Estimating in situ relative density and friction angle of nearshore sand from portable free-fall penetrometer tests

Abstract

The friction angle of sand in the nearshore zone of Cannon Beach, Yakutat, Alaska, was estimated from the deceleration measured by a portable free-fall penetrometer (PFFP) at 72 test locations. A correlation between the relative density and PFFP’s maximum deceleration was developed from controlled PFFP deployments into sand of different relative densities. Two approaches were tested: (i) a correlation between relative density and friction angle and (ii) bearing capacity theory. For the former, laboratory vacuum triaxial tests were performed to adjust an existing correlation between relative density and friction angle for the tested nearshore sediments. In situ peak friction angles were then determined using this adjusted correlation and estimates of relative densities. The resulting in situ relative density and friction angle varied between 32%–88% and 44°–56°, respectively. Two bearing capacity–based methods suitable for shallow penetrations were tested. For this approach, equivalents of static cone resistance were determined from the measured decelerations considering the strain rate effect. A range of empirical strain rate coefficients K = 0.1–1.5 were tested. A K value between 0.2 and 0.4 yielded matching results between the two approaches. The estimated friction angles agreed well with expected values and may be applied to problems of sediment transport or early site assessment.