ABSTRACT

Field penetrometer studies (e.g. Denness et al. 1981; Stark et al. 2009) have tended to focus on the functionality of the various penetrometers, and have provided limited data on rate effects.

This brief review indicates that further study of rate effects, and impact velocity on penetration resistance is required to improve confidence in the interpretation of free falling penetrometer tests. In this paper experiments that span a wide range of impact velocities, and investigate the influence of penetrometer geometry, including mass, in well controlled laboratory tests are presented.