Considerations on the Experimental Calibration of the Fall Cone Test

The fall cone test is widely used in soil mechanics to determine the liquid limit of fine-grained soils as an aid to soil classification. The test can also be used to obtain the undrained shear strength of a fine-grained soil, based on the “cone factor,” K. Reports from different authors show K valu...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Geotechnical testing journal 2018-11, Vol.41 (6), p.1131-1138
Main Authors: Llano-Serna, Marcelo A., Farias, Márcio M., Pedroso, Dorival M., Williams, David J., Sheng, Daichao
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The fall cone test is widely used in soil mechanics to determine the liquid limit of fine-grained soils as an aid to soil classification. The test can also be used to obtain the undrained shear strength of a fine-grained soil, based on the “cone factor,” K. Reports from different authors show K values ranging from 0.4–1.33. Differences are mostly attributed to the cone surface roughness. This article presents a reinterpretation of several experimental observations available in the literature. It is observed that besides the cone roughness, testing methods have a clear influence when calibrating the fall cone for determining the undrained shear strength of materials with low and very low consistency. The results show that existing K reports should be extrapolated with care. Finally, we propose a series of recommendations and good practices for future calibrations.
ISSN:0149-6115
1945-7545
DOI:10.1520/GTJ20170205