Compaction Characteristics of Tropically Weathered Soils

Physical characteristics and moisture-d relationships differ widely with testing conditions. To overcome these difficulties it is recommended that the laboratory compaction procedure for tropical soils (particularly those exhibiting significant irreversible changes in the Atterburg limits during drying) should be that in which samples are compacted from the wet (natural moisture) state to the dry state and that the field compaction specification be in terms of the dry d corresponding to the field moisture content at which the soil is compacted, in accordance with the laboratory moisture-d curve established by the wet-to-dry procedure. Causes of the variations are discussed.