WorldWide Drilling Resource

WorldWide Drilling Resource ® is a proud member of this association. National Drilling Association Tel: 877-632-4748 Fax: 216-803-9900 www.nda4u.com 11 WorldWide Drilling Resource ® OCTOBER 2013 SPT Sample Prep and Preservation by Scott Cosby This month’s article will focus on the Standard Penetration Test (SPT) in terms of sample preparation and preservation, based on my field experiences, as a companion article to SPT Introduction in the WWDR May 2013 issue. This test method provides a soil sample for moisture content determination and lab- oratory identification, thus the sample must be prepped and preserved in a proper manner. Bring the sampler to the surface and open; then record the length of sample recovered. Place one or more representative portions of the sample into sealable containers. Container types include: glass jars, plastic bags, or glass/ plastic pails - if they are waterproof. Affix labels bearing job information, boring number, sample number, sample depth, and recovery length of the sample. Our crews use plastic bags for sam- ple containment. We place the plastic bags as tightly as possible around the sample, squeezing out as much air as possible, and we occasionally tape the sample. Specifications state the plastic bags shall be three mil or thicker to pre- vent moisture loss. It’s important to preserve the sam- ples from extreme temperature changes. SPT samples should be preserved and transported in accordance with ASTM D4220-95 (Reapproved 2007) - Standard Practices for Preserving and Transporting Soil Samples . Consult online search engines for more information on this topic. ASTM D1586-11, Standard Test Method for Standard Penetration Test (SPT) and Split-Barrel Sampling of Soils and ASTM D4220-95 (Reapproved 2007) - Standard Practices for Preserving and Transporting Soil Samples are also useful references. Scott Scott Cosby may be contacted via e-mail at admin@ worldwidedrillingresource.com