CONTENT

NO TITLE PAGE

1 Topic 2

Aim

Theory

2 Apparatus 3-5

Procedure

3 Observation data 6

5 Conclusion 7

Discussion

References

1
TOPIC: CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST ( CBR TEST)

AIMS:-

To determine the CBR value for a soil under consideration as a pavement foundation. This value
is a percentage comparison with the standard crushed rock from California. Thus this test is a
comparison test.

THEORY:-

California Bearing Ratio is obtained by measuring the relationship between force and penetration
when a cylindrical plunger is made to penetration the soil at a standard rate. The CBR value is
used to quantify the response of the pavement foundation and sub-grade to loading. The standard
crushes rock from California values are as follows:

Standard crushed Rock from California

PENETRATION (mm) LOAD (kN)

2.5 13.24
5.0 19.96

It should be noted that this test was created by the California Division of Highways in the 1930’s
and such as is an empirical test and does not provide any data regarding properties of the soil
except as to compare its resistance to penetration to the base crushed rock’s resistance to
penetration.

It is important to relies that the CBR test is but one step in the road pavement foundation design
process; the test allow road Engineer to design the capping layer (if needed) and the sub-base
layer by determining the strength of the underlying soil. By knowing this the Engineer can
determine if this strength is adequate to handle the desired road design or if additional
procedures need to be done to increase this strength.

2
APPARATUS:

loading machine ( a loading press) prepared soil sample in CBR mould with collar

Surcharge weights Scales CBR mould wrenches

Steel (or Brass) ramming rod

Misc. lab equipment such as a tray or bucket to contain the soil.

3
PROCEDURE:

1. Sieve the sample through BS 37.5 mm sieve and take about 6kg.

2. Determine the moisture content of the sample . ( Ask your lecturer incharge)*
3. Weight the mould with its base plate.

4. Place the filter paper in the mould. Compact soil in 5 layers. Each layer with 62 blows of
4.5kg rammer with free falling height of 450 mm.

5. Remove collar and level off soil surface.

6. Remove base plate. Weight mould together with compacted sample to determine soil
bulk density.

4
7. Place loading plate (with center slot) of not less than 4.5 kg on the compacted sample to
give the desired surcharge.
8. Perform penetration test with loading machine.

9. Bring the penetration plunger in contact with sample surface and apply a load so that full
contact between sample and plunger is established. This should be taken as zero load.
10. Place the reminder surcharge weight so that total surcharge weight equals to 5kg
11. Set the reading dial gauge to zero.

12. Apply load and record the load data.

13. Plot the penetration resistance (kPa) versus penetration (mm) graph.
14. Calculate the CBR value for 2.5mm and 5.0mm and state the CBR value.

5
RESULT:-

Sample details:

Date: 22/01/13 Types: crushes rock

Weight of sample (Kg): 6 Moister content: 5.5% / 330 ml (determine by lecturer)

Proving ring constant: 0.02385

Standard force: 2.5mm=13.24 kN, 5.0mm=19.96 kN

Mould no. Units S1

Weight of mould W1 Kg 4.55
Weight of mould + moist soil W2 Kg 9.50
Weight of moist sample W2-W1 kg 4.95
Penetration (mm) Dial Gauge Reading (Div) Force (kN)
(Dial gauge reading *Proving Ring
0.0 0 0
0.25 30 0.7155
0.50 38 0.9063
0.75 72 1.7172
1.00 134 3.1959
1.25 157 3.74445
1.50 253 6.03405
1.75 278 6.6302
2.00 315 7.513
2.25 355 8.467
2.50 402 9.588
2.75 454 10.828
3.00 488 11.639
3.25 525 12.521
3.50 562 13.404
3.75 616 14.692
4.00 651 15.526
4.25 685 16.337
4.50 738 17.601
4.75 748 17.840
5.00 778 18.555
CBR VALUE (%)
Formula 2.5mm 5.0mm
𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒 (𝑘𝑁) 72.417 92.9
𝑋 100
𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝐹𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒

6
Conclusion and Discussion :-

Since the sample was compacted in the compacting machine only once and was tested in
the CBR machine there will be different layers of compaction within the test sample. The
samples appear to compress much more (have more penetration) on the first test and less after
the sample has been flipped over and retested on test 2. This would indicate that there are many
more voids in test 1 than test 2 since many of the voids were removed during test 1.

After test 1 (and before test 2) the soil will be at it’s highest compaction along the
horizontal plane at point A and the amount of compact will decrease until reaching it’s lowest
compaction along the horizontal plane at point B. In other words the compact will steadily
decrease from point A to point B. After test 2 was performed the sample will have high
compression along the horizontal planes at both points A & B and lowest compaction in the
center.9

Additionally, the downward force will include periodic increases and decreases in the
force as vehicles move over it. This will have duel effects on the sample as the upward force will
increase to deal with the increase in force in the downward direction. In real-life situations the
sample will be subjected to constant ‘squeezing and release’ time and time again at random
intervals as traffic moves over it.

REFERENCE:-

1. http://www.scribd.com/doc/22293861/California-bearing-ratio-Report
2. http://www.docstoc.com/docs/84748462/CALIFORNIA-BEARING-RATIO-_-CBR-_-
TEST
3. http://armyengineer.tpub.com/EN54537/EN545370124.htm
4. http://www.airporttech.tc.faa.gov/naptf/att07/2002%20TRACK%20P.pdf/P-62.pdf
5. http://www.scribd.com/doc/23493754/California-Bearing-Ratio
6. http://www.efka.utm.my/thesis/IMAGES/3PSM/2010/GEO-
1/qotrunnadaaa060178d10ttt.pdf.pdf