The document summarizes the plate load test, which determines the ultimate bearing capacity and settlement of soil under a given load. The test involves setting up a steel plate on the soil surface and applying a total load that is divided by the plate area to determine bearing capacity. Testing can be done via gravity or truss methods. Results are interpreted, but the test only reflects soil characteristics to twice the plate depth and doesn't indicate long-term settlements, particularly for cohesive soils. Values may also be conservative for large foundations in dense sands.

1. PLATE LOADTEST
BY :
SWETHA SHA JAIN

2. INTRODUCTION :
Plate Load Test is a field test for determining
the ultimate bearing capacity of soil and the likely
settlement under a given load
Total value of load on plate divided by the area of
the steel plate gives the value of ultimate bearing
capacity

3. Its subdivided into following steps :
* Test setup
* Testing procedure
* Interpretation of results
* Limitation of the test

4. Test setup:

6. Testing procedure:
■ The test can be done by two methods .they are :
*gravity method *truss method

9. Interpretation of results:

10. Limitations of plate load test :
■ The test results reflect only the character of the soil located within a depth of
less than twice the width of bearing plate
■ The Plate LoadTest being of short duration, does not give the ultimate
settlements particularly in case of cohesive soils.
■ For clayey soils the bearing capacity (from shear consideration) for a large
foundation, is almost same as that for the smaller test plate.
■ In dense sandy soils the bearing apacity increases with the size of the foundation
and hence the test with smaller size test plate tends to give conservative values
in dense sandy soils.