Soil Mechanics I Lectures

3rd Year
University of Sulaimani
College of Engineering
Water Resources Department
Academic Year 2024-2025

By:
Dr Nihad B. S. Baban
Professor

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 Soil Compaction
Compaction:
Is the application of mechanical energy to a soil to rearrange the
particles and reduce the void ratio.
Many types of earth construction, such as dams, retaining walls,
highways, and airport, require man-placed soil, or fill. To compact
a soil, that is, to place it in a dense state.
The dense state is achieved through the reduction of the air voids
in the soil, with little or no reduction in the water content.

Objectives of Compaction:
1. Decrease future settlements.
2. Increase shear strength.
3. Decrease permeability.

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 Soil Compaction
Purpose of Compaction
1. The principal reason for compacting soil is to reduce subsequent
settlement under working loads.
2. Compaction increases the shear strength of the soil.
3. Compaction reduces the voids ratio making it more difficult for water to
flow through soil. This is important if the soil is being used to retain
water such as would be required for an earth dam.
4. Compaction can prevent the build up of large water pressures that
cause soil to liquefy during earthquakes.
Factors affecting Compaction
1. Water content of the soil.
2. The type of soil being compacted.
3. The amount of compaction energy used.
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 Laboratory Compaction
Origin
The fundamentals of compaction of fine-grained soils are relatively new. R.R.
Proctor in the early 1930’s was building dams for the old Bureau of Waterworks
and Supply in Los Angeles, and he developed the principles of compaction in a
series of articles in Engineering News-Record. In his honor, the standard
laboratory compaction test which he developed is commonly called the proctor
test.

Purpose
The purpose of a laboratory compaction test is to determine the proper amount
of mixing water to use when compacting the soil in the field and the resulting
degree of denseness which can be expected from compaction at this optimum
water.

Impact compaction
The proctor test is an impact compaction. A hammer is dropped several times on
a soil sample in a mold. The mass of the hammer, height of drop, number of
drops, number of layers of soil, and the volume of the mold are specified.
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 Laboratory Compaction
Types of Laboratory Compaction
• Standard Proctor Test
Soil is compacted into a mould in 3-5 equal layers, each layer receiving 25
blows of a hammer of standard weight. The apparatus is shown in the next
slide below. The energy (compaction effort) supplied in this test is 595 kJ/m3.
The important dimensions are:
Volume of Mould Hammer Mass Drop of Hammer
1000 cm3 2.5 kg 300 mm

• Modified Proctor Test

The procedure and equipment is essentially the same as that used for the
Standard test except that 5 layers of soil must be used. To provide the increased
compaction effort (energy supplied = 2072 kJ/m3) a heavier hammer and a
greater drop height for the hammer are used. The key dimensions for the
Modified test are:
Volume of Mould Hammer Mass Drop of Hammer
1000 cm3 4.9 kg 450 mm
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 Compaction-Test Equipment
Standard Proctor test equipment

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Laboratory Compaction-Comparison
Standard Proctor Test Modified Proctor Test
12 in height of drop 18 in height of drop
5.5 lb hammer 10 lb hammer
25 blows/layer 25 blows/layer
3 layers 5 layers
Mold size: 1/30 ft3 Mold size: 1/30 ft3
Energy 12,375 ft·lb/ft3 Energy 56,250 ft·lb/ft3

Higher compacting energy

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 Laboratory Compaction

(dry)max
Dry unit weight

mopt

Moisture content
A typical compaction test result
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 Variables of Compaction
Proctor established that compaction is a function of four variables:
1. Dry density (d) or dry unit weight (d).
2. Water content (w).
3. Compaction effort (energy E).
4. Soil type (gradation, presence of clay minerals, etc).

Height of Number of
Weight of  drop of
 blows per  Number of
hammer layers
For standard hammer layer
E=
Proctor test Volume of mold

2.495 kg(9.81 m / s 2 )(0.3048 m)(3 layers)(25 blows / layer)

E=
0.944  10 −3 m3
= 592 .7 kJ / m3 (12,375 ftlb / ft 3 )
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Compaction Procedures and Results
Procedures
1. Several samples of the same soil, but at different water contents, are
compacted according to the compaction test specifications:

The first four blows

The successive blows

2. The total or wet density and the actual water content of each
compacted sample are measured:

Mt  Derive d from the known 

= , d =
Vt 1+ w and w
3. Plot the dry densities d versus water contents w for each
compacted sample. The curve is called as a compaction curve.

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 Compaction Procedures and Results
Results

Line of Zero air

Dry density d (Mg/m3)

Dry density d (lb/ft3)

optimums void
d max

Modified
Proctor

For calculation of
Standard
zero air void line:
Proctor
 Gs  w 
 dry =   wopt
 s
G m + 1  Water content w (%) 11
 Compaction Procedures and Results
The peak point of the compaction curve
The peak point of the compaction curve is the point with the maximum dry
density d max. Corresponding to the maximum dry density d max is a water
content known as the optimum water content wopt (also known as the optimum
moisture content, OMC). Note that the maximum dry density is only a maximum
for a specific compaction effort and method of compaction. This does not
necessarily reflect the maximum dry density that can be obtained in the field.
Zero air voids curve
The curve represents the fully saturated condition (S = 100 %). (It cannot be
reached by compaction).
Effect of soil type on compaction
The soil type-that is, grain-size distribution, shape of the soil grains, specific
gravity of soil solids, and amount and type of clay minerals present.

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 Relative Compaction (R.C.)
Relative compaction or percent compaction
d−filed
R.C. = 100 %
d max −laboratory

Correlation between relative compaction (R.C.) and the

relative density Dr
It is a statistical result
R.C. = 80 + 0.2Dr based on 47 soil
samples.
As Dr = 0, R.C. is 80

Typical required R.C. = 90% ~ 95%

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Field Compaction
Methods
(a) Sand cone method (a)
(b) Balloon method
(c) Oil (or water) method
(d) Core cutter method
(e) Penetration needle method (b)
(f) Radiation Technique method

Calculations (c)
•Know Ms and Vt
•Get d field and w (water content)
•Compare d field with d max-lab
and calculate relative compaction
R.C.

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