Experimental study of the modulus of deformation determined by static and dynamic plate load tests

Abstract

Soil, or soil structure modulus of deformation, is one of the main design parameters for road engineering and traffic infrastructure design of, for example, highways, railways, runways and embankments. It is also the main soil improvement criterion. When creating any road structure with codified design resistance, one employs structural layers of certain thicknesses and modulus of deformation. Both values need to satisfy the minimum values in accordance with codified requirements. This paper analyzes correlations for the widely applied in engineering practice methods to determine the soil stiffness. The static test methods acknowledged to be exact enough for determining the modulus of deformation for the primary and secondary loadings. As dynamic test methods require significantly less time and financial resources, they are widely accepted in engineering practice. The dynamic methods determine only the dynamic modulus of deformation. Design practice aims to relate it with the static modulus of deformation of the secondary loading. Many countries propose codified correlations, with differing levels of conservatism, to convert the dynamic modulus of deformation into the static one. Developed correlations between the results of the static plate load test and the dynamic plate load tests processed from own test results of different soils are presented and a comparative analysis with other proposed correlations is given.