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Site characterization activities, such as Cone Penetration Testing (CPT), Pressuremeter Testing (PMT), and Dilatometer Testing (DMT), can be compromised due to challenges associated with equipment mobilization. This situation is common at locations such as the toe of dams, dense urban environments, deep water, and extraterrestrial bodies. This research uses bio-inspiration to develop a probe that can penetrate itself into the subsurface, eliminating the need for a drill rig to provide the reaction mass. This probe uses an adaptation employed by razor clams, worms, and caecilians where a body section is radially expanded to form an anchor which generates the reaction force needed to penetrate the soil. This paper presents a Discrete Element Modeling (DEM) study of the self-penetration process of this probe. Analysis of soil stress states indicates that the probe configuration influences its self-penetration ability. Specifically, the distance between the anchor and the tip affects the interaction between these probe parts due to principal stress rotation and arching. The results indicate that self-penetration is achievable in medium-dense coarse-grained soil by bio-inspired probes with smaller anchor-tip spacings and provide useful information for the design of future probe prototypes.