3/5/2016

Dr. R K MITTAL
Dept. of Civil Engineering
Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani

FIELD COMPACTION
EQUIPMENT

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FIELD EQUIPMENTS

A great variety of field compacting equipment is

available to the contractor.
No one particular type of compaction equipment
suits every soil.
Different types of equipment use different types
of forces to move different soil particles closer
together.
The main compacting forces are:
Pressure
Impact
Vibration

Soil Compaction in the Field:

5- Sheep foot Roller
1- Rammers

2- Vibratory Plates

6- Dynamic Compaction
3- Smooth Rollers

4- Rubber-Tire

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Pneumatic (or rubber-tired) roller

80% coverage under the wheel
Contact pressure up to 700 kPa
Can be used for both granular
and fine-grained soils.
Compactive effort: static weight
and kneading.
Can be used for highway fills or
earth dam construction.

Holtz and Kovacs, 1981

5

Sheepsfoot rollers
Has many round or rectangular
shaped protrusions or feet
attached to a steel drum
8% ~ 12 % coverage
Contact pressure is from 1400
to 7000 kPa

It is best suited for clayed soils.

Compactive effort: static weight
and kneading.

Holtz and Kovacs, 1981

6

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Tamping foot roller

About 40% coverage
Contact pressure is from 1400
to 8400 kPa
It is best for compacting finegrained soils (silt and clay).
Compactive effort: static weight
and kneading.

Holtz and Kovacs, 1981

7

Mesh (or grid pattern) roller

50% coverage
Contact pressure is from 1400
to 6200 kPa
It
is
ideally
suited
for
compacting rocky soils, gravels,
and sands. With high towing
speed, the material is vibrated,
crushed, and impacted.
Compactive effort: static weight
and vibration.

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VIBRATORY ROLLERS

Vibrators function by alternating the loading off

and on.
Vibratory compactors are commonly used with
granular soils.

Adequate vibration requires dead weight and

dynamic force with both adequate amplitude
(vertical distance) and frequency (time for
particles to move).

Vibratory Roller

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Vibrating drum on smooth-wheel

roller
Vertical vibrator attached
smooth wheel rollers.

to

The best explanation of why

roller
vibration
causes
densification of granular soils is
that particle rearrangement
occurs
due
to
cyclic
deformation
of
the
soil
produced by the oscillations of
the roller.
Compactive effort: static weight
and vibration.
Suitable for granular soils
11

Smooth-wheel roller (drum)

100%
wheel

coverage

under

the

Contact pressure up to 380 kPa

Can be used on all soil types
except for rocky soils.
Compactive effort: static weight

The most common use of large

smooth wheel rollers is for
proof-rolling subgrades and
compacting asphalt pavement.

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Selection of Compaction Equipment

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Soil compaction in the field

Rammers

19

Vibratory Plates

Soil compaction in the field

Rubber-Tire

Smooth Rollers

20

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Soil compaction in the field

Dynamic Compaction

Sheep foot Roller

21

Field Compaction by rollers

Smooth Wheeled Roller

Compacts effectively only to 200-300 mm;

therefore, place the soil in shallow layers (lifts)
22

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Field Compaction by rollers

Vibrating Plates

for compacting very small areas

effective for granular soils

23

Field Compaction by rollers

Sheepsfoot Roller

Provides kneading action; walks out after compaction

Very effective on clays
24

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Field Compaction by rollers

Impact Roller

Provides deeper (2-3m) compaction. e.g., air field

25

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