Project overview
ROBOCONE is a multi-institutional research project between the University of Bristol, the University of Southampton and Trinity college Dublin, funded by EPSRC (Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council) and Science Foundation Ireland, to create a new site investigation tool for intelligent ground characterisation.
Investigators:
University of Bristol:
- Professor Andrea Diambra (PI)
- Dr Andrew Conn (Co-I)
- Professor Erdin Ibraim (Co-I)
- Professor George Mylonakis (Co-I)
University of Southampton:
- Prof David White (PI)
- Prof Susan Gourvenec (Co-I)
- Dr Benjamin Cerfontaine (Co-I)
Trinity College Dublin:
University Western Australia
- Associate Professor James Doherty - Visiting researcher
Industrial Partners:
- Ørsted
- Fugro
- NGI (The Norwegian Geotechnical Institute)
- Gavin & Doherty Geosolutions (GDG)
- Lloyd's Register
- Otherlab
Academic advisory board:
- Professor Mark Randolph (University of Western Australia)
- Professor Guido Gottardi (Universita di Bologna)
- Dr Alejandro Martinez (University of California, Davis)
ROBOCONE will break free from the kinematic constraints of conventional site investigation tools - such as the very widespread cone penetration test (CPT).
The ROBOCONE device will feature three modular sections that are actuated after the device is installed into the ground, and apply kinematic mechanisms and strain histories to the ground that closely mimic stress paths around foundations (Fig. 1a):
- horizontal movements resembling p-y soil response;
- vertical movements resembling τrz-z soil response;
- torsional movement resembling τrθ-θ soil response.
The device development will be combined with new theoretical approaches to interpret ROBOCONE’s data to provide objective and reliable geotechnical parameters, ready for use in whole-life design.
Figure 1. ROBOCONE's device and smart testing
The concept design of ROBOCONE was presented at CPT’22 in Bologna.
The full paper can be read open access and the poster accompanying the paper can be seen below.
