SPT Energy Calibration improves the reliability of the Standard Penetration Test.

SPT Energy Calibration consists of measuring the energy transferred by the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) hammer to the SPT rod. GRL Engineers take these measurements with the Pile Driving Analyzer^® (PDA) and using an SPT rod instrumented with strain transducers and accelerometers.

GRL Engineers may also estimate soil setup by conducting a torque test on the instrumented SPT rod.

GRL performs this service in accordance with ASTM D1586-99 Standard Test Method for Penetration Test and Split-Barrel Sampling of Soils, ASTM D4633-05 - Standard Test Method for Energy Measurement for Dynamic Penetrometers and ASTM D6066-96(2004) - Standard Practice for Determining the Normalized Penetration Resistance of Sands for Evaluation of Liquefaction Potential.

The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is a widely used geotechnical test used to estimate soil strength. An SPT hammer drives a split barrel sampler at the bottom of a drive rod and recovers soil samples. The number of blows required to drive the last 300 mm is the “N value”, and indicates soil strength. Several different types of SPT hammers are used to perform SPT tests, and this influences the N value. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) recommends standardizing the measured N value by multiplying it by the ratio between the measured energy transferred to the rod and 60% of the theoretical potential energy of the hammer. This compensates for widely variable efficiencies from different SPT hammer types and therefore improves the reliability of the estimates obtained from the test.