Evaluating Mechanical Properties of Earth Material During Intelligent Compaction

Compaction of earth materials for roadway construction is the primary activity to build embankment and to prepare subgrade, subbase, base, and stabilized layers of highways. Current standards of state highway agencies require contractors to build uniform material layers, without dependable means to continuously quantify and verify the degree of compaction. The implementation of intelligent compaction (IC) technology has the potential to provide continuous, real-time measurements for quality control/quality acceptance (QC/QA) of compaction. Specifically, Roller Integrated Compaction Monitoring (RICM) [i.e., IC or Continuous Compaction Control (CCC)] uses rollers equipped with sensors that record location and layer stiffness. Current IC technology depends solely on the roller measurement values (MVs), which represent a composite value of compacted layers within a zone of influence, approximately 1 m (3.3 ft) in depth. MVs are influenced by variation in layer thickness, moisture, layer stiffness, machine vibration, drum-soil interaction, etc. The inability to associate the contribution of these variables on MVs is an obstacle for implementing IC technology in construction acceptance. Overcoming this obstacle requires a better understanding of the mechanical properties of earth materials governing IC compaction. The objective of this research is to develop procedure(s) that measure the mechanical properties of earth materials to facilitate the adoption of dynamic and static compaction using IC technologies for field acceptance. Earth materials include unbound aggregates, and both coarse and fine grained soils.

• Record URL:
  http://apps.trb.org/cmsfeed/TRBNetProjectDisplay.asp?ProjectID=3888

Language

• English

Project

• Status: Active
• Funding: $500000
• Contract Numbers:

  Project 24-45

• Sponsor Organizations:

  Federal Highway Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590

  American Association of State Highway & Transportation Officials (AASHTO)

  444 North Capitol Street, NW, Suite 225
  Washington, DC  United States  20001

  National Cooperative Highway Research Program

  Transportation Research Board
  500 Fifth Street, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20001
• Project Managers:

  Reynaud, David

• Performing Organizations:

  University of Texas, El Paso

  El Paso, TX  United States  79968
• Principal Investigators:

  Nazarian, Soheil

• Start Date: 20150727
• Expected Completion Date: 20191231
• Actual Completion Date: 0
• Source Data: RiP Project 37531

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Aggregates; Compaction; Mechanical properties; Rolling; Soil mechanics; Soils; Stiffness; Subgrade (Pavements); Thickness
• Subject Areas: Construction; Geotechnology; Highways; Pavements;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01543194
• Record Type: Research project
• Source Agency: Transportation Research Board
• Contract Numbers: Project 24-45
• Files: TRB, RiP
• Created Date: Nov 12 2014 1:00AM