conformal transformation is accomplished 40
using the following equations:
30
x 0.1539R f + 0 8870 log (qc ) 3.35 (1)
20
(a x a y + b )(c x c y d )
U = Figure 1. Regional boundaries and the corresponding
(c x c y + d ) + (c x + c y d )
2 2
probabilities of each soil group.
(a2 x + + )( )( + + )
(3) compositional soil classification index (U), esti-
( + ) +( + + )
2 2
mates of soil organic content and of soil rigidity/
stiffness (indirectly OCR) can be determined. Pre-
(c1x c2 y + d1 a2 x + a1 y b2 ) liminary analyses show that [(V U) > 3.0] and
V = 10 +
(c1x c2 y + d1 )2 + (c2 x + c1 y d2 )2 [(V + U) > 3.5] can be indicators of soil organic
(aa1x a2 y + b1 c2 x + c1 y d2 ) (4)
material content and rigidity/stiffness, respectively.
Further research work to fine-tune the in-situ
(c1x c2 y + d1 )2 + (c2 x + c1 y d2 )2
behavior parameters are currently pursued by the
The coefficients in equations 3 and 4 are defined authors.
as: a1 = 11.345, a2 = 3.795, b1 = 15.202, b2 = 5.085,
c1 = 0.269, c2 = 0.759, d1 = 2.960 and d2 = 2.477.
A statistical correlation was then established 3 SAMPLE CPT DATA SETS
between the U index and the compositional soil
type given by the Unified Soil Classification Sys- Comprehensive field and laboratory test data from
tem (USCS). A normal distribution of U was two sites in Turkey were selected to illustrate the
established for each reference USCS soil type (GP, visual presentation method. These data sets are
SP, SM, SC, ML, CL, and CH). Each U value cor- collected as a part of the Earthquake Reconnais-
responds to several soil types with different prob- sance Studies by the Pacific Earthquake Engi-
abilities. Boundary values were used to divide the neering Research Center after the 1999 Kocaeli
U axis into seven regions as described in Figure 1. Earthquake in Turkey (PEER, 2000). Figures 2
Soil types were further rearranged into three and 3 present the Piezocone (PCPT) soundings for
groups: sandy and gravelly soils (GP, SP, and SM), sites J4 and A3. Both data sets were recorded at
silty soils (SC and ML) and clayey soils (CL and 2 cm per second frequency. Figure 4 and 5 shows
CH). Figure 1 also gives the probability of having the soil classification results using the Zhang and
each soil group within each region. The original Tumay Probabilistic classification method includ-
method gives constant probability of each soil type ing the in-situ behavior interpretations.
(represented by the step lines) regardless of the U J4 data set includes 503 raw data points with
value within the same region (R1 to R7 in Figure 1). 10.39 m depth while A3 data set includes 43 raw
This allows for the sudden drop in the probabilities data point with 8.99 m depth. CPT soundings and
as the U value crosses the border from one region to the corresponding lithology (Figures 2 and 3) show
another. This method was further modified to allow very good agreement with soil classification using
smooth transition of probability (curved lines) with Zhang and Tumay probabilistic method (Figures
U values, and hence to provide a continuous profile 4 and 5). The in-situ interpretation values (V U
of the probability of soil constituents with depth. and V + U) are able to identify the dense sand and
In-situ behavior index (V) provides a profile silt layers (for example 5.0 m to 7.0 m in J4 and
of soil behavior and, in combination with the 6.5 m to 8.0 m in A3).
844
Figure 3. CPT soundings and corresponding lithologyA3 data set (PEER 2000)
8/13/2012 6:18:19 PM
COUNTINHO_Vol 1.indb 847
Figure 5. Soil classification using Zhang and Tumay probabilistic methodA3 data set.
8/13/2012 6:18:27 PM
4 EFFECT OF DATA SMOOTHING ON raw data at 6.5 m to 7.0 m were eliminated in the
SOIL CLASSIFICATION 10-point average data reduction.
The second effect is the misinterpretation of the
To illustrate the effect of data smoothing on soil of the layer thicknesses and locations. In Figure 6,
classification, 2-cm frequency raw data points were the clayey layer identified by the raw data set around
adjusted using four different methods. Each data 1.0 m show different thickness and starting points
set was processed using 5 and 10-point moving in the smoothed data sets, especially for the aver-
averages and 5 and 10-point average data reduc- age reduction method. A similar observation can be
tion. The moving average method maintains the noted in Figure 7 between 3.0 and 4.0 m. The clayey
original data frequency however a few data points layers identified by the raw data set change the loca-
were lost (at the beginning and end of the data set) tion and thickness in the smoothed data sets.
due to the moving window calculation. The aver- From the graphical analysis of the different
age reduction method reduces the resolution of smoothing methods, the average reduction seems
the data sets significantly effecting the continu- to have the most significant effect on the soil clas-
ity of the data set. Figures 6 and 7 illustrated the sification. Although the moving average appears
effect of data smoothing for the sample data sets to perform much better compared to the reduc-
graphically. tion method, the ability to identify the thin layers
Two major effects can be observed from the is decreased.
graphical comparison. First effect is the proper Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) calcula-
identification of thin layers which may provide tions were also performed to measure the effect of
very valuable information where stability and con- smoothing on the specific %clay, %silt, and %sand
tamination can be the main concerns for the anal- values (Montgomery et al., 2010). RMSE values
ysis. This can be clearly observed at 7.0 to 8.0 m were processed in comparison to the soil classifica-
depth in Figure 6 where the original data set iden- tion values calculated from the raw data set at the
tifies the thin layers of silt and clay embedded in corresponding depths. It is important to note that
the sand. The 10-point moving average reduces the he RMSE values are based on reduced number of
level of silt and clay and 10-point average reduc- data points due to the smoothing methods. Table 1
tion eliminates the layers completely. Similarly in presents the RMSE values for both data sets using
Figure 7, the clayey silt layers identified by the the four smoothing methods.
Figure 6. Data smoothing and reduction effects on soil classificationJ4 data set.
848
Table 1. Root Mean Squared Error (RMSE) analysis for soil classification.
Root mean squared error value (RMSE)
# of data
Data set Smoothing type points % clay % silt % sand
J4 data set 5-point moving average 499 0.0693 0.0549 0.0374
(503 raw data points) 10-point moving average 494 0.1179 0.0890 0.0876
5-point average reduction 100 0.0711 0.0561 0.0364
10-point average reduction 50 0.0930 0.0829 0.0957
A3 data set 5-point moving average 429 0.0384 0.0313 0.0304
(433 raw data points) 10-point moving average 424 0.0773 0.0646 0.0613
5-point average reduction 86 0.0267 0.0275 0.0287
10-point average reduction 43 0.0796 0.0640 0.0822
In Table 1, the RMSE calculations show higher including several statistical and mathematical fil-
values for the 10-point moving average and 10-point ters. Similar to the examples presented in this paper,
average reduction methods for clay, silt and sand these techniques are also expected to effect the data
values. Although the 5-point reduction method resolution and identification of layer thicknesses
impacts the data resolution drastically, 10-point and locations. It is possible to argue that utilizing
moving average results in higher RMSE values. measured data without any modifications pro-
Although this paper focuses on simple smooth- vides the highest level of information for the site
ing techniques based on arithmetic averages, it while increasing the overall understanding and feel
is possible to find other techniques in practice of the site conditions and characteristics.
849
850
ABSTRACT: During the construction of Porto Light Rail Metro, for the design of Salgueiros station,
several in situ and laboratory tests were performed, comprising SPT, Cross-holes and SBPT. The labora-
tory tests included direct shear tests, triaxial tests under non saturated conditions and determination of
shear wave velocity using bender elements. In all these tests there was a concern to obtain both strength
and stiffness parameters, in order to cross check the obtained and look for relations between them. This
paper presents a comparison and discussion of the several results obtained focusing on the differences
obtained regarding the stiffness parameters. In a first part correlations between in situ and laboratory
results are foreseen. In a second part causes as the stress path and the unsaturated conditions are discussed
in order to explain differences in the laboratory results. Regarding the unsaturated condition, a proposal
to estimate the Young modulus as a function of the suction is presented.
851
852
140 140
n
120 120
E (MPa)
E k pa 3 (1)
pa
100 100
80 80
60 60
where E represents the Young modulus, pa the
atmospheric pressure, 3 is the confining stress 40 40
853
854
3,0 3,0
2,0 2,0
2,5 2,5
1,5 1,5
2,0 2,0
E/Esat
E/Esat
Local measurement
(v=100kPa)
1,5 1,5
1,0 1,0
Vertical stress 50 kPa
1,0 1,0
Vertical Stress 100 kPa
0,5 Vertical Stress 200 kPa 0,5
0,5 0,5 Vertical Stress 300 kPa
Suction 25 kPa Suction 60 kPa
Suction 100 kPa Suction 150 kPa
0,0 0,0
0,0 0,0
0,0 0,1 0,2 0,3 0,4 0,5 0,6 0,7 0,8 0,9 1,0
0 20 40 60 80 100 120 140 160
Figure 4. Relation between the saturated Young modu- Figure 5. Relation between the saturated Young mod-
lus and the unsaturated Young modulus for different ulus and the Unsaturated Young modulus for different
strain levels. suctions.
occurred for all strain levels, this means, if after Another important aspect is related with the
a certain strain, the relations between the satu- apparent reduced influence for low suction levels.
rated Young modulus and the same parameter on For the 25 kPa suction, and even for the suction of
unsaturated conditions remained roughly constant 60 kPa, the relation between the two parameters is
or suffered significant variations. Figure 4 presents close to 1, seeming to indicate that for low suctions
the relation between the saturated Young modulus the influence is reduced, creating a kind of tran-
and the same parameter in tests with different suc- sition zone. Being confirmed, this phenomenon
tion levels, for different strain levels. In the case could be associated with the air entry value of the
there was more than one test with the same suction soils. In any case the amount of data collected,
the average of the parameters is presented. allied to the typical variability of granite residual
The previous picture shows that the influence of soils, do not allow withdrawing this conclusion at
suction remains roughly constant with the strain, this phase of the research.
with the exception of the initial part of the load- With the average of the relation between the
ing where the relevance of suction seems to assume unsaturated and saturated Young modulus for
more importance. In any case, as the first point each suction level it is was plotted a trend of the
represented corresponds to a strain of 0.01%, this relation with two proposals: the first assuming a
discrepancy may also be associated with a certain linear trend for all the suction range; the second,
delay in the answer of the soil and displacements bilinear, assuming an initial stretch, for the lower
transducers. This should be an aspect to be clari- suctions, without influence of the suction level
fied in future research works. over the Young modulus and, a second stretch,
In face of the results presented in the previous obtained from the bet fit to the experimental data.
paragraph it was assumed an average of the rela- Figure 6 presents precisely these approaches. In the
tions between the saturated and unsaturated Young same picture the equations representing the best
modulus for the various strains. Figure 5 presents fit approach to the experimental data are shown.
this relation for the different suctions tested. First of all is should be mentioned that linear
As it is clear from the picture the gain in stiffness approaches for fitting the data were chosen as the
is very relevant, even if the imposed suctions are range of tested suctions was relatively limited.
relatively compact, corresponding to a maximum Thus, extrapolation of the proposed equations
water table position of around 15 m. Due to the should be avoided as they are not yet validated for
typical heterogeneity of the residual soils, for each wider experimental data.
suction level theres an important variation of the It is clear from any of the equations the para-
relation between the unsaturated and saturated mount importance that the unsaturated condition
Young modulus. Nevetheless the growth of the may have in the stiffness of the soil. Independ-
relation with the imposed suction is evident. For ently of the adopted approximation, the gain in
matric suctions above 100 kPa the relation is sys- the Young modulus represents approximately an
tematically bigger than 1.5 with the exception of increase of 1% in the value of the Young modulus
one measurement where the Young modulus was for each kPa in the suction values. This signifies,
determined based on different instrumentation. roughly, that for a suction of 100 kPa the expected
855
5 CONCLUSIONS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Figure 7. Stress strain curves for different suctions and
the same stress levelv-300 kPa; h-180 kPa.
The financial support conceded by the scientific
research project PTDC/ECM/099475/2008 is
acknowledged by the authors.
deformation could be approximately half of the
deformation expected in saturated conditions.
Undoubtedly, this is a topic fundamental for REFERENCES
obtaining reliable predictions of the movements
of a given geotechnical structure as can be seen Branco, L. 2011. Application of Reliability Concepts to
in a recent work of Oh & Vanapalli (2001). The Granite Residual Soils . MSc thesis, Civil Engineering
importance of the phenomenon is clear if the Department, Faculty of Engineering, University of
stress-strains curves for a given stress level are Porto. (in Portuguese).
plotted, as is the case of Figure 7, corresponding Ferreira, C., Mendona, A.A. & Viana da Fonseca, A.
to a vertical net stress of 300 kPa and correspond- 2004. Evaluation of sampling quality in experimen-
ing horizontal net pressure of 180 kPa. tal fields of Porto granite residual soils. Proc. 9th
Portuguese Geotechnical Conference, Aveiro, Vol. 1,
The analysis of the initial stretch of the curves pp. 2438. (in Portuguese).
shows the relevance of the unsaturated condition Oh, W.T. & Vanapalli, S.K. 2011. Modelling the applied
over the strength and stiffness of the tested mate- vertical stress and settlement relationship of shal-
rial. In any case the influence over stiffness seems low foundations in saturated and unsaturated sands.
to assume more relevance and can be a decisive Canadian Geotechnical Journal, (48): 425438.
856
857
J.M.S. de Souza
Planave, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
B.R. Danziger
State University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
F.A.B. Danziger
Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
ABSTRACT: CPT and SPT correlations have several practical applications in many geotechnical areas,
especially in foundation design. Existing correlations between cone tip resistance, qc, and SPT blow count
N in sedimentary sands are usually based solely on soil grain size. Souza (2009) presented new correla-
tions for different sand densities. Such proposition has been based on the experience obtained with the
use of piezocone whose penetration in sands occurs commonly under drained condition. Due to the high
loading velocities, much higher than that of the CPT, the SPT test can generate positive excess pore pres-
sures in loose sands and negative excess pore pressures in dense sands. This observation results that the
N value may be higher than if the test were carried out in a drained condition, for dense sands, and smaller
for loose sands. It can be observed that the same does not occur for the qc value of CPT. So, the trend
would be of greater qc/N60 ratio for loose sands than for dense sands with the same grain size distribution.
The results confirm distinct correlations for different sand densities. Such results have relevant outcome
on foundation design, as long as the most common methods applied in design make use of correlations
between the CPT and SPT. The present paper resumes the correlations presented before (Souza 2009)
focusing mainly the influence of sand density on SPT CPT correlations and its outcome on predicted
values of bearing capacity of pile foundations.
859
860
LOG (qc)
energy measurements carried out in equipments
1.0
used routinely in Brazil (eg. Belincanta 1985, 1998;
Cavalcante 2002; Odebrecht 2003; Odebrecht et al.
0.5
2005).
N 60 1.37 ( N SPT ) (2) 0.0
0 1 2 3
LOG (N60)
2.4 The data results
Figure 2. Linearization of the potential correlation for
In establishing the correlations 41 SPT borings and the whole database.
41 CPTU have been considered, including 319 data
points (N60, qT), N60 being the corrected blow count 35.0
for an efficiency of 60% and qT the corrected cone 30.0
qc = 1.06*N600.71
resistance. In most cases these data corresponded 25.0
qc (MPa)
N 60q c
Kc = (3) density range. Based on 255 data points, the follow-
( N 60 )2 ing expression has been obtained:
The value of the friction ratio, Rf, has also been qc 0.71
1 06 N 60 (4)
obtained, when local friction fs was available.
The correlations obtained for each site can be qC given in MPa.
found in Souza (2009). Excluding the results from Results are shown graphically in Figures 2
University of Florida, from Palacios (1977), which and 3.
showed the great influence of the removal of the
liner in the measured values of N, the remain- 3 INTERPRETATION OF THE RESULTS
ing data, including 255 data points (N60, qc) were
grouped for a comprehensive analysis, with results 3.1 The sand density
summarized in Table 2. In this table, the number
of data included in each correlation is also shown The expectation of the authors was that the SPT test
in parentheses. There were fewer data from fs than is more influenced by the increases in shear stress
from qc. (due to the unplugged behavior in sands in most
For the whole database an analysis was also of the length of the sampler) than by increases in
made using a potential correlation, for all the normal stress. Given the high rate of loading, much
861
862
863
864
J.A. Lukiantchuki
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, Brazil
G.P. Bernardes
Department of Civil Engineering, State University of Sao Paulo, Guaratingueta, Brazil
E.R. Esquivel
Department of Geotechnical Engineering, University of Sao Paulo, Sao Carlos, Brazil
ABSTRACT: The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is widely used for geotechnical subsurface investiga-
tion. It is intended to provide soil properties and foundation design parameters. Schnaid et al. (2009) pro-
posed a rational method to assess the dynamic force (Fd), corresponding to the dynamic soil reaction to
the sampler penetration, based on the amount of energy delivered to the sampler. This paper presents the
results of SPT tests performed with two instrumented subassemblies, one placed at top and the other one
at the bottom of the string of rods. This instrumentation allowed the assessment of the amount of energy
transmitted to the string of rods, at sections just below the anvil and just above the sampler. Also, dynamic
soil reaction forces were estimated through measurements of normal forces at a section just above the
sampler. These reaction forces were then compared to the dynamic reaction forces estimated using the
equation proposed by Schnaid et al. (2009). Results showed that experimental dynamic reaction values are
lower than theoretical ones. However, it is possible to correct theoretical values using a multiplying factor,
which can be evaluated from the amount of energy at top and bottom of the string of rods.
Keywords: standard penetration test, SPT, energy, soil dynamic reaction force
865
According to Schnaid et al. (2009), the energy The variation of the potential energy of the
delivered by the hammer impact that reaches the hammer-rod system is equal to the work done by
sampler (Equation 1) can be expressed as a func- all non-conservative forces.
tion of the following factors:
1. sampler permanent penetration () E sampler Ws + Wnc (6)
2. hammer mass (MH) and height of fall (H);
3. rod geometry (length and cross section area), Since the energy that is delivered to the sampler
which yields the total rod mass (MR). causes its penetration into the soil, using Equation
3, the mean dynamic reaction force (Fd) on the soil
According to Odebrecht et al. (2004), the theo- is given by:
retical potential energy (Ep*), can be expressed as:
E sampler Ws = Fd (7)
E p * ( H + ) M H g + MR g (2)
or
where g is the acceleration of gravity.
However, the amount of energy that is delivered E sampler
Fd = (8)
to the sampler is lesser than the theoretical poten-
tial energy (Equation 2), due to energy losses that
arises during the impact event. These losses depend Replacing Equation 3 into Equation 8 leads to:
on factors, such as type of equipment (hammer
design, rod size, sampler geometry, automatic and 31 (0.75M H g ) + ( M H g ) + 32 ( M R g )
Fd = 3
(9)
hand-controlled hammer, etc) and test procedures.
These factors affect the amount of energy deliv-
ered to the string of rods and consequently the According to Odebrecht et al. (2004), for Brazil-
sampler penetration. To take into account these ian SPT equipment, the coefficients 1, 2 and 3
energy losses, Odebrecht et al. (2004) suggested should assume the values 0.76, 1 and (1-0.0042l),
using hammer, rod and system efficiency coef- respectively, where l is the total rod length. However,
ficients (1, 2 and 3) in Equation (2). Thus, the these authors recommend that the aforementioned
866
40 60
Force (kN)
20 40
Second Impact
0 20
-20 0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
Time (ms) -20
50 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
Time (ms)
Displacement (mm)
40 50
Field penetration: 30 mm
Displacement (mm)
30 40
ptotal: 28.3 mm
20 30
10 Sampler starts 20
Second Impact
to move
0 10
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
Time (ms) 0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
Time (ms)
Figure 1. Force and displacement versus time for a
typical record corresponding to a section just above the Figure 3. Force and displacement versus time for a
sampler (6th blow at the depth of 11 m). typical record corresponding to a section just above the
sampler (6th blow at the depth of 11 m).
80
80
60
60
Force (kN)
40
Force (kN)
40
Rd (1 impacto) = 7.20 kN
20 RD (2 impacto) = 6.52 kN
20
0
0
-20
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 -20
Time (ms) 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
50 Time (ms)
Principal region of 50
sampler penetration
Displacement (mm)
Displacement (mm)
40
40
30 p mx : 26 mm 30
20
20
10
10
0
0
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
0 4 8 12 16 20 24 28 32 36 40 44 48 52 56 60 64 68
Time (ms) Time (ms)
Figure 2. Force and displacement versus time for a Figure 4. Force and displacement versus time for a
typical record corresponding to a section just above the typical record corresponding to a section just above the
sampler (6th blow at the depth of 11 m). sampler (6th blow at the depth of 11 m).
867
2 2 2
RD =
R d
(10)
4 4 4
N 6 6 6
8 8 8
Depth (m)
where N is the total number of blows for 0.3 m 10 10 10
sampler penetration. 12 12 12
14 14 14
16 16 16
3 INSTRUMENTATION
18 18 18
Instrumented Subassembly
4 FIELD TESTS
14 14
5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
16 Silty Fine Sand 16
Brown - Reddish
18 18 5.2 Dynamic force profile
20 20 Direct measurements of normal forces, acting in a
section just above the sampler, were used to plot the
Figure 5. Experimental research site typical profile. experimental dynamic force profile. The theoretical
868
Force (kN)
the dynamic force (Rd) was obtained for every blow 40
Displacement (mm)
120
sampler penetration, were taken into account. The Field penetration: 175 mm
Table 1. Theoretical and experimental dynamic forces Figure 8. Experimental dynamic forces for a typical
(RD). record corresponding to a section just above the sa pler
(3rd blow at the depth of 2 m).
Theoretical Experimental
80
Depth (m) Blow # (m) Rd (kN) Rd (kN)
60
Force (kN)
RD 2.54 1.68 0
-20
4.0 2 0.18 2.61 1.34 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120 130 140 150
Time (ms)
4.0 3 0.14 3.17 2.64 160
Displacement (mm)
8.0 5 0.058 6.77 5.08 Figure 9. Experimental dynamic force results for a typi-
8.0 6 0.065 6.12 3.97 cal record corresponding to a section just above the sam-
8.0 7 0.08 5.11 4.17 pler (2nd blow at the depth of 4 m).
8.0 8 0.06 6.57 4.63
80
8.0 9 0.07 5.74 4.47
60
RD 6.06 4.46
Force (kN)
40
Rd (1) = 4.65 kN
10.0 6 0.035 10.70 6.52 20
Rd (2) = 4.13 kN
90
12.0 6 0.027 13.58 7.28
12.0 8 0.038 9.89 7.42 60
12.0 9 0.027 13.58 7.60
Field penetration: 82 mm
12.0 10 0.038 9.89 8.76 30
869
40 0
Rd (1) = 4.77 kN
Rd (2) = 4.48 kN
20
-20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 4
Time (ms)
120
Displacement (mm)
90
Experimental RD
Depth (m)
60 Theoretical RD
8
Field penetration: 60 mm
30
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
Time (ms)
12
Figure 11. Experimental dynamic force results for a
typical record corresponding to a section just above the
sampler (8th blow at the depth of 8 m).
80 16
60
Figure 14. Influence of rod length on soil dynamic
Force (kN)
40
Rd (1) = 6.44 kN
Rd (2) = 4.86 kN force.
20
0
5.2 Comparison of theoretical and experimental
-20
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
soil dynamic forces
Time (ms)
120
Theoretical and experimental soil dynamic forces
were compared to verify the suitability of the
Displacement (mm)
90
Field penetration: 40 mm
dynamic force equation as proposed by Schnaid
60
et al., (2009) (Figure 14). It was noticed that the
30 experimental dynamic force values were lower than
theoretical dynamic force values. Additionally, the
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 difference between these values increases with the
Time (ms)
rod length increase (Figure 14). Results indicated
Figure 12. Experimental dynamic force results for a that coefficients 2 and 3, which are related to rod
typical record corresponding to a section just above the length and sampler displacement, should be re-
sampler (8th blow at the depth of 10 m). evaluated for the investigated soil profile and SPT
equipment.
80
Theoretical dynamic force values were com-
puted using the coefficient values (1, 2 and 3)
60
proposed by Odebrecht et al. (2004). These coef-
Force (kN)
40 Rd (1) = 8.44 kN
Rd (2) = 6.11 kN
ficient values were determined based on calibra-
20 tion chamber test. However, in field tests, due to
0 different boundary conditions, a different behavior
-20 should be expected.
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (ms)
60 70 80 90 100
Figure 15 shows that the experimental and theo-
120
retical dynamic resistance ratio ranges from 0.65
Displacement (mm)
90
Field penetration: 27 mm
(10 meters) to 0.81 (6 meters). Experimental results
indicated that energy computed by Equation 9 was
60
overestimated.
30 Johsen and Jagello (2007) compared their
0
experimental results with computed results using
0 10 20 30 40 50
Time (ms)
60 70 80 90 100 Equation 9. The tests were performed with the
instrumentation placed in two positions: top and
Figure 13. Experimental dynamic force results for a bottom of the rods. These researchers found that
typical record corresponding to a section just above the the computed energy loss was lower than the evalu-
sampler (6th blow at the depth of 12 m). ated experimental energy loss. Their results showed
870
4
0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Length of rod (m)
Depth (m)
16
Experimental RD
Depth (m)
871
872
B.O. Lobo
Milititsky Consultoria Geotcnica, Florianpolis, Brazil
J.A. Howie
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
ABSTRACT: The processes of soil reaction during dynamic penetration tests in cohesionless materials
are evaluated in the present paper, exploring the sensitivity of results to compensatory changes in static
and viscous components of soil resistance (i.e. stiffness and damping variations). From a number of
numerical simulations for both loose and dense sand, it was possible to access the contribution of soil
reaction mechanism in terms of external sampler shaft friction, end-bearing and soil plug. Main param-
eters controlling this mechanism were identified and a sensitivity analysis performed. The discussion is a
step towards a more rational means of interpreting penetration tests and may contribute to future predic-
tive methods of assessing shear strength from penetration measurements.
873
Fu,a = Aa u (3)
874
875
45 Z = 8.85 m - Simulated - R = 0.94 - Error = 1.63 kN ometer readings being less reliable later in the
40
Z = 11.90 m - Measured traceespecially after several cycles, as discussed
Z = 11.90 m - Simulated - R = 0.38 - Error = 4.25 kN
35 Z = 13.40 m - Measured by Howie et al. (2003).
30 Z = 13.40 m - Simulated - R = 0.69 - Error = 3.35 kN From the present calibration, representative val-
25 ues of damping factor (J) and dimensionless param-
20 eter have been estimated: values of Ja = 0.45 s/m
15 for annular reaction and Jc = Js = 0.15 s/m for both
10
shaft and core reactions are recommended and are
5
0
in agreement with previous published data in cohe-
sionless soils (e.g Odebrecht 2003; Daniel 2000 &
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50 55 60
Sampler Penetration (cm)
Beim 2006). Energy losses have been represented
by (ratio of critical dampingsee Lobo 2009) of
Figure 2. Static calibrationquasi-static SPT sampler 3 10 5 for hammer and 1 10 5 for rod string and
penetration. sampler.
The good agreement between measured and
simulated numerical signals stimulates direct com-
Parameters that influence Nq are the initial effec- parisons between measured and predicted aver-
tive stress, shear strength and volume change. These age sampler penetration per blow ( = 0.3/N).
parameters are expressed by the rigidity index Ir
and the dimensionless volumetric strain of the SPT - Ladner 06 - 18.3 m (60 ft)
soil. In the present analysis, there is a recognition 150
that rigidity index and volume change are inter- 120
related and that both quantities change with the 90 Medido
Fora (kN)
60 Simulado
friction angle, i.e. higher rigidity index values are 30
applied to soils with higher friction angles. It has 0
-30
been therefore decided to follow a simple approach -60
by not considering Ir and explicitly and express- -90
ing Irr directly as a function of peak triaxial com- 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
pression values of friction angle . 150
tempo (ms)
Curve fitting analysis yields the following expres- 120
sion to determine the reduced rigidity index Irr:
ZV (KN)
90
60
Irr = 100 ln( 7) 300 (12) 30
0
For shaft reaction, the calibrated earth pres- -30
sure coefficient along sampler shaft is taken as
Ks = 0,25 Kp and the core reaction n value of 2 0 5 10 1 5 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
tempo (ms)
0.02
reproduces the best curve fitting.
Deslocamento (m)
0.015
0.005
The soil viscous resistance mobilized by sampler
penetration is evaluated by the Smith Damping 0
factor J. The idealized viscous reaction is linearly 0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
dependent on static soil reaction and sampler pen- tempo (ms)
Energia (% de 474 J)
80
etration velocity. 70
Force and velocity wave signals have been used 60
50
to establish the set of parameters controlling soil- 40
sampler interaction. A comparison between meas- 30
ured and simulated data is presented in Figure 3, 20
10
describing the variation with time of measured 0
force, scaled velocity (scaled by rod impedance),
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 50
displacement and energy. In general, numerical tempo (ms)
simulations reproduced the measured data with
accuracy during initial loading cycles for SPT Figure 3. Viscous soil reaction calibration procedure
results. At later cycles, numerical simulations are best fit wave traces.
876
14 Analysis A
877
80
80
40
Force (kN)
Force (kN)
40
0
0 0 20 40 60 80
-40 time (ms)
0 20 40 60 80
-40 time (ms) -80
-80 -120
120 160
120
80
80
FV (kN)
FV (kN)
40
40
0 0
0 20 40 60 80 0 20 40 60 80
time (ms) -40 time (ms)
-40
400
400
300
300
Energy (kJ)
Energy (kJ)
200
200
100
100
0
0
0 20 40 60 80
Sampler penetration velocity (m/s)
0 20 40 60 80 time (ms)
Sampler penetration velocity (m/s)
6
time (ms)
6
4
4
2
2
0
0
-2
-2
0 20 40 60 80
0 20 40 60 80 time (ms)
time (ms) 100
Sampler penetration (mm)
25
Sampler penetration (mm)
80
20
60
15
40
10
20
5
0
0
0 20 40 60 80
time (ms)
0 20 40 60 80
time (ms)
Figure 6. Sensitivity analysis influence.
Figure 5. G0 Influence in dynamic measurements.
878
Force (kN)
whereas for soft soil (30) several loading cycles are 0
necessary (Figure 6c). In addition, soft soils exhibit
increasing energy due to the contribution of rod 0 20 40 60
-40 time (ms)
and hammer potential energy (Odebrecht et al.
2005 & Schnaid et al. 2007, 2009). -80
Figure 6d shows the sensitivity of sampler pen-
etration velocity to friction angle. For soft soils -120
160
sampler penetration velocity remains high for
long periods of time while for dense soils velocity
120
reduces sharply in few loading cycles.
From the present analysis, it is possible to con-
clude that soil friction angle controls the energy 80
FV (kN)
that is transmitted to the soil mass. Dense soils
show small penetration and high energy transfer 40
per loading cycle and loose soils are characterized
by large penetration with energy being transferred 0
in several succeeding loading cycles. In this last
0 20 40 60
case, subsequent hammer blow may occur which -40 time (ms)
effectively contribute to the sampler penetration.
400
time (ms)
6
a. Jn = Jp = Js = 0static sampler-soil interaction;
b. Jp = 0.45 s/m and Jn = Js = 0.15 s/mafter Lobo 4
(2009)*;
c. Jp = 0.5 s/m and Jn = Js = 0.6 s/m**. 2
879
880
The joint evaluation of some pore water pressure and cone resistance
dissipation test records
ABSTRACT: The first evaluation results of a raw CPTu (rheological type) data set are presented consist-
ing of about 70 pairs of non-monotonic u2 dissipation test data and the simultaneously measured cone
resistance data. The statistical evaluation was made using the parameters of three models (a theoretically
explained empirical model for the rheological cone resistance data, two u3 dissipation test evaluation models
(with monotonic and non-monotonic time variation). The non-monotonic dissipation test data were double
evaluated, separately for the whole curve and the monotonic part only. The coefficient of consolidation iden-
tified with these models was used to characterize the soil type, in the lack of plasticity index information.
881
882
883
1
the oedometric relaxation test is a point-symmetric
0.0
model with embedding space dimension one. The
consolidation model behavior is basically the same
for every space dimension. In the case of the same
boundary conditions, the rheological type CPT tests V
can be studied with the oedometric relaxation test.
In the case of monotonically decreasing pore pres- 0 5 10 15 20
sure data, the coefficient of consolidation c is the ts (r)
only non-linearly dependent parameter to be found
in the inverse solution. In the non-monotonic dis- Figure 5. Composite initial condition shape functions,
sipation case there are three additional non-linearly positive part serial number k = n2 = 1.2 to 10 on the figure
dependent initial parameters: n1 n2 and s. The two corresponds to1.2 to 10. Negative part of initial condi-
parts of the initial condition (n1 and n2) can be com- tion serial number n = n1 = 1,2 to 5 on the figure cor-
bined to give 50 different initial conditions, and so responds to I to V.
can be condensed into a single two-digit, integer Table 2. Specified thickness values of the interface
parameter n3 (expressed as l = n1n2, where 0 n 49), shear zone.
leaving 3 non-linearly dependent parameters.
For the analysis the displacement domain is s number [] ts [cm] rs = ro + ts [cm] s = ts /ro []
assumed to extend to r1 = 37r0 from the shaft. This is
valid in filter position E ( u3) assuming undrained 1 0.1 1.85 0.05
penetration. For other filter positions (leading to 2 0.21 1.96 0.12
other r1 values) the identified c value can be modi- 3 0.42 2.17 0.24
fied using the model law of Imre et al. (2010). 4 0.84 2.59 0.48
The relaxation part-model has 3 parameters: the 5 1.89 3.64 1.08
radial total stress at the start of the test, the coef- 6 2.94 4.69 1.68
ficient of relaxation s, and the delay time t1. 7 3.36 5.11 1.92
884
885
5 RESULTS
0.30 u2 qc 1.5 m
qc [MPa]
0.20
0.10 March
Sept14
0.00
0 40 80 120 160 200
t [s]
(a)
0.08
u2 1.5 m and
dilatometer A data
u [MPa]
Sept14
0.04
March
A data
0.00
0 40 80 120
t [min]
(b)
886
1E+1
4
s [-]
nu [-]
1E+0
2
1
1E-1
0
1E+0 1E-1 1E-2 1E-3 1E-4 1E-5 1E-6
1E-2 c [cm2/s]
1E+1 1E+0 1E-1 1E-2 1E-3 1E-4 1E-5
c [cm2/s] Figure 12. Shear zone thickness serial number s [].
(a)
6
1E+2
4
n [-]
1E+1
nu [-]
1E+0 2
1
1E-1
0
1E+0 1E-1 1E-2 1E-3 1E-4 1E-5 1E-6
1E-2 c [cm2/s]
1E+1 1E+0 1E-1 1E-2 Figure 13. Negative part of initial condition serial number
c [cm2/s] n = n1 [] (I n1 V).
(b)
50
Figure 11. The qc data parameter versus c: (a) The c
is the non-monotonic result; (b) The c is the monotonic 40
result.
30
l [-]
6
5.2 The dissipation test model parameters
Figures 12 to 16 and Table 3 show the correlation
trends between the fitted parameters n1, n2, n and s, 4
k [-]
887