Chapter 6: Compaction of Soil

• In the construction of highway embankments,

earth dams, and many other engineering
structures, loose soils must be compacted to
increase their unit weights.

• Compaction increases the strength characteristics

of soil, which increase the bearing capacity of
foundations constructed over them.
• Compaction also decreases the amount of
undesirable settlement of structures and
increases the stability of slopes of
embankments.
SOIL COMPACTION

- In general, is the densification of soil by

removal of air, which requires mechanical
energy.

- The degree of compaction of a soil is

measured in terms of its dry unit weight.
- When water is added to the soil during
compaction, it acts as a softening agent on
the soil particles.

- The soil particles slip over each other and

move into a densely packed position.
To decide if compaction is worthwhile, it
is necessary to know:

1. The natural state of compaction of the

soil,
2. The maximum compaction possible,
3. The proportion of the maximum
compaction which can be obtained on
the site.
- The dry unit weight after compaction first
increases as the moisture content increases.
(See Figure 6.1.)

Optimum moisture content – the moisture

content at which the maximum dry unit
weight is attained.

Proctor Compaction test – the laboratory test

generally used to obtain the maximum dry
unit weight of compaction and the optimum
moisture content.
Beyond a certain moisture content w = w2 figure 6.1, any
increase in the moisture content tends to reduce the dry unit
weight.
Standard Proctor Test

• In the Proctor test, the soil is compacted in a mold

that has a volume of 944 cm3( ft3).

• The diameter of the mold is 101.6 mm (4 in.).

• During the laboratory test, the mold is attached

to a base plate at the bottom and to an extension at
the top (Figure 6.2a).
- The soil is mixed with varying amounts of
water and then compacted in three equal
layers by a hammer (Figure 6.2b) that delivers
25 blows to each layer.

• The hammer has a mass of 2.5 kg (6.5 lb) and

has a drop of 30.5 mm (12 in.).
Figure 6.2 Standard Proctor test equipment: (a) mold;
(b) hammer;
• Figure 6.2c is a photograph of the laboratory
equipment required for conducting a standard
Proctor test.
• For each test, the moist unit weight compaction,
, can be calculated as

• Where: W = weight of the compacted soil in the

mold
1
V(m) = volume of the mold ( 944 cm3 , ft3 )
30
• For each test, the moisture content of the
compacted soil is determined in the
laboratory. with the known moisture content,
the dry unit weight can be calculated as
• The values of dry unit weight d can
be plotted against the corresponding
moisture contents to obtain the
maximum dry unit weight and the
optimum moisture content for the soil.

• Figure 6.3 shows such a plot for a silty-

clay soil.
• For a given moisture content w
and degree of saturation S, the
dry unit weight of compaction
can be calculated as follows.
• For a given moisture content, the
theoretical maximum dry unit weight is
obtained when no air is in the void spaces—
that is, when the degree of saturation
equals 100%.

Hence, the maximum dry unit weight at a

given moisture content with zero air voids
can be obtained by substituting S = 1
where zav = zero-air-void
unit weight.
• where zav zero-air-void unit weight.

To obtain the variation of zav with moisture

content, use the following procedure:

1. Determine the specific gravity of soil solids.

2. Know the unit weight of water (w).
3. Assume several values of w, such as 5%, 10%,
15%, and so on.
4. Calculate zav for various values of w.
Factors Affecting Compaction

1. Effect of Soil Type

2. Effect of compaction Effort

For a particular compactive effort, it has
been found that

1. when a soil has a low water content, it is

not possible to reduce the air voids very
much since there is insufficient water in the
voids to act as a lubricant enabling the
particles to pack closer together.
2. If the water content is high, it is
possible to reduce the few air voids
but, because of the presence of a large
amount of water in the voids, the dry
density will again be low.
3. Between these two extremes, there
is a water content known as the
optimum moisture content at which
the dry density reaches its
maximum.
4. As the compaction effort is
increased, the maximum dry unit
weight of compaction is also
increased.

5. As the compaction effort is increased,

the optimum moisture content is
decreased to some extent.
The compaction energy per unit volume used for the
standard Proctor Test
Standard Proctor Test (3 layers of compaction)
Mold
volume = 943.3 cm3
diameter = 101.6 mm
Hammer
weight = 2.5 kg
drop height = 304.8 mm
Modified Proctor Test

• With the development of heavy rollers and their

use in field compaction, the standard Proctor
test was modified to better represent field
conditions.

• This revised version sometimes is referred to as

the modified Proctor test (ASTM Test
Designation D-1557 and AASHTO Test
Designation T-180).
• For conducting the modified Proctor test,
the same mold is used with a volume of 944
cm3 (1/30 ft3), as in the case of the
standard Proctor
Test.
. However, the soil is compacted in five layers
by a hammer that has a mass of 4.54 kg
(10 lb).

• The drop of the hammer is 457 mm (18

in.). The number of hammer blows for
each layer is kept at 25 as in the case of
the standard Proctor test.
Figure 6.7 shows a comparison between
the hammers used in standard and
modified Proctor tests.

• The compaction energy for this type of

compaction test can be calculated as
2700 kN-m/m3 (56,000 ft-lb/lb3).
Figure 6.7 Comparison between
standard Proctor hammer (left)
and modified Proctor hammer
(right) (Courtesy of Braja M. Das,
Henderson, Nevada)
Modified Proctor Test (5 layers of compaction)
Mold
volume = 943.3 cm3
diameter = 101.6 mm
Hammer
drop height = 457.2 mm
weight = 4.54kg
Example:
A Proctor compaction test has been performed
on a soil that has Gs = 2.70. The test results
were as follows:

Mass of empty mold = 1.97 kg

Volume of mold = 0.000944 m3
1. Compute the maximum dry unit weight.
2. Compute the optimum moisture content
3. Compute the degree of saturation at the
optimum moisture content
Field Compaction Equipment
- most of the compaction in the field is done
with rollers. The four most common types of
rollers are:
1. smooth-wheel rollers
2. Pneumatic rubber-tired rollers
3. sheepsfoot rollers
4. vibratory rollers
Figure 6.17 Sheepsfoot roller (SuperStock/Alamy)
Figure 6.15 Smooth-wheel roller (Ingram Compaction LLC)
Figure 6.16 Pneumatic rubber-tired roller (Ingram Compaction
LLC)
Specifications for field compaction
- In most specifications for earth work,
one stipulation is that the contractor
must achieve a compacted field dry unit
weight of 90% to 95% of the maximum
dry unit weight determined in the
laboratory by either the standard or
modified proctor test.
Where: R = relative compaction.
• For the compaction of granular soils,
specifications sometimes are written
in terms of the required relative
density Dr or the required relative
compaction.
Determination of Field Unit Weight of
Compaction

Standard procedures for determining the

field unit weight of compaction:
1. sand-cone method
2. Rubber balloon method
3. Nuclear method
 Sand Cone Method ( ASTM Designation D-1556)

The sand cone device consists of a glass or

plastic jar with a metal cone attached at its top ( Figure
6.22) The jar is filled with uniform dry Ottawa sand.

Figure 6.22
Glass jar filled with Ottawa sand with
sand cone attached (Courtesy of Braja
M. Das, Henderson, Nevada)
• The sand cone device is illustrated in Fig.
9.1. The device consists of a sand
container, funnel, and sand.

Figure 9.1
• The sand must be a clean, dry, poorly
graded sand with a coefficient of uniformity
(Cu = D60/D10) less than 2.0, a maximum
particle size (D100) less than 2.0 mm, and
less than 3% by weight passing the #60
(250 μm) sieve.
 - The combined weight of the jar, the cone,
and the sand filling the jar is determined (W1)

In the field, a small hole is excavated in the area

where the soil has been compacted.
- If the weight of the moist soil excavated
from the hole ( W2) is determined and the moisture
content of the excavated soil is known, the dry
weight of the soil can be obtained as
 After excavation of the hole, the cone with
the sand-filled jar attached to its inverted and
placed over the hole (Figure 6.23).
Sand is allowed to flow out of the jar to fill
the hole and the cone.
• After that, the combined weight of the jar, the
cone, and the remaining sand in the jar is
determined (W4), so

a) Determine the w5 = weight of sand to fill

the hole and cone.
w5 = w1 – w4
b) The volume of the excavated hole can then be
determined:

where: wc = weight of sand to fill the cone only

d(sand) =dry unit weight of ottawa sand used
c) The dry unit weight of compaction made in
the field can then be determined as follows:

dry weight of the soil excavated from hole

d = volume of the hole(V)

𝑊3
d =
𝑉
Example: Laboratory compaction test results on a
clayey soil are listed in the table.

Moisture content (%) dry unit weight (KN/m3 )

6 14.80
8 17.45
9 18.52
11 18.9
12 18.5
14 16.9
Following are the results of a field unit weight
determination test on the same soil with the
sand cone method:

calibrated dry density of ottawa sand = 1570 kg/m3

Calibrated mass of ottawa sand to fill the cone = 0.545 kg
Mass of jar + cone + sand (before use) = 7.59 kg
Mass of jar + cone + sand (after use) = 4.78 kg
Mass of moist soil from hole = 3.007 kg
Moisture content of moist soil = 10.2%

Determine (a) dry unit weight of compaction in the field (b) relative
compaction in the field.
2. The relative compaction of a sand in the field is
92%. The maximum and minimum dry unit
weights of the sand are 16.2 kN/m3 and 14.6
KN/m3, respectively. For the field condition,
determine
a) dry unit weight
b) relative density of compaction
c) moist unit weight at a moisture content of
10%.
3. Specifications on a job required a fill using
borrow soil to be compacted at 95% of its
standard proctor test maximum dry density.
Tests indicate that this maximum is 19.5
kN/m3 with 12% moisture. The borrow
material has void ratio of 0.60 and a solid
specific gravity of 2.65.
a) Compute the dry unit weight of the
compacted soil.
b) Compute the wet unit weight of compacted
soil.
c) Compute the minimum volume of borrow soil
required to fill one cubic meter.