Bilateral plate jacking tests on calcretes

There are problems in determining allowable bearing pressures on calcretes because of the variability of the material and the difficulty in laboratory testing of representative samples. A bilateral plate jacking test was selected, as an alternative to plate load tests in situ, for determining the modulus of deformation and the ultimate bearing capacity of various types of calcrete. A description is given of the method used and results are given from a job in Bophuthatswana where wetting up of the material caused a significant decrease in both the modulus and the bearing capacity.