Miniature Pressuremeter and

Miniature Cone Penetrometer Testing

in Calibration Chamber with
Unsaturated Soil Beds
By

Norman K. Tan
 Outline

Introduction
Objective
Research task
Why calibration chamber?
OU calibration chamber
Preparation of soil beds
Test results
Research question.
 Introduction
Cone Penetrometer (CPT) & Pressuremeter (PMT)
Popular in situ testing devices
Give estimates of in situ soil properties
Methods developed to interpret results focus around:
Saturated soil
Dry sand
About 1/3 of earth ~ arid/semi arid regions
Behavior of unsaturated soil is different from saturated
soil
Motivation: No methods for interpreting CPT & PMT in
unsaturated soil
 Objective
Develop a method to predict PMT and CPT
responses for various matric suction based
on one test result
 Research Task
Calibration chamber testing
Numerical and analytical analysis and
modeling
Laboratory testing
 Research task
Calibration
Chamber Testing

Modeling Laboratory Testing

~Soil properties
 Why Calibration Chamber?
Field Testing
Easy and cheaper
Lack of control over the boundary conditions
Heterogeneous of soil
Unknown stress history, stress state, etc.
Calibration Chamber Testing
Controlled environment
Boundary condition
Stress state
Homogeneous soil beds
Etc.
OU Calibration Chamber (OUCC)
Allows independent control
of radial & axial stress (BC1)
Designed working pressure ~
1380 kPa
Capable to perform axis
translation
Pore air & pore water can be
controlled independently
Burettes system: measure
water volume change
DAVI: measure diffused air
volume
 LVDTs ~ measure total
volume change Soil Bed

Soil beds
diameter: 610 mm
Height: 450 mm to
1350 mm
 Preparation of Soil Beds
Soil used: Soil preparation:
Minco Silt Oven dried
From Tuttle, OK Pass #10 sieve
CL-ML soil Mixed with water in large
PI: 8 concrete mixer
Soil bed preparation: Store in 5 gallon pails for
Statically compacted minimum of 1 day
152 mm/layer Soil bed consolidation
35 kPa increment
Up to 103 kPa
OU Miniature Pressuremeter (MPMT)

Diameter: 15.2 mm
Length: 130 mm
H/D: 8.5
Dsoilbed/Dprobe: 40
Test Depth:
267 mm (center of probe)
495 mm (center of probe)
OU Miniature Cone Penetrometer
(MCPT)
Diameter: 8.9 mm
Dsoilbed/Dprobe: 68.5
Penetration rate: 0.5 cm/sec
 Typical MPMT Results
Limit Pressure 120

~ defined as pressure 100

at which vol. of the

Corrected Pressure (psi)
80

cavity is twice of 60
initial soil cavity
40
volume
20
~ determined using
1/v vs P plot 0

-20
0.0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1.0 1.2 1.4 1.6

Corrected Volume (in3)

160 From test: CCT6 PMT 6-2

150
Summary of MPMT Results
Ep Er PL w d interpreted
Test ID:
(kpa) (kpa) (kpa) (%) (%) (kN/m3) (kPa)
PMT2-1 14836 23396 839 10.1 14.1 13.7 23.8
PMT2-2 14154 23879 766 11.0 15.4 13.7 19.6
PMT3-1 21113 22608 1341 5.9 7.8 13.0 59.7
PMT3-2 31434 31606 1585 5.4 7.4 13.3 60.1
PMT4-1 7943 12329 641 12.5 18.0 14.2 13.2
PMT4-2 7868 12752 605 12.8 18.7 14.3 12.0
PMT5-1 13101 25098 771 7.8 10.7 13.5 41.5
PMT5-2 17415 28955 787 8.1 11.2 13.5 38.6
PMT6-1 26023 57144 1026 8.7 12.3 13.9 32.0
PMT6-2 20629 60287 977 8.6 12.5 14.3 31.1
PMT8-1 9875 15789 525 7.3 9.5 12.8 49.7
PMT8-2 8811 18972 545 7.2 9.4 12.8 50.3
PMT9-1 15237 20572 766 8.8 12.1 13.5 33.2
PMT9-2 12050 22611 734 8.7 12.1 13.5 33.3
PMT10-1 15166 35707 835 8.0 11.1 13.5 39.1
PMT10-2 18578 37243 770 8.2 11.3 13.5 37.6
PMT11-1C 11224 29656 490 6.1 8.0 12.9 58.8
PMT11-2C 14208 39401 525 5.9 7.7 12.8 59.7
PMT11-1S 11836 25794 488 6.0 8.0 13.1 58.8
PMT11-2S 13547 26092 524 6.0 7.9 12.9 59.2
PMT11-1E 8668 18579 488 6.1 7.8 12.7 59.4
PMT11-2E 13448 22372 580 5.9 7.6 12.7 59.9
PMT11-1W 12411 19567 528 6.2 8.1 12.8 58.4
PMT11-2W 10338 18234 507 5.9 7.6 12.6 60.0
 MPMT Results
1800
1600
1400
Limit Pressure (kPa)

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0
Interpreted Matric Suction (kPa)
 MPMT Results
1800
1600
1400
Limit Pressure (kPa)

1200
1000
800
600
400
200
0
12.4 12.6 12.8 13.0 13.2 13.4 13.6 13.8 14.0 14.2 14.4 14.6
Dry Unit Weight (kN/m^3)
 MPMT Results
14.6
14.4
Dry Unit Weight (kN/m^3)

14.2
14.0
13.8
13.6
13.4
13.2
13.0
12.8
12.6
12.4
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0
Interpreted Matric Suction (kPa)
 MPMT Results
35000

30000

25000
Ep (kPa)

20000

15000

10000

5000

0
0.0 10.0 20.0 30.0 40.0 50.0 60.0 70.0
Interpreted Matric Suction (kPa)
 MPMT Results
35000

30000

25000
Ep (kPa)

20000

15000

10000

5000

0
12.4 12.6 12.8 13.0 13.2 13.4 13.6 13.8 14.0 14.2 14.4 14.6
Dry Unit Weight (kN/m^3)
 Depth (cm)

140
120
100
80
60
40
20
0
0

1000

2000

w: 6%
3000

4000
CPT 1 A

5000

qc (kN/m2)
6000

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 1 B

5000

qc (kN/m2)
6000

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 1 C

5000
qc (kN/m2)
6000
MCPT Results

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 1 D

5000
qc (kN/m2)

6000

7000

8000
 Depth (cm)

80
60
40
20
0

140
120
100
0

1000

w: 8%
2000

3000

4000
CPT 2 A

5000

qc (kN/m2)
6000

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 2 B

5000

qc (kN/m2)
6000

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 2 C

qc (kN/m2) 5000

6000
MCPT Results

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 2 D

5000
qc (kN/m2)

6000

7000

8000
 Depth (cm)

80
60
40
20
0

140
120
100
0

1000

w: 10%
2000

3000

4000
CPT 3 A

5000

qc (kN/m2)
6000

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 3 B

5000

qc (kN/m2)
6000

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 3 C

qc (kN/m2) 5000

6000
MCPT Results

7000

1000

2000

3000

4000
CPT 3 D

5000
qc (kN/m2)

6000

7000

8000
 MCPT Results
0

20

40
Depth (cm)

60

80

100

120

140
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
10

11

12

13

14

4.0
4.5
5.0
5.5
6.0
6.5
7.0
7.5
8.0
8.5
9.0
qc (kN/m2) Dry Unit Weight (kN/m3) Gravimetric Water Content (%)

CPT 1 A ~ w: 8%
 MCPT Results: qc Histogram
0.16
CPT1A CPT1B CPT1C CPT1D
Relative Frequency (%)

0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
CPT2A CPT2B CPT2C CPT2D
Relative Frequency (%)

0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
CPT3A CPT3B CPT3C CPT3D
Relative Frequency (%)

0.14
0.12
0.10
0.08
0.06
0.04
0.02
0.00
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

qc (kPa) qc (kPa) qc (kPa) qc (kPa)

MCPT Results: m0 of qc
 MCPT Results: m0 of qc
4500
4000
3500
3000
m o qc (kPa)

2500
2000
1500
1000
500
0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Average Interpreted Matric Suction (kPa)
 0
MCPT Results
10

20

30

40

50

60
Depth (cm)

70

80

90

100

110

120

130
CCT3B
140
0 1000 2000 3000 4000 5000 6000 7000 8000

qc (kPa)
 MCPT Results
INTERPRETED qc (kPa)
TEST ID MATRIC HISTOGRAM MIN-MAX OVERALL
SUCTION (kPa) (MEAN) MEAN MEDIAN
CPT1A 59 3888 4073 3739
CPT1B 59 4055 4133 3961
CPT1C 59 4006 4062 4012
CPT1D 59 3918 4056 3814
CPT2A 43 2883 3224 2761
CPT2B 43 3208 3622 3208
CPT2C 44 2978 3347 2971
CPT2D 45 3101 3170 3029
CPT3A 27 2979 3362 3157
CPT3B 22 2779 3314 2883
CPT3C 23 2908 3047 2858
CPT3D 27 3035 3340 2970
 MCPT Results
4500

4000

3500
qc(kPa)

3000

2500

2000
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Interpreted Matric Suction (kPa)

HISTOGRAM (MEAN) MIN-MAX MEAN OVERALL MEDIAN

 Research Questions ???
What is the true value of H, v for Minco Silt?
Does c`, `, b varies with initial water
content, dry unit weight? How significant?
Are the interpreted matric suctions the true
matric suctions?
Explanations for the PMT response:
~ trend in ua-uw vs. Pl plot
Thank you !!!