Meta-Analysis of Soil Property Relationships and Construction Platform Design

Abstract

This paper introduces the concept of using an existing low-volume road design method to design the lower granular layers within a mechanistic-empirical design to ensure an adequate construction platform. The DCP-DN design method was chosen because it has advantages over other cover-based empirical methods in this context, including utilizing a full-depth measurement and requiring a balanced layer profile. To implement the DCP-DN method and use field Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) data in the mechanistic-empirical design, a relationship to convert between stiffness and DCP penetration index was required. A new set of internally consistent relationships between various soil strength and stiffness parameters was thus developed, using a meta-analysis of 126 models published since the 1960s. These were used to develop a new nomograph for estimating the properties of various soils.