evaluation of undrained shear strength of loose silty sands using cpt results

series of undrained monotonic triaxial tests and cone penetration tests were conducted on loose silty sand samples to study correlation between undrained shear strength of silty sands (sus) and piezocone test results. cpt tests were conducted at 27 silty sand samples in calibration chamber. the results indicate that, in low percent of silt (0-30%), as the silt content increases, the undrained shear strength (sus) and cone tip resistance (qc) decreases. it is shown that, fines content affects undrained shear strength (sus) and cone tip resistance (qc) similarly. on the basis of obtained results, equations were proposed to determine the normalized cone tip resistance (qc1n) and undrained shear strength (sus) of silty sand in term of fines content. finally based on those equations, a correlation between normalized cone tip resistance and undrained shear strength of silty sand is presented. it is shown that the normalized undrained shear strength and normalized cone tip resistance of loose silty sands (f.c. <30%) decreases with increase of silt contents.