• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.28 no.2C
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• pp.95-103
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• 2008

Seismic piezocone penetration tests (SCPTu) can be used to obtain dynamic properties of soils as well as cone resistance and penetration pore pressure. However, the SCPTu system can be hardly utilized in marine soils because it is difficult to install the source apparatus which generates the shear wave in offshore site. The authors developed an inhole type piezocone penetration test (CPTu) equipment which both source and receiver composed of bender elements were installed inside the rod located behind the cone. Therefore, it can be applicable to even an offshore site without any additional source apparatus. The objective of this paper is to investigate the practical application of inhole type CPTu by performing laboratory model tests using kaolinite as soft clay. The shear wave velocities of kaolinite soil were measured with time, and the effects of soil disturbance due to the installation of source and receiver were also examined for various distance between source and receiver.

• Journal of Korean Society of Coastal and Ocean Engineers
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• v.20 no.6
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• pp.523-531
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• 2008

In hole type CPTu equipment which combines the concepts of inhole test method and piezocone test method was newly developed in order to evaluate the dynamic properties of marine soils. It is possible to perform inhole type CPTu without any additional source device because the source and receiver are contained inside the cone rod, which is different from the conventional seismic cone system. In this study, laboratory tests using kaolinite as soft soil and numerical simulations using finite element method were carried out to investigate the effects of several parameters including test methods and soil conditions on the test results from inhole type CPTu and to find out the optimum test method. It was found that it is necessary to maintain the length of swing arm as well as the distance between source and receiver consistently to obtain the rigorous test results. The laboratory test and numerical results also reveal that contrary to the input wave frequency, the water content of soil layer and the disturbance due to the installation of swing arm apparently affect the shear wave velocity.