1 DPL OPERATION PRINCIPLE

1.1 Traditional DPL

A DPL apparatus operates with a 10 kg weight, drop
height 50 cm, generating the energy of 50 kJ to
drive rods and cone to 12 meter depth. The cone,
massive, of diameter d = 35.7 mm, tip angle 90 and
cross section 10 cm, admits to capture resistance in-
formation of the soil.
1.2 DPL NILSSON
The Brazilian modified DPL system, known as DPL
NILSSON is an upgraded modification of the tradi-
tional DPL, improved by torque measurements to
register lateral cone friction. After every meter of
penetration, before a new rod is connected, a torque
test is made. The DPL NILSSON apparatus is non-
motorized, easily dissembled in smaller parts, light
and easy to transport and operates with high effi-
ciency. One assembly staffed by 2 or 3 persons can
advance 50 to 60 meters per day.
1.3 Comparisons
Compared with other field tests, DPL is light and
easy to transport. The complete equipment weights
less than 100 kg and can be transported in a small
car. It is possible to install in small and narrow lo-
cals, and is environment friendly. A great vantage
obtained by the design is the clearly defined geome-
try and constant mass which qualifies the cone as a
discreet, measurable object. Different from a sam-
pler, the DPL cone is massive and cannot contain air,
water or soil, so objective resistant measure is possi-
ble.








Figure 1. DPL NILSSON apparatus on campaign at Indaia-
tuba/SP, Brazil.




Parameter approach from DPL test
Thomas Nilsson
B.Sc. Civil Engineering, M.Sc., Brazil
www.nilsson.com.br


ABSTRACT: The article presents approaches and collections of geotechnical parameters from the port-
able field test apparatus DPL NILSSON, manually operated by two persons. The raw parameters are ob-
tained by blows and torque test. Some of the obtained geotechnic parameters for dimensioning are tip resis-
tance, side friction, compacity and consistence. Significant vantages by this equipment is access to remote
sites, high production, transport, low cost and positive ecological aspects..




Figure 2. Comparison in proportional scale between
SPT-sampler, DPL cone and CPT-cone.
2 PRIMARY PARAMETERS
2.1 Obtained parameters
The prime raw parameter, obtained from any DPL
test is N
10
= blows to advance 10 cm. The DPL
NILSSON test include torque on the assembled rods
and cone. M
max
is the maximal obtained moment,
captured instantly before soil rupture, and M
res
is the
average residual moment on the continuous rotation
after rupture.
2.2 Tip resistance
The modified Hiley equation (Thomas Nilsson)
gives:
2 1
2
2
1 1
2 m m
m e m
s s
h g m
a k P
el pl
f
+
+

+

= (1)
where P
f
= tip force; k = correction factor to cover
energy deviation, a = hidraulic correction factor, m
1

= weight of hammer; m
2
= weight of rods, anvil
and cone; g = earth gravity; h = fall height of ham-
mer; s
pl
= plastic soil displacement; s
el
= elastic
displacement of equipment and soil; e = coefficient
of impact.
f
A
P
q
c
f
c
= (2)
where q
c
= tip resistance of cone; A
c
= cross section
area; f = lateral resistance.
2.2 Lateral resistance
The vertical aligned surface of the cone has the same
height as diameter, the nominal contact area with
soil = 5D
2
/4. For DPL NILSSON, the theoretic ob-
tained area of soil contact, 50cm should be in-
creased to 60cm, as the upper side of the cone has
some soil contact.

The lateral resistance is obtained by the equation.
L A
M
f

= (3)
M = Moment, L = moment lever.
A = Cone surface area in contact with soil

The lever is d / 2 for the lateral section and d / 2
for the tip section. The resultant moment lever can
be approached to 16mm. Approach the product AL
to 100 (cm x cm), f = 10M. moment in Nm, AL in
m x m and f in kPa.
The interface friction between the cone (steel to
soil) is supposed to be less than the inner shear resis-
tance of the soil so the received value of f can be
used as a safe measure of soil shear resistance.



Figure 3. Raw parameters from DPL NILSSON test: Table
and graph of blows N
10
, graph of lateral resistance f, and graph
of tip resistance q
c
.





3 PROJECT PARAMETERS
3.1 Source
The parameters are acquired from necessary number
of blows to penetrate a given distance, from neces-
sary moment to rotate the cone and from soil and
water print on extracted rods .
3.2 Cohesion and friction angle by DPL NILSSON
The shear resistance can be estimated by DPL side
friction, as earlier shown. As expressed by Mohr, it
is composed by cohesion and friction angle.
tan ' + = c
fu
(4)
If the soil contains > 40 % clay, it can be considered
as a cohesive soil. If > 75 % sand, it should be con-
sidered as a friction soil.

Joseph Bowles relates the interface friction angle be-
tween metallic surface and soil = 14 to 22 for
fine to coarse sand, and = 11 for silt. That is ap-
proximately 15 less than the ordinary interior fric-
tion angle of the soil.

Suppose a torque test in clay, the shear resistance is
mastered by cohesion. The cohesion of the soil
should be higher than the measured lateral friction
between the smooth cone surface and the surround-
ing soil, so consider c > f.

DPL test in sand is governed by the friction angle.
Approaching cohesion to zero, the estimated friction
angle can be expressed by the formulae:
' 019 . 0

>
f
(5)
where is the soil tension and f is the measured side
friction.
3.3 Allowable load
The resistance value derived from pile driving for-
mulas by Bolomey, 1974, gives the Dutch equation:
e A M s S
H M
r
d
+

=
) (
2
(6)
where M = weight of the hammer; S = weight of the
extension rods; s = length of the extension rods; H =
height of fall; A = cone cross section area; e = aver-
age penetration/blow.
For DPL of standard dimension, this equation can be
expressed as a second degree equation, with r
d
given
as a function of the penetration of the driven rods:
10
2
) 44 , 0 06 , 0 003 , 0 ( N s s r
d
+ = (MPa) (7)

Table 1. Obtained values, applying the Dutch equation down
to 5m.
_________________
z r
d


m MPa
_________________
1 0.35N
10

2 0.29N
10

3 0.25N
10

4 0.22N
10

5 0.20N
10

_________________

In Procedimentos de Sondeos, Jesus Puy Huarte,
recommend the allowable load, for footings:
20
d
adm
r
= (8)
For piles:
6 12
d
adm
d
r r
< < (9)
4 APPROACHES FROM BLOWS N
10

The blows of DPL NILSSON are presented in a
graph with the horizontal x-axis graded up to 100
blows N
10
, designed as function of depth. The end
of DPL penetration, limited to 12 m, is also gov-
erned by a maximum soil resistance corresponding
to some 25-30 N of blows of SPT.
4.1 Blows vs. compacity
To evaluate the compacity of friction soils, the fol-
lowing table gives an idea how to direct interpret
DPL values:

Table 2. Compacity of granular
soils evaluated from DPL
___________________________
Blows Compacity

N
10

___________________________
< 1 Very loose
< 7 Loose
7 - 83 Medium
> 83 Dense
___________________________
4.2 Blows vs. consistence
For classification of consistence in cohesive, unsatu-
rated soils, with Plastic Index under medium value,
the following table is extracted from the German
standard DIN 4094.

Table 3. Consistence of fine
soils evaluated from DPL
___________________________
Blows Consistence

N
10

___________________________
< 3 Very soft
3 - 6 Soft
6 - 12 Medium
13 - 22 Stiff
23 - 45 Very stiff
> 45 Hard
___________________________

A soil of N
10
< 7 blows needs a special attention in
the project, such as bypass with piles, reinforcement
of the soil or other kind of geotechnical engineering
solutions. Soils with N
10
over 80 blows do generally
have medium to high resistance.. Soils with N
10
from
3 to 25 are normally easy to excavate.
5 CONCLUSIONS
The number of blows N
10
of DPL allows quick ap-
proaches of some soil characteristics like resistance,
consistence and compacity. From torque tests in the
apparatus DPL NILSSON, parameters as friction
angle and cohesion can be roughly estimated.
In the choice between expensive and simple tech-
nology, some equipments of simple technology gives
a positive cost-benefit rate by low operation costs,
high test velocity, easy transportation, access to dif-
ficult locals and fast interpretation. The technical
quality is rather a function of project, raw material
and manufacturing than of complexity and hi-tech.
The service quality depends on compatibility with
available labor, access, environment and control.
Field campaigns are subjected to rude conditions and
depend a lot on logistics. A portable equipment like
DPL equipment fits good under such conditions.
6 REFERENCES
Bergdahl U., Ottoson E. 1988. Soil Characteristics
from penetration test results, Proc ISOPT-1, Or-
lando, USA.

Bolomey, H 1974. Dynamic Penetration Resis-
tance Formulae. Proc European Symposium on
Penetration Testing Vol 2:2, Stockholm 7p.

Bolton,M 1979, A guide to soil mechanics,
Macmillan Press, London, UK.

Bowles, J.1986. Engineering Properties of Soils and
Their Measurement

Cunha, R, Nilsson. T. 2004. Advantages and
equations for pile design in Brazil via DPL tests, ICS
2004, Porto/ Portugal, 20-25 de Setembro de 2004,
7p.

DIN Taschenbuch.1991. Erkundung und Unter-
suchung des Baugrunds. Beuth

Ireland, H.O. , Moretto, O and Vargas. M. The Dy-
namic Penetration Test: A Standard that is not stan-
dardized. Geotechnique, Vol 20, 7p

ISSMFE 1989. International reference test proce-
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MFE Technical Committee on Penetration Testing
of Soils TC 16 with Reference Test Procedures.
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Jesus Puy Huarte. 1977. Procedimentos de Sondeos,
teora, prctica y aplicaciones. Publicaciones cienti-
ficas de la Junta de Energia Nuclear, Madrid. 549p.

Massarsch, R. , Lindholm, P, Mrtensson, O. 1976 .
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Rep. No 3, Stockholm

Moss, R.E.S., R.B. Seed and R.S. Olsen, "Normaliz-
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technical and Geoenvironmental Engineering,
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Nilsson. T. 2000. Ensaios para obteno de Mdu-
los de Elasticidade, 32.d Pavement reunion, Brasi-
lia/ DF, 6p.

Nilsson. T. 2003. Initial Experiences of DPL NILS-
SON, I Central Brazilian Plateau Seminar. CD-
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Nilsson. T. 2004. Comparaes entre DPL
NILSSON e SPT, Geosul 2004, Curitiba/ PR, 20-23
de Maio de 2004, 6p.

Nilsson. T. 2004. O penetrmetro porttil DPL
NILSSON, SEFE V / BIC II 2004, So Paulo/ SP,
6p.

Triggs Jr. J.F., Liang R.Y.K. 1988. Development
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cone tests. Proc ISOPT-1, Orlando, USA.

Walter Rodatz. 1992. Grundbau, Bodenmechanik
Unterirdisches Bauen. Institut fr Grundbau und
Bodenmechanik, Braunschweig, Germany. 345 p.