Determination of Hydraulic Conductivity Using Piezocone Penetration Test

An elastoplastic, finite-strain, coupled theory of mixtures in an updated Lagrangian reference frame is applied to the piezocone penetration test to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of the soil via analysis of the steady-state excess pore pressure generated during piezocone penetration. The results of this approach were compared with piezocone penetration test data. It showed that reliable hydraulic conductivities can be estimated conveniently without performing pore pressure dissipation tests. This study also shows that the change in the dimensionless excess pore pressure (excess pore pressure is normalized by the effective overburden pressure) at the cone tip is almost constant when the dimensionless hydraulic conductivity (hydraulic conductivity is normalized by the penetration speed and cone radius, hereafter called DLHC) is less than 10-7 or greater than 10-4. It is also shown that the drainage condition around the cone tip is close to a fully undrained condition when the DLHC of the soil is less than 10-7, while it is close to a fully drained condition when the DLHC of the soil is greater than 10-4.