Seasonal dependence of in situ test parameters in sand above the water table Available to Purchase

Suction pressures existing in sands and gravels above the water table are often assumed to be small and to have little impact on the selection of foundation design parameters from in situ test parameters. This note presents an example from Perth, Western Australia, which shows that the validity of such an assumption in a medium-grained sand well above the water table depends on the extent to which seasonal variations affect the degree of saturation.

The cone penetration test (CPT) is well established as the most popular site investigation tool for characterising the sand deposits in the Perth metropolitan region. However,...