Cone Factors from Field Vane and Triaxial Tests in Danish Soils

Six Danish cohesive soils are investigated using Cone Penetration Test (CPT) to estimate the undrained shear strength, cu. Field vane tests and consolidated triaxial tests are used to estimate cu for the six soils. The tested soils all come up with cone factors very close to 10 when using cu from the triaxial tests whereas cone factors ranging from 7 to 11 are estimated by using measurements from field vane tests. A strong correlation between the cone factor, Nkt and the friction ratio, fR is obtained when the cone factor is estimated from vane tests. This relation, which is obtained using only the six thoroughly investigated soils, is tested on data from other Danish and international sites. Likewise the constant cone factor of Nkt = 10 obtained from the triaxial tests is evaluated and compared with cone factors obtained from triaxial tests in other countries.