Development and Use of a Minicone for Liquefaction Risk Evaluation in Layered Soil Deposits

This paper shows and compares the experimental results obtained by using a standard cone (10 cm2) and a mini piezocone (2 cm2). Tests were carried out at Calendasco (Piacenza, Italy) in a natural soil deposit mainly consisting of clayey-sandy silts. Grain size distribution with depth was also available. Other tests were carried out at Cavezzo (Modena, Italy), where liquefaction-induced phenomena were observed during the May 29, 2012, seismic sequence. The purpose was to investigate capabilities and limitations of mini piezocone and to explore the possibility of obtaining a better prediction of soil stratigraphy in thin layered deposits. Systematic differences in terms of tip resistance and sleeve friction were not observed, even though, generally, qc standard