TABLE OF CONTENT:

TITLE: CBR TEST

CONTENT PAGES

1.0 INTRODUCTION

2.0 OBJECTIVE

3.0 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

4.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

5.0 APPARATUS

6.0 PROCEDURE

7.0 RESULT AND ANALYSIS

8.0 DISCUSSION

9.0 CONCLUSION

10.0 REFERENCES

11.0 APPENDIX

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JUNCTION CAPACITY

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test measures a ground's, base courses
and substrates' strength. The California Department of Transportation developed the
measure, which is an essential component of construction, particularly when building
highways and airports. To determine how much pressure would be required for a
conventional probe to penetrate aggregate or soil, a site test is conducted. This
pressure number is then divided by the pressure required to penetrate ordinary
crushed rocks with an identical depth. The purpose of CBR testing was to aid in
determining the load-bearing capability of materials used in the building of roadways.

It could also be helpful in determining the soils' ability to support loads when
placed beneath paved or even unimproved airstrips. In essence, the rating increases
as the surface grows tougher. The test is valuable because it aids in figuring out the
thickness of material required to make a planned road sturdy enough to support the
heaviest vehicle that potentially utilise the route.

2.0 OBJECTIVES

To determine CBR of subgrade soil for design of flexible pavement.

3.0 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

The California Bearing Ratio or CBR test as it is usually called, is an

empirical test which was first developed in California, USA for estimating the
bearing value or evaluates the strength of highway subbases and subgrades for
designing the flexible pavement.

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The CBR test is performed by measuring the pressure required to penetrate a soil
sample with a standard circular plunger. The measured force is then divided by the
standard force to achieve an equal penetration on a standard crushed rock
material. The harder the surface, the higher the CBR value.

𝑀𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒
𝐶𝐵𝑅 = × 100%
𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑐𝑒

The ratio is usually determined for penetration of 2.5 mm and 5.0 mm. The
standard forces corresponding to penetrations of 2.5 and 5 mm are 13.24 kN and
19.96 kN.

4.0 PROBLEM STATEMENT

Students are required to prepare sample and conduct the CBR test in order to
determine the bearing value of subgrade soil. The group must carry out the test
following the procedures outline and subsequently analyse the data and present it in
a proper technical format.

5.0 APPARATUS

• Moulds with base plate

• Collar
• compaction rammer
• Loading machine
• IS sieve
• Mixing bowl and mixing equipment
• Oven
• Steel straight edge
• Weighing balance
• Measuring cylinder
• Spacer disc
• Penetration plunger

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6.0 PROCEDURES

1. There are two types of methods in compacting soil specimen in the CBR moulds
(Static Compaction Method or Dynamic Compaction Method)

2. The material used in the above two methods shall pass 19 mm sieve for fine
grained soils and 37.5 mm sieve for coarse materials up to 37.5 mm.

3. Replace the material retained on 19 mm sieve by an equal amount of material

passing 19mm sieve and retained on 4.75mm sieve.

4. Replace the material retained on 3.75 mm sieve by an equal amount of material

passing 37.5 mm sieve and retained on 4.75mm sieve.

a. Preparing Test Specimen

1. The representative sample of soil was take and weighed approximately 6 kg

and mix thoroughly at OMC.
2. The empty weight of the mould with base plate was recorded, with
extension collar removed (m1).
3. Mix the soil sample with 16% water.
4. Grease was applied on the inside of the mould and the collar was attached
to the mould.
5. The mould was placed on a solid base such as a concrete floor or plinth
and compacted the wet soil into the mould in five layers of approximately
equal mass each layer being given 56 blows with 4.90 kg hammer equally
distributed and dropped from a height of 45 cm above the soil.
6. The amount of soil used shall be sufficient to fill the mould, leaving not more
than about 6mm to be struck off when the extension collar is removed.
7. The extension collar was removed and carefully leveled the compacted soil
to the top of the mould by means of a straight edge.
8. The spacer disc was removed by inverting the mould and weighing the
mould with compacted soil (m2).

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b. Penetration Test

1. The mould was placed on the lower plate of the testing machine with top
face exposed.
2. To prevent upheaval of soil into the hole of surcharge weights, The 2.5 kg
annular weights was placed on the soil surface prior to seating the
penetration plunger after which place the reminder of the surcharge
weights.
3. The plunger under a load of 4 kg has been set so that full contact is
established between the surface of the specimen and the plunger.
4. The stress and strain gauges has been set to zero.
5. The initial load applied to the plunger was considered as the zero load.
6. The load has been applied at the rate of 1.25 mm/min.
7. The readings of the load was take at penetration of 0, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0,2.5,
3.0, 4, 5, 7.5, 10 and 12.5.
8. The plunger has been raised and detached the mould from the loading
equipment.
9. All data obtain to be recorded onto the data sheet in Form 1 as attached.

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7.0 RESULT AND ANALYSIS
CBR TEST
No of layers: 5
Blow per layer: 56
Rammer: 4.9 kg
Weight of soil: 6kg
Volume of water: 960 ml
Diameter of mould: 15.5cm
Height of mould: 14.5cm
Volume of mould: 2736.03𝑐𝑚3

Table 1: water content determination

Container no. 1
Mass of container 22.78g
Mass of container + wet soil 78.58g
Mass of container + dry soil 71.00g
Mass of water 7.58g
Mass of soil 48.22g
Water content (%) 15.71%

Table 2: determination of density of soil

Mass of mould 705.12 g
Mass of mould + wet soil 1154.76 g
Mass of wet soil 449.64 g
Bulk density 0.258 𝑀𝑔/𝑐𝑚3
Moisture content (%) 15.71 %
Dry density 0.223 𝑀𝑔/𝑐𝑚3

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 LAPORAN 1
Company Test No
Sampled From Test Start Date
Material Type Test Finish Date
Stress kgf/cm2

Mould No :
Std Load Flow Flow Load Corrected Test Results
(Kgf/cm2) (inch) (mm) (Kgf) (Kgf/cm2) (Kgf/cm2) %CBR
0.025 0.625 13.0 0.7 0.9 CBR % 5.0
0.050 1.250 21.4 1.1 1.3 Density
0.075 1.875 29.7 1.5 1.8 Compaction
%
70 0.100 2.500 39.0 2.0 2.3 3.3 # of blows
88 0.150 3.750 61.7 3.2 3.6
105 0.200 5.000 91.6 4.7 5.2 5.0
134 0.300 7.500 157.7 8.1 8.6
162 0.400 10.000 0.0 0.0
183 0.500 12.500 0.0 0.0

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8.0 DISCUSSION

This experiment is about the California Bearing Ration (CBR) test. The
objective of this experiment is to determine the CBR of subgrade soil for
design of flexible pavement. The California Bearing Ratio is a measure of the
strength of the subgrade of a road or other paved area, and of the materials
used in its construction. The ratio is measured using a standardized
penetration test first developed by the California Division of Highways for
highway engineering. The CBR method is based on the evaluation of the
strength of the subgrade soil. The CBR value is the ratio of the force required
to penetrate a soil sample with a standard piston to the force required to
penetrate a standard sample of crushed stone.

There are two elements to conduct this experiment which is preparing

the test specimen and penetration test. Using the Dynamic Compaction
method, approximately 6 kg of soil sample and 16 % of water of mass of soil
sample were prepared. After being mixed, the mixture was divided into 5 part
which is 5 layers. Each layer needs to be blown about 56 blows using the 4.90
kg rammer and dropped from height of 45cm above the soil. After that,
remove the collar and level the compacted soil using the straight-edge and
mass were recorded as m2. As for the penetration test, the mould was placed
on the testing machine. After preparing the load that needs to be applied, the
readings were recorded in the table.

Based on the result obtained, the water content in the soil sample
is 15.71% and it is lower than the volume of water before getting mixed with
the soil sample which 16%. This is because there are losses when it is getting
mixed such as on the mixing tools. Next is penetration test results showing
that the load was applied and recorded on table. The CBR test results for this
experiment are 5 %. Since the type of subgrade soil that we used is clay soil,
it is relevant because generally clayey soil has a low CBR value which is less
than 8.

Lastly, there are some precaution steps that we applied during this
experiment. Firstly, we need to avoid touching the mixture because our skin
can absorb the moisture of soil. Secondly, we need to maintain the height of

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45 cm above the soil to obtain accurate results. Lastly, we need to use gloves
when putting the soil sample in the oven to avoid any harm toward us.

9.0 CONCLUSION

At the end of this experiment, we were able to determine the CBR

subgrade soil for design pavements which is 5%. The obtained CBR value is
a good measure to design the pavement. Next, we were able to use the
correct apparatus when carrying out the CBR test. CBR testing is important
because it is used for determining the sub grade strength value of pavements
and roads. Not only that., but it is also used with the imperial curves for the
determination of the thickness of pavement and various component layers of
pavement.

10.0 REFERENCES

1. https://www.theengineeringprojects.com/2018/01/introduction-to-cbr-
testing.html

11.0 APPENDIX

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Figure 11.1: Compact the wet soil using rammer.