The “speargun projectile penetrometer” (SPP) is sure to be on every geotechnical engineer’s Christmas list! PhD student Junlin Rong and his advisor, Professor of Geotechnical Engineering Majid Nazem, both of RMIT University, were the lead authors on a paper in the Canadian Geotechnical Journal describing the device, and it’s initial laboratory testing. Sadly for us land lubbers, this device is designed for offshore use, but initial results show it achieves significantly higher embedment depths compared to an equivalent free-falling penetrometer, especially in dense sands. The device is now ready for testing with industry partners. They should be scrambling to sign up…it’s not often we geotechnical engineers get to feel like James Bond!
Sean Connery as James Bond in Thunderball
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