Measurement of Base and Subgrade Layer Stiffness Using Bender Element Technique
Publication: Recent Advances in Materials Characterization and Modeling of Pavement Systems
Abstract
Base and subgrade soil stiffness are important parameters for material characterization in highway construction. During and after pavement construction, it is very important and cost-effective to have a reliable technique that can measure the stiffness of in-situ base and subgrade layers accurately and quickly. The new highway design guide proposed by AASHTO requires that such measurement be conducted. A new field-testing technique has been developed to measure small-strain shear modulus of soils (which can be converted into elastic modulus) using the bender element technique. The device used in this method includes a pair of cone penetrometers, each fitted with two bender elements, which can be pushed into the base, subbase and subgrade layers. A pulse generated by a function generator is used to activate the transmitters. Vibration of the transmitters produces shear waves that propagate through the soil in the horizontal and inclined directions and are captured by the receivers. Then from the measured shear wave velocities, soil stiffness can be determined. The technique is compared with the current practice of soil stiffness determination based on the CBR test.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this chapter.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Copyright
© 2004 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Apr 26, 2012
ASCE Technical Topics:
- Base course
- Construction engineering
- Construction industry
- Construction management
- Continuum mechanics
- Design (by type)
- Dynamics (solid mechanics)
- Engineering fundamentals
- Engineering mechanics
- Geomechanics
- Geotechnical engineering
- Highway and road design
- Infrastructure
- Infrastructure construction
- Pavements
- Seismic waves
- Shear waves
- Soil mechanics
- Soil modulus
- Soil properties
- Soil tests
- Solid mechanics
- Stiffening
- Structural behavior
- Structural engineering
- Subgrades
- Tests (by type)
- Transportation engineering
- Waves (mechanics)
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.