Cone penetration testing (CPT) is one of the popular field investigation methods to evaluate soil properties. The CPT results can be linked to physical, mechanical, and hydraulic properties of soils using empirical and analytical relations. Most of these relations are developed for dry or saturated soils. However, ignoring the partial saturation could result in inaccurate estimation of mechanical properties. An experimental investigation is planned to investigate the effect of unsaturated soil condition on CPT results inside a geotechnical centrifuge. It requires a miniature cone adapted for unsaturated soil testing. In this paper, details of miniature cone, guiding frame, and driving apparatus have been explained. In addition, the calibration process of the sensors and measurement challenges are discussed. The results verify the potential application of the miniature cone in modeling geotechnical systems with unsaturated soil conditions, which could provide benchmark data for calibrating the numerical and analytical unsaturated soil models.
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