Correlation Between Penetrometer Test Value and Bearing Capacity for Granular Soil

Abstract

In the present study, an attempt to investigate the correlation between hand penetrometer test value and bearing capacity of granular soil especially sand, was under consideration. To achieve this goal artificial sand beds of thirteen samples were prepared in an open test bed above the ground surface, and on these samples, direct shear test and field density test were carried out to find out the friction angle and the field density of each sample. Bearing capacity of sandy soil were predicted from Terzaghi's bearing capacity equation for strip footing. Three penetrometers of different diameters (18.75 mm, 25 mm and 31.25 mm) were especially fabricated and used to find out penetrometer test value. The test procedure of these penetrometers is similar to standard penetration test (SPT) by split spoon sampler, but diameter of penetrometers, weight of hammer and height of fall were different. To correlate between hand penetrometer test value, friction angle and bearing capacity, seven equations have been established for hand penetrometer of three different diameters. It has been found that there established better correlations between friction angle and hand penetrometer test value for three penetrometers with high coefficient of correlations. In the investigation it has observed that there exists a best correlation between friction angle and bearing capacity of granular soil (sand). Finally it has been found that there are good correlations between hand penetrometer test value and bearing capacity of granular soil for any diameter of penetrometer with coefficient of correlation from 0.79 to 0.96.