Meet the WILDCAT DCP!
Get your toughest jobs done.
Discover why the WILDCAT Dynamic Cone Penetrometer has been a success for the world’s geotechnical engineers for over 30 years.
The WILDCAT will tackle your toughest soil testing challenges where a CPT rig is insufficient or impossible to use.
It is a highly accurate, cost effective, single-operator friendly cone penetrometer used to obtain SPT-N values up to a 24-foot depth, though testing can continue deeper if the conditions and soil type are compatible.
Consequently, geotechnical engineers can obtain SPT values from testing sites without the cost and time burden of using CPT rigs, or when the ground or site conditions render the CPT rig unusable.
Using the WILDCAT DCP is non-destructive. No materials are removed from the ground. The only evidence of the test is a one-inch diameter hole in the ground that eventually closes. Its lost points and water/cellulose slurry allows for easy removal of sounding rods at the completion of the test. The computer allows for quick logging of the tests. Read about more feature details below!
The features that make the difference:
Accurate & Deep Testing
Easily and accurately estimate SPT N-values for every 10 cm of tested depth down to the ISSMGE recommended max of 26 ft. Data is available immediately using Excel.
5 1-meter rods are part of the complete WILDCAT kit as purchased, but that is not meant to imply that all testing should end at 5 meters depth.
Because the WILDCAT specific work per blow (60.4 kJ/m2) compares well with the 50 kJ/m2 specific work of the ISSMFE light DPL penetrometer, the WILDCAT is suitable for testing to at least 8 meters depth. Many engineers, including those who created the WILDCAT, have successfully tested beyond 8 meters in cooperative soils.
Suited to Difficult Access Situations
Difficult access situations where the WILDCAT can easily be used include soft ground that would not support or would be damaged by drill trucks; water covered land such as ponds, swamps, and rivers; low-headroom places such as inside existing buildings (we will soon sell 0.5 meter testing rods!); steep terrain such as landslides and within excavations.
In the picture at the very top of this page, a Dames and Moore technician is determining the overburden strength and the depth to bedrock prior to design and installation of a sheet pile weir for flow measurements of Guam’s Ylig River. The WILDCAT gets used all over the world and in the toughest situations!
Manually Operated & Single-user Friendly
The WILDCAT can be operated manually by a single person but a team of two is often used.
In the words of Fred Triggs, our founder:
“The WILDCAT’s motor is the operator’s heart; the hammer lifting mechanisms are his arms and back; the blow counting instrument is his mind. Being in a “human-tech” mode, we designed the WILDCAT to be within normal human physical and mental limits. The 35-pound hammer weight can easily be carried and lifted. The 15-inch hammer fall follows a comfortable extension of the arms. The 1 to 50 hammer blows per 10 cm of penetration can be counted and remembered by nearly anyone until it can be written down after each 10 cm of penetration.”
The WILDCAT is easily transported because it is compact, and will easily fit in the trunk of your car.
Adaptable for Testing Soil Grain Size
Using the WILDCAT RAP system accessory allows the user to measure torque resistance of the 4” long surface of the RAP bracket and point, and to correlate resistance, thus determining soil grain size and strength at 10cm increments to a depth of 26 ft.
Adaptable for Motorization
To reduce user fatigue, the STORK hammer lifter was added as an accessory to the WILDCAT to enable motorized use.
See the WILDCAT in action!
Here you’ll see a full demo of the WILDCAT kit assembly and its use in the field:
What’s the story?
The longevity of success of the WILDCAT DCP comes from a deep dedication to precision and excellence. Meet the family behind the company.