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Role of CPTu
Role of CPTu
ABSTRACT: As part of the exploration effort for the design of one of the largest ports to be built in the Central
American Caribbean region, cone penetration tests (CPTU) with pore pressure measurement soundings were
performed from a jack-up liftboat. This paper presents a summary of the CPTu exploration, including the
methodology and challenges encountered, results and comparison to field and laboratory measured data, and key
advantages of using CPTu as an exploration tool for the geotechnical design of the project. The CPTu was shown
to be very useful in characterizing the subsurface profile and identifying transition zones and interbedded layers
that were not identified during the soil borings in the same area. CPTu-based estimates of standard penetration
test (SPT) (N1)60 values and shear wave velocity measurements were compared to field tests, and shear strength
and stress history parameters were compared to laboratory measured results.
1 INTRODUCTION
A new terminal, the Mon Container Terminal, is planned for construction on the Caribbean Coast of Costa
Rica as part of a concessionary agreement between APMT and the government of Costa Rica. The site is located
along the Caribbean coastline of Costa Rica in the Bahia de Mon, approximately 7 kilometers (km) west of the
port city of Limn. The existing Puerto Mon, currently serving as the countrys primary export port on the
Caribbean, is located about 1 km southeast of the project site. The mouth of the Rio Mon is located immediately
southeast of the project site, shown in Figure 1.
The new terminal is to be constructed in three phases: Phases 2A, 2B, and 3. The initial phase (Phase 2A)
consists of about 1,500 meters (m) of breakwater construction, dredging and land reclamation, construction of 600
m of wharf structure, and reclamation of approximately 40 hectares (ha) of backlands for a container yard,
buildings and support facilities. Phase 2A will involve the installation of six super-post Panamax container gantry
cranes. Full build-out will include approximately 1,600 m of breakwater and 500 m of wharf structure, with about
79 ha of backlands. Construction is anticipated to begin in the first half of 2014, and the first year of operation is
scheduled for late 2016.
The geotechnical field exploration effort involved about 10 months of field work. A majority of the work was
conducted offshore, from a jack-up liftboat, in a challenging wave climate with waves that were often 1 to 3 m
high. Geotechnical work consisted of a marine sub-bottom profiling geophysical study, surficial grab samples, jet
probing, vibracore samples, 57 CPTu soundings, 51 borings, 14 pressuremeter tests, suspension shear wave
velocity measurements in 4 borings, and seismic dilatometer (sDMT) shear wave velocity measurements in 2
onshore borings. Supplementing the field work was a suite of laboratory tests that included index testing as well
as oedometer and consolidated-undrained triaxial testing on undisturbed samples.
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Figure 1. Site exploration plan and location map of APMT Moin Container Terminal, Limon, Costa Rica.
2 CPTu METHODOLOGY
2.1 Setup
CPTu equipment included a Pagani TG
63-100 track-mounted mini-CPTu rig
(Figure 2), capable of pushing up to 150
kN of downward force. The CPTu cone
was a 15 cm2 electronic piezocone from
A.P. Van den Berg. The CPTu rig was
anchored to the deck of the jack-up
platform. Given the challenging offshore
wave climate, a double casing was used
in the water column to prevent buckling
of the CPTu rods.
Generally, the data was collected
during two shifts every day. Data was
field monitored in real time on a laptop
computer. A schematic of the CPTu rig
set-up on the jack-up platform is shown
in Figure 3.
Figure 2. CPT operation showing (clockwise from top left): CPT rig
on platform, data acquisition and monitoring on laptop, and moon
hole on deck of jack-up platform for cone and rods.
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2.2 Preparation
Preparing the cone for each sounding involved two critical steps:
1) use of a vacuum pump to saturate the cone with water to
remove excess air and zero the cone, and 2) zero the CPTu
readings at the deck rather than at the mudline at the start and
end of each sounding. Zeroing the CPTu at the deck was critical
to replicate the cone readings at the beginning and end of the
sounding. When zeroed at the mudline, the readings at the
beginning would differ from the end of the sounding due to the
variability of the datum of the sounding.
Given that the stability of the platform can be adversely affected by sandy soils prone to scour, strong sea
currents, and high waves, a key lesson learned is to carefully monitor these conditions and develop criteria to be
used for operation of the CPTu. Another lesson learned was to have replacement equipment (e.g., rods and cones)
readily available and a means to retrieve and replace (e.g., divers readily available), particularly when working in
challenging offshore environments.
3 CPTu RESULTS
3.1 Stratigraphy
This paper focuses on the area shown in Figure 1. Data presented in this paper include cone measurements
from 10 CPTu soundings (07-12, 14-12, 15-12, 34-12, 35-12, 39-12, 42-13, 45-13, 46-13, and 47-13) and 10
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borings (04-12, 16-12, 26-12, 30-12, 31-12, 32-13, 43-13, 47-13, 48-13, 49-13, and 51-13) and associated
laboratory test results performed on disturbed and undisturbed samples collected from the borings. Shear wave
velocities were measured in two borings using downhole suspension logging (DSL). A typical cross section of
the subsurface strata is shown in Figure 4 and Table 1. The cross section includes CPTu results, including cone tip
resistance, sleeve friction, porewater pressure measurements, and friction ratio from the 10 CPTu soundings and
10
15
20
porewater pressure, u2
(kPa)
100
200
300 -500
500
1000
SPT N-Values
1500 0
10 0
20
40
60
80
100
Elevation (m)
Figure 4. Subsurface profile with data from 10 CPTu sounding and SPT data (raw field N-values) from 10
borings. The porewater pressure includes the hydrostatic water pressure based on seawater unit weight.
SPT N-values from the 10 borings.
Elevation
(m)
Raw
SPT
Field
N-Value
Water
Content,
(%)
Liquid
Limit, LL
Plasticity
Index, PI
Percent Fines,
P200 (%)
(average)
Poorly-graded Sand (SP) to
Silty Sand (SM)
-10 to -15
15
10 to 30
-15 to -20
10
30 to 40
30 to 60
10 to 30
70 to 90
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-20 to -38
40 to 50
35 to 90
20 to 60
80 to 100
-38 to -42
40
10 to 50
Mudstone
-42 to
-100
40 for upper
2 m, then
refusal
30 to 50
60 to 80
30 to 50
80 to 100
<
The upper 5 m consisted primarily of poorly graded sand (SP) to silty sand (SM). Below this layer, the profile
transitioned to an interbedded zone of silt and clay with thin sand seams throughout, apparent with the erratic
CPTu data. The interbedded layer typically classified as sandy silt to silt to sandy clay to lean clay to fat clay. The
sand seams were often not captured with the 1.5 m interval SPT samples. Beneath the interbedded layer the
profile transitioned to a generally 18m thick soft fat clay (CH) layer. The CPTu soundings demonstrated the
uniformity of this layer and helped identify target areas for gathering undisturbed samples from borings.
Dissipation tests were performed within the clay layer to estimate in situ hydraulic conductivity parameters
(Section 3.4). Typically an alluvial layer of sand and gravel was encountered below the clay layer, varying in
thickness from 1 to 4 m. In many cases the soundings refused in this zone. Beneath the sand and gravel layer was
a young mudstone composed of clay, silt, and trace sand. The upper 2 to 3 m of this mudstone was unconsolidated
and classified as soft rock and was where the CPTu soundings that were able to penetrate the sand and gravel
refused. No CPTu data was collected within the hard mudstone.
(1)
An overburden correction was applied to get an estimated (N1)60 value. The CPT estimates are compared with
the SPT data in Figure 5. Note that in the sandy and interbedded layers the CPT (N1)60 correlated values are
typically underestimated.
11.4
118.8 log
10
100
(2)
18.5
.
(3)
(4)
The methods by Hegazy & Mayne (1995) and Mayne (2006) were developed for all soil types, the only
difference being that the former is based on both tip and sleeve resistance, whereas the latter is based solely on
sleeve resistance. The Robertson (2012) method is applicable to uncemented Holocene and Pleistocene soils,
regardless of soil type, and considers soil behavior type index and overburden stress.
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Each relationship captured the changes in the shear wave velocity profile at the abrupt transition from the
overlying sandy soil to the fat clay layer and the increase in shear wave velocity when gravel, sand, or mudstone
was encountered below the fat clay. The relationships also capture the uniformity of the fat clay layer while
displaying the gradually increasing shear wave velocity with depth.
It is evident that the most recent relationship (Robertson, 2012; Eqn 4) matches the data very well and
provided less scatter than the other relationships. Although a good fit, the CPTu-correlated shear wave velocity
values are not a replacement for direct measurements, partly due to the inability of the CPTu to penetrate dense
formations (such as gravels and the mudstone).
Figure 5. Comparison of CPTu and field-measured SPT (N1)60 values and DSL shear wave velocity profiles.
(5)
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(6)
Figure 6 compares the two relationships with laboratory consolidation test results. It is observed that the average
of both methods seems to agree with the data, but the more recent Mayne & Brown (2003; Eqn 6) relationship
provides less scatter with a clearer trend of OCR with depth.
0.373
17.6
0.256
0.336
(7)
0.29
(8)
11
(9)
Although Senneset et al. was developed for mixed soils, the overall friction angle estimates are very scattered,
making it difficult to identify a trend within the profile. Both Robertson & Campanella and Kulhawy & Mayne
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show somewhat similar trends in the effective friction angle profile, identifying where the softer soil zones are
and when denser layer transitions occur. This is an interesting observation, as these relationships were specifically
developed for clean uncemented sands and are based solely on cone tip resistance. Robertson & Campanella
appear to estimate a lower boundary of the laboratory data, whereas Kulhawy & Mayne provide closer to a mean
estimate.
Undrained (total) shear strengths (su) for
the interbedded silt and clay and the fat
clay layers were estimated using Mayne
(2006; Eqn 10) with a site-specific Nkt
value of 10.5 based on a best fit
evaluation of the laboratory data with the
interpreted CPTu-based undrained shear
strength. The comparisons of CPTu-based
estimated and laboratory measurements,
as both the undrained shear strength and
shear strength ratio are shown in Figure 9.
(10)
4.2 Challenges
As was observed in this case study, there are also some challenges with using the CPTu:
a) It is difficult to use CPTu-based methods to estimate pile-bearing capacity when the soil deposit is subject
to extreme stress changes after CPTu measurements, such as for this project where up to 14m of fill was
going to be placed after design.
b) Given the importance of empirical correlations and comparisons, it would be worthwhile to improve the
development of CPTu undisturbed tube samplers. There are some available (e.g. IGS, Australia), but strong
development should be promoted.
c) Given the importance of bedrock for many projects, CPTu should not be considered in isolation. Where
bedrock is expected, the CPTu must be complemented by the use of borings with rock coring. However, as
shown herein, the CPTu can be pushed though zones of soft rock, providing information regarding the
transition zone.
6 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The authors would like to acknowledge APMT for the work presented herein and the support of this paper.
7 REFERENCES
Hegazy, Y.A., and P.W. Mayne. 1995. Statistical Correlations Between Vs and CPT Data for Different Soil
Types. Proceedings, Symposium on Cone Penetration Testing, Vol. 2. Swedish Geotechnical Society,
Linkping, Sweden, pp. 173-178.
Houlsby, G.T., and C.I. Teh. 1988. Analysis of the Piezocone in Clay. Penetration Testing 1988, Vol. 2, Belkema,
Rotterdam, Netherlands, pp. 777-783.
Geologismiki. 2012. CPeT-IT Users Manual. v.1.4. October.
Jefferies, M.G., and M.P. Davies. 1993. Use of CPTu to Estimate Equivalent SPT N60. Geotechnical Testing
Journal, Vol. 16, No. 4, December, pp. 458-468.
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Kulhawy, F.H. and P.W. Mayne. Manual on Estimating Soil Properties for Foundation Design, Report EPRI EL6800, Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, CA, 306 pp.
Mayne, P.W. 2006. The 2nd James K. Mitchell Lecture: Undisturbed Sand Strength from Seismic Cone Tests.
Geomechanics and Geoengineering. Vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 239-247.
Mayne, P.W. 2007. Cone Penetration Testing A Synthesis of Highway Practice, NCHRP Synthesis 368.
Transportation Research Board, Washington, D.C.
Mayne, P.W. and D.A. Brown. 2003. Site Characterization of Piedmont Residuum of North America.
Characterization and Engineering Properties of Natural Soils. Vol. 2, Swets and Zeitlinger, Lisse,
Netherlands, pp. 1323-1339.
Robertson, P.K., and K.L. Cabal. 2012. Guide to Cone Penetration Testing for Geotechnical Engineering. 5th
Edition. Gregg Drilling and Testing, Inc. November.
Robertson, P.K., and R.G. Campanella. 1984. Guidelines for Use and Interpretation of the Electronic Cone
Penetration Test. Hogentogler and Company, Inc. Gaithersburg, MD. 154 pp.
Senneset, K., Sandven, R., and Janbu, N. 1989. Evaluation of Soil Parameters from Piezocone Tests. Geotechnical
Division, The Norwegian Institute of Technology, 1235, 24-37.
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