US Patent No: 6,604,432

Number of patents in Portfolio can not be more than 2000

Soil compaction measurement

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Abstract

The in-situ measurement of the shear modulus of a surface layer of soil (12) is performed by apparatus in which a contact foot (11) with a preselected downward bias force engages a defined area of a region of soil. A drive transducer (13) shakes the contact foot (11) vertically and sensing transducers (17, 18) determine the force applied to the foot (11) and the resulting movement of the foot (11) and generate respective first and second output signals. The in-phase movement responsive output signal is analyzed in relation to the force signal to obtain a measurement of a single parameter which is representative of the stiffness provided by the soil (12). The shear modulus as well as the void ratio of the soil can be calculated from the stiffness. The drive transducer (13) is energized by an a.c. signal which progressively varies in frequency over a preselected band with the rate of change also varying with frequency thereby providing a greater force spectrum content at lower frequencies than at higher frequencies in the band, while maintaining a substantially constant force magnitude.

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First Claim

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Patent Owner(s)

Patent OwnerAddressTotal Patents
GTE SERVICES CORPORATIONCAMBRIDGE, MA24
RAYTHEON BBN TECHNOLOGIES CORP.CAMBRIDGE, MA322

International Classification(s)

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  • [Patents Count]

Inventor(s)

Inventor Name Address # of filed Patents Total Citations
Berkman, Frank Newton Centre, MA 1 19
Hamblen, William R Stow, MA 2 35
Watters, Bill Gloucester, MA 1 19

Cited Art

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
AMOCO CORPORATION (1)
4,912,979 Method and apparatus for detecting and measuring elastic anisotropy 11 1989
 
GAS TECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE (1)
5,105,650 Monitoring compaction of backfill 8 1990
 
Geodynamik H. Thurner AB (1)
4,467,652 Procedure and device for compaction measurement 19 1982
 
KOEHRING GMBH (1)
4,348,901 Apparatus for monitoring the degree of compaction 19 1980
 
MASSACHUSETTS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY (1)
4,655,082 Mining machine having vibration sensor 15 1985
 
SCHLUMBERGER TECHNOLOGY CORPORATION (1)
5,398,215 Identification of stress induced anisotropy in formations 36 1994
 
SECRETARY OF STATE FOR DEFENCE, THE (1)
4,738,138 Measurement of wave propagation power flow in structures 7 1986
 
Standard Oil Production Company (1)
4,750,157 Seismic vibrator earth impedance determination and compensation system 19 1987
 
TAISEI CORPORATION (1)
4,918,988 Method of detecting a defective position in a cement intimate mixture filled portion in a building 11 1989
 
THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA (1)
4,382,384 Acoustic penetrometer for subsoil investigation 15 1981
 
The United States of America as represented by the Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (1)
4,445,378 Acoustic ground impedance meter 9 1982
 
TOWER COMPONENTS, INC. (1)
4,995,008 Method of using a circularly-polarized source to characterize seismic anisotropy 7 1989
 
Other [Check patent profile for assignment information] (1)
4,594,899 Method and apparatus for testing soil 17 1984

Patent Citation Ranking

Forward Cites

Patent Info (Count) # Cites Year
 
Troxler Electronic Laboratories, Inc. (8)
7,581,446 Methods, systems, and computer program products for determining a property of construction material 9 2006
7,569,810 Methods, systems, and computer program products for measuring the density of material 6 2006
8,410,423 Nuclear gauges and related methods of assembly 0 2009
8,164,048 Nuclear gauges and methods of configuration and calibration of nuclear gauges 1 2009
7,820,960 Methods, systems, and computer program products for measuring the density of material including a non-nuclear moisture property detector 5 2009
8,011,248 Methods, systems, and computer program products for determining a property of construction material 4 2009
7,928,360 Methods, systems, and computer program products for measuring the density of material including a non-nuclear moisture property detector 3 2010
8,071,937 Methods, systems, and computer program products for measuring the density of material including a non-nuclear moisture property detector 3 2011
 
RAYTHEON BBN TECHNOLOGIES CORP. (5)
7,248,703 Systems and methods for adaptive noise cancellation 3 2002
7,274,621 Systems and methods for flow measurement 0 2003
7,284,431 Geophone 4 2003
7,255,196 Windshield and sound-barrier for seismic sensors 0 2003
7,073,374 Soil compaction measurement on moving platform 1 2004
 
The Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma (2)
7,669,458 Method and apparatus for predicting density of asphalt 2 2005
8,190,338 Method and apparatus for compaction of roadway materials 0 2009
 
BBN CORPORATION (1)
6,912,903 Soil compaction measurement 16 2003
 
RAYTHEON COMPANY (1)
7,637,161 Substrate penetrating acoustic sensor 0 2006
 
Other [Check patent profile for assignment information] (2)
7,296,475 Displacement instrument for determining the modulus of a material 2 2006
7,519,480 Driving-force output of a reciprocating actuator 2 2006

Maintenance Fees

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11.5 Year Payment $7400.00 $3700.00 $1850.00 Feb 12, 2015
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