Soil Compaction
FM 5-410
CHAPTER 8
Soil
Compaction
Soil compaction is one of the most critical components in the construction of roads, airfields, embankments, and foundations. The durability and stability of a structure are related to the achievement of proper soil compaction. Structural failure of roads and airfields and the damage caused by foundation settlement can often be traced back to the failure to achieve proper soil compaction. Compaction is the process of mechanically densifying a soil. Densification is accomplished by pressing the soil particles together into a close state of contact with air being expelled from the soil mass in the process. Compaction, as used here, implies dynamic compaction or densification by the application of moving loads to the soil mass. This is in contrast to the consolidation process for fine-grained soil in which the soil is gradually made more dense as a result of the application of a static load. With relation to compaction, the density of a soil is normally expressed in terms of dry density or dry unit weight. The common unit of measurement is pcf. Occasionally, the wet density or wet unit weight is used.
such as embankments, subgrades, and bases for road and airfield pavements. No other construction process that is applied to natural soils produces so marked a change in their physical properties at so low a cost as compaction (when it is properly controlled to produce the desired results). Principal soil properties affected by compaction include— Settlement. Shearing resistance. Movement of water. Volume change. Compaction does not improve the desirable properties of all soils to the same degree. In certain cases, the engineer must carefully consider the effect of compaction on these properties. For example, with certain soils the desire to hold volume change to a minimum may be more important than just an increase in shearing resistance. SETTLEMENT A principal advantage resulting from the compaction of soils used in
CHAPTER 8
Soil
Compaction
Soil compaction is one of the most critical components in the construction of roads, airfields, embankments, and foundations. The durability and stability of a structure are related to the achievement of proper soil compaction. Structural failure of roads and airfields and the damage caused by foundation settlement can often be traced back to the failure to achieve proper soil compaction. Compaction is the process of mechanically densifying a soil. Densification is accomplished by pressing the soil particles together into a close state of contact with air being expelled from the soil mass in the process. Compaction, as used here, implies dynamic compaction or densification by the application of moving loads to the soil mass. This is in contrast to the consolidation process for fine-grained soil in which the soil is gradually made more dense as a result of the application of a static load. With relation to compaction, the density of a soil is normally expressed in terms of dry density or dry unit weight. The common unit of measurement is pcf. Occasionally, the wet density or wet unit weight is used.
such as embankments, subgrades, and bases for road and airfield pavements. No other construction process that is applied to natural soils produces so marked a change in their physical properties at so low a cost as compaction (when it is properly controlled to produce the desired results). Principal soil properties affected by compaction include— Settlement. Shearing resistance. Movement of water. Volume change. Compaction does not improve the desirable properties of all soils to the same degree. In certain cases, the engineer must carefully consider the effect of compaction on these properties. For example, with certain soils the desire to hold volume change to a minimum may be more important than just an increase in shearing resistance. SETTLEMENT A principal advantage resulting from the compaction of soils used in