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Soil Compaction Question
Soil Compaction Question
0 QUESTION
1. What principles and process involved in soil compaction?
The objective of compaction is to achieve maximum possible dry density of the
compacted soil. The degree of compaction of soil is measured by its unit weight and
optimum moisture content.
2. Why does the dry unit weight of the moist soil first increase with an increase in
moisture content and then decrease?
At low water content, the soil is stiffs and particle offer resistance to come closer,
resulting in low dry density. As the water content is increased, water forms a
lubricating film around particles causing them to be compacted to a closer state of
contact resulting in higher dry density. The dry density increases with increase in the
water content until maximum dry density (MDD) is reached. At this stage, the soil
particles come to the closest possible state of contact. On increase of water content
beyond or exceed the optimum moisture content (OMC), the volume of soil does not
decrease further by compaction and water starts to occupy additional space causing an
increase in the volume of voids and the total volume,and resulting in a decrease in dry
density.
Tampers
Small hand-operated or machine-driven tampers can be used for compacting
small areas of cohesive soils. They are similar in principle to the rammers used
in laboratory compaction test and can be effectively and economically used
compared to other compaction equipment
4. In soil compaction test, if a test result exceeds 100%, should engineers accept the
result?
The result is acceptable. But as an engineer, they need to determine the load bearing
requirement of the specific soil and characteristic of the soil. However, over
compaction of soil may lead to reduction in soil strength parameters.