Minicone penetration testing of seafloor soils

The Naval Seafloor Research Program at California State University, Los Angeles, is funded through a Research and Education grant from the Office of Naval Research. The purpose of the program is to conduct seafloor engineering research with the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center´s Ocean Engineering Division to test and calibrate a new minicone penetration system to provide accurate and reliable geo-technical soil information within the upper 5 to 6 feet of the seafloor. This paper presents the experimental results of an ongoing investigation to study the penetration resistance of a minicone in sand at shallow penetration.