• KSCE Journal of Civil and Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.29 no.4C
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• pp.163-174
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• 2009

Mechanical device using the load cell or strain gage sensor can be influenced by tempearute changes because temperature change can cause a shift in the load cell or straing gage output at zero loading. In this paper, micro cone penetrometers with 1~7mm in diameter, are developed by using an optical fiber sensor (FBG: Fiber Bragg Grating) to compensate the continous temperature change during cone penetration test. Note the temperature compensated method using optical fiber sensor which has hair-size in diameter, and is not affected by environmental conditions because the measured data is the wavelength shifting of the light instead of the intensity of the electric voltage. Temperature effect test shows that the output voltage of strain gage changes and increases with an increase in the temperature. A developed FBG cone penetrometer, however, achieves excellent temperature compensation during penetration, and produces continuous change of underground temperature. In addition, the temperature compensated FBG cone shows the excellent sensitivity and detects the interface of the layered soils with higher resolution. This study demonstrates that the fiber optic sensor renders the possibility of the ultra small size cone and the new fiber optic cone may produce more reliable temperature compensated tip resistance.

• Proceedings of the Korean Geotechical Society Conference
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• 2009.03a
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• pp.341-348
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• 2009

Various types of micro cone penetrometers have been developed by using strain gages for the layered soil detection. Strain gages, however, are affected by several factors such as temperature, self heating and lead wire length. In this study, micro cone penetrometers with 3~7mm in diameter, are developed by using FBG sensor to overcome the defects of the strain gage, and compensate the effect of temperature during penetration. In order to verifiy the accuracy and reliability of the developed FBG cone, the cone penetration test is performed on the layered soil. The tip resistance of FBG snesor shows excellent sensitivity, and can detect the interface of the layered soils with higher resolution. In addition, the 3mm micro cone penetrometer which is impossible cone diameter by using strain gages presents much higher sensitivity than the 7mm cone penetrometer. This study suggests that FBG sensor is a useful sensor for manufaturing the ultra small sized cone, and effectively detects the interface of the layered soil.

• Journal of the Korean Geotechnical Society
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.15-25
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• 2010

The thin-layered sand seam in clay affects the soil behavior. Although the standard cone penetrometer (A: $10cm^2$) have been used to evaluate the thin-layered soil, the smaller diameter cone penetrometer have been commonly recommended because of the high resolution. The purpose of this study is the development and application of the Cone Resistivity Penetrometer (CRP), which detects qc, fs, and electrical resistivity at cone tip for the evaluation of thin layered soils. Two sizes of the CRP are developed for the laboratory and field test. The projected areas of CRP for the laboratory and field tests are $0.78cm^2$ (d: 1.0 cm) and $1.76cm^2$ (d: 1.5 cm), repectively. The length of friction sleeve is designed in consideration of ratio of the projected area to the friction sleeve area. The application tests are carried out by using the artificially prepared thin-layered soils in the laboratory. In addition, the field tests are conducted at the depth of 6 to 15 m in Kwangyang. In the laboratory test, the measured electrical resistivity and cone tip resistance detect the soil layers. Moreover, in the field test the CRP investigates the three thin-layered soils. This study suggests that the CRP may be a useful tool for detecting thin-layered in soft soils.