Standard Penetrometer

A penetrometer is any device forced into the soil to measure resistance to vertical penetration (Davidson, 1965). The earliest soil penetrometers were fists, thumbs, fingernails, pointed sticks, and metal rods. They are still used for qualitative measurements.The cone penetrometer provides an accurate and continuous profile of soil stratification. This tool provides valuable information about granular and cohesive soils. In cohesive soils, cone data provides a continuous profile of shear strength and eliminates strength anomalies caused by the sampling process.