Soil Compaction

Excavation, grading and compaction

• Cut and fill to create level pads for buildings, highways,
parking lots……
• Highway and railroad projects require earthwork to
create smooth grades and alignments and to provide
proper surface drainage.
• Large residential developments in hilly areas often
include extensive earthwork, sometimes millions of
cubic meters for a single project that produce hundreds
of residential lots.
• The most impressive earthwork projects are earth dams,
which require very large volumes of carefully placed fill.
Seven Oaks Dam
The four-lane highway created by making a cut on the left side of
the photo and in the background, and a fill in the foreground
Typical cross-section through a proposal building site showing
locations of proposed cuts and fills
COES Science Building(IESB) (1)
COES Science Building (2)
COES Science Building (3)
 Changes in soil as it moves from it natural location to a
compacted fill (the volume of solids does not change during the
process)
 Soil Compaction (1)
• The process of increasing the density of a soil by
packing the particles closer together with a
reduction in the volume of air.
– Pack soil particles closer.
– Reduce the volume of air.
– Increase soil density.
• What is the objective of soil compaction?
– Increase strength.
– Decrease permeability.
– Decrease compressibility.
 Field compaction (2)
• Compaction is done by means of rollers, vibrators or
rammers through the application of pressure, impact,
vibration and kneading.
• Most of the compaction in the field is done with rollers.
• Smooth-wheel rollers
– Suitable for most types of soils except uniform sands and
silty sands.
– Relatively poor bonding between successive soil layers.
– Ground contact pressure ranges from 45-55 psi.
– 100% area covered by wheels.
– Used for subgrades and asphalt pavement.
Smooth steel-wheel roller preparing to compact an
asphalt pavement
 Field compaction (3)
• Pneumatic rubber-tired rollers
– Used for sandy or clayey soils.
– Several rows of four to six closely spaced tires.
– Compaction is achieved by combination of pressure and kneading action.
– Ground contact pressure up to 100 psi.
– Around 80% coverage.
• Sheepsfoot rollers
– Hollow steel drums with a number of round or rectangular shaped protrusions
(5~12 in2)
– Compaction is achieved by crushing, kneading and compacting soils.
– Very high contact pressure ranging from 200 to 1,000 psi, depending on the
drum sizes.
– 8%~12% coverage
– Best suited for cohesive soils.
Sheep’s foot roller
 Field compaction (4)
• Vibratory rollers
– More efficient to densify granular soils
– Vibrators attached to the three above-mentioned rollers to
provide vibratory effects.
• Portable compaction equipment
– The backfilling of small confined area, such as retaining
walls and small excavations
– Not large enough to accommodate the equipment
described earlier.
– Smaller equipment and more hand labor.
– Wacker vibratory compactor (Wacker Packer).
Vibratory roller
Portable soil compaction equipment
(too confined to accommodate large
equipment)
 Lift thickness
• The thickness of a lift (or layer) of soil to be compacted
measured before compaction, called the loose lift
thickness, or after compaction, called the compacted lift
thickness.
• The lift thickness should be small enough to ensure
uniform compaction of the soil in each lift.
• The lift thickness should not be too large because the
influence of a roller decreases with depth and because of
the associated costs.
• Typical lift thickness used in practice is 200 ~450 mm (8 to
18 in.)
 Theory of compaction
• Compaction is a function of four variables
– Water content
• A softening agent to make soil particles slip over each other
– Initial dry unit weight
– Soil type
– Compactive effort
• A measure of the mechanical energy applied to a soil mass
• In the field the number of passes or “coverage” of the roller
of certain type and weight on a given volume of soil
• In the lab, impact or dynamic, kneading and static
compaction
Role of water in the compacted soils
 How to relate the variables to the
compaction?
• Standard Proctor Test (for cohesive soils)
– Soil samples at different water contents
– Calculate the moist unit weight for each sample ϒ=W/V (mold,
1/30 ft3)
– Calculate the dry unit weight (ϒd = ϒm/(1+w(%))
– Draw ϒd vs. water content curve
• At a low water content, soils are stiff, hard to compact.
• At a high water content, more proportion of soil volume
occupied by water, the dry unit weight decreases.
• Optimum water content wopt at which a maximum value of
dry unit weight is obtained.
 The standard Proctor Test
• Proctor compaction test: laboratory
test used to obtain the maximum dry
unit weight of compaction and the
optimum moisture content
• Procedure:
• Soil is compacted in a mold that has a
volume of 944 cm3 (1/30 ft3); the
diameter of the mold is 101.6 mm (4
in.)
• The mold is attached to a baseplate at
the bottom and to an extension at the
top
 The standard Proctor Test

• Procedure (cont’d):
• Soil is mixed with varying amounts
of water and then compacted in
three equal layers by a hammer that
delivers 25 blows to each layer
• The hammer has a mass of 2.5 kg
(5.5 lb) and has a drop of 305 mm
(12 in.)
 The standard Proctor Test

For each test, the moist unit weight of compaction, γ, can be calculated as:

where W = weight of the compacted soil in the mold

Vm = volume of the mold [944 cm3 (1/30 ft3)]
For each test with the known moisture content, the dry unit weight can be
calculated as:

where w(%) = percentage of moisture content

The standard Proctor Test
 The standard Proctor Test

• The dry unit weight values can

be plotted against the
corresponding moisture
contents to obtain:
• The maximum dry unit
weight
• The optimum moisture
content for the soil
 The standard Proctor Test

– The theoretical maximum dry unit weight is given by:

w
zav 
1
w
Gs

– where Gs = specific gravity of soil solids

– γw = unit weight of water
– w = moisture content
– γzav = zero-air void unit weight (max dry unit weight)
 Derivation of the zero-air (S = 100%) void
unit weight (or S = 80%, etc.)
• Zero –air-void curve –fully saturated
– ( equation 6.3, page 161)
– Let S = 1, draw versus water content w curve,
which is the zero-air-void curve.
– Any dry unit weight-water content curve never
reach the zero-air-voids curve.
– Set S = 80%, draw versus water content curve,
which is the 80% saturation -water content curve.
 Example: A proctor compaction test
Data point No. 1 2 3 4 5

Mass of compacted soil + mold 3.762 3.921 4.034 4.091 4.040

(kg)

(Mc) Mass of can (g) 20.11 21.24 19.81 20.30 20.99

(M1) Mass of can + wet soil (g) 240.85 227.03 263.45 267.01 240.29

(M2) Mass of can + dry soil (g) 231.32 212.65 241.14 238.81 209.33

Mass of the compaction mold: 2.031 kg, Volume of mold: 9.44X10 -4 m3

• Sample calculations
• Following the same procedure to complete
rest of the calculations
Data point 1 2 3 4 5
No.

Moist unit 17.99 19.64 20.81 21.41 20.88

weight ϒm
(kN/m3)
Water content 4.5 7.5 10.1 12.9 16.4
w (%)
Dry unit 17.22 18.27 18.90 18.96 17.94
weight ϒd
(kN/m3)
• Select values in the range of test data and
compute the corresponding values of w for S
= 80% and 100% (Gs = 2.69)

ϒd (kN/m3) W (%)
@ S = 80% @ S = 100%
16.00 19.3 24.1
18.00 13.9 17.3
20.00 9.5 11.9

• The final results: (ϒd)max = 19.0 kN/m3, wo = 11.8%

 Sample calculations (test no. 1)
• Moisture content
– Mass of wet soil in the moisture can:
Wm = 240.85 – 20.11 = 220.74 g
– Weight of dry soil in the moisture can:
Ws = 231.32 – 20.11 = 211.21 g
– Weight of water in the wet soil:
Ww = 220.74 – 211.21 = 9.53 g
– The moisture content: w (%) = Ww/Ws = 9.53
g/211.21 g = 4.5%
 Sample calculations (test no. 1) (cont’d)
• Dry unit weight calculation
– Mass of wet soil in the mold:
Wm = 3.762 – 2.031 = 1.732 kg
– Moist unit weight :
= Wm/Vmold × g = 1.732 kg/ 9.44X10-4 m3 x 9.81 m/s2
=17.99 kN/m3
– Dry unit weight:
=
• Optimum water content zones
Desirable to begin the first test at a moisture content 4 to 5% below the
approximate optimum moisture content to avoid a large number of
compaction tests.

(Johnson and Sallberg 1962)

 How do these variables affect the
compaction?
• Water content (discussed)
• Compactive efforts (Take the standard proctor test as an example)
– Weight of hammer (from 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) hammer changes to 4.5 kg (10 lbs)
hammer
• Heavier hammer leads to higher value of maximum dry density and a lower value
of optimum water content.
– Number of blows (The number of hammer blows per each layer from 25 to
50, which increased the energy per unit volume)
• Increase in compaction effort leads to increase in the maximum dry unit weight.
• Increase in compaction effort leads to the decrease in the optimum moisture
content.
• Soil Type
– For the same compactive effort, in general, coarse-grained soils can be
compacted to higher dry density at lower optimum moisture content than
fine-grained soils.
 Field Compactive effort
• By varying the size and type of the roller, number of passes, and the lift
thickness, the contractor can devise a number of different compaction
procedures, and each with a different field compactive effort.
• Different compactive curves based on the compactive efforts of each
procedure can be created.
• Typical field compactive curves shown in the next slide.
• For a relative compaction CR ()= 95%, the contractor will easily achieve the
minimum dry density requirement by using an as-compacted moisture content
between wa and wc for the compactive effort corresponding to curve A.
• If the contractor uses a smaller compactive effort corresponding to field curve
B, the achievement of required compaction is very tough: only if the field
moisture content is exactly equal to wb.
• Required field compaction will never be achieved if the smaller compactive
efforts corresponding to field curve C is used regardless of what the field
moisture content is.
(Lab test)
 Field dry density tests
• Measure ϒd in the field after compaction to
assure quality of the compacted fill.
• Tests are performed immediately after the layer
is compacted. Rapid feedback is important to
give sufficient time to the contractor to rectify
any inadequate compacted zones before they
are buried by additional fill.
• A typical grading project requires dozens or
even hundreds of field density tests.
 Sand cone test (ASTM D1556)
• Prepare a level surface in the fill and dig a cylindrical hole
about 125 mm (5 in.) in diameter and about 125 mm (5 in.)
deep. Save all the soils that come out of the hole and
determine the weight, W.
• Fill the sand cone apparatus, with a special free-flowing SP
sand (Ottawa sand, similar to the that found in an hourglass.
Then determine the weight of the cone and the sand, W1.
• Place the sand cone over the hole, and then open the valve
and allow the sand to fill the hole and the cone.
• Close the valve, remove the sand cone from the hole, and
determine its new weight W2
 Sand cone test (cont’d)
• The volume of the hole, V, and unit weight of
the fill , ϒ, are
Nuclear density test (ASTM D2922)
• Performed using a device called the nuclear moisture-density
gauge.
• It emits gamma rays and detects how they travel through the
soil.
• The amount of gamma rays received back into the device
correlates with the unit weight of the soil.
• The moisture content measured using alpha particles in a similar
way.
• Both the unit weight and moisture content measurements
depend on empirical correlations, less accurate than the sand
cone method.
• Fast.
Nuclear density meter
 Relative Compaction

• CR >=90%
Typical Compaction Specifications
 Example
• Assume that the standard Proctor compaction
curve obtained shown below is the same as
the field compaction curve. Determine the
range of as-compacted moisture content
required to obtain a minimum relative
compaction of 95% based on the standard
Proctor test.