Application of effective cone factor for strength characterization of saturated clays

The cone factor is commonly used to relate the CPT cone resistance to the undrained shear strength in saturated clays. Uncertain aspects however still exist, including the soil pressure correction procedure and the variability of the cone factor itself. The soil pressure correction procedure requires the in-situ soil unit weight, and thus requires the process of undisturbed soil sampling. In the present paper, a new cone factor is presented, which can reduce the uncertainties contained in the conventional cone factor approach. The proposed cone factor does not require the soil pressure correction procedure. As a result, the soil disturbance-related uncertainties can be minimized at higher cost effectiveness as no undisturbed sampling is needed. Experimental test results adopted in this investigation are presented and used to validate the proposed method.