Cone Penetration in Cemented Sands: Bearing Capacity Interpretation

Abstract

Two bearing‐capacity theories are used to predict cone‐penetration tip resistance and sleeve friction in weakly cemented sands. These theories use the rigid‐plastic assumption for stress‐deformation behavior of soils. Both theories provided good predictions of tip resistance when compared with experimental values obtained in limited penetration tests conducted in the laboratory. Laboratory tests were conducted on artificially cemented specimens of Monterey No. 0/30 sand prepared in rigid molds. A curing period of 14 days was used. The confinement was due only to the self‐weight, rendering very low confining stresses. Predicting sleeve friction with bearing‐capacity theories necessitated an estimate of the lateral earth pressures. The recorded sleeve‐friction values implied higher lateral pressures than the