Influence of Penetration Rate on Penetrometer Resistance

Abstract

Penetration resistance in fine-grained soils varies with the rate of penetration. Considering undrained behavior as a reference, as the rate of penetration is reduced, soil resistance increases because of the effects of partial consolidation and soil strengthening immediately ahead of the probe. Many penetration tests have been performed under different rates of penetration to identify the range of drainage characteristics of the soils used, correlating these conditions with laboratory interpretations and in situ tests. A backbone curve relates the variation of the normalized point resistance with the normalized rate of penetration. This work presents an analytical approach to the backbone curve equation used to fit test data. In addition, this paper presents a set of centrifuge tests with variable penetration rates performed with a soil classified as silty tailings, which has different geotechnical behavior from most of the soils used by previous researchers.