ABSTRACT
In earthwork construction the parameter used to check the effectiveness of compaction is the Relative Compaction, a parameter which cannot be evaluated until field density tests and laboratory compaction tests on representative portions of the material have been performed. The Standard Method of arriving at this value of Relative Compaction is time - consuming because the Standard Method of performing the laboratory compaction test (to obtain the Optimum Moisture Content, OMC, and Maximum Dry Density, MDD) requires airdrying, ovendrying to determine moisture contents, and five points to plot a compaction curve- The overall effect is that the OMC and MDD will not be known until the following day. This is a shortcoming in earthwork construction where time is, indeed, money. The Rapid Method can give accurate values of OMC and MDD about an hour after digging a density hole, and hence a much faster means of assessing the effectiveness of compaction. The object of this research has been to check the accuracy of the OMC and MDD values determined by the Rapid Method. Thirty five soil samples were used, and statistical analysis carried out on the results of the OMC and MDD obtained using the two methods on each sample, indicated that the Rapid Method is not only faster, but as accurate as the Standard Method.