CE 232 Geotech

Compaction test for soil

Laboratory # 4

Introduction
Standard compaction test for soil is carried out in order to determine the optimum moisture content of the
soil sample. In this test the densification of soil by removal of air voids and arrangement of particles
through mechanically compacting and adding water is carried out. Thus when all air voids are fully
displaced by the soil particles where adding of more water will result in no more compaction the soil is
said to reached its optimum moisture content. There for in this lab we are to determine the optimum
moisture content of a soil sample. This Laboratory experiment was carried out in the CE 232 geotechnical
laboratory, Civil Engineering Department, PNG University of technology.

Apparatus
- Mould
- Vennier caliper
- Compaction hammer
- Balance
- Plastic bags
- Six moisture containers

Procedure (As in AS 1289)

i. Using the dry soil passing 19 mm sieve we packed them into plastic bags of three 3 kilograms
(kg) and one of 7 kg and weigh them on the balance.
ii. We proceed on to the next step where we calculate the amount of water in grams needed for
each plastic bag of dry sample. According to the standard mass of soil which is calculated as
2967.0g, we multiply with the progressively increasing moisture content, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and
18 and thus we added it to the 3000grams of soil. This was done by placing the soil on the
balance and slowly adding water till we reached the required mass of wet soil (soil and
water). For instance the mass of soil + water for 3% moisture content water is 3089.01
Calculation; 3000𝑔 × 1.1% = 3.3𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠 → 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑑𝑒𝑓𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑒𝑡

3000𝑔 − 33.3 = 2967.0 → 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠

2967.0 × 3% = 89.01 → 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
3000𝑔 + (2967.0𝑔 × 3%) = 3089.01 → 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 + 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟
 iii. After computing the mass of water need for each plastic bag, we took the standard mould for
compaction and took its mass and volume by measuring with the venniacaliper.
iv. We then took the first plastic bag of 3% water content and started the compaction. The
compacting of soil in the mould was done in three layers by hammering with the standard
hammer where the standard blows per layer is 25 blows. After compacting, the mass of the
compacted soil with the mould was taken on the balance.
v. For the calculation of the moisture content, we loosen the screw of the mould and by tapping
the mould we removed the compacted soil and took a small portion into the respective
container and weigh it on the balance.
vi. Thus in the same manner, the other three bag of progressively increasing water content from
,(6-18%) was compacted and mass of the mould and the corresponding containers was taken.

Result
Number of layers = 3
Number of blows/layer = 25

Table 1. Result for dry density

Water added 89.01 178.02 1267.03 356.04 445.05 534.06
Increase in 3 6 9 12 15 18
moisture
content
1.mass of 6121.1 6261.8 6379.5 6449.1 6376.5 6432.5
compacted
soil + mould
2.mass of 4177.2
mould
3.mass of 1943.9 2084.6 2202.3 2271.9 2199.3 2255.3
compacted
soil.
4.Volume of 1002.02
mould
5.Wet 1.939 2.08 2.198 2.267 2.195 2.251
density
6.Dry 1.846 1.930 1.952 2.024 1.945 2.004
density

Sample calculation

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑚𝑝𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 = (1) − (2) 6121.1- 4177.2 = 1943.9 grams

(3) 1943.9
𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = = 1.939 𝑡/𝑚3
(4) 1002.2
5 1.939
𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦 = × 100 × 100 = 1.846
[(100 + 12)] [(100 + 5.168)]
Table 2.Computation of the moisture content

Container 226 CS 31 177 426 425 432

number
7.Mass of 282.3 192.3 304.5 433.4 498.1 463.2
wet soil and
container
8.Mass of 270.0 180.6 274.9 395.0 450.1 420.8
dry soil and
container
9.Mass of 32 29.7 38.2 74.3 75 75.1
container
10.Mass of 12.3 11.7 29.6 38.4 48 42.4
water
11.Mass of 238 150.9 236.7 320.7 375.1 345.7
dry soil
12.Moisture 5.168 7.753 12.505 11.974 12.797 12.265
content
Average 5.168 7.753 10.129 12.2395 12.3855
moisture
content

Sample calculation
Table 2. Calculation for Dry density

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 = (7) − (8) 282.3 − 270. .0 = 12.3 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙 = (8) − (9) 270.0 − 32.0 = 238 𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑚𝑠
10 12.3
× 100 = 5.168 % %
𝑚𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑢𝑟𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑡 = × 100 238
11
 Compaction curve plotting
2.04

2.02

1.98

1.96
dry density t/m^3

1.94

1.92

1.9

1.88

1.86

1.84

1.82
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
% Moisture content
 Discussion
According to the results obtained, as we increase the moisture content of the soil by adding water the
corresponding dry density of the soil increases until to a certain point and decreases from there. This
means that the air void in the soils are completely removed and there no more space for more compaction
and the soil rather loses its density at that point. Thus according to the graph, as the moisture content
increases from 5 % to 12% the dry density reaches its maximum value at a point where the dry density is
2.2 T/m^3 and after 12% and up the dry density seems to drop rapidly from 2.2T/m^3 down to 1.945.
As also during the experiment, the mass of the mould with water was lower at the final 18 % moisture
content where when we compacted the soil its particles seems to be slide past each other instead of
compressing. This means that, water acts as a lubricant allowing no more reduction of air voids since
voids between soils particles are taken over by water.

Therefore it can be said that the optimum moisture content depends on the density and which is
dependent on the amount of voids within the soil particles and the ability of the soils particles to
rearrange when the required minimum water content is reached.

Conclusion
In conclusion, despite some difficulty we encountered we were able to accomplish the aim of our
experiment in which we obtained an optimum moisture content of 12 %. Thus at 12 % the dry density,
density of the soil particle where any addition of water exceeding 12 % moisture content results in
decreasing density.
Reference
Ren, XC., Lai, YM., Zhang, FY. et al. KSCE J Civ Eng. (2015) 19: 2061.Test method for determination
of optimum moisture content of soil and maximum dry density. Retrieved from,
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s12205-015-0163-0
Standard Test Methods for Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil Using Modified Effort (56,000
ft-lbf/ft3 (2,700 kN-m/m3)) 1, American society for testing and Materials (ASTM).Retrieved from
https://www.astm.org/Standards/D1557.htm