Calibration cone penetration testing in silty soils

The Offshore Wind Industry’s rapid expansion across the globe requires geotechnical modelling of sites that are often characterized by layers of silty sand and silt mixtures. The CPTU is the main in situ offshore investigation tool for defining the ground conditions and for establishing facility position and soil parameters for foundation design, but no simple and robust methodologies exist for characterizing transitional soils. This paper presents some results of CPTUs carried out in a large calibration chamber and in a centrifuge aimed at contributing to the development of guidelines for planning, specification, execution, and interpretation of CPTUs in transitional soils.