Faculty :

Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built

Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The California Bearing Ratio (CBR) was developed by California division of highways as
a method of classifying and evaluating soil-sub-grade and base course materials for flexible
pavements. The CBR test is currently used in pavement design for both roads and airfield
pavement. In some methods CBR is used directly and in some others it is converted to
Resilient Modulus MR using the following relationships.

MR = 1500 x CBR (ibs/in2)

MR = 10340 x CBR (Kpa)

The laboratory CBR test measures the shearing resistance of a crushed aggregate/soil under
controlled moisture and density conditions. The test yields bearing ratio number that is
applicable for the state of crushed aggregate/soil as tested. The CBR is obtained as the ratio
of the unit stress required of effect a certain depth of penetration of the piston (1935 mm)
into a compacted specimen of crushed aggregate/soil at some water content and density to
the standard unit stress required to obtain the same depth of penetration on a standard sample
of crushed stone. Thus,

CBR = __Test unit stress__

Standard unit stress ** 100

The CBR is usually base on the load ratio for the penetration of 2-5mm. If the CBR value
at the penetration of 5.0 mm is larger, the test should be repeated. If a second test yields a
larger value of CBR at 5.0 mm penetration then this larger value should be adopted. The
CBR test are usually made on test specimens at optimum moisture content (OMC) for the
crushed aggregate/soil as determined from modified compaction test.

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 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

CBR is used to rate the performances of soils used as bases and sub grade. The following
table gives typical rating :
CBR GENERAL RATING USES

0.3 Very poor Sub-grade

3–7 Poor to fair Sub-grade

7 – 20 Fair Sub-base

20 – 50 Good Base of sub-base

>50 Excellence Base

2.0 OBJECTIVE

To determine the CBR value of the given crushed aggregate/soil sample.

3.0 APPARATUS

1. CBR equipment consisting of 152.4 mm diameter and 178 mm height, An extension collar
of a diameter 51 mm, spacer disk of 150.8mm diameter and 61.4 mm height.
2. Mechanical compaction rammer 50.8 mm die, 2.49 kg and capable of free fall of 305 mm.
3. Surcharge weight to simulate the effect of overlaying pavement weight.
4. CBR machine: A compression machine, which can operate at a constant rate of
1.3mm/min. A metal piston of 1935mm2 is attached to it.

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 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

4.0 PROCEDURE

1. CBR equipment consisting of 152.4 mm diameter and 178 mm height, An extension collar
of diameter 51 mm, spacer disk of 150.8 mm diameter and 61.4 mm height.
2. Mechanical compaction rammer 50.8 mm die, 2.49 kg and capable of free fall of 305 mm.
3. Surcharge weight to simulate the effect of overlying pavement weight.
4. CBR machine: A compression machine, which can operate at a constant rate of 1.3
mm/min. A metal piston of 1935mm2 is attached to it.
5. The representative crushed aggregate/soil sample is sieved through 20 mm sieve. About 5
kg of crushed aggregate/soil is taken and mixed with optimum moisture content (OMC).
6. Clamp the mould to the base plate, attach the extension collar and weight. Insert the spacer
disk into the mold and place a coarse filter paper on the top of the disk.
7. Compact the aggregate /soil water mixture into the world in 3 equal layers to give a height
of 127 mm compact each layer in the 10 blows, 30 blows and 65 blows for each sample.
8. Determine the water content of the crushed aggregate /soil mixture (oven for 24 hours).
9. Remove the extension collar, and using on straight edge, trim the compacted crushed
aggregate/soil even with the top of the mold surface. Remove the spacer disk and weight
the mold with sample.
10. Place the mold with crushed aggregate/soil on the CBR machine and place the surcharge
weight .seat the penetration piston, set the dial gauges for load and penetration.
11. Apply the loads to the penetration piston at the rate of 1.27mm/min and record the load
at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0, 7.5, and 10.0 mm penetration respectively.

3
 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

5.0 SIMULATION

Please watch the videos on how to conduct CBR Test in the laboratory:
(i) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TB5s-j1a75U&t=185s
The video above shows the casting of CBR mould for heavy compaction and it is a
soaked specimen CBR test. Therefore, it has a slight difference from our procedure
mentioned previously in Section 4.0 Procedure as following:
(a) We use 2.49 kg compaction rammer (see Section 3.0 Apparatus no. 2
previously), instead of 4.89 kg compaction rammer (at 1:18 min video
duration).
(b) We just need to compact by 3 layers (see Section 4.0 Procedure no. 7), not 5
layers as mentioned in the video (at 2:49 min video duration).
(c) For unsoaked CBR test in the lab, just watch the video until 6:16 min video
duration. The procedure is the same.

The video above is not completely up until reading the data at a loading machine,
therefore, you can watch other videos below.

(ii) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yoHWhG9lU-w
(iii) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vpBlhKPlt5k

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 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

6.0 CALCULATION

CBR : Plot the load deformation curve for each specimen. In some cases the initial
penetration takes place without a proportional increase in the resistance to penetration and
the curve may be concave upward. To obtain the true stress-strain relationships, correct the
curve having concave upward shape near the origin by adjusting the location of the origin
by extending the straight the portion of the stress strain curve down ward until it intersects
with x-axis.

Determine the corrected load values at 2.5 mm and 5.0 mm and determine the CBR by the
following relationship.

CBR = __Test unit stress__

Standard unit stress ** 100

Standard load at 2.5 mm is taken 13.2 kN and at 5.0 mm it is on 20 kN.

Dry Density:
Weight of the empty mold = A gm
Weight of the mould + soil = B gm
Volume of soil sample = V
𝐵−𝐴
Weight density 𝛾 =
𝑉
Water Content 𝑊
𝛾
Dry Density 𝛾𝑑 =
1+𝑊

5
 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

Summary of test results

Sample No. No. of Blows 𝛾𝑑 (gm/cm3) CBR (%)
1 10
2 30
3 65

CBR at 0.95 𝛾𝑑 𝑚𝑎𝑥: ………………………………

Please watch the video below on how to analyse the data obtained from loading machine:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VkvyYByfaY

With regard to the video, there is a slightly differences on the standard value used as
following:

(i) Standard load that we use is: at 2.5 mm = 13.2 kN, at 5.0 mm = 20 kN (see previous
page). In the video is slightly different (see at 3:59 min video duration), standard
load used: at 2.5 mm = 13.7 kN, at 5.0 mm = 20.55 kN.
(ii) We record the load at penetration value of 0.5 to 10.0 mm (see SECTION 4
PROCEDURE no. 11), not up to 12.5 mm as mentioned in the video (see at 4:36
min video duration).

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 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

6.0 REFERENCES

1. American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials. AASHTO T-193-

1990.
2. ASTM D1556-1982
3. The Asphalt Institute. The Asphalt Handbook
4. E. J. Yoder (1991). “Principles of – Pavement Design” John-Wiley & Sons: New York.

7.0 ALTERNATIVE QUESTIONS

(i) A group of student run a CBR test (unsoaked) in a transportation laboratory in order
to classify and evaluate soil sub-grade and base course materials for flexible pavement
using a CBR loading machine. The students run three tests using the same soil sample
but with different number of blows: (1) 10 blows, (2) 30 blows, and (3) 65 blows. The
students also measured the weight of the mould, weight of sample, volume of sample
and moisture content of the sample. Table 1.1 shows the measurements and Table 1.2
shows the readings and results. Note that the CBR machine has stopped at 7.0 mm
penetration instead of 10.0 mm for all samples.

7
 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

Table 1.1: Soil properties measurement

Sample 1 2 3
Number of blows 10 30 65
Empty weight of mould, 𝑊1 (kg) 16.720 16.740 16.680
Weight of mould + Wet sample, 𝑊2 (kg) 21.160 21.480 21.620
Volume of sample, 𝑉 (m3) 2.098 x 10-3 2.098 x 10-3 2.098 x 10-3
Can number (For moisture content) 1 2 3
Weight of empty can, 𝐴 (gm) 9.39 9.31 9.37
Weight of can + wet sample, 𝐵 (gm) 53.09 70.22 45.51
Weight of can + dry sample, 𝐶 (gm) 50.23 65.00 43.01

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 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

Table 1.2: Readings Taken From CBR Loading Machine

Load (kN)
Penetration Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3
(mm) Div. Corrected Div. Corrected Div. Corrected
(x 0.046) (x 0.046) (x 0.046)
0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
1.0 6.0 0.276 9.0 0.414 0.0 0.0
1.5 9.5 0.437 9.0 0.414 9.0 0.414
2.0 9.9 0.455 9.0 0.414 10.0 0.460
2.5 9.9 0.455 9.0 0.414 10.3 0.474
3.0 16.0 0.736 11.0 0.506 13.0 0.598
3.5 24.0 1.104 21.0 0.966 17.0 0.782
4.0 32.0 1.472 35.0 1.610 45.0 2.070
4.5 45.0 2.070 54.0 2.484 85.0 3.910
5.0 59.0 2.714 76.0 3.496 115.0 5.290
5.5 74.0 3.404 103.0 4.738 163.0 7.498
6.0 87.0 4.002 132.0 6.072 213.0 9.798
6.5 103.0 4.738 162.0 7.452 264.0 12.144
7.0 109.0 5.014 195.0 8.970 304.0 13.984

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 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

(a) Calculate the weight density, 𝛾 (kg/m3) for each sample:

Sample 1:

Answer: ____________ (kg/m3)

Sample 2:

Answer: ____________ (kg/m3)

Sample 3:

Answer: ____________ (kg/m3)

(b) Calculate the water content, 𝑊 (%) for each sample:

Sample 1:

Answer: __________ (%)

Sample 2:

Answer: __________ (%)

Sample 3:

Answer: __________ (%)

10
 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

(c) Calculate the dry density, 𝛾𝑑 (kg/m3) for each sample:

Sample 1:

Answer: ____________ (kg/m3)

Sample 2:

Answer: ____________ (kg/m3)

Sample 3:

Answer: ____________ (kg/m3)

11
 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

(d) Plot a graph of load (kN) against penetration (mm) for each sample, using your own
graph paper. Make a correction on the origin of the graph, if applicable.

(e) Calculate the CBR (%) values at 2.5 mm and 5.0 mm penetration for each sample:

Sample 1:
(CBR value at 2.5 mm penetration):

Answer: ________ (%)

(CBR value at 5.0 mm penetration):

Answer: ________ (%)

Sample 2:
(CBR value at 2.5 mm penetration):

Answer: ________ (%)

(CBR value at 5.0 mm penetration):

Answer: ________ (%)

12
 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

Sample 3:
(CBR value at 2.5 mm penetration):

Answer: ________ (%)

(CBR value at 5.0 mm penetration):

Answer: ________ (%)

(f) Plot a graph of CBR (%) against dry density, 𝛾𝑑 (kg/m3) for each sample using your
own graph paper. Then, determine the CBR (%) at 95% of maximum dry density, 𝛾𝑑95
(kg/m3).

(g) Complete Table 1.3 for summary of test results.

Table 1.3: Summary of test results

Sample number Number of blows 𝛾𝑑 (kg/m3) CBR (%)

1 10
2 30
3 65

CBR at 0.95γdmax : ________________ (%)

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 Faculty :
Faculty of Civil Engineering and Built
Environment
Department :
Department of Civil Engineering
Title :
CALIFORNIA BEARING RATIO TEST

(h) Based on the CBR (%) values obtained previously in Question (g), classify and evaluate
the performance of the soil sample for flexible pavement use.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

(i) Briefly state the main difficulties that you would have when carrying out the CBR test
in the laboratory.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

(j) Briefly state the main precautions that you would need to consider when carrying out
CBR test in the laboratory.
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

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