AUTOMATION AND APPLICATION OF LIGHTWEIGHT DYNAMIC CONE PENETROMETER (DCP) FOR PAVEMENT BEARING CAPACITY TESTING

Abstract

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) is a test designed to measure the bearing capacity of the subgrade during a construction of roads. It has also been used as a baring capacity test for unpaved aircraft runways and other transport areas. Nowadays, CBR is used as a proof and control test in evaluating the bearing capacity of subgrade and structural layers of roads. A distinction is made between the laboratory test and the in-situ test, which is nowadays no longer widely used. This is due to several reasons. It is primarily about the physical demands of performing the test. Another limiting factor is that it can only be used in case of fine-grained materials. This paper deals with the development of an automatic lightweight dynamic cone penetrometer, verification of its functionality in the laboratory geotechnical field, describing the progress and results of comparative measurements with mechanical DCP. Also, the CBR values obtained by the classical way from the collected samples and the CBR obtained by recalculation from the measured values by the automatic DCP in-situ will be compared.