Methodology to be adopted Conducting for Plate Load Test

For

Proposed construction of Residential Apartments and

Information Technology Building Towers at Puppalaguda
Village, Gandipet Mandal, R. R. District.

Submitted by
Skanda Material Testing Laboratory Private Limited
26-150, Sharadanagar
Safilguda, Hyderabad- 500047
 Contents

1. What is the Plate Load Test 3

2. Reference 3

3. Equipment 3

4. Procedure 3

5. Load-Settlement Curves 5

6. Ultimate bearing capacity / safe bearing pressure / Settlement 6

7. Submission of Results 6

8. Loads Proposed 7

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1. What is the Plate Load Test?
The plate load test is a field test, which is performed to determine the ultimate bearing
capacity of the soil and the probable settlement under a given load. This test is very
popular for the selection and design of foundation.
For performing this test, the plate is placed at the desired depth, then the load is
applied gradually and the settlement for each increment of the load is recorded. At one
point a settlement occurs at a rapid rate, the total load up to that point is calculated
and divided by the area of the plate to determine the ultimate bearing capacity of soil
at that depth. The ultimate bearing capacity is then divided by a safety factor (typically
2.5 – 3) to determine the Safe bearing capacity.

2. Reference

IS 1888 – 1982 (Reaffirmed 1997), Method of load tests on soils.

3. Equipment
The following plate load test apparatus is necessary for performing the test.
1. Test plate of size 750x750mm
2. Hydraulic jack & pump
3. Reaction beam
4. Dial gauges – 4 Nos
5. Pressure gauge
6. Loading columns
7. Necessary equipment for the loading platform, like MS sheet to rest sand bags
8. Tripod, Plumb bob, sprit level etc.

4. Procedure
The following procedure is adopted to perform a plate load test :

1. Excavation test pit up to the desired depth (Founding Level in our Case). The pit size
should be at least 5 times the size of the test plate (bp)
2. At the centre of the pit, a small hole or depression is created. The size of the hole is
the same as the size of the steel plate. The bottom level of the hole should
correspond to the level of the actual foundation.

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3. A mild steel plate is used as a load-bearing plate of 25 mm thick and size adopted
are 450 mm,600mm and 750 mm. The plate adopted here is square in shape and of
750x750mm size.
4. A load transfer Jack is placed at the centre of the plate. The load is transferred to the
plate through the centrally placed jack.
5. The load transfer is by gravity loading method. The test set up is shown in Figure 1

Figure 1: Test Setup for Plate Load Test

6. For gravity loading method a platform is constructed and load is generally applied to
the platform by means of sandbags (here we are using the soil which is excavated).
The hydraulic jack is placed in between Plate and loading platform for the application
of gradual loading. This type of loading is called reaction loading.
7. Four dial gauges are placed at diagonal corners of the plate to record the settlement.
The gauges are placed on a platform so that is does not settle with the plate.
8. Seating load of 0.7 t/m² is applied and released before the actual loading starts.
9. The initial readings are noted.
10. The load is then applied through the hydraulic jack and increased gradually. The
increment of load applied is one-fifth of the expected safe bearing capacity or one-
tenth of the ultimate bearing capacity or any other smaller value. The applied load is
noted is from the pressure gauge.
11. The settlement is observed for each increment from dial gauge. After increasing the
load-settlement should be observed after 1, 4, 10, 20, 40 and 60 minutes and then at
hourly intervals until the rate of settlement is less than .02 mm per hour. The readings
are noted in tabular form.
12. After completing the collection of data for a particular loading the next load increment
is applied and readings are noted under new load. This increment and data collection
is repeated until the maximum load is applied. The maximum load applied is 1.5 times
the expected ultimate load or 3 times of the expected allowable bearing pressure.

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5. Load-Settlement Curves

Load-Settlement curves or pressure-settlement curves to be more precise, are

obtained as a result of loading tests either in the laboratory or in the field, oedometer
tests being an example in the laboratory and plate bearing test, in the field.
Information regarding the bearing capacity may be obtained from the pressure-
settlement curves obtained as a result of plate bearing test in the field, however, great
care should be exercised in the interpretation of the results. Typical curves are shown
in Figure 2

Curve I is typical of dense sand or gravel or stiff clay, wherein general shear failure
occurs. The point corresponding to failure is obtained by extrapolating backwards (as
shown in the Figure 2), as a pronounced departure from the straight line relationship
that applies to the initial stages of loading is observed. (This coincides approximately
with the point up to which the range of proportionality extends).

Curve II is typical of loose sand or soft clay, wherein local shear failure occurs.
Continuous steepening of the curve is observed and it is rather difficult to pinpoint
failure; however, the point where the curve becomes suddenly steep is located and
treated as that corresponding to failure.

Curve III is typical of many c – ∅ soils which exhibit characteristics intermediate

between the above two. Here also the failure point is not easy to locate and the same
criterion as in the case of Curve II is applied.
Thus, it is seen that, except in a few cases, arbitrary location of failure point becomes
inevitable in the interpretation of load test results.

Figure 2 Load vs Settlement Curve from plate load test

The size effect has been empirically evolved in the form of the following equation
(Terzaghi and Peck, 1948):

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 〈 . 〉
= 〈
-- 1
. 〉

Where
S = settlement of the proposed foundation (mm),
Sp (same units) = settlement of the test plate (mm),
b = size of the proposed foundation (m), and
bp = size of the test plate (m).

This is applicable for sands.

However, the relationship is simpler for clays, since the modulus value Es, for clays
is reasonably constant:

= -- 2

Equation 1 may be put in a slightly simplified form as follows:

= 〈
--3
. 〉

where Sp = Settlement of a test plate of 300 mm square size,

and S = Settlement of a footing of width b.
The method for the determination of the bearing capacity of a footing of width b should
be apparent now. The permissible settlement value, such as 25 mm, should be
substituted in the equation that is applicable (Eq. 1 to 3) ; and the Sp, the settlement
of the plate must be calculated. From the load-settlement curve, the pressure
corresponding to the computed settlement Sp, is the required value of the ultimate
bearing capacity, qult, for the footing.

6. Determination of ultimate bearing capacity / safe bearing pressure / Settlement

Safe bearing pressure/ settlement shall be determined as per clause 5 of IS 1888-

1982 reaffirmed 1997.

7. Submission of Results
The data which is recorded for every incremental load and corresponding settlement
will be recorded . After completion of each test the calculations will be done for each
increment of load and will be submitted.

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8. Proposed loads
The following plates are considered for testing
750mm x 750mm
Calculation for 750m x 750mm plate:
Safe Stress on Foundation (qf) = 150 t/m2 ( Assumed)
.
Safe stress on plate (qp) = = 28.125 𝑡/𝑚
.

Ultimate stress on plate with FS of 2.5 = 𝑞 = 2.5𝑥 𝑞 = 2.5𝑥 28.125 = 70.31 𝑡/𝑚

Stress on platform = 1.5 𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑠 𝑈𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠 = 1.5 𝑥 70.31 = 105.47 t/m2
Load on platform= 105.47 x (0.75x0.75) = 59.33 T Say 60.0 tonnes

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