مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - INSITU EVALUATION METHODS OF GRANULAR PAVEMENT LAYERS: DYNAMIC CONE PENETROMETER (DCP) TEST

Abstract :

In our country, in-situ quality control/quality assurance (QC/QA) of granular pavement layers (subgrade, subbase and base) still relies on their density and moisture measurements. With the coming changes from an empirical to mechanistic-empirical pavement design methods, it becomes essential to move towards changing the QC/QA procedures of compacted granular materials from a unit weight-based criterion to a stiffness/strength based criterion. Unit weight criteria unable to provide sufficient information about the engineering properties of granular layers, thus a missing link occurs between the design process and construction quality control. Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) is a non-destructive, effective, fast and reliable testing method which is used to determine the stiffness/strength of granular pavement layers and subgrade. In this study, information about the DCP test device, implementation and evaluation of the test results are given, and studies are summarized in the literature. It is seen that very limited research has been done in our country on this subject. Adaptation of in-situ stiffness/strength measuring test device such as DCP to quality control/quality assurance specifications of our country will make it possible to provide more information about the mechanical properties of the granular pavement layers for the pavement design and maintenance engineers.