Theory:

California Bearing Ratio (CBR) is the ratio offered per unit area
required to penetrate a soil mass with standard circular piston at the
rate of 1 mm/min to that required for the corresponding penetration
of a standard material which is California sand.
The California Bearing Ratio Test (CBR Test) is a penetration test
developed by California State Highway Department (U.S.A.) for
evaluating the bearing capacity of subgrade soil for design of flexible
pavement.
Tests are carried out on natural or compacted soils in water soaked
or un-soaked conditions and the results so obtained are compared
with the curves of standard test to have an idea of the soil strength
of the subgrade soil.
The experiment requires that three specimens must be compacted
each sample at different blows per each layer. Generally about 10,
30, and 65 blows per layer are conducted differently on each
specimen. More than 56 blows per layer are generally required to
mold a CBR specimen to 100% of the maximum dry density.
The following equations were used for the calculations:
Weight of mold, W1
Weight of mold + Moist soil, W2 (g)
Weight of moist soil, W2 W1 (g)

Moist unit weight ,

(g/cm3)

Mass of can, W3 (g)

Mass of can + moist soil, W4 (g)
Mass of can + dry soil, W5 (g)

Moisture content,
Dry unit weight of compaction,
For California bearing ratio
the corrected load value
shall be determined for each
specimen at 2.50 and 5.00 mm.

CBR obtain in percent by dividing the corrected load value at 2.50mm

by the standard load.
Standard load at 2.50 mm is 13.24 KN
Standard load at 5.00 mm is 19.96 KN
Test load readings (KN) = Dial (divisions) *(25.5/1000)
CBR% = (corrected load value/standard load: theoretical)*100%
Curves of penetration resistance (KN) versus penetration (mm) are
plotted for the soaked samples. Then the penetration resistance for
2.5mm and 5mm are obtained from the curve, then the CBR % is
computed.
In the next table, there is a classification of a specified soil:
classification of CBR
Table (1) : Classification of soil according CBR%
CBR VALUE
3% and less
3% - 5%
5% - 15%

SUBGRADE STRENGTH
Poor
Normal
Good