• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.45-54
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• 2009

The electrical characteristics of soils have been used for investigating soil properties. The purpose of this study is the development and application of the electrical resistivity cone probe (ERCP) for the evelation of the porosity in the field with high precision. The shape of the probe tip is a cone shape to minimize the disturbance during penetration. In addition, the four terminal pair configuration is adopted to minimize the electrical interference. The electrical resistances are continuously measured during penetration of the ERCP using penetration rigs with 0.33 mm/sec penetration rate at Incheon and Busan sites. With the measured resistance profile and electrical resisivity of electrolyte of undisturbed samples, soil porosity profiles are obtained by using Archie's law. The empirical coefficients for the Archie's law are obtained based on the electrolyte extracted from the undisturbed samples. The estimated porosity profiles show similar trends to those of in-situ penetration tests such as SPT, CPT, and DMT. This study suggests that the ERCP may be an effective tool for the porosity estimation in the field with minimum disturbance.