Cone tip resistance in sand: modeling, verification, and applications

A numerical modeling procedure is presented to evaluate cone tip resistance in sand. The procedure involves a moving boundary simulating cone penetration. The soil is modeled as a Mohr-Coulomb elastic-plastic material with stress-dependent parameters. The procedure is verified by comparing predicted numerical values of cone tip resistance with published experimental measurements from calibration chamber tests. The selected database consists of 59 calibration chamber tests on Ticino sand with different relative densities, overconsolidation ratios, stresses, and boundary conditions. Several applications of the modeling procedure are also presented. The computer program FLAC is used to carry out the analysis.