Detection of soil variability using CPTs

The variability of soil is well known to affect the geotechnical performance of structures. As probabilistic design methods become more commonly used, the ability to measure the variability of soil becomes more important. However, by using only the point statistics of soil parameters in design (e.g. the mean and standard deviation), typically an over-estimation of failure probabilities occurs, leading to over-conservative designs. By looking at the spatial correlation (e.g. scales of fluctuation) a more accurate representation can be achieved. This paper presents a method to use vertical Cone Penetration Tests (CPTs) to detect both the vertical and horizontal scales of fluctuation. An extensive numerical and experimental investigation has been undertaken to understand how spatial variation can be estimated and to quantify the accuracy in that estimation. The impact of being able to quantify the uncertainty is illustrated via a simple slope stability example.