California Bearing Ratio of Some Iraqi Dune Soils

Abstract

This paper contains the results of CBR tests that performed on compacted samples of real dune sand (cohesionless sand grains) and pseudo dune sand which is a mixture of sand sized aggregate of clay and silt. The effect of compaction and soaking on the bearing values are included in this research.
The results indicated that the compacted real dune sands have high strength and low sensitivity to soaking. The 5 mm penetration of CBR of this soil is higher than that of 2.5 mm. On the other hand, the loss of strength due to soaking can be quite considerable in compacted pseudo dune sands. The CBR values obtained at 2.5 mm and 5 mm penetration are approximately equal in pseudo dune sands.
Keywords: Dune Sand, CBR, California Bearing Ratio, Iraqi Soil