Automated Vane Shear ( AVS )
X402
AVS tested, not used. all good
X400
AVS was only used to measure five points at the first site. It was no longer used by scientists after that.
No issue is reported.
X395
AVS has been tested at the beginning of the expedition, no issues
Not used on X395
X399
Not tested and not used on X399.
X398
AVS
Software Issues
At the beginning of the expedition GeoLab was not opening properly, the Init button didn't appeared in the window. The GeoLab folder on the computer had a lack of information. The old GeoLab from the TRANSFER folder was copied to the computer and it worked properly.Â
Scientists asked to add to the database a value of 150 kN/m2 for sections with harder material than the one that could be measured with vane A.
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Penetrometer
Scientists used the penetrometer to measure in the bottom of each core during the APC coring, measurements were taken parallel to the core in the z-direction.
Data were uploaded to LIMS using SpreadUploader because Shear_Penetration Strength Uploader has not the ability to manage these measurements.Â
Related with the previous point and after having talk with the developer in charge (David Fackler) a new uploader spreadsheet will be developed to allow the scientists to upload penetrometer data in a more efficient way. The changes that will be incorporated are:
Under adaptor there will be for options: One for the penetrometer without adaptor and the others for the three adaptors that we have onboard. Each of these last three ones will make the appropriate correction using the correction factor written in the adaptor. Currently only the non adaptor and the foot-adaptor options are available in the spread sheet.
Allow to insert the Text ID for sections. Currently is only possible to enter, by scanning the label, the Text ID of section halves.
Allowing to enter the Text ID manually or using a drop down menu, like in IMS. Currently is only possible to enter it by scanning the label.
Prepare the software to bring together with the text ID also the length of the section and allow the user to select if the measurement has been done in the bottom or in the top of the section. Currently is only possible to enter the offset manually.
It is not possible to change the actual Shear_Penetration Strength Uploader because it is protected by an unknown password.
To compare penetrometer results with AVS measurement scientists followed the procedure bellow:
Results obtained with the AVS are reported in kN/m2 and results reported by the penetrometer (compressive strength - Δσ) are in kg/cm2.Â
To compare both results scientists converted the penetrometer results using the equations: Δσf (kPa) = 98.1 x Δσ(kg/cm2) and 1kN/m2 = 1000 Pa
Using Peter Blum 1997 Technical Notes: Unconfined shear strength (Su(penet)) is approximately related to compressive strength using Su(penet)= Δσf/2
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X397
Not Used in this expedition.
X397T
No shear strength measurements were taken.
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X397P
The software had the known communication issue, preventing the INIT button from appearing at start up. After restarting and reconnecting cables, the software worked properly.
The AVS master spreadsheet was corrupted during the computer transfer, but another copy was found and placed on the computer.
X393
No issues reported during this expedition.
X390
Some AVS measurements has made in soft sediment corers
No issues has reported in this expedition
X392
Not used
X391
lost communication with pc, disappearing the ini button. solution: restart the pc, disconnecting the 232 communication cable
Soft sediments were tested on Automated Vane Share but the AVS lost communication with the PC. The RS232 to USB cable was replaced with an RS232 to RS232 cable. This solved part of the issue, but periodic issues continued to occur and were resolved by shutting down the PC and unplugging the 232-communication cable and then plugging it back in and starting again.
X396T
Not used
X396
Not used
X395C
Not used
X395E
Not used
X395P
Mar 7, 2021 Â Torvane and Penetrometer QSG was reviewed and updated in Confluence.
X390R
QSG were reviewed and formatted.
Tests
We carried out tests where the sensitivity of the instrument is measured in response to different known loads, arranged in various configurations, explained in the, Automated Vane Shear (AVS) Test Report (*.pdf), attached in Technical Notes section on this page.
The experiment is designed around a pully system, where a weight is suspended from a thin cable, over a single or double pully, then attached to special vane fixed to the AVS. Using this setup, a torque is measured and compared to calculated theoretical values.
Fig1 support of pulley system and vane to perform torque test
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The result of test applied is divided in five groups, one for each distance in the vane using the same weight, the last experiment was using an additional weight (50g) using single and double pulley.
In the configuration n.5 we use 161g of weight (0.06Nm) with good results in accuracy and precision, and this correspond near to half torque of an average of the torque measured in an historic data (X353 to X375), corresponding to 0.19016Nm.
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Report is under review by David Houpt, Gary Acton and others on shore. The plan is to have the Lab Working Group review the report and make recommendations on keeping the current setup and using the pulley method to calibrate, or getting a new AVS, or just using the hand held Torvane.
X390C
This station was not used during the expedition.
Tests will be perform while in port during next expedition.
X390P II
Not used during this expedition.
X384/390P I
No used during this expedition.
X387P/387T
The AVS station was not tested since last expedition.
X378/378S
Jan 3, 2020toJan 11, 2020
A little metal piece of metal was founded down the drill apparently broken from the left side of the axis (fig1)
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Fig 1
The metal part was delivered to the marine instrumentation specialist to find the spare part.
AVS was tested without the spare part and presents data consistency in 10 consecutive tests (table 1).
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AVS KN/m2 | offset, cm from top |
43.821 | 20.5 |
52.911 | 18.5 |
50.5 | 16 |
46.152 | 14.5 |
50.814 | 12.5 |
49.881 | 20.5 |
48.949 | 19 |
49.881 | 17.5 |
48.25 | 15.5 |
49.182 | 13.5 |
We have put "the screw back in the screw", unfortunately the tests carried out are not consistent with the old measurements, we try to adjust the position of the 3 points of contact with the sensors but the measurements are still different (lower, around 20-30 KN/m2) to the old ones.
Jan 10, 2020 GeoLAB did not have "init" button to start testing: When opening GeoLAB software, the "init" button in Figure 2. in the user guide did not show up. It was suspected that there was an hardware connection issue between the instrument and the computer. This was resolved by turning both the instrument and computer off and disconnecting the R232 to USB cable. Then after 30 seconds connecting the cable again and first switching the instrument back on followed by the PC. When opening the software the device was now connected with the init button appearing on screen.
X378T
No Issues
X385
Sep 23, 2019GeoLAB did not have "init" button to start testing: When opening GeoLAB software, the "init" button in Figure 2. in the user guide did not show up. It was suspected that there was an hardware connection issue between the instrument and the computer. This was resolved by replacing the serial-port-to-serial-port cable which was linking the two machines by a new serial-port-to-USB-port cable. Upon installation, the "init' button came back and the software has run smoothly.
X379T/385T
No Issues
X383
No Issues
X382
No Issues
X379
No Issues
X368T
No Issues
X378P/368X
No Issues
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