.2 The cone is penetrated into the specimen vertically at the speed of 1 cm per second until the penetration depth reaches to 15 cm (see photo 13); and
.3 The maximum cone penetrating force during the operation of the cone-penetrometer is read and recorded.
In order to control the speed of penetration as accurate as practical, it is recommended to count the seconds from "one" to "fifteen" during the penetration. It is also recommended to fix the arms to the body and push the cone-penetrometer by utilizing the weight of the tester, during the penetration, in order to reduce the fluctuation of speed of penetration.
When the cone-penetrometer does not have the function for indicating the maximum cone penetrating force, the tester should observe cone penetrating force continuously and read the maximum value.
4.5.3 Removal of sieved sample from the mould (Step 2.3)
After the cone penetration test, the sieved sample forming specimen is put back in the container for sieved sample and the apparatus are cleaned by the following sub-steps:
.1 The mould with specimen is dismantled into two parts, that are the cylinder and the bottom plate;
.2 The sieved sample in the cylinder is removed by using the sample removing apparatus (see photo 14) and put back in the container;
.3 The residual sieved sample on the bottom plate is also put back in the container; and
.4 The cone and rod of the cone-penetrometer and all parts of the mould are cleaned and water on them is wiped.
The sieved sample removed from the mould can be used for the repeated test procedures in step 2 after divided into small lamps and mixed with the other sieved samples.
5 Judgment (Step 3)
After the maximum cone penetrating forces are measured three times for a sieved sample, the minimum value of the three lowest cone penetrating forces is selected as the representative cone penetrating force.
In the case that the representative cone penetrating force is less than 300 N, that is 30.6 kgf, it is judged that the shear strength of the original sample is not enough to prevent sliding failure during voyage.
The shortage of shear strength of original sample means that the original sample contains too much moisture to be accepted for loading. In other words, the shortage of shear strength of original sample means that sliding failure of the cargo pile may take place during voyage when moisture content of a certain proportion of the cargo is equal to or more than the moisture content of the original sample.
