EVALUATION OF NUCLEAR MOISTURE AND DENSITY GAGES

A SERIES OF LABORATORY TESTS WERE MADE BY COMPACTING 18 DIFFERENT SOILS AT A VARIETY OF DENSITY AND MOISTURE CONDITIONS IN BOXES. DENSITY DETERMINATIONS WERE MADE WITH TWO TYPES OF NUCLEAR DENSITY APPARATUS, A DIRECT TRANSMISSION DEVICE AND A BACKSCATTER DEVICE AND WITH THE SAND CONE. ACCURACY OF THE SAND CONE AND THE DIRECT TRANSMISSION DEVICE WAS ABOUT THE SAME, AND SLIGHTLY BETTER THAN THE BACKSCATTER DEVICE. FIELD TESTS ON SOILS PERMITTED THE COMPARISON OF A LARGE NUMBER OF NUCLEAR TESTS BY BOTH DIRECT TRANSMISSION AND BACKSCATTER TAKEN IN A LIMITED AREA ON SEVERAL PROJECTS WITH SAND CONE RESULTS. THE DIRECT TRANSMISSION RESULTS CHECKED AND SAND CONE DENSITIES MUCH BETTER THAN THE BACKSCATTER RESULTS. THE NUCLEAR DENSITIES WERE CALCULATED BOTH FROM THE LABORATORY BOX-VOLUME CORRELATION CURVES AND FROM A CORRELATION WITH THE FIELD SAND CONE DENSITIES. COMPARISON OF MOISTURE CONTENTS MEASURED WITH THE BACKSCATTER DEVICE TO OVEN DRY VALUES AS WELL AS OTHER METHODS AND THE EFFECT OF THESE DETERMINATIONS ON CALCULATED DRY DENSITIES ARE PRESENTED. NUCLEAR DENSITY MEASUREMENTS OF BITUMINOUS PAVEMENTS CHECK DISPLACEMENT DENSITIES MADE ON CORES QUITE CLOSELY. THE SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS LIST THE PROBABLE ERRORS IN THE NUCLEAR METHODS USING THE BOX-VOLUME OR SAND CONE RESULTS AS STANDARDS. THE DIRECT TRANSMISSION DEVICE GIVES BETTER RESULTS THAN THE BACKSCATTER, PARTICULARLY IN THE FIELD TESTS.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • Hpr-1/6/, UNIV 622, STATE 323
• Corporate Authors:

  University of Minnesota, Minneapolis

  Minneapolis, MN  United States  55455

  Minnesota Department of Highways

  ,    
• Authors:
  • Kersten, M S
  • Skok, E L
• Publication Date: 1966-6-30

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Backscattering; Bituminous pavements; Density; Dislocation (Geology); Evaluation; Field tests; Laboratory tests; Measuring instruments; Moisture content; Nuclear tests; Soil compaction
• Old TRIS Terms: Direct transmission; Nuclear moisture-density determinations; Sand cone device
• Subject Areas: Geotechnology; Highways; Materials;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00215840
• Record Type: Publication
• Source Agency: Bureau of Public Roads /US
• Files: TRIS, STATEDOT
• Created Date: Oct 1 1994 12:00AM