A Rapid Soils Analysis Kit
Abstract
The ability to determine the construction requirements for soil without the need to conduct laboratory testing is essential to performing a contingency design. Until now, only subjective field analysis techniques satisfied this requirement, and their results fail to provide tangible numeric data that can be used to determine moisture-density and California bearing ratio (CBR) design criteria. This report describes the rapid soils analysis kit (RSAK) developed during the period November 2003-May 2007 under the Joint Rapid Airfield Construction Program. The RSAK includes compact field test instruments that are easily transported to provide an immediate measure of soil moisture, grain size distribution (GSD), and plastic limit. An accompanying software program incorporates the numeric data generated from the soils kit, classifies the soil, and uses multiple regression routines based on a statistical analysis of a large database of soil properties to predict optimum moisture content and maximum dry density for the soil of interest. Built-in, higher order regression equations allow the user to visualize complete moisture-density curves for varying compaction energies as well as soaked and unsoaked CBR as functions of water content for the constructed condition of the soil. The moisture-density curve and CBR strength represent the critical data necessary to enable contingency design and construction of highways and airfields.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 2008
- Accession Number
- ADA484159
Entities
People
- Ernest S. Berney Iv
- Ronald E. Wahl
Organizations
- Engineer Research and Development Center