Question

** GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING **

Define relative compaction. How is it selected for an earthwork construction? How we can check the field density after compaction? How is the range of water content determined for the field compaction?

Answer 1

Relative compaction is measured in terms of the percent of maximum dry density achieved at the site for a given soil. The maximum dry density ia found for the soil used separately in the lab using Modified Proctor test. Once we have the MDD and OMC data with us, the relative compaction at the field can be measured by relating the achieved dry density at the field, to the MDD.

To achieve a relative compaction of a certain degree, the minimum amount of the dry density limit is set first, and then the OMC curve is used to find the corresponding water content range from dry side of the optimum to the wet side of optimum.