Cone penetrometer is an instrument to determine soil compaction in terms of percentage of pore space within the soil profile. They are very useful for reaching greater depths and to facilitate easy and constant rate of penetration. They are also known as field density apparatus and are very useful for various field studies.

Specification

• The soil cone penetrometer is a 12mm dia rod with a handle at one end and a cone tip at the other.
• The rod is pushed into the soil, with the force required recorded at different depths.
• This force is the strength of the soil (in MPA or p.s.i) at different depths in the profile.
• The equipment consists of a hydraulic pump driven by diesel engine.
• The whole system is installed on a spinning trolley fitted with pneumatic wheels.

Uses of Cone Penetrometer

Some important uses are :

• Used in geotechnical tests.
• Helps to determine soil compaction layers.
• Helpful in determining whether playability is uniform in firmness from green to green on Golf Greens.
• On athletic fields, the Penetrometer shows how hard the soil is to measure player safety and footing.
• They can be used to find out the maximum rooting zone for the crop.

Application

It can be used in different areas and for different purposes. To name few are :

• Geotechnical applications
• Subsurface screening of soil
• Bioenvironmental engineering
• Mine impact studies