An innovative new 3MPa CPT—to detect and measure very small fs values

CPT testing of extremely soft soils and tailings materials requires the ability to detect and measure very low q_c values and extremely low f_s values. The former of these can and has been solved by use of low capacity cones with high quality well-calibrated load cells. The latter, detection and measurement of extremely low f_s values is an industry-wide problem, often treated as an “elephant in the room”. This paper describes development of an innovative new CPT cone that the authors believe has largely solved this problem.