150/5320-6F

Airport Pavement Design and Evaluation

SOIL INVESTIGATIONS AND EVALUATION

1. Classification System.

Use ASTM D 2487, Standard Practice for Classification of Soils for Engineering Purposes (Unified
Soil Classification System), to classify soils for civil airport pavements for engineering purposes.
Appendix A provides a summary of general soil characteristics pertinent to pavements.

2. Soil Conditions

Soil type and properties for soils to be used on the project must be assessed. If sufficient soils
are not available within the boundaries of the airport, identify and investigate additional borrow
areas. Investigations should determine the distribution and physical properties of the various
types of soil present.

ASTM D 420, Standard Guide to Site Characterization for Engineering Design and Construction
Purposes, can be used for sampling and surveying procedures and techniques. This method is
based on the soil profile. In the field, ASTM D 2488, Standard Practice for Description and
Identification of Soils (Visual-Manual Procedures), is commonly used to identify soils by such
characteristics as color, texture, structure, consistency, compactness, cementation, and, to
varying degrees, chemical composition.

3. Surveying and Sampling

3.1. Boring Log

The results of the soil explorations should be summarized in boring logs. A typical boring log
includes location of the boring, date performed, type of exploration, surface elevation, depth of
materials, sample identification numbers, classification of the material, water table, and standard
penetration resistance.

Refer to ASTM D 1586 Standard Test Method for Standard Penetration Test (SPT) and Split Barrel
Sampling of Soils.

Representative samples of the different soil layers encountered should be obtained and tested in
the laboratory to determine their physical and engineering properties.

In-situ properties, such as in-place moisture, density, shear strength, consolidation characteristics
etc., may require obtaining “undisturbed” core samples per ASTM D 1587 Standard Practice for
Thin-Walled Tube Sampling of Fine-Grained Soils for Geotechnical Purposes. Because test results

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only represent the sample being tested, it is important that each sample be representative of a
particular soil type and not be a mixture of several materials.

3.2. In-place Testing

Pits, open cuts, or both may be required for making in-place bearing tests, taking undisturbed
samples, charting variable soil strata, etc. This type of soil investigation may be necessary for
projects involving in-situ conditions that warrant a high degree of accuracy.

4. Soil Tests
4.1. Soil Testing Requirements

The geotechnical engineer should identify the tests necessary to characterize the soil properties
for the project. Subsurface evaluations may include the following standards:

1. ASTM D 421 Standard Practice for Dry Preparation of Soil Samples for Particle-Size
Analysis and Determination of Soil Constants. This procedure is used to prepare samples
for particle-size and plasticity tests to determine test values on air-dried samples.

2. ASTM D 422 Standard Test Method for Particle-Size Analysis of Soils. This analysis
covers the quantitative determination of the particle sizes in soils.

3. ASTM D 4318 Standard Test Methods for Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, and Plasticity Index
of Soils.

The plastic and liquid limits of a soil define the lowest moisture content at 2.4.1.2which a soil will
change from a semisolid to a plastic state and a solid passes from a plastic to a liquid state,
respectively. The plasticity index is the numerical difference between the plastic limit and the
liquid limit and indicates the range in moisture content over which a soil remains in a plastic
state prior to changing into a liquid. The plastic limit, liquid limit, and plasticity index of soils are
used with the Unified Soil Classification System (ASTM D 2487) to classify soils. They are also
used, either individually or together, with other soil properties to correlate with engineering
behavior such as compressibility, permeability, compactibility, shrink-swell, and shear strength.

4.2. Moisture-Density Relations of Soils

For compaction control during construction, the following ASTM test methods can be used to
determine the moisture-density relations of the different soil types:

Pavements Loads of 60,000 Pounds (27 216 kg) or More. For pavements 1.designed to serve
airplanes weighing 60,000 pounds (27 200 kg) or more, use ASTM D 1557, Standard Test
Methods for Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil Using Modified Effort (56,000
ft-lbf/ft3 (2,700 kN-m/m3)).

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5. Soil Strength Tests
5.1. California Bearing Ratio (CBR)

Laboratory CBR tests should be performed in accordance with ASTM D 1883, Standard Test
Method for California Bearing Ratio (CBR) of Laboratory-Compacted Soils. Field CBR tests should
be conducted in accordance with ASTM D 4429, Standard Test Method for CBR (California
Bearing Ratio) of Soils in Place.

5.2. Plate Bearing Test.

Plate bearing tests should be performed in accordance with the procedures contained in
AASHTO T 222 Standard Method of Test for Non-repetitive Static Plate Load Test of Soils and
Flexible Pavement Components for Use in Evaluation and Design of Airport and Highway.

5.3. Triaxial Shear Tests.

ASTM D4767-11 (2011): Standard Test Method for Consolidated Undrained Triaxial Compression
Test for Cohesive Soils

ASTM D2850-03a (2007): Standard Test Method for Unconsolidated-Undrained Triaxial

Compression Test on Cohesive Soils.

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RAMADI INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT PROJECT REQUIRED LOADS
The required loads can be taken as follows in order to prepare the soil investigation report. 1-
Terminal building 200 kpa for general areas and 300 kpa under the steel column. 2- Air Traffic
Control Tower 350 kpa. 3- Hotel 200 kpa. 4- Other single or two floor structures are 100 kpa.

BOREHOLES COORDINATE (Prepared By University Of Anbar College Of Engineering)

1 / 303460,3705210

2 / 303996,3704572

3 / 304532,3703933

4 / 305067,3703295

5 / 305603,3702657

6 / 305220,3702335

7 / 304845,3702974

8 / 304149,3703612

9 / 303613,3704250

10 / 303077,3704889