Pore-Pressure Generation During

CPT Probe Advancement

By Michael Fitzgerald
 CPT Overview:
 The Cone Penetration Test (CPT) :
in-situ technique used to determine various soil
parameters.

 The CPT :
 a cone on the end of a series of rods
 constant rate (~2 cm/s)
 Electronic sensors measure parameters

 Parameters:
 cone penetration resistance
 pore-pressure measurement (static and excess)
 sleeve friction.

 characteristics of the soil:

 hydraulic conductivity
 grain size
 bearing capacity
CPT Overview:
Soil Liquefaction:
 Cyclic loading caused by earthquakes:
 excess Pore-Pressures can be generated
 methods being developed to determine potentially
liquefiable soils

 Pore-pressure is function of:

 permeability of the soil
 penetration rate of the probe

 When pore-pressure equals weight of the

overburden soil:
 Soil is potentially unstable and may lose it’s
bearing capacity
 ability to support a load, such as a building
Governing Equations:
FEMLab - Incompressible Navier-Stokes
u
    (u  (u)T )  (u  )u  p  F , with u  0
t
Seed and Booker1 - Generation/Dissipation Equations
 the volume strain
CPT Generated Pore-Pressure: u = excess pore-pressure
 kh u  kv u  ug = earthquake generated u
( ) ( ) (2-D) w = unit weight of water
x  w x y  w y t kh,v = coeff. of permeability
mv = coeff. of vol.
compressibility
Earthquake Generated Pore-pressure: r = radius
k h  2 u 1 u u ug N N = number of seismic cycles
( 2 )  (radial symmetry)
 w mv r r r t N t

1 H.B. Seed and J.R Booker, “Stabilization of Potentially Liquefiable Sand Deposits
Using Gravel Drains”, Journal of the Geotechnical Engineering Division.
July 1977
Formulation:

Probe is ~1.5” diameter

Outflow velocity = 0.02 m/s

Initial pressure = 0 kPa

No-slip  20kg/m3

382 kg/m2
Slip

Slip

Inflow velocity = 0.02 m/s

Inflow pressure = 17,680 kPa
Solution: Pressure Profile
Solution: Velocity Profile
 Validation: Field Data

Model pressure at tip: ~ 291 kPa

Pore-pressure measured at tip: 102 kPa

Model Pressure - effective stress = excess

pore pressure

(291 kPa -193.9 kPa) = 97 kPa

97 kPa ≈ 102 kPa

14.97 2.02 19.06 19060 66.93 100.91 9 19060 0.35 281.4 193.5 87.9
14.99 2.02 18.34 18340 64.67 101.75 9 18340 0.35 281.8 193.7 88.1
15.01 1.91 17.91 17910 67.10 101.55 9 17910 0.37 282.2 193.9 88.3
15.03 2.02 17.52 17520 64.25 101.59 9 17520 0.37 282.6 194.1 88.5
15.05 1.91 16.92 16920 67.25 103.17 9 16920 0.40 283.0 194.3 88.7
15.07 1.91 16.87 16870 65.94 101.22 9 16870 0.39 283.4 194.5 88.9

Data from GEMS site in KS, property of PSU-Energy and Geo-Environmental Engineering
 Validation:
•Strain Path Method by Baligh2:

p(t)  [ po  R(t)3 ](1/ 3)

3
where: p(t) = position at time t; po = initial position; R(t)  ( V * t)1/ 3 , radius of the
4
cavity

2 
Baligh, Mohsen, M.; ÒStrain Path MethodÓ,Journa l of Geotechnical Engineering, Vol.
111, No. 9, September 1985. P. 1108-1136.
Parametric Study:
Pressures at different advancement rates

2.0 m/s 0.02 m/s

Rate increased by 100 times;

Pressure increased by about 10-20 times
Parametric Study:

Density = 1000 kg/m3 Density = 20 kg/m3

Viscosity = 2000 kg/m2 Viscosity = 382 kg/m2
Conclusions:

 Pore-pressures are generated through

soil strain
 FEM can be an effective tool in modeling the
pressures induced at the tip of a CPT cone

 If the soil compressibility is known (tri-axial test)

then pressure can be converted to strain

 Strain can then be converted to pore-pressure

using the permeability of the soil