Portable Pressiocone System for Carrying Out CPTU+FDP (Full Displacement Pressumeter) Tests

Abstract

Geotechnical investigations in the subsoil of existing buildings have always been challenging due to limited space and difficult access. URETEK has developed a portable integrated system for simultaneously carrying out a CPT and a pressumeter test with Full Displacement Pressuremeter (FDP). The 30 kN thrust penetrometer to be used is very small. The reaction is given by two “microanchors”. The cone is a standard 10 cm2 digital memory cone (no cable), capable of measuring qc, fs, u every centimetre. Above the cone there is the FDP equipment with a rubber sheath covered by steel plates and connected, by a tube filled with water, to a device for creating pressure to inflate the sheath and measure pressure-volume curves as in a standard pressumeter test. The pressure-volume device and the depth transducer are connected to a microcomputer that is programmed to carry out CPT+FDP tests in an easy-to-use/user-friendly way.

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