IJPMG-International Journal of Physical Modelling in Geotechnics 3 (2009) : 21-32

PHYSICAL MODELLING OF LOW-ENERGY DYNAMIC COMPACTION

M. HAJIALILUE-BONABi) AND A.H. REZAEIii)

ABSTRACT

A physical modelling of low-energy dynamic compaction (DC) on fine, dry loose sand based on image processing
(PIV method) was undertaken. Tamping was executed by rising and dropping semi-cylindrical steel tampers of known
diameters and weights on the surface of sand deposit. The effective factors of DC and the deformation pattern of sand
after tamper drops were investigated using the PIV method. The displacement field of soil mass was investigated. Strain
elements were obtained from displacement patches in the ground. The changes in relative density due to impacts at
different depths were evaluated using total volumetric strains. A normalized relation between the influence depth and
DC parameters was presented for low-energy DC design. This relation may be used to predict the influence depth
of improvement. By deriving crater depth versus drop number curves, the influence value of each impact on the increase
of improvement depth was defined.

Key words: dynamic compaction, image processing, soil improvement

INTRODUCTION of the bearing capacity and improvement of the engineering

Nowadays, expanding cities confront the problem of
scarcity of suitable land to accommodate the growth of
their industries and infrastructures. In many parts of the
world, this problem results to the unavoidable use of poor
grounds, often with inadequate bearing capacity properties.
In such cases, to optimize or improve the performance of
the ground, special foundations such as piles are often used.
Other times, the soil is removed and replaced with a material
of acceptable engineering properties. However, both
procedures can be costly at times.
One option to ground improvement is the improvement
of the engineering properties of the existing ground itself.
Different ground improvement techniques have already been
developed and are widely carried out for this purpose.
Dynamic compaction (DC) is among the most field-proven
and commonly used of these techniques, especially for
reclaimed areas in coastal regions. This technique has found
application to a wide range of soil types.
Dynamic compaction uses a heavy tamper which is
repeatedly raised and dropped with a single cable on a
pre-designed impact grid at 4 to 15 m spacing. The mass
of the tampers generally ranges from 5 to 35 ton, and drop
heights range from 10 to 35 m. These impacts produce
sufficient compaction effort to reduce void space and
increase the density of deposit. This leads to the increase
properties of the soil and the reduction of the settlement
of deposit caused by structures. The depth and degree of
the ground improvement by using this technique are a
function of the energy imparted to the soil by the falling
mass. Mayne et al., (1984) reported a depth of improvement
of up to 33 m.
However, the effectiveness of this technique in improving
soil stiffness to a significant depth is countered by the
effects of induced ground vibrations on nearby structures,
which may further exacerbate as the energy per blow
increases.
In cases when the ground to be modified consists of
a layer of loose material with depth of only a few meters,
or when only a small increase in bearing capacity is required,
ground improvement to great depths may not be necessary.
As such, a low-energy dynamic compaction method has
been developed to provide a rapid, economic and efficient
ground improvement system. Since the energy per blow
is less than in conventional dynamic compaction, the
consequential risk of damage to the nearby existing
infrastructure is potentially reduced.
Dynamic compaction has been an important soil
improvement process for many years. Menard and Broise
(1975) provided the basis for this method. The depth of
influence dmax to impact energy for various soil types is
given by:

i) Assistant Professor, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran

ii) Ph.D. Student, Faculty of Civil Engineering, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran
The manuscript was received for review on January 7, 2008.
22 HAJIALILUE - BONAB AND REZAEI
(1)
where W is the dropped weight in tons, and H is the height
of drop in meters. The value of empirical coefficient n
ranges from 0.35 to 0.6 depending on soil type. Despite
of the extensive application of Eq. (1) in the design of DC,
this approach is seen to over-simplify the problem. In
practice, the depth of compacted soil may be influenced
by many other factors such as the total energy applied,
shape and base area of the tamper and grid spacing.
Current practice for the determination of optimum field
operation parameters for DC technique relies mainly on
field pilot tests and past experiences based on case histories.
In many cases, post-improvement penetration resistance
measurements based on field trials are compared against
design penetration resistance values to determine the field
DC operational parameters and level of treatment required.
Considering the fact that real field tests can be very
expensive, the application of physical and numerical models
is seen useful in the investigation of compaction mechanism
and wave propagation in soil. Laboratory dynamic
compaction tests have been carried out by a number of
researchers. Ellis (1986) performed dynamic compaction
tests in a metal drum, on dry and saturated sand, clay, and
fly ash specimens. On the other hand, Poran and Rodriguez
(1992) introduced dimensionless relations to the design of
DC based on laboratory tests. They built a cubic steel
tank with dimensions of 1.22 × 1.22 × 1.22 m to conduct
laboratory dynamic compaction model tests on Boston dry
sand specimens. Three circular flat-based tampers with
diameters of 102 mm, 152 mm and 229 mm were used.
The influence zones resulting from the densification were
determined by using a portable nuclear instrument in the
sand specimens. Results of their test revealed that the
influence zone has a bowl shape, with a width at the top
equal to three times the diameter of the tamper and a depth
equal to four times the diameter of the tamper. Oshima
and Takada (1998) studied the effect of the momentum
of tamping and presented some graphs for estimation of
the improvement depth during dynamic compaction using
data obtained from site tests and centrifuge model tests.
In the abovementioned studies, the displacement patterns
of soil were obtained using very limited number of
measurements. Parameters like stress, strain or penetration
resistance were measured sparsely in the soil deposit by
instrumentation.
Few physical modelling of low-energy DC were carried
out in the course of the development of DC technique.
Merrifield and Davies (2000) conducted field measurement
and centrifuge test in order to study the efficiency of the
low-energy dynamic compaction process and the
development of a novel technique of real-time monitoring
to demonstrate soil improvement in quantitative engineering
units during the process. Feng et al. (2000) studied the
effects of base shape of tamper with the use of physical
modelling and the measurement of tamper volume.
Accurate measurement of soil deformation is
fundamental to the success of geotechnical modelling. One
of the methods that have received a great attention in recent
years because of numerous benefits is the use of digital
images. The current practice involves the tracking of the
movement of a grid of target markers embedded in an
exposed plane of soil through a sequence of digital images.
A texture-driven technique for non-contact measurement
of soil deformation in physical models provides the improved
precision and accuracy, comparable to instrumentation,
whilst removing the need for intrusive target markers
(White et al., 2002, 2003). This system combines digital
photography, close-range photogrammetry and image
analysis by Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) to allow the
soil displacements to be detected at high precision. The
application of PIV to the measurement of displacements
in soils has shown great promise wherein thousands of
measurement points can be observed in a single field of
view. Assuming a patch size greater than 16 x 16 pixels,
GeoPIV developed in conjunction with White et al. (2002)
has a precision in excess of 1/50th of a pixel in image-
space.
In this research, an attempt to study the effective factors
of low-energy DC and deformation pattern of soil after
compaction was carried out using physical modelling based
on PIV method. This is an innovative manner to see the
deformation in soil due to dynamic compaction with very
good precision. With the aid of PIV, displacement fields
of soil mass were investigated and generated strain and
change in relative density due to impacts in different depths
were evaluated using physical modelling of loose sand.
The different parameters that were considered in this study
include the improvement depth, DC characteristics (energy
intensity, base area of tamper, drop height, momentum),
induced crater depth and volume. Further more, design
graphs are presented in this paper. As a small scale physical
modelling the experimental results should be scaled to
prototype conditions. In order to eliminate the scale effect,
the influence depth and total specific energy were normalized
by tamper diameter. This type of normalization was
performed successfully by Poran et al. (1992).
CHARACTERISTICS OF PHYSICAL MODEL
Test Boxes
A rigid wooden box with dimension of 700 × 470 ×
830 mm was used as container for physical models of the
sand medium. To examine the rigidity of the box, two trial
tests were carried out wherein several displacement gauges
were installed on the lateral surfaces of the box. No
considerable deformation due to lateral pressure of soil
and impacts was observed on these tests. In order to avoid
the boundary effect on wave reflection, 50 mm layers of
 LOW - ENERGY DYNAMIC COMPACTION 23

Ionolite (damping fiber) was used on the three (3) vertical
walls and on the floor of the box. A thin protective layer
was then laid over the damping fiber. A 20 mm thick
transparent Perspex was erected in the front side of the
box in order to monitor the ground displacements. Seventy
(70) reference black dots/points of known real-space location
were created on the inside face of the observation window.
These points were used to optimize the photogrammetric
transformation parameters. A black dot on a white
background provides a high contrast control marker that
can be located in image-space using a centroiding method.
Test material
This study was conducted using fine, dry sand obtained
from north east of Tabriz (Ana Khatoun) in the north west
of Iran. Grain size distribution curve of sand is shown in
Fig. 1a. According to the unified soil classification system
(USCS), this sand is poorly graded (SP). Table 1 represents
the properties of this sand (ASTM [D854-92, D4254-91]).
Because of inter-grain color variation, the captured image
patches of the chosen sand contain a wide spectrum of
intensity values. By having good spatial brightness
frequency, a well-textured image for PIV analysis can be
provided.
Two special projectors in both sides of the camera at 45
degree angle placed at a level higher than the optical axis
of the camera were used to eliminate optical effects of
the environment on the viewing window and to avoid errors
caused by random variation of pixel intensities (see Fig. 1b).
The great number of measurements (approximately 1,200
patches from soil plane using 72 pixels of patch size) makes
it possible to investigate the displacement and deformation
of the soil precisely. Having obtained the displacement
vector field, strains at different points can be evaluated,
enabling to study the effects of different factors on the
pattern of soil improvement.
Impact procedure of model surface
Tamping was executed by the raising and dropping of
the semi-cylindrical steel tampers of known diameters and
weights on the surface of sand deposit (Fig. 2). Because
of axi-symmetry, only half of the soil mass and the tamper
were modeled. One difficult part of the test was the dropping
of the tamper just tangentially to the viewing window. This

Procedure of model preparation

Dry sand pluviation technique was used to prepare loose
dry specimens of model ground with an initial depth of
50 cm. In order to obtain homogeneous models in desired
relative density, a constant drop height of sand particles
was obtained by lifting the container at a constant speed
equal to the rate of increase in the thickness of the sand
specimen. A thin layer of colored sand was poured in front
of viewing window at certain depths for a better optical
observation of the soil deformation field and as a point
of comparison for test results. After the sand pluviation, (a)
the average relative density of model was determined for
each test by the measurement of weight and volume of
the model ground.

Digital photography and image processing

After each impact on model surface, a digital image
was captured using a Canon G6 digital camera with an
image resolution of 3072 x 2304 pixels. All controls such
as focus, gain and shutter speed was adopted automatically.

Table 1 Mechanical properties of tested sand

(b)

Fig. 1 a) Grain distribution curve of tested sand; b) General view

of test set-up
24 HAJIALILUE - BONAB AND REZAEI
is essential because the primary aim of the test was to
observe the soil deformation of central plan below the
tamper after compaction. If the tamper drops at some distance
from the viewing window, the observed soil deformation
will be different from the central plan.
In order to perform accurate impact, a simple system
was devised. Two 6.1 mm diameter holes were made on
the gravity center of each quadrant of tampers. Cylindrical
bars of 6.0 mm diameter were used as guides to impose
the exact location of drop. The tampers were made to pass
through the bars and the effect of friction during dropping
was minimized by greasing the bar guides. These guides
were fixed by a cubic of wood in the bottom of the test
box. A beam with two holes was made in order to ensure
the position of the guides on top. The distance and location
of guide bars were ensured to pass through the two holes
on the tampers. This beam was located on top of two
50 × 50 × 50 mm wooden seats. These seats are jointed
to graded piers which were erected on the test box. In order
to carry out drops with different heights, a series of holes
in variable heights of piers (0.2 to 1.0 m with 0.05 m step)
were made. The seats can be fixed at different location.
Exact setting of drop height was carried out by a screw
on the gravity center of the tamper (having 0.5 mm pitch).
Tamper weight was regulated by the addition or reduction
of knots on the gravity center of the tamper. This screw
was used for adding pieces of tampers to each other to
obtain different weights and to simplify the raising of the
tamper by hand (Fig. 2). In total, seven (7) tampers were
used. Table 2 presents the properties of each of these tampers.
Fig. 2 General view of impact system and used tampers
Table 2 Properties of used tampers
METHODS OF THE TEST
After each impact on model surface, a digital image
of the deformed soil mass was captured and the frequent
images were processed with the GeoPIV software (White
et al., 2004). The displacement vectors of each patch between
each pair of images were then obtained. Cumulative
measurement of displacement vectors creates the
displacement vector field. In each analysis, some irregular
vectors (wild vectors) would appear due to imaging noises
and software errors. These wild vectors were omitted for
each test. The resulting displacement vectors in image space
measured in unit pixels were converted to object-space
measurement units (e.g. mm) using a constant image scale
factor. An example of mesh generation, resulting
displacement vectors and the corresponding strains in soil
mass in colored scale is shown in Fig. 3.
Strain elements were derived from the displacements
of patches. In order to extract the strain from displacement
vectors in plane strain condition, one way is to consider
triangular plane elements and to calculate the strain in two
directions. However, in our experimental models, the plane
strain condition cannot be applied because the model is
axi-symmetric. Instead, in order to calculate the strain,
 LOW - ENERGY DYNAMIC COMPACTION 25

(a) (b)

(c) (d)

Fig. 3 a) Mesh generation; b) Soil condition after dynamic compaction; c) Resulting displacement vectors,
and; d) Occurring strains obtained from displacement vectors

(a) (b) (c)

Fig. 4 General view of elements

wedge shape elements were defined. The element shape (2)

in the direction of the viewing window is triangular (see
Fig. 4a), and the 3-D form of the elements is as shown
in Fig. 4c. Using PIV method, the 3 joints displacement
of triangular side of these elements due to each impact
can be measured. Knowing these displacements, the area
before each impact (Si) and after impact (Si+1) can be
calculated. Given the axi-symmetric condition, the volume
of the elements after and before each impact is
expressed by:
(3)
where Ri is radial distance of gravity center of element
from center line of tamper and θ is the selected radial
angle of element. In this research, θ was equal to π/12
for all tests.
For each element, R can be considered constant and
the volume change of each element will depend only to
the triangular area before and after each impact. The
horizontal, vertical and volumetric strain can be defined
26 HAJIALILUE - BONAB AND REZAEI

for each element in the area of the viewing window. Since
the weight of elements is constant during test and initial
volume and density of element are known, the change of
element density due to each impact can be determined as
follows:
(4)
Knowing the density of element and having γd min and
γ d max, the relative density after each impact can be computed.
This helps to plot the contours of Dr in viewing area (see
Fig. 5a). Figure 5b gives another result of this calculation
in which the relative density of different depth under tamper
centre for various number of drops were given.
Tests characteristics
In this investigation, 13 tests with various values of
affective factors on dynamic compaction were carried out.
Table 3 gives the characteristics of tests and prepared models.
Tests 4 and 5 were performed with the same properties
in order to know if the tests are repeatable or not. Resulting
vectors for both tests have good agreements, confirming
that the test is repeatable.

(a) (b)

Fig. 5 a) Distribution of relative density variations in the observed plane of soil; b) Variation of relative density versus depth below
the center of tamper for different number of impacts

Table 3 Characteristics of tests

 LOW - ENERGY DYNAMIC COMPACTION 27

(a) (b)

Fig. 6 a) General shape of occurring displacement after 10th impact for vertical lines of soil; b) general shape of occurring displacement
after 10th impact for horizontal lines of soil

TEST RESULTS
General pattern of soil deformation
Knowing the displacement vectors of soil patches, the
soil deformation pattern can be observed and the effective
parameters of DC can be investigated. The deformation
of different points in the ground after each impact for all
tests was plotted. Figure 6a shows the general shape of
occurring displacement after 10th impact.
A sickle-shape curve characterizes the soil displacement
profile along the vertical line of the ground. The curves
become flatter as they go farther away of the impact centre.
On the other hand, it was observed that the displacement
(a) of soil mass in any horizontal depth has a bell-shape
curve or a Gaussian distribution curve (see Fig. 6b). The
direction of displacement vectors with respect to the
horizontal plane (angle θ) can be used as a criterion to
compare deformation patterns at other points of the soil
media. Figure 7a shows the angle of displacement vectors
plotted against the normalized distance from tamper central
line for various depths after 12 impacts (related to Test
13). As observed, the displacement vectors under center
line of tamper were almost vertical (θ≈90). The angle of
vectors decreases as it goes far away from the center
line. At lower depths however, after a distance of about
Χ/D= 1, the angle of vectors increases again. With increase
of depth, the curvature of the curves decreases (increase
in curvature radius) and in deeper depths, the shape of
(b) curves takes a constant decreasing form. In other words,
with increase of depth, the location of minimum angle
Fig. 7 a), b). Angle of displacement vectors versus X/D curve for also moves away from the center.
n=12
28 HAJIALILUE - BONAB AND REZAEI
Fig. 8 Angle of displacement vectors versus Y/D curve for n=12
Fig. 9 Contours of 1.5% volumetric strains for different drop
numbers
The displacement vector angle versus normalized
distance from center for Tests 13 and 8 after the 12th drop
are shown in Fig. 7b. This shows the effect of applied
energy for the same tamper area. It is observed that the
values of angle of vectors in the same depth for Test 13
(larger applied energy) are greater in comparison
with Test 8.
The relationship of the angle of vectors versus depth
for various distance of impact center is shown in Fig. 8.
In the said figure, the resulting curves for Test 4 after the
12th drop is shown. After comparing the results of other
tests, the minimum value of angle was found to appear
at a distance of about 1 to 1.5 times of the tamper diameter.
Furthermore, it was also observed that the location of the
minimum value of vector angle moves downwards with
increasing distance from the center.
Influence Depth
In this research, a volumetric strain of 1.5% was chosen
as criterion for influence depth. In order to evaluate the
Fig. 10 Fitted curve and correlation coefficients
Fig. 11 Normalized influence depth versus drop numbers for
Test 1, 2, 3, 4
influence depth of each test, the 1.5% volumetric strain
contours of tests after each drop were plotted using PIV
analysis. As an example, Figure 9 shows the volumetric
strain contours for various drops related to Test 13.
In order to reduce the scale effects, the method proposed
by Poran et al. (1992) was applied. In this method, the
improvement depth (DI) was scaled to tamper diameter
(D) and a normalized total specific energy index,
N.W.H/A.DI, was considered in which N represents the
number of drops, W is the weight of the tamper in mega
grams, A is the base area of the tamper in m2 and H is
the drop height in meters. The total specific energy represents
the accumulative energy per unit area delivered by all N
impacts in a particular test normalized by the depth of
influence (DI) of the respective density counter, in units
of stress. Model dimensions effects are generally minimized
whit this rational normalization which results in a common
parametric ranges for the model study and field DC
construction.
The abovementioned method was applied to all tests
 LOW - ENERGY DYNAMIC COMPACTION
of this research and the result for the non-dimensional
equation is shown in Fig.10. Based from the figure, a
logarithmic relation between DI/D and N.W.H/A.DI is
observed. Using this graph, an estimation of the influence
depth based on DC parameters is possible. The equation
presented in this research would be suitable for the estimation
of influence depth when the applied energy intensity is
limited to the values of our tests, i.e. low energy intensity.
Based on the obtained equation, increasing the applied
energy and momentum will effectuate to a corresponding
increase in influence depth. The relation of normalized
influence depth versus the number of drop for the Tests
1 to 4 (same tamper diameter) is shown in Fig. 11.
Crater Properties
Upon impact, the tamper partially penetrated into the
soil medium. The tamper was then carefully retrieved by
hand and raised up to a predefined height for the next
impact. A crater appeared after the removal of the tamper.
The point coordinates of the cross section of the crater
(a)
(b)
Fig. 12 a) Crater depth versus drop number for tests 1, and 2;
b) Derivation of crater depth versus drop number for
tests 13
29
were determined using image processing in order to measure
the crater volume. In all of the tests, the crater dimensions
(depth and diameter) were measured precisely after each
drop. The depth of crater with respect to drop number for
Tests 1, 2 and 3 are shown in Fig. 12a. The results show
that for the same tamper diameter, the crater depth increases
by the energy level of the compaction. By derivation of
crater depth versus drop number curves, the influence of
impact on the increase of improvement depth was
investigated. Figure 12b shows this curve for Tests 13 as
an example. It was found out that after the 8th drop, the
influence of impact on improvement depth was reduced
and that after 15th drop, this influence was almost negligible.
From this observation, it can be said that the main portion
of improvement depth in granular soils is effectuated by
the initial impacts and preceding impacts only increase the
density of the improved ground. This inference can also
be observed in the volumetric strains contours after each
impact as seen in Fig. 9.
A logarithmic curve can be fitted for each test results.
It is found that the general shape of resulting curves for
all tests are very similar to decreasing rate of influence
depth change with respect to drop number. It is then possible
to use the crater depth (Dc) as an index for improving
depth. The results show a linear relationship between the
normalized crater depth and normalized influence depth
for each test (Fig. 13). From this figure, an average linear
relationship for all tests can be obtained and can be
expressed mathematically as:
On the other hand, to study the effect of tamper diameter
on crater depth, results of two series of tests (6, 7, 8 and
10, 12, 13) are presented in Fig. 14. The results show that
with the same applied energy and momentum, an apparent
increase in depth of the crater with increase in
Fig. 13 Normalized crater depth versus normalized influence depth
30 HAJIALILUE - BONAB AND REZAEI

(a)
(a)

(b)

Fig. 14 a) Depth of crater versus drop number for tests 6, 7 and

8; b) Normalized depth of crater versus drop number for
tests 10, 12 and 13

energy intensity or contact pressure of tamper can be

observed.
(b)
The craters created by various tampers have a bowl
shape as depicted in Fig. 15b. Note that the heave around Fig. 15 a) Volume of crater versus number of drop curves for tests
8 and 13; b) Parameters used for calculating crater volume
the craters was absent in these tests. The crater volume was
and general view of generated crater.
calculated in cylindrical coordinates, r and z as follows:

rdzdrdθ (5)
The parameter r1 is defined in Fig. 15b. The relation
z=ƒ(r) represents the variation of magnitude of depression
in the radial (r) direction and was obtained from image
processing analysis (see Fig. 15b). The crater volume related
to Tests 8 and 13 which have the same tamper diameter
but different energy intensity versus drop number, is
compared in Fig. 15a. It can be observed that the rate of
change of crater volume is logarithmic with respect to
number of drops.
For the medium with the same initial density, larger
crater indicates a higher increase in density and thus a
higher efficiency of dynamic compaction. For the same
initial relative density, the volume of the crater in all tests
increases with increase in drop height (i.e. increase in
compaction energy).
Efficiency of impact pressure
In order to study the efficiency of impact pressure
(W/A) in DC, three physical models were prepared (Models
9, 10, 11). In these tests, the applied energy (W.H) and
 LOW - ENERGY DYNAMIC COMPACTION
(a)
(b)
Fig. 16 a) Influence depth versus drop number for tests 9, 10 and
11; b) Volume of crater versus total applied energy for tests
10, 12 and 13
the base area of tampers were made uniform. Figure 16a
shows the influence depth versus number of drops while
Fig. 16b shows the volume of crater versus total applied
energy for these tests. It is found that for constant energy,
a greater improvement and influence depth can be achieved
with greater impact pressure in comparison with low impact
pressure. It can be concluded that the influence of tamper
mass is more significant than the drop height. In other
words, the influence of momentum is greater than the
influence of applied energy. The test with maximum
momentum of tamper creates a larger crater and so greater
improvement is achieved.
Efficiency of tamper diameter
Efficiency of tamper base area was investigated using
the results of two series of tests (Tests 10, 12, 13 with
an applied energy of 11.65N-m and Tests 6, 7, 8 with an
applied energy of 4.73 N-m). For each series, the same
total energy was applied with different energy intensity
per unit area. Three tampers with diameters 7.5 cm, 10
cm, 12 cm were used. Figure 17a, b shows a graph of
31
(a)
(b)
Fig. 17 a), b) Normalized influence depth versus number of drop
the normalized influence depth with respect to drop number
for these tests. Applied energy and momentum were same
for all tests of each series. It is found that the ratio of
improvement depth to tamper diameter is greater for the
test that have greater applied energy intensity.
In order to closely investigate this phenomenon, the
displacement field of these tests in viewing plane was
compared. It is observed that for higher energy intensity,
larger displacements occur at shallow depth beneath the
tamper compared with other tests. The displacements
decreased significantly in deeper depths compared with
other tests of lower energy intensity. It can be concluded
that when the area of tamper decreases, the energy intensity
increases. Furthermore, it can also be said that most of
the applied energy is consumed to create large deformations
in soil mass beneath the tamper. As the impact area decreases
and the stress bulb become smaller, the influence radius
consequently decreases. The generated strains in the soil
plan show that the decrease of tamper base area causes
an increase in stress and an improvement of depth of about
1.2-1.4 times the diameter of tamper.
32 HAJIALILUE - BONAB AND REZAEI
CONCLUSION
The application of PIV to the measurement of
displacements and deformation pattern of soil in physical
modelling of dynamic compaction shows great promise.
The deformation field of soil mass after dynamic compaction
was investigated and the generated strain and change in
relative density due to impacts in different depths were
evaluated. Using PIV method, displacement field shapes
can be formulated using parameters related to dynamic
compaction and target depth.
It is found that the main portion of improvement depth
in granular soils can be obtained in the initial impacts and
preceding impacts have little influence but to increase the
density of the ground. For the same initial relative density,
the depths of the crater in all tests increase with increase
in drop height. For constant energy and tamper diameter,
the DC with greater impact pressure causes greater influence
depth and improvement in comparison with low impact
pressure. In the other words, the influence of momentum
is greater than the influence of applied energy.
For constant energy and momentum, the DC with greater
energy intensity causes greater ratio of improvement depth
to tamper diameter in comparison with low energy intensity.
Decrease of tamper base area causes an increase in stress
and degree of improvement to depth of about 1.2-1.4 times
the diameter of tamper. Most of the applied energy is
consigned to cause large deformations in soil mass. Finally,
a linear relationship between crater depth and influenced
depth was obtained.
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