In-situ strength evaluation of pavement layers using dynamic cone penetrometer (DCP)

Abstract

There have been some studies B.K Roy (2007) Coonse (1999) on the potential use of DCP for evaluation of the pavement condition. The DCP is used in this research since it is a simple, portable, fast and inexpensive method and can provide rapid assessments of In-situ pavement layers strength. In the recent years structural evaluation of pavements using Falling weight Deflectometer (FWD) has become important in developed countries. In developing countries like India use of FWD is not affordable for the low volume roads because of high cost and maintenance associated with the equipment. This study covers seven selected test sections taking into account pavement performance evaluation were carried out for Low volume roads. Efforts have been made to correlate the results obtained from the DCP to establish the criteria of penetration resistance assessing the condition of the road. For each road the Penetration Rate (PR) in mm/blow for base and sub-base layers are determined and the CBR values corresponding to that penetration values are determined by developing a model between the field CBR and PR value. Finally based on the analysis it is concluded that Penetration Rate < 5 mm/blow for both base and sub-base layers were recommended to assess the strength of the rural roads.