Geotechnical testing

The vane shear test is a popular in situ test used in the geotechnical engineering practice to assess the undrained shear strength of cohesive materials in a saturated state. The cone penetration test, vane shear test and dilatometer test are the most popular in situ tests for a soft soils. However, it is generally recognized that a field vane shear test has many advantages over other in situ tests as well as some an laboratory tests. Mayne et al. categorized all the in situ tests as &s;old&s; and &s;new&s; methods, with a seismic cone penetration tests with pore pressure measurements and seismic dilatometer tests falling under the new methods. In situ testing and laboratory testing on samples recovered during a site investigation are considered the main weapons available to the practicing engineer to assess geotechnical design parameters for any project.