Dynamic Compaction of Collapsible Soils Based on U.S. Case Histories

Dynamic compaction (DC) is an economical approach for mitigating the hazard posed by collapsible soils particularly when they are deeper than 3–4 m. In this paper, case histories are provided for 15 projects at 10 locations in the United States where collapsible soils were treated with DC. For each...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering Vol. 136; no. 9; pp. 1178 - 1186
Main Authors Rollins, Kyle M, Kim, Jihyoung
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Reston, VA American Society of Civil Engineers 01.09.2010
Subjects
Applied sciences
Buildings. Public works
Exact sciences and technology
Geotechnics
Soil investigations. Testing
Stabilization. Consolidation
TECHNICAL PAPERS
United States
North America
America
Collapse
Vibration
Collapsible soils
United States
Soil improvement
Dynamic compaction
Compaction
Soft soil
Case study
Case studies
Soil stabilization
Soil test
Soil compaction
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Summary:Dynamic compaction (DC) is an economical approach for mitigating the hazard posed by collapsible soils particularly when they are deeper than 3–4 m. In this paper, case histories are provided for 15 projects at 10 locations in the United States where collapsible soils were treated with DC. For each site the soil properties, compaction procedures, and subsequent improvement are summarized. Although cohesionless and low-plasticity collapsible soils were successfully compacted, clay layers in the profile appeared to absorb energy and severely reduced compaction effectiveness. Correlations are presented for estimating the maximum depth of improvement, the degree of improvement versus depth, the depth of craters, and the level of vibration based on measurements made at the various sites. The compactive energy per volume was typically higher than for noncollapsible soils because collapsible soils are usually loose but relatively stiff. The maximum depth of improvement was similar to that for noncollapsible soils; however, significant scatter was observed about the best-fit line. Improvement was nonuniform with nearly 80% of the total improvement occurring within the top 60% of the improvement zone. The crater depth was related to a number of factors besides the drop energy including the number of drops, drop spacing, and contact pressure. The peak particle velocities were typically lower than those for noncollapsible soils at shorter distances, but the vibrations attenuated more slowly with distance.
ISSN:1090-0241
1943-5606
DOI:10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-5606.0000331