Principal Investigator(s):
Joseph Labuz, Professor, Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering
Co-Investigators:
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Andrew Drescher, Former Professor, Civil, Environmental and Geo-Engineering
Project summary:
The ultimate goal of the proposed work is to provide MnDOT with a simplified calibration procedure for earth pressure cells (EPC) and to develop a calibration chamber for simulating field conditions associated with EPC. Simple hydrostatic loading will be performed to check transducer sensitivity, linearity, and stability (changes in response due to environmental effects such as temperature and humidity). In addition, a procedure will be designed to evaluate the calibration under a one-dimensional load scheme involving a fluid/soil system; this 1D loading will provide a means to check the calibration of EPC under the most simple soil conditions. A universal calibration chamber will be developed so that correction factors could be applied to any subsequent field results.