Tool
Box
Falling Hammer (8kg)
Steel
Scale
60oCone
a). Apparatus for DCP Test.
60O Cone
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b). Assembled Apparatus c). 60o Cone
Figure 1 : Apparatus for DCP Test.
TITLE : DCP TEST
(IN- SITU CBR TEST BY DYNAMIC CONE PENETROMETER).
SCOPE :
To determine the rate of penetration of the cone when driven by a standard force
to determine the strength of the material by means of California Bearing Ratio
(CBR).
PRINCIPLE :
The principle of the DCP is that the rate of penetration of cone when driven by a
standard force is inversely related to the strength of the material.
APPARATUS :
1. A Dynamic Cone Penetrometer:
a. Falling Hammer (8kg),
b. Top Rod,
c. Coupling Hand Guard,
d. Clamp ring, Bottom rod,
e. One meter Scale,
f. and the 60o Cone are the essential parts of the Penetrometer.
2. Spanner Wrenches.
3. Allen key
4. Digging and braking instruments
5. Allen Key
6. Jack
7. Stool or study box to hold the instrument perpendicular to the scale.
8. If necessary core cutting machine for paved sections.
Refer Figure 1 for Apparatus.
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Marking the location Breaking Surface layer
Breaking Surface layer. Removing all breakings from the hole.
Figure 2 : Testing Surface Preparation.
b. Scale Reading.
c .Three Testing points.
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Figure 3 : Testing over the location.
PROCEDURE :
1. Locations for the testing was selected to cover entire length of the road
including week locations (such as marshy areas, depression areas etc..) and
sound locations.
2. Test surface was prepared to place the Penetrometer, by removing any existing
surfacing layers as shown in the Figure 2.
3. After assembling as in Figure 1, Penetrometer was placed on the test surface as
shown in Figure 3. Then initial reading was recorded with zero blows.
4. After that, 8kg mass was allowed to fall from a distance of 575mm on to the
anvil attached to the Penetrometer.
5. Penetration reading of the standard cone was taken by reading the scale reading
as in Figure 3 .b from the attached rule for each blow.
6. In the road sub-base soil investigation, three no of tests at one location were
obtained. Three points shall have at least 10cm spacing as shown in the Figure
3.C.
OBSERVATIONS :
Refer attached Observation sheet overleaf (Page 5 of 7).
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ROAD DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY
RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT DIVISION
DYNAMIC CONE PENETRATION
Project/Site : Udahamulla- Madiwela Road Date : 18-Jan-2008
Test No. : 42
0+ 700 km from Udahamulla LHS 1.2 m from DCP zero
Location the C.L.on Carriageway reading
290mm below
Test started at existing road
surface
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 3
Test 1 Rod Test 2
No of Rod Rod Rod No of Rod
Reading Rod Reading
blows Reading Reading Reading blows Reading
mm mm
mm mm mm mm
0 54 54 50 39
1 69 77 70 40
2 79 90 80 41
3 88 104 91 42
4 99 114 103 43
5 109 125 112 44
6 119 135 123 45
7 130 146 133 46
8 140 157 143 47
9 148 169 153 48
10 157 176 162 49
11 165 187 172 50
12 175 198 180 51
13 185 210 189 52
14 195 220 197 53
15 209 230 207 54
16 221 240 218 55
17 234 250 230 56
18 249 265 241 57
19 269 290 253 58
20 293 320 266 59
21 319 350 285 60
22 375 398 315 61
23 422 445 362 62
24 457 477 410 63
25 480 516 450 64
26 515 555 482 65
27 569 590 515 66
28 623 625 562 67
29 678 660 609 68
30 725 697 650 69
31 769 727 690 70
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32 822 757 735 71
33 876 789 775 72
34 924 820 815 73
35 855 855 74
36 888 898 75
37 920 920 76
38 932 77
CALCULATION:
1. Cumulative penetration is calculated as follows
For Test 1 , From the observation sheet,
Initial reading (Zero blow reading ) = 54 mm
Reading for two number of blows = 79 mm
Cumulative Penetration For 2 number of blows = 79-54 mm
= 25 mm
Cumulative Penetration is tabulated in Table 1 below
Test 1 Test 2 Test 3 Test 1 Test 2 Test 3
No of Cumulative Cumulative Cumulative No of Cumulative Cumulative Cumulative
blows Penetration Penetration Penetration blows Penetration Penetration Penetration
mm mm mm mm mm mm
0 0 0 0 20 239 266 216
1 15 23 20 21 265 296 235
2 25 36 30 22 321 344 265
3 34 50 41 23 368 391 312
4 45 60 53 24 403 423 360
5 55 71 62 25 426 462 400
6 65 81 73 26 461 501 432
7 76 92 83 27 515 536 465
8 86 103 93 28 569 571 512
9 94 115 103 29 624 606 559
10 103 122 112 30 671 643 600
11 111 133 122 31 715 673 640
12 121 144 130 32 768 703 685
13 131 156 139 33 822 735 725
14 141 166 147 34 870 766 765
15 155 176 157 35 801 805
16 167 186 168 36 834 848
17 180 196 180 37 866 870
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18 195 211 191 38 882
19 215 236 203
Table 01 : Cumulative Penetration.
2. Using above Table No of Blows Vs Cumulative Penetration Graph for each tests
was drawn as shown below.
Layer -01
Layer -02
Layer -03
Graph 01 : No of Blows Vs Cumulative Penetration.
3. From the above graph Curve for Test -1 was selected since it shows greater slope
than Curve for Test 3. Curve for Test 2 shows some deviation after about 30 blows
may due to the presence of stone or hard strange matter. Hence it was not
considered.
4. Tangents were drawn when the slope changes and intersection points were
considered as layer boundaries. As such three layers found and horizontal lines
were drawn to identify three layers as shown in above Graph.
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5. Then Slope for each layer was found from above graph as below;
a. Slope for Layer 01 - 10.49
b. Slope for Layer 02 - 38.00
c. Slope for Layer 03 - 50.14
6. Finally CBR for each layer was calculated from the equation;
Log 10 (CBR) = 2.632-1.28 Log 10 (mm/blow)
a. CBR for Layer 01
Slope 10.49:
CBR = 10[2.632-1.28 LOG10 (10.49)]
= 21%
b. CBR for Layer 02
Slope 38.00:
CBR = 10[2.632-1.28 LOG10 (38.00)]
= 21%
c. CBR for Layer 03
Slope 50.14:
CBR = 10[2.632-1.28 LOG10 (50.14)]
= 21%
RESULTS :
Refer attached sheet for the results.
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DISCUSSION :
The Dynamic Cone Penetrometer can be used to indicate the compaction/density of
soil/fill materials. It will not give actual figures for density. The theory being that the resistance
to penetration is an indication of the degree of compaction of the fill, and in simple applications
it seems to work well. If you need a large number of blows to cause the cone to penetrate a
short distance the soil/material is well compacted, and if the cone penetrates easily with few
blows the soil/material is poorly compacted or "unsuitable''. This apparatus can be very useful
in monitoring the compaction of trench reinstatements depending on the nature of the
reinstatement material; it is particularly useful because the cone is on the end of a long rod,
approximately a meter long. This means a considerable depth of soil/fill can be tested, not just
the surface layer. This in turn can show where soil/fill has been placed in layers which are too
thick, with only the surface being compacted. It is also possible, in broad terms, to convert
results from this apparatus to CBR figures.
Use of the apparatus is described in TRL Research Report 361
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