• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.19 no.11
• /
• pp.5-14
• /
• 2018

Worldwide, soil compaction work is one of the most important activities that are carried out on civil engineering works sites. Compaction work, particularly in the area of road construction, is considered to be important, as poor compaction work is closely related with poor construction even after a construction is complete. Currently, the plate bearing test or the sand cone method relative to the unit weight of soil test are commonly used to measure the degree of compaction, but as these require a great deal of time, equipment and manpower, it is difficult to secure economic efficiency. The method that is used to measure the degree of compaction according to the penetration depth achieved by free fall objects through gravity is the Free-Fall Penetration Test (FFPT), which uses a so-called "portable compaction measuring meter (PCMM)." In this study, the degree of compaction was measured and a penetration depth graph was developed after the field test using the portable compaction measuring meter. The coefficient of determination was 0.963 at a drop height of 10 cm, showing the highest level of accuracy. Both horizontal axis and longitudinal axis were developed in a decimal form of graph, and the range of allowable error was ${\pm}1.28mm$ based on the penetration depth. The portable compaction measuring meter makes it possible to measure the degree of compaction simply, quickly and accurately in the field, which will ensure economic efficiency and facilitate the process management.

• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
• /
• v.20 no.2
• /
• pp.41-48
• /
• 2019

Soil compaction is one of the most important activities in the area of civil works, including road construction, airport construction, port construction and backfilling construction of structures. Soil compaction, particularly in road construction, can be categorized into subgrade compaction and roadbed compaction, and is significant work that when done poorly can serve as a factor causing poor construction due to a lack of compaction. Currently, there are many different types of compaction tests, and the plate bearing test and the unit weight of soil test based on the sand cone method are commonly used to measure the degree of compaction, but many other methods are under development as it is difficult to secure economic efficiency. For the purpose of this research, a portable penetration meter called the Free-Fall Penetration Test (FFPT) was developed and manufactured. In this study, a homogeneous sample was obtained from the construction site and soil was classified through a sieve analysis test in order to perform grain size analysis and a specific gravity test for an indoor test. The principle of FFPT is that the penetration needle installed at the tip of an object put into free fall using gravity is used to measure the depth of penetration into the road surface after subgrade or roadbed compaction has been completed; the degree of compaction is obtained through the unit weight of soil test according to the sand cone method and the relationship between the degree of compaction and the depth of the penetration needle is verified. The maximum allowable grain size of soil is 2.36 mm. For $A_1$ compaction, a trend line was developed using the result of the test performed from a drop height of 10 cm, and coefficient of determination of the trend line was $R^2=0.8677$, while for $D_2$ compaction, coefficient of determination of the trend line was $R^2=0.9815$ when testing at a drop height of 20 cm. Free fall test was carried out with the drop height adjusted from 10 cm to 50 cm at increments of 10 cm. This study intends to compare and analyze the correlation between the degree of compaction obtained from the unit weight of soil test based on the sand cone method and the depth of penetration of the penetration needle obtained from the FFPT meter. As such, it is expected that a portable penetration tester will make it easy to test the degree of compaction at many construction sites, and will lead to a reduction in time, equipment, and manpower which are the disadvantages of the current degree of compaction test, ultimately contributing to accurate and simple measurements of the degree of compaction as well as greater economic feasibility.