Energy Transfer Mechanism in SPT

Abstract

A closed-form solution for a rigid-plastic soil penetration function is used to qualitatively investigate the energy transmission characteristics of the Standard Penetration test. It is shown that the percentage of the impact energy used to advance the sampler decreases with an increase in blow count, and that for low blow counts several penetration cycles are required to transmit the energy to the sampler. The results obtained are compared with those for an elasto-plastic soil penetration function, assuming an elastic soil compression of 2 mm for all blow counts.