Solutions to class examples on compaction

Class Example 1
Calculate the compactive effort for the two tests given in the table below.

Std. Proctor Mod. Proctor

Diam. of mould (mm) 101.6 101.6
Vol. of mould (cm3) 943.3 943.3
Weight of hammer (N) 24.4 44.5
Height of hammer drop (mm) 304.7 457.2
No. of hammer blows per layer 25 25
No. of layers of compaction 3 5

Solution

Compaction energy per unit volume is given by:

In calculations below, first we convert volume to units of mm3.

This enables us to express 'Energy per unit volume' in MPa.
This is just for convenience though, you can express it in whichever units you like.

Std. Proctor Mod. Proctor

Volume of moulds in mm3: 943300 943300
Energy per unit volume (N*mm/mm3 = N/mm2 = MPa) 0.591 2.70

The problem statement does not specify whether the answer should be the 'Energy per unit volume'
or the total energy that goes into the sample. Just to be sure, we can also calculate the total energy.

Std. Proctor Mod. Proctor

Total Energy (N*mm) 557601 2543175
ANSWER

ANSWER
Class Example 2
The following results were obtained from a Proctor test carried out on a soil intended for a low volume earth road.
Determine:
1. The maximum dry density
2. The optimum moisture content
3. Plot the zero air voids curve

Vol. of mould (cm3) Mass of wet soil (kg) Moisture content (%)
1000 1.66 10
1000 1.72 12
1000 1.8 14
1000 1.76 16
1000 1.7 18
1000 1.68 20

Solution

Gs 2.7 given
Density water ρw (kg/m3) 1000 common knowledge
Density solids ρs (kg/m3) 2700

1) For the first question (max dry density), we need to know the mass of solids in the sample.
Let's define: Ms = mass of solids, Mw = mass of water, w = water (or moisture) content, M = mass of wet soil (Mw +

w = Mw/Ms (basic definition which you must know by heart)

--> Ms*w = Mw --> Ms*w + Ms = Mw + Ms --> Ms (w+1) = M --> Ms = M/(w+1)
We can use last equation to compute Ms, and therefore the max dry density.

Now we expand the table given to us by adding some columns

Vol. of mould (cm3) Mass of wet soil (kg) Moisture content (%)
1000 1.66 10
1000 1.72 12
1000 1.8 14
1000 1.76 16
1000 1.7 18
1000 1.68 20

You can estimate the maximum dry density just by looking at the 'Dry density' values above. In this case the sugges
Sometimes you can improve your estimate by plotting water content vs dry density (in an assessment you can do th
This plot is shown below:

2200
2100
2000
y (kg/m3)

1900
1800
 2200
2100
2000

Dry density (kg/m3)

1900
1800
1700
1600
1500
1400
1300
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
water content (%)

In this case the plot doesn't really change my assessment of the max dry density, so I stick to my answer of 1579 kg
This is a bit subjective though, so if you were to say that the max dry density is actually 1600 kg/m3 (implying
that the curve goes up a bit more between w = 14% and w = 16%), that would also be fine.

2) The second question is trivial: the optimum moisture content (OMC) is simply the moisture content that correspo
Or between 14% and 16%, depending on how you answered part 1.

3) To plot the zero air voids curve, we use the equation below to expand our table once more. Of course in a real as
I just do that here for clarity of presentation in this spreadsheet environment.

But we adjust the equation slightly because we are working with densities (ρ = mass/volume), not unit weights (γ =

𝜌_𝑍𝐴𝑉=𝜌_𝑤/(𝑤+1/𝐺_𝑠 )

Vol. of mould (cm3) Mass of wet soil (kg) Moisture content (%)
1000 1.66 10
1000 1.72 12
1000 1.8 14
1000 1.76 16
1000 1.7 18
1000 1.68 20

And now we plot in a previous figure (again, in an assessment you would use the same figure to plot the zav curve):

2200
2100
2000
y (kg/m3)

1900
1800
 2200
2100
2000

Dry density (kg/m3)

1900
1800
1700
1600
1500
1400
1300
8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22
water content (%)
oil intended for a low volume earth road. The value of Gs was found to be 2.7.

olids in the sample.

ture) content, M = mass of wet soil (Mw + Ms)

Moisture content (decimal) Ms (kg) Vol. of mould (m3) Dry density ρd (kg/m3)
0.1 1.5090909091 0.001 1509
0.12 1.5357142857 0.001 1536
0.14 1.5789473684 0.001 1579
0.16 1.5172413793 0.001 1517
0.18 1.4406779661 0.001 1441
0.2 1.4 0.001 1400

nsity' values above. In this case the suggested maximum value is 1579 kg/m3.
ry density (in an assessment you can do this graph using graph paper or using a ruler).
density, so I stick to my answer of 1579 kg/m3.
ity is actually 1600 kg/m3 (implying
would also be fine.

simply the moisture content that corresponds to the maximum dry density: 14%

our table once more. Of course in a real assessment I wouldn't expect you to repeat the entire table.

s (ρ = mass/volume), not unit weights (γ = weight/volume).

Moisture content (decimal) Ms (kg) Vol. of mould (m3) Dry density ρd (kg/m3)
0.1 1.5090909091 0.001 1509
0.12 1.5357142857 0.001 1536
0.14 1.5789473684 0.001 1579
0.16 1.5172413793 0.001 1517
0.18 1.4406779661 0.001 1441
0.2 1.4 0.001 1400

use the same figure to plot the zav curve):

ρ_zav (kg/m3)
2126
2039
1959
1885
1817
1753
Class example 4

Using the curve obtained in class example 2 determine:

1. The range of moisture contents to achieve 95% compaction

Testing on site indicated the moisture content to be 14% and dry density to be 1550kg/m3. Determine:

2. The relative compaction

3. The relative density (Minimum density = 1400kg/m3)
4. The field degree of saturation given that the particle specific gravity, Gs = 2.65.

Solution
The relative compaction is defined in the notes as:

In example 2 we found that the maximum density is 1579 kg/m3.

So 95% compaction corresponds to a density of (kg/m3): 1500.05

Going back to the figure of example 2, we see that to achieve 1500 kg/m3, the minimum and maximum water cont
w_min (%) 10
w_max (%) 16.5
2200
2100
2000
Dry density (kg/m3)

1900
1800
1700
1600
1500
1400
1300
0 5 10 15 20 25
water content (%)

So the moisture content range is from 10% to 16.5%.

2) The relative compaction in the field is (%): 98

3) The relative density (Dr) is defined in the notes as:

So, Dr = 0.853667327
Or 85%
4) To find the saturation, we consider that for every 1 m3 of soil, we have:

Mass of solids (kg): 1550

Density of solids (kg/m3):
Volume of solids (m3):
Mass of water (kg):
Volume of water (m3):
Volume of voids (m3):
Saturation:
2650 Density of water times Gs
0.584906
217 Mass of solids times water content
0.217
0.415094 1 m3 minus the volume of the solids
0.52 So roughly half of the void are filled with water
50kg/m3. Determine:

nimum and maximum water contents are:

Ignore these cells,

used to plot red lines in figure.
x y
10 0
10 1500

0 1500
16.5 1500
16.5 0
Class example 5
Determine the in-situ dry density from the following results from the sand cone method:
Calibrated dry density of sand (kg/m3) 1570
Calibrated mass of sand to fill the cone (kg) 0.545
Mass of jar + cone + sand (before use) (kg) 8.61
Mass of jar + cone + sand (after use) (kg) 5.75
Mass of moist soil from hole (kg) 3.325
Moisture content of moist soil (%) 25.6

Solution
Following calculations for 'Sand cone method' given in class notes,
but using mass instead of weight:

M1 (kg) 8.61 Mass of jar + cone + sand (before use)

M2 (kg) 3.325 Mass of moist soil from hole
M3 (kg) 2.647293 Mass of dry soil from hole
M4 (kg) 5.75 Mass of jar + cone + sand (after use)
M5 (kg) 2.315 = Initial mass - final mass - mass to fill the cone
V(m3) 0.001475 Volume of hole
ρ_dry (kg/m3) 1795