| Abstract: | Piezocone soundings are a fast and economical approach for geotechnical site characterization, providing three separate and continuous channels of data with depth, including: tip resistance q T, porewater pressure u 2 and sleeve friction f s. Literally hundreds to thousands of data points are collected by a single sounding. Since these readings are functions of both soil type and soil behaviour, they can be used for the delineation of soil stratigraphy. One way to process large amounts of data involves clustering. Cluster analysis is an efficient statistical way to analyse the stratigraphic vertical profiling of geomaterials and means to detect the inherent similarity between data sets and group them together. Clustering in previous geotechnical research was based on only two channels of piezocone data (q T and u2). The method works well for soils that are under the groundwater table and was applied to soundings in clay deposits. In the present paper, a new cluster analysis approach is developed based on all three channels of data, thus extending the method to soils above the water table and applicable to sands, silts, and clays. Example soil profiles derived by three-channel cluster analysis are presented herein and compared with conventional soil boring and sampling data. |
