How the PANDITO® works

PANDITO Ultra-light Dynamic Cone Penetrometer DCP self controlThe operator who has just compacted a layer of material immediately tests the compaction quality using the PANDITO® Ultra-light Dynamic Cone Penetrometer. This self control test can be done by onsite field staff as the PANDITO® DCP is extremely simple to use and interpret. The PANDITO® Ultra-light Dynamic Cone Penetrometer is made up of a 5kg hammer system and a rod of 50 cm, graduated each 10 cm with a fixed cone of 2 cm². No additional tools are required for rod extraction.

The test consists of hitting a cone into the ground with a constant energy. The number of blows measured to sink every 10 cm is compared to a reference value, which is dependent on the soil (soil classification), moisture (wet, medium, dry) and the compaction quality required (95% OPN/OPM, 100% OPN/OPM…). For ease of use, a simplified table with reference values (3 soils families gathered) is attached to the hammer of the PANDITO® for immediate interpretation on site.

Compaction objectives

Crushed rock
(0/20, 0/315,
0-50 mm)

Non clay soils

Clay soils

wet

medium

dry

90% OPN

3

2

1

2

5

90% OPM –
95% OPN

5

3

2

4

8

95% OPM –
100% OPN

8

6

4

6

11

100% OPM

11

7

6

7

13

 Simplified table – Number of blows PANDITO® for 10 cm depth for compaction control

A full database (all soils from several soil classifications: USCS, AASHTO, PG3…) is also available as a table in order to refine the analysis. This more detailed analysis benefits from many years of research and development experience by SOL SOLUTION with dynamic cone penetrometers in compaction control.