The Hand Penetrometer program was developed during 1996 for Geotron Systems, South Africa. The function of the Hand Penetrometer (developed by Geotron) is to sample soil density at certain location for download and plot on a computer. The company specialize in the development of sensors that accumulate certain characteristics of the surrounding soil and rock formations. The complete Hand Penetrometer system consists of a Hand Penetrometer connected to a Laptop with the Hand Penetrometer program for Windows loaded. The Hand Penetrometer (HP) device is shown in Figure 3. The HP has a build-in microprocessor module that instructs the user when a penetration is to be made and also accumulates sample data internally. A loadcell (SUB-G-200 kg Error=0.03%) measures the soil density at certain depths up to 80 cm and logs the measurements while the handle is turned. A whole area can be measured this way to create a contour plot. When finished, the data is downloaded to the program for storage and analysis.

For more information and pricing, visit www.geotron.co.za.

The application has the following functions:

1. Data is downloaded from the module via a RS232 cable and stored in a Access database.

2. Data can be viewed and edited in a professional Excel-like spreadsheet with over 100 built-in functions for data manipulation.
3. Data can be exported and printed.
4. Running averages can be computed on selected columns.
5. Multiple columns (penetrations) can be graphed on a single graph. The graph is fully customizable via hotspots (see Figure 1).

6. A full-text hypertext on-line help system is available.

Hand Penetrometer Examples

The graph with the spreadsheet in the background

The on-line help system in action.

The Hand Penetrometer itself.