Transport Infrastructure

Construction Materials & Design

Dr H Khalid
MODULE SPECIFICATION
On VITAL
http://tulip.liv.ac.uk/mods/vital/vital_CIVE351_201415.htm

Always check VITAL for very important information

REFERENCES

O'Flaherty, "Highways: the location, design, construction and

maintenance of pavements", 4th Ed. 2001, Butterworth-
Heinemann (£29.95). See e-version via HCL!
Domone & Illston, “Construction Materials – their Nature & Behaviour”,
4th Ed. 2010, Spon, Part 4 (£27.99).
Thom, "Principles of Pavement Engineering", 2008, Thomas Telford (£?)
Jackson & Dhir, "Civil Engineering Materials", 5th Ed. 1996, Macmillan
(£27).
Rogers, "Highway Engineering", 2nd Ed. 2008, Blackwell [Chapter 8]
(£24.95).
Millard RS (TRL), "Road Building in the Tropics", 1993, HMSO (£30).
Read & Whiteoak "The Shell Bitumen Handbook", 5th Ed. 2003, Thomas
Telford (£?)
Hunter, "Bituminous Mixtures in Road Construction", 1994, Thomas
Telford (£?).
TERMS OF REFERENCE
Roads;
Airfields;
Railways;
Others.

Focus on

Material properties and their design

British (or European EN) Standards relevant to subject

Use of computer packages in evaluation of material

properties
Hands-on laboratory experiments

 Appreciation of important aspects, e.g. Health & Safety and

environmental impacts and mitigation
SOIL COMPACTION & MOISTURE
Reading
o Handouts (see VITAL)
o Basic soil mechanics background, e.g. topics covered in Year
2 SM syllabus in (recommended) Barnes and/or Smith &
Smith textbooks
o O’Flaherty’s Book: pages 80 - 82; 104 - 107.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
o O’Flaherty’s Book: pages: 278 – 286;
• 10.5 Specification
• 10.6 Equipment

o O’Flaherty’s Book: pages:295 – 298

• 10.9 Subgrade Preparation
 Main Source of Info (download)
 http://www.standardsforhighways.co.uk/dmrb/

 Use this web site to download any document of the

Design Manual of Roads & Bridges (DMRB), e.g.
HD25/94, Section 2, Volume 7;
(now superseded by)
 Interim Advice Note (IAN), e.g. IAN73/06 (HD25/94) -
Design of Pavement Foundations.

 Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works

(MCHW), e.g. Series 600, 800, 900, etc;
Types of Pavement Construction
 Flexible Construction
Collectively
referred to as
‘Surfacing’
Surface course
Binder course
Base

Subbase

Foundation Capping

Subgrade
Load intensity decreases with depth; rate of decrease
depends on layer properties
 Rigid Construction

Reinforcement
(if available)
Surface course (asphalt)

Pavement Quality Concrete

Subbase
Capping
Foundation
Subgrade
PQC takes up all the load; load distributes evenly
on slab
Railway Pavement
Subgrade Preparation
 Subgrade Compaction

Soil Compaction – definition (see background handouts –

No. 1 - on VITAL)

Short-term (expulsion of air) cf. Consolidation which is a

long-term phenomenon (expulsion of water).
Components in a Typical Soil element
Air

Moisture m
B Soil
D Particles 1

B 1 m

D 1
B
D 
1 m
Subgrade Compaction
Main Effects of Compaction
 Increased shear strength (recall from S.M.!)
 Reduced compressibility (from S.M.!)
Reduced permeability (from S.M.!)
 Increased volume stability
 Increased erosion resistance
 Subgrade Compaction
Field Compaction
 Rollers (dead weight)

 Rammers (tamping)

 Vibratory rollers
Roller

Rammer (tamping)
Vibratory rollers
 Subgrade Compaction
Laboratory Compaction
BS1377 Part 4: 1990 – Proctor Hammer

Light Compaction: 2.5kg; 300mm drop; 3

layers; 27 blows/layer

Heavy Compaction: 5kg; 450mm drop; 5

layers; 27 blows/layer

Optimum Moisture Content (OMC) may or may

not be the most suitable for construction, since
if it differs from natural moisture content of
the soil, it will require either mechanical
aeration or wetting.
Subgrade Compaction
Equilibrium Moisture Content – is the moisture
content that will not change significantly
during the life of the road and is the ideal m.c.
at which the soil should be compacted.

Practically assumed to be the same as natural

m.c. of the soil measured at a depth
unaffected by seasonal variations.
Subgrade Compaction
Development of Specifications
There are 2 approaches:
1. End Product
Specify range of moisture contents for
compacting the soil and dry density to be
achieved.
Use is made of “Relative Compaction”
requirement. It is customary that soils be
compacted to 90 or 95% of Maximum Dry
Density (MDD), as per BS1377.
Subgrade Compaction
Disadvantages:

MDD depends on type and grading of

each material, therefore, each type of
material encountered needs testing and
control.
No moisture content control in relation
to specified dry density – see figure!
Subgrade Compaction
Subgrade Compaction
Alternatively, specify Maximum Air Void
Content of the compacted soil; e.g. 90%
probability samples have Dry Density at  10%
air voids in main body of embankment and  5%
in top 1m.

where a = air void content (%)

G = Specific Gravity of soil Particles
 Subgrade Compaction
2. Method Specification
Match plant and material to obtain thickness of layer and
number of passes required. See Table 6/4 in Series 600 of
Manual of Contract Documents for Highway Works
(MCHW). Also check out Tables 6/1 & 6/2 in Series.

On VITAL:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/ha/standards/mchw/vol1/pdfs/series_0600.pdf

Always check VITAL for very important information

Subgrade Compaction
 Subgrade Compaction
Field Measurement of Density & Moisture Content (BS1377)
1. Core Cutter: used for soft cohesive soils free from stones. A
100mm internal diameter cutter of known weight and volume is
driven into the soil and then dug out. Sample is trimmed flush with
ends of the cutter and weighed for its bulk density B. See
sketch in Fig. 1.

2. Sand Replacement: A hole of approx. 100mm diameter (200mm for

coarse grained soils) is excavated to the depth of the layer to be
tested and the material removed is weighed. Volume is determined
by filling the whole with sand (dry, densely graded) passing 600mm
retained on 300mm BS sieve, of known B; weight is obtained by
difference. See sketch in Fig. 2.
Subgrade Compaction
 Nuclear moisture/density gauge

A source of neutrons emits rays that collide with hydrogen

atoms in moisture, with detector counting reflected neutrons.
 Summary
 Definition of compaction.
 Field compaction; lab compaction; effects of
compaction; factors affecting compaction; OMC
(EMC) & MDD.

 Development of specifications.
 Two methods: end product (RC & m.c. Range) &
method spec.; typical compaction curve; ZAVL &
determination of voids lines; Series 600 MCHW vol. 1.

 Measurement & control of field compaction.

 Core Cutter and Sand Replacement methods.
 Tutorial problems on this for you to attempt (on
VITAL).