An overview on the compaction characteristics of soils by laboratory tests

Soil compaction involves a densification and a relative variation of physical and mechanical characteristics of soils. Evaluating laboratory compaction parameters such as maximum dry density (MDD) and optimum water content (OWC) is a very important task to control field compaction for all earth-works structures. In this note over 400 publications and newly laboratory tests have been reviewed to give an overview regarding the correlations among maximum dry density, optimum water content, plastic limit, optimum degree of saturation and degree of compaction. The review confirms that viable correlations exist among maximum dry density versus optimum water content, maximum dry density against plastic limit and between optimum water content plotted against plastic limit. The correlation between optimum degree of saturation and optimum water content shows that OWC is lower for soils with larger maximum dry density. Besides with optimum water content less than 40% the relationship between optimum degree of saturation and OWC depends very much on soil type and particle size. This research comprises of a large number of soil types, various compaction energy level and methods and operators over the world.