small piece of hand-operated equipment such as a Torvane or pocket penetrometer, or

will conduct laboratory testing to determine the shear strength of the soil. In granular
soil, the blow counts have been correlated to friction angle and unit weight. (This is why
the test is conducted using a standard method: 140-pound weight falling 30 inches). The
important numbers are the sum of the blow counts for the second and third 6-inch
intervals (from 6-inches to 18-inches of penetration). The sum is called the Standard
Penetration Resistance.

Hoisting the hammer to drive the sampler Drilling with an All Terrain Vehicle

Photograph 2.3 – Soil Test Boring

The effective overburden pressure affects the soil resistance. Hence a soil having a
Standard Penetration Resistance of 15 blows per foot located at a depth of 5 feet may not
have the same strength (measured by φ) as the same soil having the same penetration
resistance but located at a depth of 30 feet. Therefore it is common to correct the blow
count (from the SPT test) and sounding (from the CPT test) obtained in the field-testing
program. Although this correction is common, it is not universally applied. Various
equations and curves are available to make this correction.

2.5 Cone Penetrometer

Some exploration programs use cone penetrometer soundings and the Cone Penetration
Test (CPT) to derive foundation design values. The CPT uses a completely different
testing device in the field. Instead of driving a sampler into the ground using a hammer,
a standardized pointed rod is pushed into the ground using hydraulic pressure. The
resistance at the tip of the cone point (cone resistance) and the measured friction along
the side of the sampler barrel (friction resistance) provide the geotechnical engineer with
information used to determine the classification of the soil and the engineering properties

Basic Geotechnical Engineering for Non-Geotechnical Engineers

©Copyright 2010 Richard P. Weber
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