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Computerized Determination of The Preconsolidation Stress in Compaction Testing of Field Core Samples
Computerized Determination of The Preconsolidation Stress in Compaction Testing of Field Core Samples
Short Communication
Computerized determination of the preconsolidation
stress in compaction testing of field core samples
J.B. D a w i d o w s k i a, A.J. K o o l e n *'b
"Department of Agricultural Engineering, Szczecin Agricultural University, Szczecin, Poland
bDepartment of Soil Tillage, WageningenAgricultural University, Diedenweg20,
6 703 G W Wageningen, Netherlands
(Accepted 6 October 1993 )
Abstract
1. Introduction
When a soil has been compacted by field traffic or has settled owing to natural
causes, such as rain or an overburden, a threshold stress is believed to exist such
that loadings inducing smaller stresses than this threshold cause little additional
compaction, and loadings inducing greater stresses cause much additional com-
paction. Koolen and Kuipers (1989) have listed a number of published threshold
values, and discussed whether such values are real thresholds against further
compaction. Probably they are in the case of non-sandy materials, but not in the
case of disturbed sands. Recently, Horn and Lebert ( 1992 ) measured thresholds
of forest soils before and after deep tillage. In the literature, various names are
*Corresponding author.
1.10
1.02
0.94
g
0.8t5
0.78
0.70 , , 2",,
1.40 1.72 2.04. Do 2.36 2.68 3.00
log(stresa) [kPa]
2. S o l u t i o n s in the s p r e a d s h e e t
2. I. Data reduction
If desired, a reduced, new, set of void ratio-loga data pairs (cj, dj) can be de-
rived from the original void ratio-loga pairs (ai, bi) by
1
cj=~(a2j_l +a2j) ~=l(b2j_, + bzj) (1)
Z
f,+m - f /
FDj- " - - (3)
gi+l --gi
Second differences (SD) are then calculated as
SDj=FDj+ I - F D j (4)
The smallest radius of curvature of the void ratio-loga relationship occurs at the
stress value at which SDj is at a minimum (negative): at. The corresponding void
ratio is referred to as er. It may be necessary to apply a data filtering procedure
to the SDj values one or more times to eliminate possible fluctuations.
e - er - 1FDr (5)
log tr--log trr 2
where FDr is the tangent modulus of the filtered e-loga relationship in (trr, er).
We also used the filtered (e, loga) data to determine the (e, loga) pair (ev,
logav) where the absolute value of SD is at a minimum. We defined an extension
of the virgin semi-log curve as
e-ev
=FDv (6)
log it--log av
where FDv is calculated as a mean of five neighbouring values:
1
FD~ =~(FDv_2 +FDv_ ~+FDv +FDv+I +FDv+2) (7)
The stress ordinate of the point of intersection of the bisector and the extension
of the virgin curve is an estimate of the threshold stress.
The above procedures have been applied to a series of samples that were taken
from the rut of a tractor rear wheel formed in soil that was freshly cultivated by a
tine cultivator to a depth of 20 cm. Vertical wheel load was 12 kN and tyre infla-
tion pressure was 1 bar. The soil was a Wageningen silty clay loam. To avoid
J.B. Dawidowski, A.J. Koolen ~Soil & Tillage Research 31 (1994) 277-282 281
0.60
~ II II II
II
~ o.~2 r I II Ii II rl "LI
m -0.36 tilt i II
I! ii
il
-0.60 I I I I
120 1.56 192 22B 264 300
Iog(lltreals) [kPa]
Fig. 2. Relationship between log(stress) values and second difference ( E - 1 = 0.1 ) of void ratio val-
ues, calculated from the results of a uniaxial compression test.
Table !
Results of uniaxial compression testing of undisturbed field samples for two times of testing and two
compression speeds
Average SD Average SD
Water content (g 100g -~) 22.3 0.9 23.0 1.3 21.2 0.7
Precompaction stress trr (kPa) 98 21 143 38 140 14
Compression at trr ( m m ) 2.29 0.23 2.75 0.59 2.03 0.47
Void ratio erat trr 0.99 0.06 0.90 0.08 0.95 0.05
Porosity nrat trr (%, m 3 m -3) 49.8 1.4 47.2 2.2 48.7 1.3
Initial porosity (%, m 3 m -3) 52.1 1.5 50.1 2.3 50.7 1.4
Final porosity (%, m 3 m -3) 39.3 0.4 39.4 0.7 39.9 0.7
interaction with front-wheel effects, the tractor was steered to make a bend. Soil
samples were taken at the centre of the rut, between lug prints, from 3 to 10 cm
depth. Sampling used metal rings (height 5 cm, inner diameter 8 cm, wall thick-
ness 1.7 m m ) with a cutting edge at the lower side. Uniaxial compression testing
was performed in the laboratory at two compression speeds (200 and 400 mm
m i n - ~) and with two time periods between tractor rut formation and compres-
sion testing (3 h and 300 h). Figs. 1 and 2 present results from one sample. The
282 J.B. Dawidowski, A.J. Koolen ~Soil & Tillage Research 31 (1994) 277-282
SD-logtr relationship, which is not filtered, does not show a clear extreme value
of SD; therefore no (o'r, er) pair can be identified (Fig. 2 ). After filtering the (e,
logtr) data pairs and, subsequently, also the values of the SD, the trend in the
change of SD becomes clearer (Fig. 2). This approach allows identification of
(trr, er) and (av, ev). Fig. 1 is a graph of the solution, showing the e-logtr curve,
the tangent line through (trr, er), the bisecting line, the extension of the semi-log
virgin curve and the intersection point giving a threshold estimate.
According to our experience with the testing procedure described, the follow-
ing procedures may be used for data reduction and filtering: reduction of void
ratio-logtr data pairs; filtering of the reduced void ratio-logtr data pairs; filtering
of the SD-logtr data pairs as many times as necessary to obtain identifiable (aT,
er) and (ev, logav) pairs.
Table 1 summarizes the results for all samples. The threshold value appears to
increase with ageing, and with increasing speed in compression testing.
4. Conclusion
References
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