Soil Lab Experiment: Standard Proctor

Introduction
The Proctor compaction test is a laboratory method of experimentally determining
the optimal moisture content at which a given soil type will become most dense and
achieve its maximum dry density. The term Proctor is in honour of R. R. Proctor, who
in 1933 showed that the dry density of a soil for a given compactive effort depends
on the amount of water the soil contains during soil compaction.

Theory of Soil compaction
Compaction is the process by which the bulk density of an aggregate of matter is
increased by driving out air. For any soil, for a given amount of compactive effort, the
density obtained depends on the moisture content. At very high moisture contents,
the maximum dry density is achieved when the soil is compacted to nearly
saturation, where (almost) all the air is driven out. At low moisture contents, the soil
particles interfere with each other; addition of some moisture will allow greater bulk
densities, with a peak density where this effect begins to be counteracted by the
saturation of the soil.

Objective
1. Increasing the bearing capacity of foundations
2. Decreasing the undesirable settlement of structures
3. Control undesirable volume changes
4. Reduction in hydraulic conductivity
5. Increasing the stability of slopes




Equipment and apparatus
1. Mould
2. Rammer
3. Manual Rammer
4. Balance
5. Mixing pan
6. Trowel
7. Straight edge
8. Hammer
9. Lids
10. Drying oven
11. Steel ruler
12. Soil

Procedure
1. Lumpy soils are pulverized to small sizes by using a rammer and 3 kg of the
soil is weighted
2. The weight of the soil sample as well as the weight of the compaction mould
with its base (without the collar) is determined by using the balance and
record the weights.
3. Compute the amount of initial water to add by the following method
a) Assume water content to be at 8 percent
b) Compute water to add from the following equation

Water to add in ml =

Where water to add and the soil mass are in grams
4. The water is the measure out, the water is added to the soil, and the soil is
then mixed thoroughly using the trowel until the soil gets a uniform colour

5. The compaction based is then assembled to the mould, some soil is placed in
the mould and the soil is compacted in the three of equal layers specified by
the type of compaction method employed .27 of drops of the rammer per layer
is applied to the soil .The drops should be applied at a uniform rate not
exceeding around 1.5 seconds per drop, and the rammer should provide
uniform coverage of the specimen surface
6. The soil should completely fill the cylinder and the last compacted
7. Layer must extend slightly above the collar joint. If the soil is below the collar
joint at the completion of the drops, the test point must be repeated.
8. The collar and trim off is carefully removed from the compacted soil so that it
is completely even with the top of the mould using the trowel. The top layer of
the soil is trimmed by using steel ruler
9. The compacted soil is weighted while its in the mould and to the base, and
the mass is recorded. The wet mass of the soil is determined by subtracting
the weight of the mould and base.
10. The soil from the mould is removed by using hammer and straight edge is
used to take some wet soil and is placed in the weighted lid and placed it in
the drying oven.
11. The dried soil is then weighted and the water content is determined.
12. Step 1-11 is repeated buy using different soil and different amount of water.










Analysis
1) Calculate the moisture content of each compacted soil specimen by using the
average of the two water contents.
2) Compute the wet density in grams per cm3 of the compacted soil sample by
dividing the wet mass by the volume of the mould used.
3) Compute the dry density using the wet density and the water content
determined in step 1. By using the following formula:



4) Plot the dry density values on the y-axis and the moisture contents on the x-
axis. Draw a smooth curve connecting the plotted points.
5) On the same graph draw a curve of complete saturation or zero air voids
curve. The values of dry density and corresponding moisture contents for
plotting the curve can be computed from the following equation:



















6) Identify and report the optimum moisture content and the maximum dry
density. We have recorded the method of compaction used on data sheet.












Example Calculations

Gs= 2.7(assumed)
w=1.0 g/cm3


Assumed w sat% Calculated Pd (g/cm3)
9 2.17
12 2.04
6 2.32
15 1.92
18 1.82









Discussions
The optimum water content is the water content that results in the greatest density
for a specified compactive effort. Compacting at water contents higher than (wet of )
the optimum water content results in a relatively dispersed soil structure (parallel
particle orientation ns) that is weaker , more ductile, less pervious, softer, more
susceptible to shrinking, and less susceptible to swelling than soil compacted dry of
optimum to the same density. The soil compacted lower than (dry of) the optimum
water content typically results in a flocculated soil structure (random particle
orientations) that has the opposite characteristics of the soil compacted wet of the
optimum water content to the same density.
















Reference
http://www.uic.edu/classes/cemm/cemmlab/Experiment%209-Compaction.pdf
Appendix