Standard Penetration Test

 part of a standard
bore hole
investigation
 split barrel
sampler is advanced
by dropping a 64 kg
hammer 760 mm
 N-Values are the
number of blows
(hammer drops) to
advance sampler
300 mm McCarthy, 6th Ed.
 Split Barrel Sampler

Peck, Hanson, Thornburn, 2nd Ed.

 N-Value = “Standard Penetration Resistance”

McCarthy, 6th Ed.

Sample Bore Hole Log

McCarthy, 6th Ed.

 North American Equations
for B < 1.2m for B > 1.2m
 B  0.3 
2

qa  S a N
1 qa  S a N 
1

 B 
2 3

where Sa = allowable settlement (mm)

qa = allowable bearing pressure (kPa)
B = footing width (m)
N = average corrected standard penetration
resistance
 a number of corrections are applied to N-Values
(pore water pressure, overburden stress, etc.)
 Water Table Correction
 we will be using average corrected N-Values
 Terzaghi and Peck proposed a correction, Cw to
the allowable bearing pressure, qa to reflect the
depth of water table
B
C w  0.5

Dw = D + B
D

Dw
B

Cw  1

 Dw 
water table correction: C w  0.5  0.5 
 D  B 