Your average Cone Penetration Testing Rig is a fairly complex piece of machinery, but it can’t do its job alone.
Indeed, every CPT Rig needs a DataPack, or data acquisition and analysis package (DAS), to properly measure and document soil information gathered from digital CPT cones and other sensors.
But what exactly is a DataPack?
Typically, CPT DataPacks like the VTK DataPack offer a simple “all-in-one” solution to commercial CPT service providers.
The DataPack is most often designed to be field-portable as it operates onsite during the CPT Testing process. As such, most DataPacks are best used with any commercial, off-the-shelf laptop for optimal portability.
The Benefits of Automated Data Collection
While sensor-specific data, such as calibration factors, serial numbers and sensor type, are in fact stored in each sensor module in the cone, that data is also automatically transmitted to the DataPack with each penetration. This automated collection of data offers a number of advantages.
For starters, with the DataPack handling all the data collection, even a technician with minimal training can operate the system with relative ease. Automated data collection and analysis also reduces operator error or bias, while further speeding up the CPT Testing process as reporting is instant. This in turn allows for increased productivity and profit for the operator as many more soundings can be performed in a shift.
Perhaps most importantly, the DataPack can also present information immediately in the form of a client-ready visual report. Again, this saves field engineers time as they don’t have to crunch the data manually. Since CPT is still a fairly new field, this makes it easier for technicians to make the shift to CPT from related vocations. The added confidence the DataPack offers technicians in turn helps ease the way for new entrants into the CPT space.