Field moisture-density relationships of soil compacted using heavy vibratory soil compactor

A high degree of soil compaction during the construction of fill/embankment and subgrade of roads increases the stability of pavement structures and decreases the possible settlement and permanent deformation of the road after construction. Greater densities achieved in soil layers results in reduction of maintenance cost and increase in the service life of the pavement. High compactive effort also results in reduction of optimum moisture content and saving substantial quantity of water used during construction of fill and subgrade, which is very significant in arid areas with scarcity of water. An attempt was made to carry out compaction studies on locally available soil using heavy soil compactor and compare its compaction efficiency with other roller types and in the process some of the useful results, that is to say, number of passes to achieve the desired degree of compaction, optimum compacted layer thickness, variation of density with the depth of compacted layer, etc. have been determined.