NUMERICAL STUDY OF CONE PENETRATION TEST IN CLAYS USING PRESS-REPLACE METHOD

Abstract

Cone penetration test (CPT) is a widely used in situ test for site characterization. Readings obtained from CPT are indirect and needs to be interpreted. However easy-to-use theoretical relationships for the effective friction angle, overconsolidation ratio, undrained shear strength and horizontal permeability of soft clays are still limited. A simplified numerical technique to model a deep penetration process, the press-replace method (PRM), is used to simulate cone penetration in undrained conditions. The performance of PRM is validated by comparisons with three other numerical approaches. An extensive investigation with the modified Cam-clay soil model (MCC) is then conducted to propose an equation that enables friction angle and OCR to be estimated. When the cone penetrometer is held stationary to measure pore pressure decay, it is known as dissipation testing. A dimensionless time factor that easily and directly evaluates horizontal permeability for both standard and non-standard dissipation curves is proposed.