Ring penetrometer for interface shear testing on sand under low-stress conditions
Ring penetrometer for interface shear testing on sand under low-stress conditions
Accurate characterisation of near-surface soils is essential for the design of subsea cables, pipelines, and shallow foundations. Conventional laboratory testing equipment is not well adapted to these applications where the operative stress levels are typically <10 kPa. This paper presents and interprets a comprehensive test campaign using a novel flat ring penetrometer. This device measures interface friction at stress levels as low as 1 kPa. Drained friction parameters for a range of sands obtained from the ring penetrometer are compared to other friction measurements from centrifuge sled and interface shear box tests. The results demonstrate the repeatability of the ring penetrometer, and the benefit of the simple but rigorous interpretation approach. The residual friction measured in the ring and centrifuge sled tests shows no dependency on stress level, which contrasts with the interface shear box results. It is shown that the apparent stress-dependency could be an artefact of system friction in the shear box. A correlation between friction coefficient and device settlement rate is identified, with the maximum friction mobilised as the settlement rate approaches zero, consistent with the combined bearing-sliding failure mechanism. These findings highlight the value of the ring device for interface friction measurement.
in-situ testing, interface friction, interface shear box, low stress testing, ring penetrometer, sands
1295-1308
Mohr, Henning
2afb09e1-17c7-4875-ac8a-cd15850c1e91
Singh, Vikram
124b922f-0567-4b8a-a5e7-96f4b68301ef
Stanier, Samuel A.
b11049bd-44ee-4db9-9e66-a5ea20a3c70b
White, David J.
a986033d-d26d-4419-a3f3-20dc54efce93
1 October 2025
Mohr, Henning
2afb09e1-17c7-4875-ac8a-cd15850c1e91
Singh, Vikram
124b922f-0567-4b8a-a5e7-96f4b68301ef
Stanier, Samuel A.
b11049bd-44ee-4db9-9e66-a5ea20a3c70b
White, David J.
a986033d-d26d-4419-a3f3-20dc54efce93
Mohr, Henning, Singh, Vikram, Stanier, Samuel A. and White, David J.
(2025)
Ring penetrometer for interface shear testing on sand under low-stress conditions.
Geotechnique, 75 (10), , [2401024].
(doi:10.1680/jgeot.24.01024).
Abstract
Accurate characterisation of near-surface soils is essential for the design of subsea cables, pipelines, and shallow foundations. Conventional laboratory testing equipment is not well adapted to these applications where the operative stress levels are typically <10 kPa. This paper presents and interprets a comprehensive test campaign using a novel flat ring penetrometer. This device measures interface friction at stress levels as low as 1 kPa. Drained friction parameters for a range of sands obtained from the ring penetrometer are compared to other friction measurements from centrifuge sled and interface shear box tests. The results demonstrate the repeatability of the ring penetrometer, and the benefit of the simple but rigorous interpretation approach. The residual friction measured in the ring and centrifuge sled tests shows no dependency on stress level, which contrasts with the interface shear box results. It is shown that the apparent stress-dependency could be an artefact of system friction in the shear box. A correlation between friction coefficient and device settlement rate is identified, with the maximum friction mobilised as the settlement rate approaches zero, consistent with the combined bearing-sliding failure mechanism. These findings highlight the value of the ring device for interface friction measurement.
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Accepted/In Press date: 12 December 2024
e-pub ahead of print date: 18 December 2024
Published date: 1 October 2025
Keywords:
in-situ testing, interface friction, interface shear box, low stress testing, ring penetrometer, sands
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 509801
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/509801
ISSN: 0016-8505
PURE UUID: 9eb4bc45-a3c6-4ce3-ab21-6f107a1b7d1d
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Date deposited: 05 Mar 2026 23:11
Last modified: 07 Mar 2026 03:49
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Contributors
Author:
Henning Mohr
Author:
Vikram Singh
Author:
Samuel A. Stanier
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