EXPERIMENT : 5

SOAKED CBR TEST

OBJECTIVE:
To find the soaked CBR value of given soil sample.

EQUIPMENT:

 Cyclindrical mould with detachable collar

 Detachable base plate
 A spacer disk
 Loading machine
 Compaction rammer of 2.6 kg
 Proving ring, Dial gauge
 Balance, filter paper, a tray and Measuring cylinder and straight edge.

PROCEDURE:

1. Take 5 kg of soil sample and measure its hygroscopic water content and note down the
hygrometer reading.
2. Add the water content of (OMC – Hygroscopic water content) of optimum moisture
content to the 5 kg soil.
3. Keep the spacer disk inside the mould, keep the collar on the top, keep the filter paper on
the spacer disk and fix the clamping screws.
4. Place the soil sample in the mould on top of filter paper and give 56 blows per each layer
and do the compaction for 3 layers.
5. After the compaction remove the clamp screws and remove the top collar, by using
sharpened knife edge trim the soil specimen in the mould.
6. Remove the base plate and spacer disk and take the soil specimen with mould and keep
the mould on the perforated base plate.
7. Keep annular surcharge on soil specimen and keep the weights in triangular manner in
water.
8. Place the mould in such a way that the soil sample gets soaked.
9. Place the tripod on the top of mould and fix the dial gauge to tripod on the top and set the
dial gauge reading to zero.
10. After 96 hours of soaking take out the specimen from the water and remove the collar,
perforated disk, surcharge weights and filter paper.
11. Drain off the excess water by keeping the mould aside for half an hour.
12. Place the mould on the lower plate of the testing machine and start applying load
13. Note down the proving ring readings for different penetrations.
14. Draw the load versus penetration curves and obtain the loads for 2.5mm and 5mm
penetrations.
15. Calculate the CBR values for 2.5mm and 5 mm penetrations and obtain the CBR value.
OBSERVATIONS:

Proving Ring Constant = 0.01244 kN/division

OMC for the given sample = 23%.
Surcharge Load = 5kg

Loading in the direction Loading in the direction

of compaction opposite of compaction
Deflection Proving Proving
Penetration Load Load
Dial Gauge (DGR*0.002)
Ring (PRR/80.35)
Ring (PRR/80.35)
Reading (mm) Reading (kN) Reading (kN)
(DGR) (PRR) (PRR)
0 0 0 0.000 0 0.000
250 0.5 14 0.174 21 0.261
500 1 26 0.324 47 0.585
750 1.5 40 0.498 61 0.759
1000 2 50 0.622 71 0.884
1250 2.5 56 0.697 80 0.996
1500 3 61 0.759 88 1.095
1750 3.5 65 0.809 94 1.170
2000 4 69 0.859 99 1.232
2250 4.5 73 0.909 103 1.282
2500 5 76 0.946 108 1.344
2750 5.5 79 0.983 111 1.381
3000 6 81 1.008 114 1.419
3250 6.5 84 1.045 116 1.444
3500 7 87 1.083 118 1.469
3750 7.5 89 1.108 120 1.493
4000 8 90 1.120 123 1.531
4250 8.5 93 1.157 125 1.556
4500 9 95 1.182 127 1.581
4750 9.5 97 1.207 129 1.605
5000 10 98 1.220 130 1.618
5250 10.5 100 1.245 131 1.630
5500 11 102 1.269 133 1.655
5750 11.5 104 1.294 134 1.668
6000 12 105 1.307 137 1.705
6250 12.5 106 1.319 138 1.717
 Penetration Curve
2.000
1.800
1.600
1.400
1.200
Load in kN

1.000 In the Direction of Compaction

0.800
0.600 In the Direction Opposite to
Compaction
0.400
0.200
0.000
-0.200 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
Penetration in mm

Load – Penetration Curve

CONCLUSION:

The california bearing ratio test is penetration test meant for the evaluation of subgrade strength
of roads and pavements.

This instruction sheet covers the laboratory method for the determination of C.B.R. of
undisturbed and remoulded /compacted soil specimens, both in soaked as well as unsoaked state.

From the Load Vs Penetration Graph:

Load at 2.5mm penetration in the direction of compaction = 1.0017 kN
Load at 5.0mm penetration in the direction of compaction = 1.2226 kN
Load at 2.5mm penetration in the opposite direction of compaction = 0.6863 kN
Load at 5.0mm penetration in the opposite direction of compaction = 0.9210 kN
Therefore, the
CBR Value at 2.5mm penetration is = (1.0017/13.44) * 100 = 7.45
CBR Value at 5.0mm penetration is = (1.2226/20.16) * 100 = 6.06

CBR2.5mm > CBR5.0mm

The soaked California Bearing Ratio for given soil is 7.45

REFERENCES:

 Geo technical engineering book by author C.Venkataramaiah.