PLATE BEARING TEST

Introduction In the design of shallow foundation or traffic surface, design engineer need to know the bearing capacity of soil underneath. Plate bearing test is carried out in the field to serve this purpose. Result from the test can be used as design parameter or used to confirm the design assumption..
Dial Gauge Reference Beam Counter Weight Main Beam Hydraulic Jack Support Pressure Gauge

Standard of Test Method Plate bearing test is carried out in accordance with ASTM D 1194 94 and AASHTO Standards.

Bearing Plate

Fig. 2 Illustration of Plate Bearing Test setup Testing Procedure Select test location and depth at the point where the real foundation will be constructed, if possible. If the test is performed in a test pit, width of the pit should be at least 4 to 5 times of plate diameter. Apply the load to the plate in steps by means of hydraulic jack pushing against the counter weight until reaching the maximum test load. Unloading should also be done in the backward steps. Read and record the load of every step from proving ring. Read settlement from the dial gauges. 3 to 4 dial gauges should be placed separately at 120 or 90 respectively.

Fig. 1 Plate bearing test equipment Equipment and Apparatus 1. Counter weight such as box or platfrom with heavy material suck as concrete, steel, etc. Total counter weight should be at least 10% greater than the anticipated maximum test load. 2. Hydraulic jack for applying the load. 3. Proving ring, 1 kg accuracy, for measuring the load. 4. Bearing Plate, 12-inch and 30-inch diameter, or square plate, 1 inch thickness. 5. Dial gauges, reference beams.

Version 1.0 Copyright 2004 by STS

Fig.3 Plate Bearing Test

PLATE BEARING TEST

Interpretation of the Test Result Results from the test shall consist of raw data, load-settlement curve, yield pressure, recommended allowable pressure for foundation design, and modulus of subgrade reaction (K) for road design.
Plate Size

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Actual Footing
2b
b

B
Compacted Layer

2B
Soft Material Stress Influence Zone
Fig. 6 Illustration of Scale Effect in Foundation Design

Das, B.M. (1995) suggested following formula for calculating bearing capacity of the actual footing to correct the scale effect. Fig. 4 Load-settlement curve from Plate Bearing Test For cohesive soil, qu (F) = For cohesionless soil, qu (F) =
Yield Point

qu (P)

qu (P) BF BP

where qu (F) qu (P) BF BP Fig. 5. Determination of Yield Pressure Advantages of the Test Gain understanding of foundation behavior which will enable the evaluation of foundation bearing capacity and settlement under loading condition. Quick and easy to perform. Limitation Plate bearing test can give bearing capacity of subsoil up to the depth about twice of plate diameter only. There is a scale effect due to size of testing plate is smaller than the actual footing.

= bearing capacity of footing = bearing capacity of test plate = breadth of footing = breadth of test plate

If the above method give too high bearing capacity, Engineer should use judgment to limit allowable pressure to be more reasonable for each type of soil condition. The prediction of settlement can also be done from the load-settlement curve from the test.

For more information, please contact: STS Instrument Co., Ltd. Quality Assurance Division 196/10-11 Soi Pradipat 14, Pradipat Road, Samsennai, Phayathai, Bangkok 10400 Tel. : 0-2618-4288 (10 lines) ext. 265 Fax : 0-2279-8507, 0-2618-6373 http://www.sts.co.th

Version 1.0 Copyright 2004 by STS