The California Bearing Ratio (CBR Test) is a penetration test for evaluating the load-bearing capacity of soils used for building roads and other hardened surfaces. The traditional method of for a CBR Test involved penetrating a plunger of fixed diameter into a soil sample using a Load Frame (usually controlled by some mechanical device) with a Load Ring for measuring Vertical Load and the Displacement measured using Mechanical Dial Gauges. This required the laboratory technician to be on hand with a clipboard and datasheet(s) to record the data when required throughout the Test.

These 'Equipment Maintenance' posts are intended to show how to service and perform basic maintenance of different VJ Tech equipment. This post describes how to attach the ACONS earth lead should it prove necessary and how to adjust the screen contrast on the ACONS and other various VJ Tech Instruments. This may be necessary if the screen is too bright or too dark.

Consolidation Testing – Part 1 will describe the initial setup for a Consolidation Test involving the system setup and test creation using an Automatic CONSolidation (ACONS) Instrument.

Understanding shear strength is vital to the engineering properties of any structural project. Shear testing determines the strength of a material and records the specific strains a substance can take allowing the technician to understand how the sample will ‘behave’ in its relative field.

Welcome to part 3 of our Clisp Studio user guide. To get the best performance from our advanced software you must become familiar with all the facilities in Clisp Studio to help your testing run smoothly.

Part One of our Triaxial Testing guide described the initial setup for a Triaxial Test involving the System Setup, Sample Preparation and Test Creation. Part 2 described the setup required for the Saturation, Consolidation and Shear stages. Triaxial Testing Part 3 will describe the Test execution, monitoring and results manipulation and assumes that all 5 setup steps of the ‘Assistant’ have already been completed.

Equipment maintenance checks are vital to ensure the risk of potential problems is significantly reduced. Part three explains how to replace the internal Ram ‘O’ Ring in a standard Triaxial Cell, as well as one fitted with an internal load cell.

 

Remote Support from VJ Tech

VJ Tech has developed a Simple Shear Testing System, used to carry out a direct simple shear test to determine the shear modulus of a soil sample. The sample is contained within confining rings under applied normal load and is sheared along a predefined plane until it is stressed to failure.

VJ Tech has recently developed a Rowe Consolidation Cell suitable for a 252.3 mm (10”) sample. The Rowe cell is a development of the original cell designed by Professor P W Rowe at Manchester University, England.