International Journal of Environmental Science and Development

Abstract—Construction of structures always involves excavation, and recompaction following foundation installation. In some cases foundations are placed on compacted sandy soils. The influence of relative compaction on the strength of sandy soils in Kuwait is examined herein by a comprehensive laboratory testing program on surface samples. The program includes basic properties, compaction and, direct shear tests. Various soil parameters were determined including the compaction characteristics, the cohesion c, angle of friction φ. The results indicate that as the relative compaction increases towards 100%, the strength increases and the soil compressibility decreases. A comparison was made between the soil parameters for the samples compacted on the dry side, and on the wet side of optimum moisture content at several relative compaction ratios. The difference in the values obtained for the two cases are explained. The effect of using 1% by weight cement additive is also examined.

Index Terms—Relative compaction, shear strength, cohesion, angle of friction, silty sands.

Nabil F. Ismael is with the Civil Engineering Department, Kuwait University, Kuwait (email: nabilismael@hotmail.com).
Mariam Behbehani is with Ministry of Public Works, Kuwait.

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Cite:Nabil F. Ismael and Mariam Behbehani, "Influence of Relative Compaction on the Shear Strength of Compacted Surface Sands," International Journal of Environmental Science and Development vol. 5, no. 1, pp. 8-11, 2014.