Laboratory determination of compaction criteria for rockfill material embankments

Determination en laboratoire de criteres de compaction pour les remblais en materiaux

d’enrochement
Guanqing Feng & Stanley J.Vitton - Michigan Technological University, Mich., USA

SYN O PSIS: After review ing the rockfill material m odeling methods, the effects o f oversize rock content and
com paction m ethod on the dry density o f rockfill materials, and the laboratory determination o f m axim um dry
density o f a prototype rockfill materials using the geom etric similar gradation m ethod were investigated. In
addition, construction com paction criteria for rockfill embankments are recommended.

1. IN TR O D U C TIO N is n egligible and the oversize fraction can be directly

H ighw ay construction in m ountainous terrain often
uses blasted rock materials for fills or embankments.
A s w ith m ost blasted materials, even using
sophisticated blasting techniques, it is difficult to
generate econom ically acceptable particle-size and
gradation rockfill material for fill or embankment
construction, w hich in many cases may exceed 400
mm in m axim um particle size. Thus, tw o significant
problem s are encountered. First, how to determine the
com paction criteria for the design stage o f the project
and second, how to verify field com paction quality
during construction for coh esionless, free-draining
rockfill material containing a high content o f over-size
particles (>75 mm). The purpose o f this paper is to
present research, w hich w as conducted at the H ighway
Research Institute o f the M inistry o f Comm unications
in B eijing, China, concerning the determination o f
com paction criteria for blasted rockfill materials. Due
to space lim itations field verification methods used in
this research are not presented.
scalped. This method is called “scalping oversize
fraction.” When the oversize fraction is greater than
5%, the effect o f oversize particles must be considered
and other m ethods used.
The “scalp-and-replace” method replaces the
oversized fraction typically coarser than 60 mm with
an equal w eight o f material at a sm aller size fraction
that can more readily be tested. In m any projects this
replacement fraction is typically between 4.75 mm and
60 mm, although this size range may vary from project
to project. Vibrating table testing results using the
“scalp-and-replace” m ethod, however, have shown that
the laboratory m aximum dry densities determined are
low er than the dry densities measured in the field using
vibrating roller com paction testing for rockfill
materials (Bai and Zhou 1988). On the other hand,
Houston et al. (1994), found that for coh esion less
gravelly soils this m ethod produced consistent results
with rock correction equations. H ow ever, both A STM
D 698-91 and D 1557-91 standards have repealed the
“scalp-and-replace” method.

2. ROCKFILL M ATERIAL M ODELING The “Geometric Similar Gradation” m ethod m odels

Since com paction criteria are generally determined
in a laboratory, it is difficult to test a prototype rockfill
material sam pled directly from a construction site due
to the over-size particles. To develop com paction
criteria from laboratory tests, sm aller particle-size
materials, termed m odel rockfill materials, are used
instead. Selection o f m odel rockfill materials is
generally based on one o f the follow in g methods: (1)
scalping oversize fraction, (2) scalp-and- replace, and
(3) geom etric sim ilar gradation.
W hen the oversize fraction is 5% or less o f the
sam ple, the effect o f oversize particles on dry density
the prototype rockfill material by shifting the
representative prototype rockfill gradation curve to the
finer particle side by a series o f m odel ratios to form a
series o f m odel rockfill gradation curves. This m odel
ratio, M r termed a geom etric sim ilar gradation m odel
ratio, is the ratio between the one-to-one corresponding
particle sizes o f the prototype rockfill material and the
model rockfill material. A lthough a finer size material
is tested, it ensures that the gradation curve shape is
same. Feng and Yang (1 9 9 2 ) investigated the
“Geometric Similar Gradation” m ethod for blasting
rockfill materials w hile Shi and Tian (1 9 9 4 ) reported
their investigations on this m ethod for riverbed cobble
and sands mixtures. Both studies have show n that this

485
geom etric sim ilar gradation method produces testing sites. Further testing by Feng and Y ang (1 9 9 2 )
acceptable results and w as used in this research. also indicated that three com paction layers were
required to produce good reference dry density
Another m ethod available for rockfill material uses compared with field measurements.
a set o f em pirical equations known as the “R ock
Correction Equations” (W alsh, et al., 1994), w hich are
used to adjust the laboratory dry densities. H ow ever, it
has been found that these equations can significantly
overestim ate dry densities for materials with oversize
fraction in excess o f 30% (U SC O LD 1988). In these
cases a correction coefficient concerning the content o f
rock fraction and plasticity o f fines should be
considered w hen using these equations.

3. ROCKFILL M ATERIALS A N D EQUIPM ENT

P a r t i c l e S iz e , m m
U SE D
Figure 1. B eijing R ockfill Material Gradation Curve.
T w o types o f rockfill material sam ples were tested in
this research. The first type w as a blasted granite from
an em bankment construction site in B eijing and is
referred to as the B eijing rockfill. This material has a
sp ecific gravity o f 2.66 with an average com pressive
strength o f 133 MPa. The representative gradation
curve for this material is shown in Figure 1. The
second type w as a dolom ite sam pled from a rockfill
em bankment construction site in Hubei Province,
China and is referred to as the Hubei rockfill. This
material has a sp ecific gravity o f 2.79 and a
com pressive strength of 1 3 0 -1 5 0 MPa. The P a r t i c l e S iz e , m m
representative gradation curve for this material is
show n in Figure 2. Figure 2. Hubei R ockfill Material Gradation Curve.

To com pact the rockfill sam ples the follow in g three

com paction d evices were used: (1) a large impact
d evice (M odified Proctor), (2) a vibrating table, and
(3) a vibrating tamper. The large impact device
operated with a com paction effort o f 2693 kJ/m3. The
vibrating table w as a U B C -10A (Japanese) with
adjustable frequency and peak-to-peak amplitude
range o f 8.3 to 50 H z and 0~3 mm, respectively. The
vibrating tamper used is a standardized type specified
by T 0132-93 in the C hinese standard “Test Methods
o f S oils for H ighw ay Engineering” (1993). This device
has an excitation force o f 4.2 kN at a frequency o f 47.5
Hz. Both the im pact and vibrating m ethods used m olds
with a 280 mm diameter, w hich is equivalent to the
standard size m old specified in A STM D 4253-93.
Both vibrating m ethods applied a standard surcharge
pressure o f 13.8 kPa on the surface o f the specimen.
A lthough vibrating com paction specifications such as
A ST M D 4 253-93 require only one com paction layer,
three w ere used in this research. Bai and Zhou (1988)
found that for rockfill materials when com pacted by
only one layer, the vibrating table tests resulted in
low er values o f m axim um dry density than
corresponding field m easurements at vibrating roller
4. TEST RESULTS A N D A N A L Y SIS
4.1 The Effects o f R ock Content and C om paction
M ethod on Dry D ensity
To assess the effects o f rock content and com paction
m ethod on dry density for rockfill m aterials, the
B eijing rockfill material w as tested with the fo llo w in g
seven rock contents by weight: 35, 4 5, 55, 65, 75, 85,
95% having the rock particle size betw een 4.75 mm
and a m aximum o f 60 mm. A ll o f the materials used in
the com paction tests were prepared based on an
gradation curve having a m odel ratio o f M r= 3.3 as
shown in Figure 1. The results o f the com paction tests
for the impact and tw o vibrating com paction m ethods
are shown in Figure 3.
The results indicate that the vibrating m ethods
produce consistent results and d eveloped higher dry
density than the impact m ethod. It w as also show n that
the rockfill material, w hich can be characterized as a
coarse, free-draining and coh esionless material, has the
highest dry density w hen the fraction coarser than

486
4.75 mm is w ithin 6 5 -7 5 % for any o f the com paction
m ethods.
D ay (1995) also studied the effect o f increased
gravel percent in a coh esion less soil and found that as
the gravel content increased the dry density also
increased up to a gravel percent o f 74%.
Unfortunately, additional tests at higher gravel
percents were not conducted to determine the
m axim um dry density. In addition, Garga and
Madureira (1 9 8 5 ) studied the com paction o f river
terrace gravel containing clayey sand with a PI = 5
to 15% and obtained the m aximum dry density at a
gravel content o f 6 5 -7 0 % for a gravel contents up to
70% using an impact com paction method. However,
only a 100% gravel sam ple w as tested using a
vibrating table com paction method resulting in a lower
dry density than at the 65 to 70% gravel content. H ilf
(1 9 9 1 ) presented data from the Bureau of
R eclam ation’s Earth Manual that also show s that the
rockfill material can be determined by the
extrapolation o f the above relationship since the
prototype rockfill material has a M r = 1. Therefore, the
m aximum dry densities o f the prototype rockfill
materials can be read directly from Figure 4 for both
the B eijing and Hubei rockfill materials, g iv in g 2.34
M g/m 3 and 2.27 M g/m 3, respectively.
The relationship betw een the minimum dry density
and the geom etric sim ilar gradation m odel ratio, M,,
w as also investigated for the Hubei rockfill material. A
similar relationship betw een the m inim um dry density
and M r, however, w as not found. Therefore, a relative
density determination, D r, for the rockfill material was
not obtained.
: 2.35
f)
L 2.3
I'
; 2.25

m axim um dry density for sands and gravels was at a I

' 2.2
gravel content ranging from about 60% to 80%.
Therefore, it appears that an optim um oversized
particle content for blasted rockfill material o f 65 to
100 10 1
75 % is also w ithin the sam e optimum range found for
G eom etric Sim ilar G radation M odel Ratio, Mr
sand and gravel mixtures.
2.4

Maximum Dry Density

2.2
— Vibrating Tamper l»2.0
Impact Device
Vibrating Table

Minimum Dry Density

30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
100 10
P e r c e n t o f O v e rsiz e R ock, %
Geometric Similar Gradation Model Ratio, Mr

(b)
Figure 3. The E ffect o f R ock Content and Compaction
Figure 4. R elationship o f pdmax vs. M, (a) B eijing
M ethod on Dry D ensity.
rockfill material, (b) Hubei rockfill material.

4.2 D eterm ination o f M axim um Dry D ensity o f

4.3 Determination o f C om paction Criteria
Prototype M aterials U sin g G eom etric Similar
Gradation M ethod
Generally, relative density is used to sp ecify
com paction criteria for granular materials. W hile a
U sin g the geom etric sim ilar gradation method,
method has been proposed to estim ate pdmax for the
attention w as given to investigating the relationship
prototype material (field sam ple), a m ethod to
betw een the m axim um dry density and the geom etric
determine the pdmin w as not found. Therefore, the
sim ilar gradation m ethod ratio, M r. A ccordingly, the
relative density calculation is not feasible. It is
M r and m axim um dry densities for both B eijing and
recom m ended, however, that relative com paction, R^,
the Hubei rockfill materials are plotted in Figure 4. It
be used as the parameter to evaluate the rockfill
can be seen that there exists a good sem i-logarithm ic
compaction. To confirm this, Table 1 provides a
linear relationship betw een the m axim um dry density,
com parison o f the B eijing and Hubei rockfill field
Pdmax> a°d the geom etric sim ilar gradation m odel ratio,
density measurements with the estim ated pdmax from
M r, for both B eijing and Hubei sam ples. These data
the previous section for the calculated R,.. Y ang (1 9 8 8 )
indicate that the m axim um dry density o f the prototype
collected the insitu com paction

487
T a b l e 1 C o m p a r i s o n o f L a b o r a to r y a n d I n - s i t u R e s u l ts
R ockfill Field Vibrating R oller Tests Data3 Est. Max. R elative
Material Dry D ensity C om paction
M ax. Part. Size Lift Depth R oller Insitu Dry Den. Pdmax
dmax. (mm ) Ah, (cm ) Passes pd, (M g/m 3) (M g/m 3) K , (%)
B eijing 200 40* 4 2 .1 0 -2 .2 1 2.27 9 2 .5 -9 7 .4
200 60** 4 2 .0 5 -2 .1 1 9 0 .3 -9 3 .0
Hubei 400 80*** 6 2 .1 2 -2 .2 3 2.34 9 0 .6 -9 5 .3
3: In the Beijing rockfill construction field, the self-propelled vibrating roller of 12 ton static weight was used; in the Hubei rockfill
construction field, the towed vibrating roller of TZP-12t was used.
*: This lift depth is used in the upper part ( i.e., within 30-150 cm. As for the top layer of 0~30mm, the -60 mm rockfill material was
used.) of the constructed embankment.
**: This lift depth is used in the lower part (deeper than 150 cm) of the embankment.
***: This maximum particle size and lift depth is used in the main rockfill zone of the rockfill dam.

dry density data o f more than 40 com pleted rockfill REFERENCES:

dams w hich include several types o f mineral rocks,
different m axim um particle sizes and gradations, and
different types o f construction rollers in China and
elsew here, the basic statistical ranges o f the com pacted
dry densities for rockfill materials were shown that
there is nine percent o f rockfill embankments for their
constructed dry densities low er than 2.1 M g/m 3, 75
percent for betw een 2.1 and 2.3 M g/m 3, and 16 percent
for higher than 2.3 M g/m 3. Therefore, the in-situ
constructed dry densities in Table 1 were w ithin the
level o f these statistical ranges.
From Table 1 and the provided footnotes, it can be
seen that the relative com paction (or degree o f
com paction ) , R ,., o f 90 percent may apply to the
low er parts (deeper than 150 cm ) o f highway
em bankm ents and R,. o f 93 percent may apply to the
upper parts if the laboratory vibrating com paction
m ethods are used to produce the reference dry density
for construction. Thus, it is possible that the
com paction criteria using relative com paction, R,., can
be established for rockfill embankments as long as the
additional verification data are obtained in future
rockfill projects.
5. C O N C LU SIO NS
Based on this research, the follow in g conclusions
can be drawn: (1) For obtaining good densification o f
rockfill em bankm ents, the gradation containing 65 to
75% o f rock content i f possib le should be prepared and
used in construction sites. (2) The vibrating table or
tamper m ethod should be used to com pact the rockfill
material sam ples in a laboratory. (3) The maximum
dry density o f prototype rockfill materials can be
satisfactorily determined using the geom etric similar
gradation m ethod. (4) The com paction criteria o f 90%
and 93% o f relative com paction are initially
recom m ended for construction com paction control o f
low er part (below 150 cm for highw ay em bankments)
and upper part o f rockfill em bankments in the field.
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