New Methodology for Density and Water Content by Time Domain Reflectometry
Publication: Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139, Issue 5
Abstract
This paper provides a new methodology for determining soil water content and density under different compaction energies. A new calibration equation was introduced making use of the voltage drop associated with the first passage of the electromagnetic wave through the soil specimen, the final voltage level after wave propagation ceases, and dry density normalized by the density of water. The new calibration equation allows for the direct calculation of dry density. Values of dry density are then used in the normalized apparent dielectric constant equation to determine the water content. Results of numerous laboratory tests on a wide variety of soils (including coarse-grained soils) showed that the proposed method accommodates different levels of compaction energy. The method also was validated with different field tests at sites commonly used in geotechnical earthwork construction, using soil-specific model coefficients determined from laboratory compaction tests. The results of this study indicate that the new calibration relationships appear relatively independent of the effects of compaction energy and of probe configuration in time domain reflectometry (TDR) testing. The proposed method presents an improvement to the one-step TDR method.
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Acknowledgments
Professor Maria C. Santagata, Professor P. Suresh C. Rao, Professor Robert N. Nowack, and Professor James V. Krogmeier at Purdue University provided many valuable comments through discussions. The late Janet Lovell was of significant help in performing the experiments in this research. Chris Doktorcik and Jessica Zartman helped with some of the TDR tests. S. Jung acknowledges the Indiana Department of Transportation through the Joint Transportation Research Program and the School of Civil Engineering for financial support. M. R. Abou Najm acknowledges the financial support provided by National Science Foundation Grant No. 0943682.
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Published In
Journal of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Engineering
Volume 139 • Issue 5 • May 2013
Pages: 659 - 670
Copyright
© 2013 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Feb 22, 2012
Accepted: May 24, 2012
Published online: May 28, 2012
Published in print: May 1, 2013
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