Possible estimation of resilient modulus of fine-grained soils using a dynamic lightweight cone penetrometer

Resilient modulus is an important parameter to characterise the resilient behaviour of pavement materials. Resilient modulus can be determined in the laboratory from repeated load triaxial test and is defined as the ratio of deviator stress to recoverable strain. Inherently, it is a challenge to perform repeated load triaxial tests as a routine basic test due to its complicated, time-consuming and expensive procedure; hence, several empirical approaches to estimate the resilient modulus from other soil mechanical properties – California bearing ratio, unconfined compressive strength or physical properties – have been proposed. This study has investigated the application of a dynamic lightweight cone penetrometer for the estimation of the resilient modulus in the laboratory and field conditions for some Victorian fine-grained subgrade soils. The results show the possibility to estimate the resilient modulus of fine-grained soils using the dynamic lightweight penetration index at any moisture content (MC) from optimum MC to soaked conditions.