THE MECHANICAL SUBGRADE A PAVEMENT LOAD, TRANSMISSION TESTING DEVICE

Abstract

A UNIQUE PIECE OF PAVEMENT-TESTING EQUIPMENT CALLED THE MECHANICAL SUBGRADE HAS BEEN INSTALLED AT NCEL AND GIVEN LOAD AND CALIBRATION TESTS.THE DEVICE WAS BUILT BY THE FAA (FORMERLY CAA( DURING THE LATE 1940'STO OBTAIN BASIC INFORMATION ABOUT FLEXIBLE PAVEMENT DESIGN. IN THE DEVICE A TEST PAVEMENT IS SUPPORTED ON A FLOORING OF SMALL STEEL PLATES MOUNTED ON PLUNGERS AND CALIBRATED SPRINGS SO THAT WHEN THE TEST PAVEMENT IS LOADED, A YIELDING SUPPORT, SIMULATING A SUBGRADE, IS PROVIDED. THE UNIT PRESSURES TRANSMITTED BY THE LOADING SYSTEM THROUGH THE TEST SPECIMEN ARE RECORDED BY DEFLECTION MEASURING BARS. CALIBRATION OF THE SUBGRADE INDICATED THAT PAVEMENT DEFLECTIONS CAN BE READ TO PLUS OR MINUS 0.003 INCH ACCURACY AND THAT THE SPRINGS AVAILABLE WITH THE EQUIPMENT HAVE SUBGRADE MODULI OF 22, 62, 87, 155, AND 325 PCI.

Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 18, 1960
Accession Number
AD0250648

Entities

People

  • R.j. Lowe

Organizations

  • Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center

Tags

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Accuracy
  • Calibration
  • Deflection
  • Pavements
  • Subgrades

Fields of Study

  • Engineering

Readers

  • Aerospace Test and Evaluation
  • Electronics Engineering
  • Pavement Materials Engineering.