Cone penetration testing, or CPT, is a valuable site investigation tool for risk mitigation. By understanding the characteristics of the soil and subsurface materials, CPT can help find potential risks in the design and building of infrastructure. In addition, CPT can be used to assess the vulnerability of sites to natural hazards such as earthquakes and landslides. When combined with other risk management techniques, CPT provides a safe and efficient method to obtain a comprehensive picture of site risk to help make informed decisions about risk reduction measures.
CPT and Risk Mitigation
Risk mitigation can be defined as actions that prevent or reduce adverse outcomes of hazards. Therefore, risk mitigation minimizes the probability and impact of threats and reduces the amount of financial loss. There are many ways to mitigate risks, especially when constructing buildings and infrastructure. One of these methods is cone penetration testing, the in-situ testing of soil to determine its physical characteristics in an undisturbed environment.
CPT should be essential to a well-planned risk mitigation strategy because it provides on-site data to identify potential problems before they become an issue. In this sense, CPT mitigates a portion of the subsurface risk because structures can be designed to appropriately respond to the representative soil conditions, reducing factors of safety used in design and construction activities.
Benefits of CPT and Risk Mitigation
CPT is an advanced geotechnical testing method that can provide detailed information about the soil. Unlike standard penetration tests (SPT), CPT has the advantage of being less invasive than SPT and significantly more accurate. Only a small hole (< 2”) is created by the cone penetrometer, and data is measured and displayed in real-time as the cone penetrometer advances into the soil.
CPT can identify how the soil composition responds to seismic waves from earthquakes, vibrations from running machinery, and other factors. The response to these generated seismic waves is often used to determine soil liquefaction potential, providing pertinent engineering information in structure design for super-structures like buildings and bridges. Geotechnical and structural engineers consider many factors, such as slope stability, liquefaction potential, soil settlement, and soil shearing derived from CPT analysis. Without a CPT test, structures may not be built to suit the conditions under the ground’s surface or may be mischaracterized, leaving them vulnerable to damage under the right conditions.
Utilizing Risk Mitigation & Soil Testing
Since CPT testing is both quick and efficient, the process delivers accurate results in less time than SPT and other methods. In addition, the process itself is also safer, which reduces risk in the testing process. The data collected with CPT allows engineers to quickly adapt to soil conditions to ensure a suitable project design. Without this, they could be taking on considerable risks. Unstable soil is the last thing a business would want to respond to amid a project underway.
Whether you are interested in a modular CPT system, a truck or track-based system, or leveraging your drill rig to expand into CPT, Vertek has a system to help you get the geotechnical data you need.