Soil Compaction

COSC 323: Soils in Construction

Question

The contractor, during construction of the soil embankment, conducted a sand-cone in-place density test to determine whether the required compaction was achieved. The following data were obtained during the test:

Weight of sand used to fill test hole and funnel of sand-cone device = 845 g. Weight of sand to fill funnel = 323g. Unit weigh of sand = 100 lb/ft3 Weigh of wet soil from test hole = 600g Moisture content of soil from test hole = 17%.

Based on the contract, the contractor is supposed to attain the 95% compaction. Will you approve the contractors work?

Compaction

Compaction expelling air from the void space

Consolidation extrusion of water

Increase soils shear strength Decrease in future settlement of the soil Decrease in its permeability
d

Effects of compaction

How to quantify use dry unit weight of soil

1 w wet unit weigh t w moisture content

Compaction

What does water do for compaction?

Lubricant Too much water lesser density Optimum moisture content (=maximum dry unit weight) best compaction
Target unit weight at the job site

How to use maximum dry unit weight?

Need to know how much the soil can be compacted.

Compaction Test

ASTM D 698

Standard Proctor Compaction Test Hammer: 5.5 lb Drop Height: 12in Modified Proctor Compaction Test Hammer: 10 lb Drop Height: 18in For higher value of dry unit weight

ASTM D 1557

Compaction Test

Dry out soil sample Add water to the soil sample Compact the soil sample in the compaction mold Measure wet unit weight () Measure moisture content (w) Calculate dry unit weight
d
1 w

Repeat 4 times with different moisture contents

Proctor Curve

Example

Condition
The combined weight of a mold and the specimen of compacted soil it contains is 9.0 lb. The molds volume is 1/35ft3 The molds weight is 4.35 lb. The specimens water content is 12%.

What is dry unit weight of the specimen?

Example

A set of laboratory compaction test data and results is tabulated as follows. Determine the soils maximum dry unit weight and optimum moisture content.
Determination Number Dry unit weight (lb/ft3) Moisture content(%)

1 112 5

2 115 10

3 115 15

4 113 20

5 109 25

What affects Compaction?

Moisture content Compaction effort

Compaction energy per unit volume (function of number of blows per layer)

For the stand proctor test: 12,400 ft-lb/ft3 For the modified proctor test: 56,000 ft-lb/ft3

Type of soil

Grain size distribution Specific gravity of solids Type and amount of clay materials

Compaction

Facts about Compaction

Maximum dry unit weight

Min: Organic soils (60lb/ft3) Max: Well-graded granular material (145 lb/ft3) Min: Granular material (5%) Max: Elastic silts and clays (35%)

Optimum moisture contents

Higher optimum moisture contents = Lower dry unit weight

Field Compaction

Compacted in layers

8 in. loose horizontal layer compacted to a thickness of 6 in.

Sprinkling or drying to control moisture content Scarifying to provide bonding between layers. Equipments

Tempers Limited in scope and compacting ability Rollers

Smooth wheel roller, Sheepsfoot roller, Pneumatic roller, Vibratory roller

Field Compaction

Smooth wheel roller

Provide a smooth finished grade Used for paving

Field Compaction

Sheepsfoot roller

Greater compaction pressure Effective for compacting fine-grained soil

Field Compaction

Pneumatic roller

Effective for compacting clayey soil and silty soils

Field Compaction

Vibratory roller

Effective for compacting granular materials: clean sands and gravels

Dynamic Compaction

When

Existing surface or near-surface soil is poor with regard to foundation support Both cohesive and cohesionless soils
Drop a very heavy (2~20 tons) weight onto the soil from a relatively great height (20 ~ 100 ft) Dropping weight randomly? a closely spaced grid pattern is selected.

For which soil?

How

Dynamic Compaction

Dynamic Compaction

How deep soil will be affected?

Approximate depth of influence of dynamic compaction (D)

D 0.5 Wh : cohesionle ss soil D Wh : cohesive soil D : Depth of influence of dynamic compaction (m) W : Weight (metric tons) h : height (m)

Dynamic Compaction

How many drops do we need?

Typically 5~10 drops Additional drops beyond 10 drops improves little

What about craters?

Need to be backfilled and compacted by other means

In-Place Soil Unit Weight Test

Destructive testing method

Sand-cone Rubber-balloon methods

Nondestructive method

Nuclear moisture-density apparatus

Soil

unit weight is inversely proportional to the amount of radiation that reaches the detector.

Speedy Moisture Tester

In-Place Test: Sand-cone method

Example

During construction of a soil embankment, a sand-cone in-place unit weight test was performed in the field.

Weight of sand used to fill test hole and funnel of sand-cone device = 867g Weigh of sand to fill funnel = 319g Unit weigh of sand = 98.0 lb/ft3 Weigh of wet soil from the test hole = 747g Moisture content of soil from test hole = 13.7%

Example 4-3
Weight of sand used in test hole Weight of sand to fill test hole and funnel - Weight of sand to fill funel 867g - 319g 548g 548 g / 453.6 g / lb 3 Volume of test hole 0 . 0123 ft 98.0lb / ft 3 747 g / 453.6 g / lb 3 Wet unit weigh t of soil in - place 133 . 9 lb / ft 0.0123 ft 3 133.9lb / ft 3 d 117.8lb / ft 3 1 w 1 0.137

In-Place Test: Rubber-balloon

In-Place Test: Nuclear Apparatus

Nuclear moisturedensity apparatus

Field Control of Compaction

Required percent of compaction

the required in-place dry unit weight = ----------------------------------------------------- x 100% the maximum laboratory dry unit weight

Minimum number of field unit weight tests required. Maximum thickness of loose lifts (layers) Methods to obtain maximum dry unit weight Methods to determine in-place unit weight

Example

Given

Soil from a borrow pit to be used for construction of an embankment gave the following laboratory results when subjected to the ASTM D 698 Standard Proctor test

Maximum dry unit weight = 118.5 lb/ft3 Optimum moisture content = 12.5%

The contractor, during construction of the soil embankment, achieved the following

Dry unit weight reached by field compaction = 117.8 lb/ft3 Actual water content = 13.7%

Required

Percent of compaction achieved by the contractor

Example

Solution

Percent of Standard Proctor compaction achieved In - place dry unit weigh t 100 Maximum laboratory dry unit weigh t 117.8lb / ft 3 100 99.4% 3 118.5lb / ft

Example

Given

A borrow pits soil is being used as earth fill at a construction project. The in situ dry unit weight of the borrow pit soil was determined to be 17.18 kN/m3 The soil at the construction site is to be compacted to a dry unit weight of 18.90 kN/m3 The construction project requires 15,000m3 of compacted soil fill.
Volume of soil required to be excavated from the borrow pit to provide the necessary volume of compacted fill.

Required

Example

Solution
Total dry weight required to furnish th e compacted fill Total dry weight of soil requred to be excavated from the borrow pit (18.90kN/m 3 )(15,000m 3 ) 283,500kN Volume of soil required to be obtained from the borrow pit 283,500kN 3 16 , 500 m 17.18kN/m 3

Example

Given

The in situ void ratio of a borrow pits oil is 0.72. The borrow pit soil is to be excavated and transported to fill a construction site where it will be compacted to a void ratio of 0.42. The construction project requires 10,000 m3 of compacted soil fill. Volume of soil that must be excavated from the borrow pit to provide the required volume of fill

Required

Example

Solution
e Vv Vs

f soil in the fill (Vv ) f 0.42 (Vs ) f (0.42)(Vs ) f (Vv ) f (Vs ) f (Vv ) f 10,000m 3 (Vs ) f 0.42(Vs ) f 10,000m 3 (Vs ) f 7,042m 3

Example

Solution

b soil in the borrow pit (Vv ) b 0.72 (Vs ) b (0.72)(Vs ) b (Vv ) b (Vs ) b (Vs ) f 7,042m 3 (0.72)(7,042m 3 ) (Vv ) b (Vv ) b 5,070m3 (V ) b (Vv ) b (Vv ) b 5,070m 3 7,042m 3 12,112m 3