Proctor Compaction Test

Discussion:

1) What is the theory behind the relationship between soil compaction and moisture
content?

To investigate the relationship between the moisture content and the soil compaction, soil
is compacted in the mould at different water contents by applying equal amount of
compaction energy (Standard Proctor energy). If the dry unit weight of the soil is
obtained at different water contents, the plot of the dry unit weight vs, moisture content
will take a shape similar to the one shown below:

At low moisture contents, the compaction becomes less effective and as a result the dry
unit weight is low. When water is added to the soil during compaction, it acts as a
softening agent on the soil particles. The soil particles slip over each other and move into
a densely packed position. As a result the dry unit weight after compaction first increases
as the moisture content increases. However, beyond a certain moisture content, any
increase in the moisture content tends to reduce the dry unit weight. This is because the
water takes up the spaces that would have been occupied by the solid soil particles. The
moisture content, at which the maximum dry unit weight is attained, is generally referred
to as the optimum moisture content. Water contents less than optimum are referred to as
dry of optimum and those more than optimum are referred to as wet of optimum. The
testing procedure used to obtain the maximum dry unit weight and the optimum moisture
 content is referred to as Proctor compaction test.

In clay soils the theory behind the relationship between soil particles is different.

Clay particles have a flaky shape and they are electrically charged and carry a net
negative charge in them. Generally the faces of these clay particles are negatively
charged, whereas, the ends are positively charged. Clay particles usually form two types
of structures, namely, flocculated structure or dispersed structure. If the charge on the
clay particles are not neutralized by the bi-polar water molecules or other cations, the
positively charged edges will be attracted to the negatively charged faces of the clay
particles to form an open card-house type of an arrangement, as shown in Figure 4,
termed as flocculated structure. On the other hand, when the electrical charges carried by
the clay particles are somewhat neutralized by bi-polar water molecules or cations, the
clay particles are surrounded by a thicker layer of absorbed water. Under such conditions,
the clay particles can form a dispersed structure with near parallel orientation as shown in
Figure 5.

Figure 4 - Flocculated structure. Figure 5 - Dispersed structure.

The structure of the compacted fine grained soils with water content can be illustrated as
shown below.
 Consider a soil at low moisture content with a water content of wB as shown in the above
Figure. The small quantity of water present in the soil is not sufficient to form a thick
absorbed water layer surrounding the clay particles to neutralize the electrical charge of the
clay particles. Therefore, when the soil is compacted, the clay particles are pushed close to
each other and the negatively charged faces of the clay particles attract the positively
charged edges to form a flocculated structure.

When little bit more water is added to the soil prior to compaction, say wC, in the above
Figure, a thicker adsorbed water layer than at B will be formed surrounding the clay
particles. The particle faces are negatively charged but not as much as they were at w B.
Once subjected to compaction stresses, most particles get aligned in a face-to-end
configuration but some get pushed into face-to-face arrangement as well since the face-to-
end contacts are not as strong as at wB. The resulting structure is still flocculated but
neither is it quite as open as at wB nor are the particle contacts quite as strong as at wB. The
dry unit weight that is obtained at wC is as such greater than at wB.

This trend will continue with addition of more and more water resulting higher and higher
dry unit weight with structures which are less and less flocculated. However, after the
optimum moisture content, the adsorbed water layer surrounding the clay particles are well
developed and most of the electrical charges on clay particles are neutralized. During the
compaction process these well developed adsorbed water layers surrounding the particles
interfere with each other and prevent particles from coming close to each other to assume a
dense packing. The energy supplied by the compaction process gets dissipated in futile
bumping of one adsorbed layer with another. The compacted soil so produced has a low
dry unit weight and form a dispersed structure with parallel alignment of particles.

2) Discuss the purpose of introducing the Modified Proctor Compaction test for resent
road construction.

With the development of heavy rollers and their use in field compaction, the standard
Proctor test was modified to better represent the compaction effort used in field
compaction of soils.

If the compactive effort is increased using a heavier hammer falling over a larger height
compacting the soil in the mold with five number of layers, such compaction test
procedure is referred to as the Modified Proctor Compaction Test. The moisture content
vs dry unit weight relationship generally observed for standard and modified Proctor
compaction testing of the same soil type is shown in the following Figure.

It is evident from the above Figure that the maximum dry unit weight is increased and the
optimum moisture content is reduced when the compactive effort is increased. It is also
noticed that an increased in the compactive effort produces a very sizable increase in dry
unit weight for soil when it is compacted at water contents drier than optimum water
content (C to D in the above Figure). On the other hand, when soil is compacted wet of
the optimum water content, an increase in the compactive effort produces only a small
increase in the dry unit weight (E to F in the above Figure).
By considering the above facts the Modified Proctor Compaction test is better to used for
resent road construction and therefore it was introduced.