Professional Documents
Culture Documents
TOPICS
EAT 360
HIGHWAY AND TRANSPORTATION
ENGINEERING
MATERIALS AND PAVEMENTS
(Soil Engineering)
Soil characteristics
Basic engineering properties of soils
Classification of soils for highway use
Soil surveys for highway construction
Soil compaction
California Bearing Ratio (CBR) Test
INTRODUCTION
SOIL CHARACTERISTICS
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Porosity, n
Void Ratio, e
Moisture Content, w
Degree of Saturation, S
Density of Soil,
Specific Gravity of Soil Particles
Permeability - how water flows through the soil coefficient of permeability (K).
Relationship between the flow velocity and the
hydraulic gradient between two points in the soil.
Shear Strength - depends on the cohesion and the
angle of internal friction - type of soil.
Triaxial test, the unconfined compression test, or the
direct shear test.
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(CONT.)
(CONT.)
Geophysical Methods of Soil Exploration
o Resistivity and seismic methods.
o Resistivity method - the difference in electrical conductivity
or resistivity of different types of soils.
o An electrical field is produced in the ground by means of
two current electrodes and the potential drop between the
two intermediate or potential electrodes is then recorded.
o Data for the soil profile are obtained by moving the
electrode along the center line of the proposed highway.
(CONT.)
(CONT.)
o Seismic method - identify the location of rock profiles or
dense strata underlying softer materials.
o Inducing impact or shock waves into the soil. (either striking
a plate located on the surface with a hammer or
exploding small charges in the soil)
o Listening devices known as geophones then pick up the
shock waves.
o The time lapse of the wave traveling to the geophone calculate the velocity of the wave in the surface soil.
o Some of the shock waves can be made to pass from the
surface stratum into underlying layers and then back into
the surface stratum by moving the shock point away from
the geophone.
(CONT.)
(CONT.)
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SOIL COMPACTION
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EXAMPLE
The table shows results obtained from a standard
AASHTO compaction test on six samples, 4 in.
diameter, of a soil to be used as fill for a highway.
Calculate the maximum dry density and the
optimum moisture content of the soil.