Penetration Tests:

SPT, CPT and PLT

History
In 1902, Charles R. Gow, owner of the Gow
Construction Co. in Boston, began making
exploratory borings using 1-in. (2.5-cm)-diameter
drive samplers driven by repeated blows of a 110lb hammer to aid in estimating the cost of hand
excavating belled caissons.
The splitspoon soil sampler was introduced by
Sprague and Henwood, Inc., of Scranton, PA, in the
mid-1920s

History
Harry Mohr measured the numerical values of driving
force employed by Boston area drilling crews, determined
to be 140 lbs (69.3 kg) average driving weight with an
average 30 in. (76.2 cm) drop, recording the number of
blows required to drive the sampler 12 in. (30.5 cm)
Karl Terzaghi liked the Raymond Sampler as Harry Mohr
had collected more than 30 years of subsurface
penetration data around Boston, and since 1927,
Raymond had been employing the standardized
penetration procedure and apparatus

Standard Penetration Tests

Standard Penetration Tests

Split Spoon Sampler

Correction
Overburden Correction
Dilatancy Correction

Overburden Correction
Applied only to cohesionless soil
Figure shows the correction factor recommended in IS:
2131-1981.

N ' CN N
2000
C N Correction Factor 0.77 log
0

Dilatancy Correction
Applied to granular Soils only
Applied only when N-value > 15
N " 15 N '15 2

Correction
The corrected N value is called (N1)60

N1 60 C N C1C2C3 N obs
C1 = Correction for rod length
C2 = Correction for Type of Sampler, 1 for sampler with liner and
1.2 without a liner, to be taken as 1.2
C3 = Correction for bore hole diameter, 1 for 65mm to 115 mm
dia

Corrections
C1

Rod Length
(m)
C1

3.5

>=10

0.75

0.85

0.95

65

115

150

200

1.05

1.15

C3

Rod Length
(m)
C3

Strength Correlation
N
04
4 10
10 30
30 50
> 50

Denseness
Very loose
Loose
Medium
Dense
Very dense

25 32
27 35 Cohesionless
30 40
35 45
> 45
N

Cohesive

02
Soils 2 4
48
8 15
15 30
> 30

Soils
Consistenc
y
Very soft
Soft
Medium
Stif
Very Stif
Hard

qu (kN/m2)
< 25
25 50
50 100
100 200
200 400
> 400

Cone Penetration Test

The standardized cone-penetrometer test (CPT)
involves pushing a 1.41-in. (3.58-cm)-diameter 60
cone (Figures 12 and 13) through the underlying
ground at a rate of 0.400.78 in./s (12 cm/s).
Most of the commercially available CPT rigs operate
electronic friction cone and piezocone penetrometers.
Cone penetration tests are relatively quicker and more
economical when compared to the Standard
Penetration Test.

Apptaratus

Measurements
Tip Resistance
The tip resistance is measured by load cells located just behind
the tapered cone
theoretically related to undrained shear strength of a saturated
cohesive material

Sleeve Friction/Friction Resistance

Friction resistance is measured by friction sleeve located just
above the cone
theoretically related to frictional resistance of a granular material

Advantages and Disadvantages

These tests do not need the making of a borehole
provides a continuous record of the in-situ soil
resistance
used to cover a large area under investigation
to establish the position of the rock strata
These tests do not yield a representative soil sample as
in the case of the Standard Penetration Test

Plate Load Test

Objective of the test is to
Evaluate Safe Bearing Pressure
Predict the settlement of proposed foundation

Setup

Setup

Setup

Setup

Bearing Pressure
Failure Criteria
Settlement Criteria

Bearing Pressure

Bearing Pressure
Bearing Pressure for Cohesive Soil

q q
u f

u p

Bearing Capacity for Cohesionless/Granular Soil

q q
u f

u p

Bf
Bp

Settlement Calculations
Settlement of Foundation on Granular soil at given pressure can be found by

B f B p 0.3

s f sp

B p

For Cohesive soils

s f sp

Bf
Bp

0.3