Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
(OP)
Has anyone seen a way to retrofit a guide rail post driver to take soil samples? I'd like to be able to take subbase samples to help determine causes of pavement distress. We already have the post driver, so I was thinking that should be able to push a spoon a foot or two into the subbase. Any ideas?
"...students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail." - Wm. Phelps Eno, ca. 1928
"I'm searching for the questions, so my answers will make sense." - Stephen Brust





RE: Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
I assume you can weld or otherwise fasten a short piece of drill rod to the bottom of the driver, to which you can screw the 18" or 24" spoon.
RE: Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
There are a few ways of getting what you want, but it depends on what you need to run.
RE: Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
So, we want to go down about a foot and sample the granular subbase, so that we can do some basic tests for gradation, plasticity, etc. I suspect that if we have to look at the subgrade, we probably need to contract out for a geotech, anyway.
We have a blacksmith/welder (yes, that's his job title) in the vehicle repair shop, so we can do some fabrication in-house.
"...students of traffic are beginning to realize the false economy of mechanically controlled traffic, and hand work by trained officers will again prevail." - Wm. Phelps Eno, ca. 1928
"I'm searching for the questions, so my answers will make sense." - Stephen Brust
RE: Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
RE: Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
RE: Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?
The idea of a dynamic penetration and sampling deserves merit. One significant problem is that the material gradation of the base material might easily exceed the size of the split spoon...in fact, it almost always does so.
Perhaps a variation of the extremes between a "test" pit and a single penetration hole is the answer.
RE: Sampling spoon on guide rail post pounder?