ISC7

Portable Pressiocone System for Carrying Out CPTU+FDP (Full Displacement Pressumeter) Tests

  • Sacchetto, Massimo (freelance geotechnical engineer)
  • Vinco, Gianluca (URETEK)

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Geotechnical investigations in the foundation soil of existing buildings have always been challenging due to limited space and difficult access. URETEK has developed a portable integrated system for simultaneously carrying out a CPTU and a pressiometric test with Full Displacement Pressuremeter. The 30 kN thrust penetrometer which has been developed and used is very small and it has a special automated system for clamping the rods. The reaction is given by two “microanchors” (small anchor piles, 2 or 3 meter long, with active part injected with resin). The cone is a standard 10 cm2 digital memory cone (no cable), capable of measuring qc, fs, U2 every centimetre. Above the cone there is the FDP (Full Displacement Pressumeter) equipment with a rubber sheath covered by steel plates and connected, by a tube filled with water, to an automated device for creating pressure to inflate the sheath and measure pressure-volume curves as in a standard pressiometric test. The pressure-volume device and the depth transducer are connected to a microcomputer or laptop that are programmed to carry out CPTU+FDP tests in an easy-to-use/user-friendly way. Some tests have been carried out, also comparing the pressiocone tests with standard tests (CPT, Dynamic Penetration Test, Boreholes with undisturbed sampling); the results are presented and commented in this paper.