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Monday, 24 April 2017

Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP)

1. Introduction
Dynamic cone experiment (DCP) is one of the tests carried out in the field, which can indirectly be used to
determine the CBR value of the base ground(Sub-Grade). The implementation of this experiment is very
easy and the results can be obtained quickly, making it more economical when compared to conducting
cbr field testing conventionally. However, in order to obtain the correct correlation of field CBR values, it is
recommended that in the implementation of this experiment, CBR experiments are also carried out in
parallel.

Through this test can be obtained a continuous recording of the relative strength of the soil (CBR) up to a
depth of 90 cm below the sub-grade surface. Layers of existing pavement material must be disposed of
first before this experiment is carried out. Measurement and recording of field data consists of pairs of
number of collisions (n) and depth of penetration (cm).

"This DCP article is based on  ASTM  standard D 6951 - 03"

2. Equipment
The main equipment used in the investigation consists of:
1. The 8 kg (17.6 lb) or 4.6 kg (10.1 lb) free-drop, 57.5 cm (22.6 inch) free-drop pounder,
through a 16 mm(5/8 inch)center-striped launcher rod, equipped with anvil
2. The penetration rod consists of a 16 mm (5/8 inch)  100 cm long, which
is equipped with a cone at the end,
3. The measuring rod is connected to the stacking platform and penetrating rod, but must move
freely vertically on the joint with the penetrative rod,
4. Cones( conus), which are made of hard steel with a peak angle of 60 and the largest diameter is 2
cm.
DCP Tool Sketch based on ASTM D 6951 - 03
 Dcp Conus Sketch based on ASTM D 6951 - 03

3. Experimental Procedure
1. Dig the ground level at the test site to the depth at which the initial measurement of CBR
value will be evaluated. If the testing is carried out on the road body by pavement, remove all
existing pavement materials,
2. Place the DCP tool vertically, giving the initial collision enough(seating blows), toembed
the tip of the cone until the largest center line is located on the surface of the soil to be tested,
3. Perform the build-up with a free-dropped hammer, measure and note the penetration
depth for each collision. The work is carried out by a minimum of two people,
4. If the type of soil tested is very hard (penetration is less than approximately 0.2 cm /
collision), give a series of collisions as much as 5 or 10 times, then measure the depth of
penetration that occurs,
5. The experiment is stopped if the following circumstances have been reached:
* No significant decrease for the last 10 collisions in a row,
* The depth of penetration has reached the depth of the layer to be evaluated,
* The penetrometer rod has entered entirely into the ground.
6. Remove the tool from the ground by hitting the hammer with the direction up on the high
limiting bolt fall(uper stop),
7. As a result of repeated steps on point (6), it can cause a noticeable lengthening of the
launcher bar, so checks are required each time it will experiment, by setting the high limiting
bolt to fall in the right position.
4. Calculation
In this calculation, we can quickly get CBR value from the test result by looking at the table in ASTM
standard or by using the formula:
 Example of DCP calculation ASTM D 6951 - 03

Correlation table between DCP index and CBR value based on  ASTM D 6951 - 03
 
Dynamic Cone Penetration (DCP)
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carried out in...

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HOW TO CALCULATE CBR VALUE

USING DCPT RESULT ON SITE?
Suryakanta | November 3, 2015 | Construction, Road Construction, Transportation | 16 Comments

DCPT (DYNAMIC CONE PENETRATION TEST)

Dynamic cone penetration test or DCPT is a quick, simple and low cost test which is extensively used by many
agencies around the globe to measure the strength of compacted material of unbound granular and sub grade
layers with reasonable accuracy.

Now a days DCPT is commonly used during construction for the following purposes.

 To control quality of construction

 To determine in situ CBR value
 To evaluate quality of flexible pavement

PRINCIPLE OF DCPT
The basic principle involved in the operation of this apparatus is the measuring of the resistance offered by the
pavement layers to the penetration of a standard cone with a diameter of 20 mm (with 600 apex angle) driven
by an 8 kg hammer freely falling through a height of 575 mm. the amount of penetration (in mm) of the cone is
generally reported in terms of the average penetration per blow, DCPI60 (mm/blow).

Note: Greater the value of DCPI60 indicates a softer material and vice versa.

CALCULATION OF CBR VALUE FROM DCPT

RESULT
Follow the below mentioned step by step procedure to calculate CBR value using DCPT result. To get a clear
understanding of the calculation, an example is also given at the end of the procedure.

PROCEDURE
1. Record the initial reading on the dynamic cone penetrometer scale.
2. Calculate the value of penetration (in mm) for each blow by subtracting the previous recorded reading
(i.e. reading on scale) from the current reading.
3. Calculate the cumulative depth of penetration (in mm) for each blow by adding all the previous
individual depth of penetrations.
4. Draw a chart using the data of cumulative depth of penetration and number of blows. (See Fig-1)
5. This step is about identifying the depth of each layer. Identify the slope change of the penetration curve.
Every change in slope represents a change in layer type.
6. After identifying each slope change, calculate the average penetration/blow for each slope change and
calculate the thickness of each layer.
 7. Use the following equation and determine the corresponding CBR value of each layer.

log10CBR = 2.48 – 1.057 log10(DCPI60)

8. To know the variation of the CBR value across the depth, draw another semi-log chart with CBR values
on logarithmic scale as abscissa (x axis) and depth of penetration on ordinary scale as ordinate (y axis).
(See Fig-2).

EXAMPLE CALCULATION OF CBR VALUE

DCP
No. Cumulative CBR Cumulative Layer Avg
scale DCPI60 pen/blow
of penetration value penetration thickness CBR
reading (mm)
blows (mm) (%) (cm) (mm) (%)
(cm)

0 9.5 0 0 0 73 44.9

1 10.1 6 6 45.4 0.6

2 10.7 6 12 45.4 1.2

3 11.3 6 18 45.4 1.8

4 11.9 6 24 45.4 2.4

5 12.5 6 30 45.4 3

6 13.1 6 36 45.4 3.6

7 13.7 6 42 45.4 4.2

8 14.3 6 48 45.4 4.8

9 14.9 6 54 45.4 5.4

10 15.5 6 60 45.4 6

11 16.1 6 66 45.4 6.6

12 16.8 7 73 38.6 7.3

13 19 22 95 11.5 9.5

14 21.3 23 118 11.0 11.8

15 23.5 22 140 11.5 14

16 25.8 23 163 11.0 16.3

178 11.4
17 27.8 20 183 12.7 18.3

18 30 22 205 11.5 20.5

19 32.3 23 228 11.0 22.8

20 34.6 23 251 11.0 25.1

21 38.2 36 287 6.8 28.7 646 6.9

22 41.8 36 323 6.8 32.3

23 45.4 36 359 6.8 35.9

24 49.0 36 395 6.8 39.5

25 52.6 36 431 6.8 43.1

 26 56.1 35 466 7.0 46.6

27 59.8 37 503 6.6 50.3

28 63.4 36 539 6.8 53.9

29 66.9 35 574 7.0 57.4

30 70.5 36 610 6.8 61

31 74.1 36 646 6.8 64.6

32 77.7 36 682 6.8 68.2

33 81.3 36 718 6.8 71.8

34 84.8 35 753 7.0 75.3

35 88.4 36 789 6.8 78.9

36 92 36 825 6.8 82.5

37 95.6 36 861 6.8 86.1

38 99.2 36 897 6.8 89.7

Note:

 In the example given above the initial reading is 9.5.

 There exist many equations to derive CBR value from DCPT result. The equation that we have used is
commonly used. If you want you can use any other equations.
Fig-1 DCP chart

Fig-2 Variation of CBR with Depth

 To down load the excel sheet for the above calculation click here.

Also Read: Factors affecting Dynamic Cone Penetration Test result

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