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BIS 2003

B U R E A U O F I N D I A N S T A N D A R D SMANAK BHAVAN , 9 BAHADUR SHAH ZAFAR MARG

N E W D E L H I 110002

IS : 2720 (P a r t VI I ) - 1980(R e a ffi r m e d 2 00 2)

Ed i t i on 3 .2(1984-07)

P r i ce Gr ou p 3

Ind ian S tandard METH ODS OF TE ST FOR SOILS

P ART VI I D E TE R M IN AT IO N O F WAT E R CO NT E NT-D RYDEN SITY RE LATION USING LIGHT COMP ACTION

( S econd R evision )

(Incorp ora tin g Am endm ent Nos. 1 & 2)

U DC 624-131.378

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BIS 2003

BURE AU OF INDIAN STANDARDS

This publication is protected under the Indian Copyright Act (XIV of 1957) andrepr oduction in whole or in pa rt by any mea ns except with written permission of th epublisher sh all be deemed to be an infringement of copyright u nder th e said Act.

Ind ian S tandard

METH ODS OF TE ST FOR SOILS

P ART VI I D E TE R M IN AT IO N O F WAT E R CO NT E NT-D RYDENSITY RE LATION USING LIGHT COMP ACTION


Soil En gineer ing a nd Rock Mecha nics S ectiona l Com mit t ee, BDC 23

Chairm an R epresen tin g

D R J AGDISH N ARAIN Un iversity of Roorkee, Roork ee

Mem bers

ADDITIONAL D IRECTOR , IRI Irr iga t ion Depar tm en t , Govern ment of Bih a r ,P a t n a

ADDITIONAL D IRECTOR R ESEARCH (F. E .), RDSO

D EPUTY D IRECTOR R ESEARCH (S OIL M ECH ), RDSO ( Alternate )

Minist ry of Railways

P RO F ALAM S INGH Un iversity of J odhpur, J odhpu r

C OL AVTAR S INGHL T-C OL V. K. K ANITKAR ( Alternate )

E ngineer -in-Chief s Bra nch, ArmyHeadquar ters

D R A. B ANERJEES H RI S. G UPTA ( Alternate )

Cemindia Co Ltd, Bombay

D R R. K. B HANDARI Cent ra l Building Resear ch In stitu te, Roorkee

C HIEF E NGINEER (B&R)D R G. S. D HILLON ( Alternate )

Irrigation Department, Government of Pun jab, Chan digarh

S H RI M. G. D ANDAVATES H RI N. C. D UGGUL ( Alternate )

The Concret e Associat ion of In dia, Bombay

S H RI A. G. D ASTIDAR In personal capacity ( 5 Hungerford Court,12 / 1 Hungerford Street, Calcutta 700017 )

D R G. S. D HILLON Indian Geotechnical Society, New Delhi

D IRECTOR , IRI Irr iga t ion Depa r tment , Government of Ut ta rPr adesh , Roorkee

( Contin ued on page 2 )

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( Contin ued from page 1 )

M em bers R epresentin g

S H RI A. H. D IVANJIS HRI A. N. J ANGLE ( Alternate )

Asia Foundations & Construction (P) Ltd,Bombay

P RO F G OPAL R ANJAN Un iversity of Roorkee, Roork ee

P RO F G OPAL R ANJAN Inst itut ion of Engineers (India), Calcut ta

D R S HASHI K. G ULHATID R G. B. R AO ( Alternate )

Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi

S H RI O. P. M ALHOTRA Public Works Department, ChandigarhAdministration, Chandigarh

S H RI T. K. N ATRAJAN Central Road Research Institute, New Delhi

P RESIDENT (IMDA) All In dia In st r u men t Ma nu factu r er s &Dealer s Associat ion, Bombay

D EPUTY S ECRETARY (AII MDA) ( Alternate )

S H RI R. V. R ANTHIDEVAN Centr al Water Comm ission, New Delhi

D EPUTY D IRECTOR (CSMRS) ( Alternate )

R ESEARCH O FFICER (B&RRL) P ublic Works Depar tmen t , Govern ment of Pun jab, Chandigarh

S H RI K. R. S AXENA Public Works Department, Government of Andhr a Pra desh, Hyderabad

S ECRETARYD EPUTY S ECRETARY ( Alternate )

Central Board of Irrigation & Power, NewDelhi

S H RI N. S IVAGURUS HRI D. V. S IKKA ( Alternate )

Roads Wing, Ministry of Shipping &Transport

S H RI K. S. S RINIVASANS HRI S UNIL B ERRY ( Alternate )

Na tiona l Buildings Organ ization, New Delhi

S UPERINTENDING E NGINEER (P &D) P ublic Wor ks Depa rt men t, Gover nm en t of Tamil Nadu , Madra s

E XECUTIVE E NGINEER (SMRD) ( Alternate )

S H RI H . C. V ERMA

S HRI H. K. G U H A ( Alternate )

All India Instrument Manufacturers &

Dealer s Associat ion, BombayS H RI S. D. V IDYARTHI

D R B. L. D HAWAN ( Alternate )Public Works Department, Government of

Utt ar P radesh, Lucknow

S H RI G. R AMAN ,Director (Civ En gg)

Director Gener al, ISI ( E x-officio M em ber )

S ecretaryS H RI K. M. M ATHUR

Depu ty Director (Civ Engg), ISI

( Contin ued on page 9 )

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Ind ian S tandard

METH ODS OF TE ST FOR SOILSP ART VI I D E TE R M IN AT IO N O F WAT E R CO NT E NT-D RY

DEN SITY RE LATION USING LIGHT COMP ACTION


0. F O R E W O R D

0.1 This In dian St an dar d (Pa rt VII) (Second Revision) was a dopt ed by

the Indian Standards Institution on 31 October 1980, after the draftfinalized by the Soil and Rock Mechanics Engineering SectionalCommittee had been approved by the Civil Engineering DivisionCouncil.

0.2 With a view to establishing uniform procedures for determinationof differen t cha racter istics of soils an d a lso for facilita t ing compa ra tivestu dies of th e results, the In dian St an dar ds Inst itut ion is bringing outth is India n S ta nd ar d met hods of test for s oils (IS : 2720) which is beingpublished in parts. This part (Part VII) (first published in 1965 and

revised in 1974) deals with th e met hod of test for t he det erm inat ion of water content-dry density relation of soil using light compaction ( seeNote below ). The pu rp ose of a labora tory compa ction test is todetermine the proper amount of mixing water to be used, whencompacting the soil in the field and the resulting degree of densenesswhich can be expected from com paction a t optimu m m oistu re cont ent .To accomplish this, a laboratory test which will give a degree of compaction comparable to that obtained by the field method used isnecessa ry. This pr ocedu re is sat isfactory for cohesive soils but does notlend itself well to the study of the compaction characteristics of cleansan ds or gravels which displace easily when str uck with th e ra mm er.Some nearly-cohesionless soils compact satisfactorily in the standardtest although in many cases the water density curve is not welldefined. Frequently, too in these cases indicated, maximum density isnot as great as can be achieved readily in the field under availablecompaction methods. With a knowledge of the water density relationas det ermined by th is test , bet ter con t rol of t he field com paction of soilfill is possible because the optimum moisture content and the densitywhich should be obtained a re k nown by using t his test procedure an d

th ese can be checked by field cont rol test s.

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N OT E The meth od of test ba sed on h eavy compaction is covered in IS : 2720(Par t 8)-1983*.

0.2.1 This revision is prepared so as to cover such cases when soilcould be su sceptible to cru sh ing du rin g comp action.

0.3 This edit ion 3.2 incorpora t es Amend men t No. 1 (October 1982) an dAmen dm ent No. 2 (J uly 1984). Side bar indicat es modificat ion of th etext a s t he r esult of incorpora tion of the a men dmen ts.

0.4 In reporting the results of a test or analysis made in accordancewith this standard, if the final value, observed or calculated, is to beroun ded off, it sh a ll be done in a ccord an ce with IS : 2-1960.

1 . SCOP E

1.1 This standard (Part VII) lays down the method for thedetermination of the relation between the water content and the drydensity of soils using light compaction. In this test a 2.6-kg rammerfalling thr ough a h eight of 310 mm is used.

2 . TER MINOLOGY

2.1 For the purpose of this standard, the definitions given inIS : 2809-1972 sha ll apply.

3 . AP P AR ATUS

3.1 M ou ld s It sha ll conform t o IS : 10074-1982.

3.2 S a m p l e E x t r u d e r (O p t i on a l) It cons ists of a jack, lever fram eor other device adopted for the purpose of extruding compactedspecimen s from t he m ould.

3.3 B a la n c e s one, of cap acit y 10 kg sensitive to 1 g an d other of cap acity 200 g sen sitive t o 0.01 g.

3.4 O v e n t her mosta tically cont rolled with int erior of non-corr odingma terial to maint ain t empera tu re between 105C and 110C.

3.5 C on t a i n e r an y suita ble non-corr odible airtight cont ainer todeterm ine th e wat er cont ent for tests condu cted in th e labora tory.

3.6 S t e e l St r a i gh t e d g e a steel straightedge about 30 cm in lengthan d h aving one bevelled edge.

*Methods of test for soils: Par t 8 Determ inat ion of water cont ent -dry den sity relat ionusing heavy compaction ( second revision ).

Rules for round ing off nu mer ical valu es ( revised ).Glossa ry of term s a nd symbols relat ing to soil engineering ( first revision ).Specificat ion for compa ction mould a ssem bly for light an d h eavy comp action t est for

soils.

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3.7 S ie v e 4.75-m m a nd 19-mm IS sieves conform ing to th erequ irem ent s of IS : 460 (Pa rt I)-1978*.

3.8 M ix i n g To o l s miscellan eous t ools, su ch a s tr ay or pa n, spoon,

trowel and spatula, or a suitable mechanical device for thoroughlymixing th e sa m ple of soil wit h add itions of water .

3.9 Me t a l R a m m e r It s ha ll con form t o IS : 9198-1979.

4 . SOIL SP ECIME N

4.1 A repr esent at ive port ion of a ir dr ied soil m at erial a nd la rge enoughto pr ovide a bout 6 kg of m at eria l pass ing at 20-m m IS sieve (for soilsnot susceptible to crushing during compaction), or about 15 kg of material passing a 20-mm IS sieve (for soils susceptible to crushing

dur ing comp action), sh all be ta ken ( see Note 1 ). This port ion sh all besieved on a 20-mm IS sieve and the coarse fraction rejected after itspr oport ion of th e tota l sam ple ha s been recorded.

N OT E 1 The soil should be considered su sceptible to cru shin g durin g compa ction if the sample contains granular material of a soft nature, such as soft limestone,sandstone, etc, which is reduced in size by the action of the 2.6 kg rammer. Theprocedure given in 5.2 for soils susceptible to crushing during compaction can beap plied to all soils if it is conven ient to do so.

4.1.1 Aggregations of particles shall be broken down so that if thesample was sieved on a 4.75-mm IS sieve, only separated individual

par ticles would be reta ined.5. P R O C E D U R E

5.1 S o il n o t S u s c e p t i b le t o Cr u s h i n g D u r i n g C om p a c t i on ( s e eNot e 1 ) The pr ocedur e is as follows.

5.1.1 A 5-kg sample of air dried soil passing the 19 mm IS test sieveshall be taken ( see Note 2 ). The sam ple sha ll be mixed th oroughlywith a suita ble am oun t of wat er depending on th e soil type ( see Notes3 and 4 ).

5.1.2 The mould, with baseplate attached, shall be weighed to thenear est 1 g ( m 1 ). The m ould sh all be placed on a solid base, such a s aconcrete floor or plint h an d t he m oist soil shall be comp a cted int o themould, with th e extension at ta ched, in t hr ee layers of approxima telyequal mass, each layer being given 25 blows from the 2.6-kg rammerdropped from a height of 310 mm above the soil. The blows shall bedistr ibuted u niform ly over t he su rface of each layer. The operat or sh allensure that the tube of the rammer is kept clear of soil so that the

*Specificat ion for t est sieves: Pa rt I Wire cloth t est sieves ( second revision ).

Specificat ion for compaction r am m er for soil test ing.

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ra mm er always falls freely. The am oun t of soil used sh all be su fficientto fill the mould, leaving not more than about 6 mm to be struck off when the extension is removed ( see Note 5 ). The extension sh all berem oved and t he compa ct ed soil shall be levelled off car efu lly t o th e t opof the mould by means of the straightedge. The mould and soil shallth en be weighed t o 1 g ( m 2 ).

5.1.3 The compacted soil specimen shall be removed from the mouldan d placed on th e mixing t ra y. The wat er cont ent of a represent at ivesample of the specimen shall be determined as in IS : 2720 (Part II)-1973*.

5.1.4 The remainder of the soil specimen shall be broken up, rubbedthrough the 19-mm IS test sieve, and then mixed with the remainderof th e original sa mple. Suita ble increm ent s of wat er ( see Note 6 ) shal lbe added successively and mixed into the sample, and the aboveprocedure from operations 5.1.2 to 5.1.4 shall be repeated for eachincrement of water added. The total number of determinations madeshall be at least five, and the range of moisture contents should besuch t hat th e optimum moistur e content , at which the m aximu m drydensity occur s, is within th at ra nge.

5.2 S o il S u s c e p t i b l e t o C r u s h i n g D u r i n g C om p a c t i on ( s e e

Not e 1 ) The pr ocedu re is a s follows:a) F ive or m ore 2.5-kg sam ples of air dried soil passing t he 19-mm

IS t est sieve, sha ll be taken ( see Note 2 ). The samples shall eachbe mixed thoroughly with different amounts of water to give asuitable range of moisture contents ( see Notes 3 and 4 ). Therange of moisture content, at which the maximum dry densityoccur s, is within t ha t r an ge ( see Note 6 ).

b) Ea ch sa mple sha ll be treat ed as in 5.1.2 .

c) Ea ch compa cted specimen sh all be tr eat ed as in 5.1.3 .

d) The rem ain der of each soil specimen sha ll be discar ded.

5.3 C o m p a c t i o n i n L a r g e -S iz e M ou l d For comp acting soilcont aining coar se ma teria l up t o 37.5 mm s ize, th e 2 250 ml mouldshould be used. A sample weighing about 6 kg and passing the37.5-mm IS sieve is used for th e t est. Soil is comp acted in th ree la yers,each layer being given 55 blows of th e 2.6-kg r am m er. The r est of theprocedure is th e sam e as in 5.1 or 5.2 .

*Methods of test for s oils: Par t II Determ inat ion of water cont ent ( second revision ).

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N OT E 2 The rem oval of sma ll am oun ts of stone (up to 5 percent) reta ined on a19-mm IS Sieve will affect th e densit y obta inable only by amount s compa ra ble withthe experimental error involved in measuring the maximum dry density. Theexclusion of a lar ge proport ion of st one coar se th an 19 mm m ay h ave a m ajor effect onth e density obta ined compa red with t ha t obtaina ble with t he soil as a wh ole, an d onthe optimum moisture content. There is at present no generally accepted method of test or of calculation for dealing with this difficulty in comparing laboratorycompaction test results with densities obtained in the field. For soils containinglar ger pr oport ions of gra vel, th e us e of a bigger m ould (2 250 ml) will avoid ma jorerrors.N OT E 3 The amount of water to be mixed with air dried soil at t he commencementof the test will vary with the type of soil under test. In general, with sandy andgravelly soils a moisture content of 4 percent to 6 percent would be suitable, whilewith cohesive soils a moistur e cont ent about 8 p ercent to 10 percent below th e plasticlimit of th e soil (plastic limit minu s 10 t o plast ic limit minu s 8) usu ally be suita ble.N OT E 4 It is importa nt th at th e water is mixed thoroughly and adequa tely withthe soil, since inadequate mixing gives rise to variable test results. This isparticularly important with cohesive soils when adding a substantial quantity of water to the air dried soil. With clays of high plasticity, or where hand mixing isemployed, it m ay be difficult to distribute t he wa ter u niform ly through t he a ir driedsoil by mixing alone, an d it m ay be necessary to store th e mixed sample in a sealedcontainer for a minimu m p eriod of about 16 hour s before cont inuing with th e test .N OT E 5 It is n ecessar y to control the t ota l volume of soil compacted, since it h asbeen found that if the amount of soil struck off after removing the extension is toogreat, th e test results will be inaccur ate.N OT E 6 The water added for each stage of the t est should be such th at a ran ge of moisture contents is obtained which includes the optimum moisture. In general,increment s of 1 percent to 2 percent a re su itable for s an dy an d gra velly soils a nd of 2percent to 4 percent for cohesive soils. To increase the accuracy of the test it is oftenadvisable to reduce the increments of water in the region of the optimum moisturecontent.

6. CALCUL ATIONS

6.1 B u l k De n s i t y m in g/ml, of each compacted specimen shall becalcula ted from t he equa tion:

where

6.2 The dr y density, d in g/ml, sha ll be ca lculat ed from t he equ at ion:

where

w = moistu re cont ent of soil in percent .

m 1 = mass in g of mould and base;m 2 = ma ss in g of mould, base and soil; andV m = volum e in m l of mould.

mm 2 m 1

V m----------------------=

d100 m

100 w+---------------------=

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6.3 The dry densities, d obta ined in a ser ies of deter min at ions sh all beplotted against the corresponding moisture contents w . A smoothcur ve shall be dra wn t hr ough t he r esulting points a nd th e position of th e maximum on t his cur ve sha ll be determ ined.

7. R E P O RT I N G O F R E S U LT S

7.1 The experimental points and the smooth curve drawn throughthem showing the relationship between moisture content and drydensit y sh all be reported.

7.2 The dry density in g/ml corresponding to the maximum point onthe moisture content/dry density curve shall be reported as thema ximu m dr y density to th e near est 0.01.

7.3 The percentage moisture content corresponding to the maximumdry density on t he m oistu re cont ent /dry density cur ve sha ll be report edas the optimum moisture content and quoted to the nearest 0.2 forvalues below 5 percent to the nearest 0.5 for values from 5 percent to10 percent, and to the nearest whole number for value exceeding 10percent ( see Note 7 ).

7.4 The amount of stone retained on the 20-mm IS Sieve shall bereport ed to th e near est 1 percent.

7.5 The m eth od of obta ining th e resu lt sha ll be sta ted, (2.6-kg ra m mer

met hod). The pr ocedur e used sha ll also be stat ed th at is single sa mp leor sepa ra te sa mple an d th e size of th e mould used.N OT E 7 For some highly perm eable soils such as clean gra vels, uniform ly gradedan d coarse clean san ds th e resu lts of th e labora tory compa ction t est (2.6-kg ra mm ermethod) may provide only a poor guide for specifications on field compaction. Thelaboratory test often indicates higher values of optimum moisture content thanwould be desira ble for field compa ction an d t he m aximum dry density is often mu chlower th an th e sta te of compa ction tha t can rea dily be obta ined in t he field.

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( Contin ued from page 2 )

Soil Testing P rocedur es an d Equ ipment Subcom mit tee, BDC 23 : 3

Convener R epresen ting

P RO F ALAM S INGH University of J odhpu r, J odhpu r

Members

S H RI AMAR S INGH Centr al Building Research Inst itut e, RoorkeeD EPUTY D IRECTOR RESEARCH (FE-II),

RDSOD EPUTY D IRECTOR R ESEARCH

(SM-III ), RDSO ( Alternate )

Minist ry of Railways

D IRECTOR (CSMRS) Cent r a l Wat er Commission , New Delh iD EPUTY D IRECTOR (CSMRS) ( Alternate )

P RO F G OPAL R ANJAND R S. C. H ANDA ( Alternate )

Un iversity of Roorkee, Roork ee

D R S HASHI K. G ULHATI Indian Institute of Technology, New DelhiS H RI H . K. G UH A Geologists Syndicat e P vt Lt d, Calcutt a

S HRI H. N. B HATTACHARAYA ( Alternate )S H RI O. P. M ALHOTRA Public Works Department, Chandigarh

AdministrationS H RI M. D. N AIR

P RO F T. S. N AGARAJ ( Alternate )Associated Instruments Manufacturers (I)

Pvt Lt d, New DelhiS H RI N. M. P ATEL Delhi College of En gineerin g, DelhiS H RI P. J AGANATHA R AO Central Road Research Institute, New DelhiC OL AVTAR S INGH

L T -C OL V. K. K ANITKAR ( Alternate )En gineer-in-Chiefs Bra nch, Army

Headquar tersS H RI S. D. V IDYARTHI

D R B. L. D HAWAN ( Alternate )Public Works Department, Government of

Utt ar P radesh, Lucknow

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