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Characterized by an arid climate, Texas boasts a wide variety of different geological sights. Included in its landscape are rocky plateaus, coastal plains, forests, and even mountainous regions. Predominantly recognized for its deserts, there is a variety of natural gas and oil beneath its surface.

Cone Penetration Testing Glossary of Terms

This brief glossary contains some of the most frequently used terms related to CPT/CPTU. These are presented in alphabetical order. CPT: Cone Prenetration Test or the act of Cone Penetration Testing. CPTU: Cone Penetration Test with pore water pressure measurement - a piezocone test. Cone: The part of the Cone penetrometer on which the end bearing is developed. Cone penetrometer: The assembly containing the cone, friction sleeve, any other sensors and measuring systems, as well as the connections to the push rods. Cone resistance: The total force acting on the cone, divided by the projected area of the cone. Corrected cone resistance: The cone resistance corrected for pore water pressure effects. Corrected sleeve friction: The sleeve friction corrected for pore water pressure effects on the ends of the friction sleeve. Data acquisition system: The system used to measure and record the measurements made by the cone penetrometer. Dissipation test: A test when the decay of the pore water pressure is monitored during a pause in penetration. Filter element: The porous element inserted into the cone penetrometer to allow transmission of the pore water pressure to the pore pressure sensor, while maintaining the correct profile of the cone penetrometer. Friction ratio: The ratio, expressed as a percentage, of the sleeve friction, to the cone resistance, both measured at the same depth. Friction reducer: A local enlargement on the push-rod surface, placed at a distance above the cone penetrometer, and provided to reduce the friction on the push rods. Friction sleeve: The section of the cone penetrometer upon which the sleeve friction is measured. Normalized cone resistance: The cone resistance expressed in a non dimensional form and taking account of stress changes in situ. Net cone resistance: The corrected cone resistance minus the vertical total stress. Net pore pressure: The meausured pore [...]

By smadi66|December 3rd, 2019|Geotechnical Washington, Geotechnical Tennessee, Geotechnical Wyoming, Geotechnical Wisconsin, Geotechnical Alabama, Geotechnical West Virginia, Introductory, Cone Penetration, Geotechnical Texas, Geotechnical Utah, Geotechnical Vermont, Geotechnical Virginia|0 Comments

What Information Should you Include in a Geotechical Report?

It could be that you've learned everything there is to know about Cone Penetration Testing, but if you don't know about geotechnical reporting, you're missing out on a big step in the process. A geotechnical report is a tool used to communicate site conditions, as well as design and construction recommendations to be relayed to personnel. In other words, you're taking the results of your CPT testing and putting them into an easy-to-understand report along with relevant conclusions. Sound simple? There's more to it than you might think. Geotechnical Report Essentials Of course, you want to include specific information in your geotechnical report like the status of substrate soil, rock and water conditions. It also goes without saying that accuracy in all areas is crucial because the data in the report will be referred to often throughout the design and construction periods, as well as after the completion of the project, primarily for resolving claims. But let's get more specific. Here are some basic must have points that should be included in every geotechnical report; keeping in mind that final content will vary somewhat depending on the business and project: Location and surface conditions: specific address, current use, surface coverings, elevation, drainage, etc. Subsurface exploration data: soil profile, exploration logs, lab or in-situ test results, ground water conditions Interpretation and analysis of data Engineering recommendations for design Anticipated problems and discussed solutions: slope stability, seismic considerations, etc. Any recommended geotechnical special provisions Include other types of geotechnical reports: foundation report, centerline soil report, landslide study report, etc. With these points as a guideline, it's possible to create a geotechnical report that covers all the right points to satisfy all parties involved in a project. This includes any government agencies that require geotechnical reports. For example, the U.S. Department of Transportation [...]

By smadi66|December 3rd, 2019|Geotechnical Tennessee, Geotechnical Texas, Geotechnical Ohio, Geotechnical Pennsylvania, CPT Data, Experienced, Geotechnical North Dakota, Geotechnical Oklahoma, Geotechnical Oregon, Geotechnical Rhode Island, Geotechnical South Carolina, Geotechnical South Dakota|0 Comments

Financing of New CPT Equipment Now Available

We're pleased to announce a partnership with Oakmont Capital Services as our preferred lending partner allowing Vertek CPT customers in the U.S. and Canada to enter the CPT business with as litte as no money down! Oakmont Capital Services is a full-service provider of commerical equipment financing. Application-only financing from $5,000 to $300,000 Most companies approved with 100% financing Quick turnaround on applications with most decisions made within 2 to 4 hours Competitive rates and terms (better than most banks) Financing available on new/used equipment with terms from 12 to 84 months Financing for start-up companies with a background in related industry U.S. and Canadian customers only Apply to finance your CPT purchase!

By smadi66|December 3rd, 2019|Geotechnical Pennsylvania, Vertek Partners, Geotechnical Oklahoma, Geotechnical Oregon, Geotechnical Rhode Island, Geotechnical South Carolina, Geotechnical South Dakota, Geotechnical Texas, Geotechnical Utah, Geotechnical Vermont, Geotechnical Tennessee|0 Comments

Intro to CPTu: What Can You Learn From Pore Pressure Data?

The most basic CPT tests classify soil based on tip resistance and sleeve friction measurements. In coarse soils and shallow testing depths, this data may be sufficient to accurately characterize the soil behavior. However, most modern CPT cones incorporate a third measurement: pore water pressure. What does this measurement mean and how can it add to our understanding of soil behavior? Pore pressure is simply a measure of the in-situ groundwater pressure, i.e. the water pressure in the “pores” between soil grains. This data is used to determine the compressibility and permeability of the soil, as well as indicating groundwater conditions. It is used to correct or “normalize” the sleeve friction and tip resistance readings in the presence of in-situ moisture and overburden stress. This is especially important in soft, fine-grained soils where in-situ moisture takes longest to dissipate, and in tests at depths greater than 100 feet. A CPT cone that is equipped with one or more pore pressure sensors is called a piezocone, and a CPT test using a piezocone is often indicated with the abbreviation CPTu. Piezocones may have between one and three pore pressure sensors, located on the cone (denoted u1), directly behind the cone (u2), or at the top of the friction sleeve (u3). Most piezocones for everyday applications use one sensor located at u2 (see image below). The pore pressure sensor consists of a porous filter (usually made of plastic resin), a small cavity of incompressible, low-viscosity fluid, and a pressure transducer. The filter and tubing between the filter and transducer must be fully saturated with fluid, usually glycerin or silicon oil, to ensure fast and accurate readings. The filter must be replaced frequently so that it does not become clogged with soil. The procedure for the CPTu test is slightly different than the [...]

By smadi66|December 2nd, 2019|Cone Penetration, Soil Testing, Geotechnical Rhode Island, Geotechnical South Carolina, Geotechnical South Dakota, Geotechnical Texas, Geotechnical Utah, Geotechnical Tennessee, Geotechnical Vermont, Geotechnical Pennsylvania, Geotechnical Virginia, CPT Data, Geotechnical Washington, Introductory|0 Comments

Using CPT Pore Pressure Dissipation Tests to Characterize Groundwater Conditions

In a previous blog, we talked about how pore pressure data is used to correct and adjust soil behavior type characterizations – but this is only one application of this important and revealing information. Pore pressure data can also be used to estimate the depth of the water table and the direction and rate of groundwater flow. This information is useful both for site characterization and for geo-environmental and remediation applications. What is a Pore Pressure Dissipation Test? As a CPT cone is pushed into saturated subsurface soil, it creates a localized increase in pore pressure (denoted excess pore pressure, ui) as groundwater is pushed out of the way of the cone. In a pore pressure dissipation test, the downward movement of the cone is paused and the time it takes for the pore pressure to stabilize is measured. This stable pore pressure is called equilibrium pore pressure, uo. This information allows the user to identify important hydrogeologic features: The water table (or phreatic surface) depth is defined as the distance below the soil surface at which pore pressure is equal to atmospheric pressure. This can be roughly visualized as the level below which subsurface materials are fully saturated with groundwater. Especially in fine-grained soils, estimating the water table can be more complex than simply detecting moisture, since surface tension draws groundwater upwards, creating negative pore pressures. This is effect is called capillary rise. Very low or negative pressures can be difficult to measure precisely with the piezocone, which is primarily designed to measure high pressures below the water table. In this case, the water table depth can be calculated by the following formula: dwater = dcone – hw dwater = water table depth dcone = depth of piezocone hw = water head The water head, hw, is the height [...]

By smadi66|December 1st, 2019|Geotechnical South Carolina, Geotechnical South Dakota, Geotechnical Texas, Geotechnical Utah, Geotechnical Vermont, Geotechnical Virginia, Geotechnical Tennessee, Geotechnical Washington, Geotechnical West Virginia, Introductory, Cone Penetration, Geotechnical Rhode Island|0 Comments

CPT Dictionary: Soil Liquefaction

In our last blog, we discussed using the CPT to estimate the shear strength of soil, which helps gauge how soil will behave during changes in stress. One important application of this capability is the estimation of soil liquefaction potential, meaning the potential of soil to dramatically lose strength when subjected to changes in stress. Liquefaction is of particular concern in sandy, saturated soils. Shaking due to an earthquake or other sudden force causes the grains of loosely packed, sandy soils to settle into a denser configuration. If the soil is saturated and the loading is rapid, pore water does not have time to move out of the way of settling soil: pore water pressure rises, effectively pushing the soil grains apart and allowing them to move more freely relative to each other. At this point, the soil can shift and flow like a liquid—hence the name liquefaction. This dramatic reduction of soil stiffness and strength causes soil to shift under pre-existing forces—say, the pressure of a building’s foundation or the pull of gravity on a slope. The increased pore pressure also increases the force of the soil on in-ground structures such as retaining walls, dams, and bridge abutments. How can the potential for these effects be evaluated using the CPT? The subject is complex, as the wealth of research on the subject over several decades shows! Many approaches for determining cyclic liquefaction potential rely on the cyclic stress ratio (CSR), which requires a seismic analysis of the site. It expresses the ratio of the average cyclic shear stress in an earthquake of a given magnitude and the effective vertical overburden stress at the test site. CSR = 0.65(MWF)(amax/g)(σvo/σ′vo)rd Where: MWF = Magnitude Weighting Factor = (Magnitude)2.56/173 amax = maximum ground surface acceleration g = acceleration of gravity, 9.81m/s2 σvo [...]

By smadi66|November 29th, 2019|Geotechnical Vermont, Geotechnical Virginia, Geotechnical Tennessee, Geotechnical Washington, Geotechnical Wisconsin, Geotechnical Wyoming, Geotechnical West Virginia, CPT Dictionary, Cone Penetration, Soil Testing, Experienced, Geotechnical South Dakota, Geotechnical Texas, Geotechnical Utah|0 Comments

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