Predicting Bearing Strength Characteristics From Soil Index Properties
Predicting Bearing Strength Characteristics From Soil Index Properties
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Hussam Elnour
M.Sc. Student, Civil Engineering Department, University of Khartoum,
Khartoum, Sudan
ABSTRACT
The bearing strength of foundation soil is a major design criteria for civil
engineering structures. This study aims to estimate the bearing strength,
namely California Bearing Ratio (CBR) and ultimate bearing capacity, from
simple and easy measured soil index properties. Comprehensive literature
concerning bearing strength characteristics and their prediction equations
proposed by previous researchers were reviewed. Laboratory investigation
was conducted on two different soils compacted at various placement
conditions (i.e. moisture content and dry density) and tested using CBR and
triaxial tests. Based on test results, linear relationships of unsoaked CBR and
ultimate bearing capacity with the consistency factor which is formed by
combining placement conditions and soil intrinsic parameters had been
developed. To verify the validity of the developed linear relationship, data
reported by some previous researchers were analyzed. The results revealed
that the proposed relationships could predict unsoaked CBR and ultimate
bearing capacity precisely with a coefficient of linearity (R2) more than 0.9.
This result confirms that the proposed equations are reliable and useful to
predict bearing strength parameters for different soils.
Key words: Bearing Capacity, CBR, Consistency Factor, Linear Relationship
Cite this Article: Magdi M. E. Zumrawi and Hussam Elnour, Predicting
Bearing Strength Characteristics From Soil Index Properties, International
Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 7(2), 2016, pp. 266–277.
http://www.iaeme.com/IJCIET/issues.asp?JType=IJCIET&VType=7&IType=2
1. INTRODUCTION
Civil engineering works in highways, buildings, dams and other structures have
strong relationship with soil. These structures need a strong and stable layer of
foundation soil to build on. Therefore, soil must be able to carry imposed loads from
any structure placed upon it without shear failure or destructive unallowable
settlements [1]. Furthermore, any weakness or failure in soil may lead to severe
damage or collapse of structure. Thus, proper estimation of bearing strength of
foundation soil is very essential for safety and performance of the structure.
In pavement design, the California Bearing Ratio (CBR) is a common test
currently practiced to predict the bearing strength of subgrade soil. Due to its
simplicity and relatively low cost, this method has been widely used across the world
for flexible pavement design. Even though, highway engineers encounter some
difficulties in obtaining representative CBR value for pavement design.
In geotechnical engineering, the bearing capacity of underlying soil plays a vital
role in foundation design. The bearing capacity is governed by shear strength of the
soil. Terzaghi [2] was the first researcher to propose a comprehensive theory for
measuring the ultimate bearing capacity of shallow foundations. After Terzaghi, many
researchers such as Meyerhof [3], Hansen [4], Vesic [5], and others have offered
theories for predicting the ultimate bearing capacity. However, the different bearing
capacity formulae show wide degree of variability while estimating bearing capacity
of different type of soils.
The purpose of this study is to establish correlations for unsoaked CBR and
ultimate bearing capacity with simple and easy measured soil index properties. These
correlations can be used in prediction of the bearing strength parameters for design
and evaluation purposes. .
2. LITERATURE REVIEW
The bearing strength of soil is quite important for stability and performance of any
structure founded on it. Therefore, foundation soil must be capable to withstand the
structural loads placed upon it without undergoing shear failure and consequent large
settlements [6]. Rupture surfaces are formed in the soil mass upon exceeding a certain
stress condition. The bearing strength of foundation soil is characterized by California
Bearing Ratio (CBR) and bearing capacity.
prediction correlations might be useful and become a base for the judgment of the
validity of the CBR values. Many correlations have been developed by various
researchers for the prediction of CBR, including the dynamic cone penetrometer
(DCP), undrained shear strength and Clegg impact hammer [12]-[14]. In addition,
there have been several attempts to predict CBR values based on the soil index
properties [15]-[17]. Some of the correlations are presented as follows:
Kleyn and Harden [12] established a relationship between the field CBR and the
DCP as follows:
A study was carried out to correlate the CBR and the unconfined compression
strength σc (MPa) by Behera and Mishra [13] on fly ash-lime mixture at 7 and 28 day
curing periods. The correlations proposed are written in equation (2) and (3)
respectively:
Al-Amoudi et al [14] studied the efficacy of the Clegg impact hammer (CIH)
for estimating the CBR value of compacted soils. They performed CBR and CIH tests
for soils compacted with three different compactive efforts and different molding
moisture contents (see Fig 1). They developed a general model to predict CBR values
from CIV data.
Figure 1 CBR test results for the various compactive efforts (source [14])
Agarwal and Ghanekar [15] tried to develop a correlation between the CBR and
the liquid limit, plastic limit or plasticity index. However, they were not able to find
any significant correlation among these parameters. Instead, they found an improved
correlation when optimum moisture content (OMC) and liquid limit were included.
Hence, they suggested a correlation that was only of sufficient accuracy for the
preliminary identification of material. This correlation is:
A correlation of CBR with plasticity and grading using the concept of suitably
index was developed by de Graft-Johnson and Bhatia [17] on the Ghana lateritic soil.
The soil samples were compacted to maximum dry density at optimum moisture
content and soaked for 4 days according to the Ghana standard of compaction. In this
case, the relationship between CBR and suitability index is shown as follows:
Attempts have been made to predict CBR using a single factor that combines
placement parameter. Mohamed [21] introduced the placement condition factor (F)
which combines two placement parameters, dry density ( d) and moisture content (w)
and is defined as:
Mohamed [21] applied "F" to unsoaked CBR data of compacted cohesive soils
from Sudan and found that "F" predicts very well the unsoaked CBR value. Zumrawi
[22] modified the placement factor (F) to a new one called the initial state factor, Fi
and is defined by:
where w: is density of water and e : is the void ratio. A linear relationship was
found between "Fi" and unsoaked CBR for the same soil, the coefficients of which
depends on plasticity index and clay content. It is noted that the two factors (F and Fi)
considered only placement parameters, i.e, moisture content, dry density and void
ratio. Therefore, this study aims to combine both the placement conditions and the
soil intrinsic properties such as liquidity index in a factor and to investigate its
relationship with CBR and ultimate bearing capacity values.
3. EXPERIMENTAL INVESTIGATION
To achieve the research objective, laboratory investigation was conducted on two
different soils. Soil 1 is fine-grained soil and was obtained from Halfayah in
Khartoum north where as Soil 2 is coarse-grained soil and was obtained from Hatab in
eastern Nile.
CI is 1.0 when moisture content equals the plastic limit and zero when moisture
content equals the liquid limit.
For soil 2
y = 2.228x + 7.436
35 R² = 0.939
30
Unsoaked CBR (%)
25
20
15
y = 25.99x - 33.16
10 R² = 0.912
0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Consistency Factor , Fc
Figure 2 Unsoaked CBR and consistency factor relationship for soil 1and 2
120
100
y = 16.49x - 123.1
Unsoaked CBR (%)
80 R² = 0.907
60
40
20
0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Consistency Factor , Fc
Figure 3 Unsoaked CBR and the consistency factor for the data reported by Al-Amoudi [14]
y = 251.5x - 585.5
2500 R² = 0.970
2000
qu (kPa)
1500
1000
y = 1678x - 2231
R² = 0.927
500
0
0.0 2.0 4.0 6.0 8.0 10.0 12.0 14.0
Consistency Factor , Fc
Figure 4 Ultimate bearing capacity and consistency factor relationship for soil 1 and 2
The data trend shown in the Fig. 5 below indicate that there is a good agreement
between the measured and predicted bearing capacity values and this proved the
validity of the developed equations (19) and (20). This result shows that bearing
capacity could be predictive from unsoaked CBR value for different types of soils.
3000
2500
Calculated qu (kPa)
2000
1500
1000
Linear (equiline)
500
0
0 500 1000 1500 2000 2500 3000
Measured qu (kPa)
Figure 5 Comparison of measured/predicted ultimate bearing capacity for the tested soils
5. CONCLUSION
In the current study, the relationship of ultimate bearing capacity and unsoaked CBR
with the developed factor of soil consistency was investigated. The soil consistency
factor (Fc) is described by the combination of placement conditions parameters (i.e.
dry density, moisture content and void ratio) and intrinsic properties of soil (i.e. liquid
limit and plasticity index). For two different soils, the CBR and triaxial tests were
conducted at five different moisture contents and dry densities. Based on the test
results, the following conclusions are drawn:
Analysis results demonstrates very clearly that a direct linear relationship exists
between the consistency Factor, Fc and the soil bearing strength measured by unsoked
CBR and ultimate bearing capacity. For all the data studied, the regression coefficient
of this relationship was found to be more than 0.9. This result indicates the linearity
of the developed relationships and the validity of the soil consistency factor.
Based on these linear relationships, reliable and strong correlations have been
established to predict the unsoked CBR and ultimate bearing capacity for different
type of soils. Furthermore, very good correlations between the unsoaked CBR and
ultimate bearing capacity for cohesive and cohesionless soils were developed.
Comparison between the measured ultimate bearing capacity and Unsoaked CBR
values and the calculated results using the developed equations clearly indicated the
reliability of these equations.
The developed correlations are reliable and useful in prediction of bearing strength
characteristics of foundation soils, subgrade, and embankments for design purposes.
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