Proctor Compaction Test

Observation:

 The test is repeated, using the same soil after adding some water until the wet density of
the soil in the mold is lower than for the previous moisture content.
(Observations are given in Annex-1.)
Calculations and result:

 The bulk density, ρ in kg/m3 of each compacted specimen shall be computed from the
equation;

ρ = M2 – M1
V

Where;
M1 is the weight of the mold and base, in kg
M2 is the weight of mold, base and soil, in kg
V is the volume of the mold in m3

 Moisture content can be obtained from the equation;

w = M4 – M5
M5 – M3

Where;
w is the moisture content of the soil as a fraction
M3 is the weight of an empty can
M4 is the weight of the moist soil obtained from the extruded sample with container
M5 is the weight of oven dried sample

 Dry density can be obtained using the following relationship;

ρdry = ρwet
1+w
100
Where;
ρwet is the wet density

The dry densities ρdry, obtained in a series of determinations is plotted against the corresponding
moisture content, w. A smooth curve is drawn through the resulting points and the position of the
maximum on this curve is determined. Thus the maximum dry density and the corresponding
water content is obtained from the graph (Annex-1).

Specimen Calculation

Consider sample 1 (Trial number 1)

Mass of the compacted soil inside the mold = 5.618 – 4.074 = 1.544 kg
Volume of the mould = 944 cm3
Bulk density of the soil = 1.544 / (944 x 10-6)
= 1635.59 kg/m3
Moisture content sample 1 (Trial number 1)
Moisture content = Mass of water/ mass of dry soil
= (117.74 – 112.14) / (112.14 – 9.64)
= 0.0546

Dry Density =1635.59 / (1 + 0.0546)

= 1550.91 kg/m3