Volume 42, N. 2

May-August 2019

Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) Relative Density Correlations for Sands

Technical Note

Volume 42, N. 2, May-August 2019 | DOWNLOAD PDF (37 downloads)

Abstract

The dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP) is a widely used in-situ device to determine the engineering properties of soils. This paper reports a meta-analysis of laboratory calibration studies to establish a relationship between the rate of penetration and relative density for sands. Fourteen (14) different sands from different geographic and geological settings are compared. A direct relationship between the rate of penetration and relative density is proposed with a standard error in relative density predictions of 11%. A relationship incorporating the sand’s median particle size is also proposed with a standard error in relative density predictions of 9%. Whilst there is good agreement between most of these studies, local conditions should be considered before adopting a proposed correlation in engineering design.

Keywords: Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP), Dynamic Penetration Index (DPI), poorly graded sandy soil (SP), Relative Density (Dr), well graded sands (SW),


Submitted on November 30, 2018.
Final Acceptance on May 14, 2019.
Discussion open until December 31, 2019.
DOI: 10.28927/SR.422201