Description

AASHTO T 307 – Standard Method of Test for Determining the Resilient Modulus of Soils and Aggregate Materials

This method covers procedures for preparing and testing untreated subgrade soils and untreatedbase/subbase materials for determination of resilient modulus (Mr) under conditions representing asimulation of the physical conditions and stress states of materials beneath flexible pavements subjected to moving wheel loads.

The methods described are applicable to undisturbed samples of natural and compacted subgrade soils, and to disturbed samples of subgrade soils and untreated base/subbase prepared for testing by compaction in the laboratory.

In this method, stress levels used for testing specimens for resilient modulus are based upon the location of the specimen within the pavement structure. Samples located within the base and subbase are subjected to different stress levels as compared to those specimens that are from the subgrade. Generally, specimen size for testing depends upon the type of material based upon the gradation and the plastic limit of the material as described in a later section.

The value of resilient modulus determined from this procedure is a measure of the elastic modulus of untreated base and subbase materials and subgrade soils recognizing certain nonlinear characteristics.

Resilient modulus values can be used with structural response analysis models to calculate the pavement structural response to wheel loads, and with pavement design procedures to design pavement structures.