Loudette Claire N.

Dandoy July 20, 2010

BSCE-IV CE-43 (Soil Mechanics)

Experiment No. 6
Compaction Test

Objective:

To familiarize with the laboratory compaction test to obtain the moisture-

density relationship for a given compaction effort on a particular soil.

Equipments:

Compaction mold with base plate and collar Sample extruder

Compaction hammer Rubber mallet
10 to 12 moisture cans Sieve no. 4
Large mixing pan Steel straight edge

Discussion:

The standard compaction test (sometimes called Proctor test) consists of

taking 3 kg of soil, passing it through a no. 4 sieve, adding water and compacting it
into a 944 square centimeter mold in three layers with 25 blows per layer, using a
24.5 N compaction hammer dropping 0.305 m onto the soil. Water content samples
are taken, more water is added, the soil thoroughly remixed, and the process of
compacting a mold of soil is repeated. This sequence is repeated a sufficient
number of times such that a curve of dry density versus water content can be
drawn which has a zero slope (a maximum value) with sufficient points on either
side of the maximum density point to adequately define its location. The maximum
ordinate value is termed maximum density, and the water content at which this dry
density occurs is termed the optimum moisture content (OMC).

Soil compaction is generally the cheapest method in soil stabilization. Soil

stabilization is improving the undesirable physical properties of a soil to achieve the
desired shear strength, structure, and void ratio. There are many methods of
stabilizing soil using chemicals such as lime, lime-fly ash admixtures, cement, and
phosphoric acid compounds, but these methods are usually more expensive and
may still utilize compaction methods in addition to the admixture since its
incorporation into the soil mass may disturb the soil considerably.

Generally, the compaction effort imparts to the soil an increase in shear

strength, increase in swell potential, increase in density, decrease in shrinkage,
decrease in permeability, and decrease in compressibility. From this list of soil
properties affected by compaction, it can be seen that there is more to the problem
of specifying compaction than merely requiring compaction to increase density.

In order to obtain a gradual increase in moisture content for every repetition

in compaction, our group initially added in 50mL of water into our air-dried soil
sample. For the succeeding tests (4th to 6th trial), we added 25mL of water into the
soil before compaction. This ensures that our group can better notice the maximum
density of the sample.

Procedure:
Loudette Claire N. Dandoy July 20, 2010
BSCE-IV CE-43 (Soil Mechanics)

1. Take 3 kg of air dried, pulverize sufficiently to run through the no. 4 sieve,
and then mix with small amount of water.
2. Weigh the compaction mold but do not include collar base plate.
3. Apply the standard compaction method by dropping 25 times per layer of the
soil. Compaction mold should be filled with soil in 3 layers.
4. Carefully strike both the top and base of the compacted cylinder of soil with a
steel straightedge. Fill in any holes in the compacted specimen with either
soil or gravel which is smaller than the hole where the smoothing process
removes the pebbles or soil. Redo the test if compaction mold is not filled
with soil after the third layer.
5. Weigh the mold and cylinder of soil.
6. Extrude the cylinder of soil from the mold, split it, and take 2 water-content
samples – one near the top and the other near the bottom – of as much as
the moisture cans will hold.
7. Break the sample and add more water. Carefully remix and repeat steps 3 to
6 until, based on wet weights, a peak is followed by two slightly lesser
compacted weights.
8. Oven dry the samples and compute the average water-content for each test.
Use this average value to compute the dry unit weight of the soil in each test.
Use the formula

Dry unit weight = (wet unit weight) ÷ (1 + water content)

9. Make a plot of dry weight versus water-content. Determine the maximum dry
unit weight and the optimum moisture content.

Experiment Data and Results:

Diameter of mold = 10.2 cm = 0.102 m

Height of mold = 11.5 cm = 0.115 m
Volume of mold = πr2h = π(0.051)2(0.115) = 0.0009397 m3

Water Content Determination

Test No. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Can no. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Wt. of can
0.08 0.07 0.04 0.05 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.08 0.09 0.10
+ wet soil 0.05 0.06
2 2 8 4 8 2 2 4 6 2
(kg)

Wt. of can
0.07 0.06 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.04 0.05 0.07 0.08
+ dry soil 0.06 0.07
2 4 4 8 4 2 4 2 8 4
(kg)

Wt. of
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01
water in 0.01
8 4 6 6 6 8 8 2 4 8 8
soil (kg)
Loudette Claire N. Dandoy July 20, 2010
BSCE-IV CE-43 (Soil Mechanics)

Wt. of can 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01 0.01
(kg) 8 6 8 8 6 6 8 8 8 8 8 8

Wt. of dry 0.05 0.04 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.02 0.03 0.04 0.05 0.06
0.03 0.06
soil (kg) 4 8 6 8 6 6 4 2 2 6

Water 18.5
16.6 15.3 21.4 23.0 30.7 23.5 28.5 26.9 27.2
content 1851 20 30
6667 8462 2857 7692 6923 2941 7143 2308 7273
(%) 85

Unit Weight Determination

Test No. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Ave. water 17.592 17.692 22.252 27.149 27.747 28.636

content 5926 31 75 32 25 36

Wt. of soil +
3.629 3.685 3.77 3.827 3.742 3.714
mold

Wt. of mold 1.875 1.875 1.875 1.875 1.875 1.875

Wt. of soil in
1.754 1.81 1.895 1.952 1.867 1.839
mold

18310. 18895. 19782. 20377. 19490. 19198.

Wet unit wt.
8865 5 86 91 55 24

15571. 16181. 16026. 15257. 14924.

Dry unit wt. 16055
4625 93 75 12 43

Dry Unit Weight vs. Moisture Content

Maximum dry unit weight=16.37 kNm3

Optimum dry unit weight=22.5%

Sample Calculations:

Water Content Determination:

Weight of water in soil=wt. of can+wet soil-wt.of can+dry soil=0.082-0.072=0.01

kg
Weight of dry soil=wt.of can+dry soil-wt.of can=0.072-0.018 kg
Water content, ω=wt.of waterwt.of dry soil×100%=0.010.054×100=18.519%
Average ω=ω1+ω22=18.519+16.6672=17.593%
Loudette Claire N. Dandoy July 20, 2010
BSCE-IV CE-43 (Soil Mechanics)

Unit Weight Determination:

Weight of soil in mold=wt.of soil+mold-wt.of mold=3.692-1.875=1.754 kg

Wet unit weight=weight of soil in moldvolume of
mold=1.7549.810.0009397=18,310.886 Nm3
Dry unit weight, γd=wet unit weight1+ω100=18,310.8861+17.593100=15,571.408
Nm3

Conclusion:

Soil has its properties. In this experiment, its density is tested through
compaction. At its maximum density, the optimum moisture content is attained. In
the graph, the maximum density is the highest point of the trendline. Based on the
data, it is therefore concluded that after reaching this maximum density, soil can no
longer be further compacted. Compaction stabilizes the soil in order to improve its
properties into desirable ones for road and highway construction and also for
building constructions.