• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.10 no.7
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• pp.1668-1672
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• 2009

In this study, the method by Robertson which has been most commonly used for classifying soils, using piezocone test results, was compared with that by Schneider which was most recently proposed. Both methods were applied to the soils in Gyeonggi province and the classifying results were investigated. It has been found that the difference between the results according to the methods was not so large and Schneider's method showed slightly better results for clay region and vice versa. Such factors as large field database, normalized tip resistance, pore water pressure, and drain condition were found to need further research for more reliable soil classification.

• Geophysics and Geophysical Exploration
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• v.19 no.4
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• pp.187-199
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• 2016

In order to delineate the soft ground distribution, an integrated geostatistical analysis was performed using the MASW (Multichannel Analysis of Surface Wave) which has the information of overall region and CPTu (Piezo Cone Penetration Test) which provides the direct information of the measuring point of the ground. MASW results were known to have close relationship with the ground stiffness. This correlation was confirmed through the comparison of MASW data obtained from two survey lines to the laboratory test with extracted soil samples. 3D physical property distribution in the study area was acquired by geostatistical integrated analysis with the data of tip resistance ($q_c$) and pore pressure (u) from the CPTu obtained at 6 points within the study area. The integrated analysis was conducted by applying the COSGSIM (Sequential Gaussian Co-Simulation) technology which can carry out the simulation in accordance with the spatial correlation between the MASW results and both tip resistance and pore pressure. Besides the locations of CPTu, borehole investigations were also conducted at two different positions. As a result, the N value of SPT and borehole log could be secured, so these data were used for the analysis of the geotechnical engineering accuracy of the integrated analysis result. For the verification of reliability of the 3D distribution of tip resistance and pore pressure secured through integrated analysis, the geotechnical information gained from the two drilling areas was compared, and the result showed extremely high correlation.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.38 no.3
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• pp.429-438
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• 2018

Cone and T-bar penetrometers have been frequently used to estimate the undrained shear strength of clay. For small-size model tests, miniature penetrometers should be used but their correlation factors have not been well published. In this study, a testing setup was developed to derive empirical factors of the miniature cone and T-bar penetrometers. A 350mm-diameter chamber and kaolin clay were utilized to prepare soil specimens consolidated under four different pre-consolidation pressures controlling undrained shear strength. Two miniature cones with two diameters of 10-mm and 16-mm and a T-bar penetrometer with 10-mm diameter were used to investigate boundary effect, penetration rate effect, and diameter and shape effect. Unconsolidated-undrained triaxial tests were carried out with samples taken from the specimens to measure undrained shear strength. Finally, empirical factors for the penetrometers were constructed to correlate tip resistance to undrained shear strength.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.31 no.1C
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• pp.29-38
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• 2011

The smaller diameter cone penetrometer has been widely used to estimate the characteristics of local area due to high vertical resolution. The half-bridge cirucits have been adopted to measure the mechnical strength of soil through the smaller diameter cone penetrometer due to the limitation of the areas for configuring the full-bridge circuit. The half-bridge circuit, however, is known as being easily affected to the temperature variation. The objective of this study suggests the temperature-compensated method in mini-cones. The diameter and length of the mini-cone is designed to 15mm and 56mm. The load cell of the mini-cone is extended about 54mm on the behind of the mini-cone to reflect the only temperature variation. The full-bridge circuit is installed to measure the temperature-compensated values in the mini-cone and the half-bridge circuit is also organized to compare the temperature compensated values with uncompensated values. The seasonal variation tests are performed to define the effect of temperature variation under summer and winter temperature condition. The densification tests are also carried out to investigate temperature effects during penetration. The measured mechanical resistances with temperature-compensated method show more reliable and reasonable values than those measured by thermal uncompensated system. This study suggests that the temperature-compensated method of the mini-cone may be a useful technique to obtain the more reliable resistances with minimizing the temperature effect.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.33 no.6
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• pp.2359-2368
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• 2013

Cone penetration tests (CPTs) have been increasingly used for site characterizations. However, the site investigations using CPTs are often limited due to soil conditions depending on the cone size and capacity of the CPT system. The small sectional area of a miniature cone improves the applicability of the CPT system due to the increased capacity of the CPT system. A continuous intrusion system using a coiled rod allows fast and cost effective site investigation. In this study, the performance of the continuous intrusion miniature cone penetration test (CIMCPT) system has been evaluated by comparison tests with the standard CPT system at several construction sites in Korea. The results show that the CIMCPT system has a same performance with the CPT system and has advantages on the mobility and applicability. According to field verification tests for scale effect evaluation, the cone tip resistance evaluated by CIMCPT overestimates by 10% comparing to standard CPTs. A crawler mounted with the CIMCPT system has been implemented to improve accessibility to soft ground, and has shown improvement over the truck type CIMCPT system. Therefore, the improved CIMCPT system can be utilized as a cost effective and highly reliable soil investigation methodology to detect the depth of soft ground and to evaluate soil classification.

• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.4C
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• pp.163-174
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• 2009

Mechanical device using the load cell or strain gage sensor can be influenced by tempearute changes because temperature change can cause a shift in the load cell or straing gage output at zero loading. In this paper, micro cone penetrometers with 1~7mm in diameter, are developed by using an optical fiber sensor (FBG: Fiber Bragg Grating) to compensate the continous temperature change during cone penetration test. Note the temperature compensated method using optical fiber sensor which has hair-size in diameter, and is not affected by environmental conditions because the measured data is the wavelength shifting of the light instead of the intensity of the electric voltage. Temperature effect test shows that the output voltage of strain gage changes and increases with an increase in the temperature. A developed FBG cone penetrometer, however, achieves excellent temperature compensation during penetration, and produces continuous change of underground temperature. In addition, the temperature compensated FBG cone shows the excellent sensitivity and detects the interface of the layered soils with higher resolution. This study demonstrates that the fiber optic sensor renders the possibility of the ultra small size cone and the new fiber optic cone may produce more reliable temperature compensated tip resistance.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.25 no.1
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• pp.77-88
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• 2009

Cone factors, $N_{kt}$, $N_{ke}$ and $N_{{\Delta}u}$, for estimating undrained shear strength of Busan clay are evaluated in this study. For this, CPTu and field vane tests are performed for clay layers at two sites, Busan new-port and Noksan, and also $CK_0U$ triaxial tests with undisturbed samples taken from the same site are carried out. From experimental results, it is observed that the undrained shear strengths of clay increases with depth, and the undrained shear strength obtained from triaxial tests is 1.5 times higher than one obtained from vane tests. The normalized undrained shear strengths of Busan clay from triaxial and vane shear tests are $0.26{\sim}0.44$ and $0.20{\sim}0.23$, respectively. In CPTu results, cone tip resistance ($q_c$) and pore pressure ($u_2$) linearly increase with depth, and the pore pressure ratio ($B_q$) of Busan clay is within the range of $0.3{\sim}1.0$. The cone factors, which are determined by comparing the CPTu results with $CK_0U$ triaxial and vane shear test results, are found to be $5{\sim}20$ and $10{\sim}35$, respectively. It is also observed that the cone factors are inversely proportional to the pore pressure ratio. From this, the prediction methods for evaluating the cone factors of Busan clay are developed.

• Geomechanics and Engineering
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.119-139
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• 2017

Static Penetration Test (CPT) and Dynamic Penetration Test (DPT) are commonly used in-situ tests in a routine geotechnical investigation. Besides their use for qualitative investigation (lithology, homogeneity and spatial variability), they are used as practical tools of geotechnical characterization (resistance to the penetration, soil rigidity) and modern foundation design as well. The paper aims at presenting the results of an extensive research work on the evaluation of the 1D primary consolidation settlement of saturated clayey soils on the basis of the CPT or DPT tests. The work is based on an analysis of the correlations between the tip resistance to penetration measured in these tests and the parameters of compressibility measured by the compressibility oedometer test, through a local geotechnical database in the northern Algeria. Such an analysis led to the proposal of two methods of calculation of the settlement, one based on the CPT test and the other one on the DPT. The comparison between the predicted settlements and those computed on the basis of the oedometer test showed a good agreement which demonstrate the possbility to use the CPT and DPT tests as reliable tools of computation of foundation settlements in clayey soils.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Geosynthetics Society
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.37-45
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• 2008

A pilot test using environmentally friendly drains, was carried out to evaluate their applicability potential in the field. The pilot test site was divided into 5 different areas, with several combinations of vertical and horizontal drains installed for evaluation. Conventional natural fiber drains (FDB), new developed straw drain board (SDB) and plastic drain board (PDB) were used as vertical drains, while sand and fiber mats were used as horizontal drains. Surface settlement rates and excess pore pressure generation/dissipation tendency of PDB and FDB are almost identical except those of SDB. Cone tip resistance obtained from cone penetration test measured at the end of 1st consolidation stage for upper soft layer definitely increased irrespective of types of vertical drains. The monitoring and site investigation test data obtained at the pilot test site prove the vertical natural fiber drains can be used as substitutes of conventional plastic and sand material.