California Bearing Ratio Test

The California bearing ratio (CBR) is a penetration test for evaluation of the mechanical strength of road subgrades. It was developed by the California Department of Transportation. The test is performed by measuring the pressure required to penetrate a soil sample with a plunger of standard area. The measured pressure is then divided by the pressure required to achieve an equal penetration on a standard crushed rock material. The test can be performed on laboratory-prepared samples or in the field. The CBR test is described in ASTM Standards D1883-05 and D4429, and AASHTO T193. The CBR rating was developed for measuring the load-bearing capacity of soils used for building roads. The CBR can also be used for measuring the load-bearing capacity of unimproved airstrips or for soils under paved airstrips. The harder the surface, the higher the CBR rating. A CBR of 3 equates to tilled farmland, a CBR of 4.75 equates to turf or moist clay, while moist sand may have a CBR of 10. High quality crushed rock has a CBR of 100. The Current Scope of Analysis of CBR Test in AIMIL GeoStar covers British Standard BS 1377 Part 4 and Indian Standards IS-2720 Part 16 only. The AIMIL GeoStar software a multi user, multitasking network capable and is architectured around Microsoft .net platform to work seamlessly with AIMIL StarDAQ, data acquisition system, specially designed for acquiring data from CBR apparatus. There is a facility to manually input data and save the same in a file format compatible with GeoStar Analysis system. The following screen shows the opening screen for the CBR Test.

The task bar also shows the person who has logged in the software.

Basic Operations
You can add new test or Specimen of a particular test using this button

You can save your Test information or test data on clicking this button..

You can click on this button to Modify the Test information or Specimen Data..

You can click on this button to Delete Test information or selected Specimen Data.

. You can click on this button to cancel the current operations.

You can click on this button to display Mohr Circle.. You can click on this button for advanced search of a particular test data

You can click on this button to convert the values of one Unit to another unit.

You can click on this button to generate the Report.

You can click on this button for Help or press F1.

On clicking this button you can close California Bearing Ratio Test.

All the available stored tests / results will be displayed in the box below the Search option box. When you make a search, based on Test ID or Organization name or the Standard by which the analysis was conducted, only those tests / results appear in the box. Now, you can load any particular test for either re-analysis or for re-printing purpose. The unwanted tests can be deleted by selecting that test ID from the BOX and pressing the Delete button. Adding a New Test (Analysis) When you have a CBR data, it require other user inputs to complete its analysis as required by the chosen standard and make a presentable report out of the system. When you press the ADD button, a pop up window,

Respond by pressing Add Test Button. You will be taken to the The CBR main window automatically, The left side pane of the main window allows the user to input all the information that are required to set an analysis conducted. The pane consist of three screens structured in the form of Tabs. The first tab is to enter the Test information details. Also, this pane allow the user to open a saved result file and a exhaustive search options allow the user to quickly retrieve the stored results in a jiffy. You can retrieve the stored tests by Test ID, or Name of the Organization or by Standard

The Date field gets its data automatically from the system clock.

Enter the Test ID here. Permissible inputs are Alpha & Numeric. Choose the appropriate Standard from the Standard Dropdown menu. Choose Indian Standard or British Standard as required by you. The environment is now set for the appropriate analysis. In the Organization name, you can fill up the Name to whom the sample belongs. Enter the Location details from where the sample was taken for testing. Also fill up the Created By field by writing the name of the person who has conducted the analysis. The second tab Input Details allow the user to Input Details of the measurement values required for calculation of Average Moisture content, Bulk Density and Dry Densities. The third tab,Test Data, when selected, allows the user to load the CBR top and bottom data files for further calculation. NOTE: Always remember to press the TAB key after entering value in any user entry field. By this, you will ensure that the cursor moves to the next enterable data field. Also any calculations that are derived are also calculated and displayed.

INPUT DETAILS

The TEST ID Field is updated automatically. Enter the Specimen ID and press TAB Key. The data range is Alpha Numeric. The cursor moves to the next field DATE and this field gets automatic update. Press TAB again to move the cursor to SOIL DESCRIPTION. The data you enter here is just to keep a record of your observation about the sample that needs to be printed along with the report. For the purpose of understanding, you may write, Silty Sand and press TAB. The cursor moves to the next field, STANDARD. Please input applicable Standard information like British Standard and its No and Part No. if any, and press TAB. The cursor will move to Borehole / Pit No. Enter the details here and press TAB. The cursor will move to Surcharge. Just for an example, enter a value of 5 here and press TAB. The cursor advances to Depth. As an example, Enter a value of 3.2 meters and press TAB. The cursor advances to sample preparation method information. You might like to mention the Clause details from the relevant Standard and press TAB. If there are no fields requiring inputs, the cursor will go back to the first field again in a cyclic manner.

In order not to lose the entered data, it may be a good practice to save the entry by clicking the Save or Modify options. The following screen examples show, how the details are entered. For Unsoaked:

Similarly for Soaked Specimen,

Finally, we need to load the test data. Click on the Testdata Tab. The interface for loading the testdata opens up as per details below:

Click on the File Button and browse through your hard drive to load the file, for Unsoaked Top and Unsoaked bottom. You can also access the demo data from a default directory called demo and load the appropriate data while learning how to use the software. You can similarly load the data for the Soaked Specimen and save the record first. You will get a message Record Successfully saved. Acknowledge OK

You will be prompted to save the specimen record also. Click Yes.

Again you will get a message,

Go back to CBR main menu and from there, click on the ADD sign to ADD another specimen to add the full information for the Soaked Now, we move on to the graph panel.Test and follow the same procedure as above for the CBR results for the soaked stage. This is drop down list. Using this you can select the Graph type.

You can use this button to see Graph on normal mode.

`You can use this button for rotating Graph.

You can click on this button for move the Graph.

Using this button you can zoom the Graph.

When You can click on this button which tells depth of the Graph.

You can click on this button to see your Graph in 3-Dimensional mode.

You can click on this button for editing existing Graph.

You can click on this button to print the Graph. You can click on this button for copy the Graph.

You can click on this button for saving the Graph. A pop up screen will open up asking for path folder and file type to save the graph. Give a path and file name and save it for future report generation with the graph in jpeg format and click OK.

Effecting a Correction: The normal curve is convex upwards. Therefore there is no need for zero correction. However if the initial part of the curve is concave upwards, then a correction is necessary. When a correction is required, a tangent is to be drawn from the point of greatest slope and produce it to intercept the penetration axis. Click the expand button, so that the graph panel becomes bigger in size for very convenient editing.

This is done, by checking the correction tab. You will be able to see a tangent appearing over the graph. Now, using the four arrow keys, align the tangent at the point of greatest slope. This tangent, where it meets the penetration axis, is the new origin and the corrected penetration is read from this New Origin. Repeat the same procedure for top and bottom data.

Now, click BACK button to go back and click RESULT button. The CBR result page will appear,

You can now, press the save option, to save the result. You will get a prompt, that the result successfully saved. Click OK. Saving the CBR Graph in a jpeg format for including in the reports. When you click on the save option in the graph panel, a dialog box opens to specify the directory path, file name and the file type for saving. Please enter path to save your graph and choose jpeg format and click . The graph is saved in this location for inclusion in the standard reports.

Generation of Reports:

The following types of reports are available. Sample Report Unsoaked Top Unsoaked Bottom Soaked Top Soaked Bottom Main report Unsoaked Main Report Soaked

Similarly, you can have a set of graphs for the Soaked Test also.