ABSTRACT
An intensive soil investigation campaign was conducted within the framework of the research project on Soil Displacement Screw Piles installed in a tertiary stiff clay. As in Belgium the design of piles is mainly based on cone penetration test (CPT) results, a large number of CPTs were performed. Alongside standard electrical CPT-E, a large number of tests with various types of mechanical cones were performed in order to examine the influence of the type of cone on the CPT results. To be able to verify pile design methods used in other countries, also other types of in situ tests were performed. In addition to in situ tests, a boring with sampling and laboratory testing was performed in order to define in a direct way the physical and mechanical characteristics of the clay. Finally various soil investigation contractors were invited to carry out in situ tests on the very well documented site. This paper gives an overview of the soil investigation with the main results and comments on the differences found between tests performed with different types of cones and performed by different companies.
