EMBANKMENT COMPACTION VARIABILITY - CONTROL TECHNIQUES AND STATISTICAL IMPLICATIONS

THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MORE EFFECTIVE METHOD FOR FIELD CONTROL OF EMBANKMENT COMPACTION MUST BE BASED ON KNOWLEDGE OF THE RESULTS BEING ACHIEVED USING CURRENT INSPECTION PROCEDURES. THE PURPOSE OF THIS STUDY WAS TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT OF COMPACTION VARIABILITY PRESENT IN FILL CONSTRUCTION FOR TYPICAL INDIANA CONSTRUCTION PROJECTS AND TO IDENTIFY THE VARIOUS FACTORS THAT LEAD TO THIS VARIATION. DIFFERENT TECHNIQUES FOR MEASURING IN-PLACE DENSITY, INCLUDING THE SAND CONE REPLACEMENT METHOD, THE WATER-FILLED BALLON VOLUME-MEASURING DEVICE, AND THE SURFACE BACKSCATTER NUCLEAR GAGE, WERE STUDIED TO PROVE VARIANCE ESTIMATES FOR USE IN THE FINAL STATISTICAL ANALYSIS. THE RESULTS INDICATE THAT WIDESPREAD COMPACTION VARIABILITY IS PRESENT IN ALL FIELD CONSTRUCTION REGARDLESS OF TESTING METHOD, AND THAT IT IS CAUSED BY A COMBINATION OF MANY INTERRELATED FACTORS. THIS OBSERVED SPREAD IN COMPACTION RESULTS INDICATES THAT CURRENT CONTROL PROCEDURES DO NOT ACCOUNT FOR VARIABILITY, AND THEREFORE AN INSPECTION PROGRAM USING STATISTICAL QUALITY CONTROL PROCEDURES DEVELOPED FOR THESE DATA IS PRESENTED. THE PROPOSED TECHNIQUE IS THAT OF USING A HYPOTHESIS DECISION THEORY THAT ACCOUNTS FOR THE COMPACTION VARIABILITY BY USING STATISTICAL PARAMETERS BASED ON RANDOM SAMPLING TO MAKE DECISIONS AS TO OVERALL COMPACTION QUALITY. /AUTHOR/

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  • Supplemental Notes:
    • Paper sponsored by Committee on Quality Assurance and Acceptance Procedures and presented at the 48th Annual Meeting. Distribution, posting, or copying of this PDF is strictly prohibited without written permission of the Transportation Research Board of the National Academy of Sciences. Unless otherwise indicated, all materials in this PDF are copyrighted by the National Academy of Sciences. Copyright © National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
  • Authors:
    • WILLIAMSON, T G
  • Publication Date: 1969

Media Info

  • Media Type: Digital/other
  • Features: Figures; References; Tables;
  • Pagination: pp 9-22
  • Monograph Title: Nuclear testing, construction variability, materials control and acceptance
  • Serial:

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Filing Info

  • Accession Number: 00215221
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS, TRB
  • Created Date: Dec 29 1994 12:00AM