Energy Efficiency for Standard Penetration Tests
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VIEW THE REPLYPublication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131, Issue 10
Abstract
The need for standardization of the measured blow count number into a normalized reference energy value is now fully recognized. The present paper extends the existing theoretical approach using the wave propagation theory as framework and introduces an analysis for large displacements enabling the influence of rod length in the measured values to be quantified. The study is based on both calibration chamber and field tests. Energy measurements are monitored in two different positions: below the anvil and above the sampler. Both experimental and numerical results demonstrate that whereas the energy delivered into the rod stem is expressed as a ratio of the theoretical free-fall energy of the hammer, the effective sampler energy is a function of the hammer height of fall, sampler permanent penetration, and weight of both hammer and rods. Influence of rod length is twofold and produces opposite effects: wave energy losses increase with increasing rod length and in a long rod composition the gain in potential energy from rod weight is significant and may partially compensate measured energy losses. Based on this revised approach, an analytical solution is proposed to calculate the energy delivered to the sampler and efficiency coefficients are suggested to account for energy losses during the energy transference process.
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Acknowledgments
The writers wish to express their gratitude to the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, as well as to the Brazilian Research Council for the financial aid given to the research project and to the research group.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 131 • Issue 10 • October 2005
Pages: 1252 - 1263
Copyright
© 2005 ASCE.
History
Received: Dec 8, 2003
Accepted: Oct 6, 2004
Published online: Oct 1, 2005
Published in print: Oct 2005
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