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CBR Test

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test is used to evaluate soils and base course materials for flexible pavements. It involves penetrating a standard piston into a soil sample and measuring the pressure required at specific depths, which is then compared to a crushed rock standard. The CBR value reported is typically based on the penetration pressure at 2.5mm, though some soils have a higher value at 5mm penetration which should then be reported instead. The test procedure involves soaking and loading remolded or undisturbed soil samples in a standardized apparatus and calculating the CBR percentage based on penetration pressures.

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28 views2 pages

CBR Test

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test is used to evaluate soils and base course materials for flexible pavements. It involves penetrating a standard piston into a soil sample and measuring the pressure required at specific depths, which is then compared to a crushed rock standard. The CBR value reported is typically based on the penetration pressure at 2.5mm, though some soils have a higher value at 5mm penetration which should then be reported instead. The test procedure involves soaking and loading remolded or undisturbed soil samples in a standardized apparatus and calculating the CBR percentage based on penetration pressures.

Uploaded by

Jeffrey James Avenido
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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California Bearing Ratio Test

California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test was developed by the California Division of Highway as a
method of classifying and evaluating soil-sub grade and base course materials for flexible
pavements. CBR test, an empirical test, has been used to determine the material properties for
pavement design. Empirical tests measure the strength of the material and are not a true
representation of the resilient modulus. It is a penetration test wherein a standard piston, having
an area of 3 in (or 50 mm diameter), is used to penetrate the soil at a standard rate of 1.25
mm/minute. The pressure up to a penetration of 12.5 mm and it's ratio to the bearing value of a
standard crushed rock is termed as the CBR.

In most cases, CBR decreases as the penetration increases. The ratio at 2.5 mm penetration is
used as the CBR. In some case, the ratio at 5 mm may be greater than that at 2.5 mm. If this
occurs, the ratio at 5 mm should be used. The CBR is a measure of resistance of a material to
penetration of standard plunger under controlled density and moisture conditions. The test
procedure should be strictly adhered if high degree of reproducibility is desired. The CBR test
may be conducted in re-moulded or undisturbed specimen in the laboratory. The test is simple
and has been extensively investigated for field correlations of flexible pavement thickness
requirement.

Test Procedure

 The laboratory CBR apparatus consists of a mould 150 mm diameter with a base plate
and a collar, a loading frame and dial gauges for measuring the penetration values and the
expansion on soaking.
 The specimen in the mould is soaked in water for four days and the swelling and water
absorption values are noted. The surcharge weight is placed on the top of the specimen in
the mould and the assembly is placed under the plunger of the loading frame.
 Load is applied on the sample by a standard plunger with dia of 50 mm at the rate of 1.25
mm/min. A load penetration curve is drawn. The load values on standard crushed stones
are 1370 kg and 2055 kg at 2.5 mm and 5.0 mm penetrations respectively.
 CBR value is expressed as a percentage of the actual load causing the penetrations of 2.5
mm or 5.0 mm to the standard loads mentioned above. Therefore,

 Two values of CBR will be obtained. If the value of 2.5 mm is greater than that of 5.0
mm penetration, the former is adopted. If the CBR value obtained from test at 5.0 mm
penetration is higher than that at 2.5 mm, then the test is to be repeated for checking. If
the check test again gives similar results, then higher value obtained at 5.0 mm
penetration is reported as the CBR value. The average CBR value of three test specimens
is reported as the CBR value of the sample.
Figure 1: CBR Test

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