Flat dilatometer testing in Israel

The flat dilatometer test (DMT), including the equipment and the parameters obtained, is briefly described. With regards to Israel, this paper relates the present shortcoming of the availability of appropriate rigs for pushing the dilatometer blade into harder penetrating soils and the type of soils and their general location, where the use of the DMT, with its limited diameter thin flat membrane, is suitable. Soil investigations were carried out on Highway No. 2, in the vicinity of the Poleg River, by borings and in some cases with adjacent dilatometer tests for comparison. The material index and the horizontal stress index, obtained from the DMT, with the correlation to the grain size distribution and the overconsolidation ratio respectively, is very similar to the correlation found in other countries. Attempt has also been made to correlate between the liquidity index and the dilatometer modulus for the soil investigated.