Soil strength estimation and pore pressure dissipation for free-fall piezocone in soft clay

This paper considers centrifuge modelling of free-fall piezocones in soft clay, and interprets the test data to estimate the undrained shear strength and coefficient of consolidation. Data from the free-fall piezocones, which involved dynamic embedment in a normally consolidated kaolin clay sample from various drop heights, were compared with equivalent data from piezocone tests. The undrained shear strength, as interpreted from the acceleration trace of the free-fall piezocone, was found to be in good agreement with that derived from the piezocone penetration tests. The free-fall piezocone is also found to produce identical pore pressure dissipation behaviour as for a statically penetrated piezocone, despite a significant rise in the pore pressure at the start of the dissipation phase.