37

resistance may in some cases be determined directly by use of an oversize drive

point, Fig. 10, but the method is not reliable when the depth is great and when the
soil is soft or loose and saturated. A great reduction in withdrawal resistance can
generally be obtained by use of a clearance sleeve, Fig. 10B, which is left in the
ground upon withdrawal of the rod.

Penetration by rotation.- In 1917 the Geotechnical Committee of the Swedish

State Railroads (967) -- see also 332 and 353 -- introduced a sounding rod which is
forced into the soil in part by a static load and in part by rotation of the rod, Fig. 11.
This method is used extensively in the Scandinavian countries, and the following de
scription is based on minor modifications introduced by the Danish State Railroads,
see Godskesen (323, 324, 206, and 615). The rod is provided with a screw point with
a diameter about 50 per cent greater than that of the rod. The penetration is first
recorded for successive static loads of 5, 15, 25, 75, and 100 kg. The rod with the
final static load of 100 kg is then rotated, and the penetration is observed for each
25 half turns. A diagram of the variations of this penetration with depth is then com

pared with similar diagrams obtained in the same region and under conditions for
which the bearing capacity of the soil strata or the required length and bearing ca
pacity of piles have been determined by other means.

According to Godskesen (323, 324), fair foundation conditions, suitable for

spread footings, exist when the penetration is less than 50 cm for each 25 half turns,
and end-bearing piles can be used when the penetration is less than 5 to 10 cm. How
ever, these rules should not be applied indiscriminately, and the general character
of the soils in the region, the depth to the strata under consideration, and the pos
sibility that skin friction maybe active and decrease penetration in spite of the over
size drive point must be taken into consideration. The method is relatively fast and
inexpensive, even when compared with other sounding methods, but it is not suited
for exploration of coarse and gravelly soils or very compact or hard soils. Neither
does the method furnish adequate details on the soil profile when soils are so soft
that they are penetrated by the sounding rod without rotating it but simply by placing
the above mentioned static loads on the self- locking clamp.

Static resistance.- Variations in static penetration resistance of a sounding

rod, which is pushed or jacked slowly into the soil, can be determined with greater
accuracy than variations in dynamic resistance. The numerical values of the static
resistance are also easier to correlate with the strength and bearing capacity of the
soil. Static rather than dynamic penetration resistance is therefore measured in
the majority of the recently developed soil sounding methods, especially when these
methods are used in exploration of relatively soft soil deposits.

The test rod shown in Fig. 12 was developed by A. Casagrande for detection
of soft spots in shallow hydraulic fills covering large areas. The washer at the
bottom of the rod provides outside clearance and is left in the ground, thereby facil
itating withdrawal of the rod. The penetration resistance is measured by a simple
commercial spring scale. For each type of fill this resistance is correlated with