Abstract:
Compaction is one of the most important and routine engineering techniques, performed to
assure the safety and stability of soils. However, in some situations such as large scale
projects, obtaining the desired compaction characteristics, namely optimum moisture content
(OMC) and maximum dry density (MDD), becomes time consuming and impracticable. In
this case, predicting the compaction characteristics from correlation equations of Atterberg
limits that involves simpler and quicker method of testing becomes vital task. The aim of this
study is to obtain valid correlations between compaction characteristics of fine-grained soils
with their Atterberg limits. For this purpose, 30 samples were collected and a series of
laboratory tests conducted as a primary data for this work. In addition, 20 laboratory test data
has been taken from previously research done. The total data used in this study is, therefore, 50.
In the analysis part, MS excel spreadsheet and the SPSS software had been used for the scatter
plot, correlation, and regression analysis. Statistical relationships of all the parameters (liquid
limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, optimum moisture content, and maximum dry density) were
analyzed. Results of the analyses revealed that both OMC and MDD have strong correlation with
LL and PL together using multiple linear regressions than with single parameters from single
linear regression. The equations found are listed below.
1) OMC = 9.743 + 0.226 LL + 0.114 PL--------------------------------------------------R
2
= 0.891
2) MDD = 1.788- 0.003 LL - 0.004 PL----------------------------------------------------R
2
= 0.749
Therefore, the study concluded that during prediction of OMC and MDD from Atterberg limit,
the combined parameters of Atterberg limits should be used rather than single parameter of
Atterberg limits. The result of this study could be applicable in different civil Engineering
sectors, especially for preliminary investigations and prefeasibility study of Civil Engineering
works such as Construction of Roads, Earth dams, Earth fills, and other works that involve soils.
