Correlation between Compaction Characteristics and Atterberg Limits of Fine grained Soil found in Jimma To

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.