EMBANKMENT

CONSTRUCTION

Presumption
Earth work is not significant part in road
construction
No Technical skills required
It is nothing but dumping and dozing
Except earth work team all other are
important part of road team

Earth work Engineer

But
Earth work Engineer is the face of the company
Entire project reputation depends on his behavior
skills and communication skills as he is the first
man to deal with locals
He playes different roles
like leader,
IR manager,
Manager
Engineer
Supervisor and
Lost but not least as labour

Types of roads
Express ways
National high ways
State high ways
Major district roads
Minor district roads
Other district roads
Village road

EARTH WORK IN
EXCAVATION

Classification
Excavation in soil
Excavation in ordinary rock (not required
blasting)
Excavation in rock required blasting

Soil
Top soil
Gravel
Mud
Silt
Clay
Sand
And any material of one side less than
75mm and can be picked by pick axe
comes under the above category

Ordinary rock( not required blasting)

Shale's and conglomerates
Laterite
limestone
Sandstone
DBM,WBM and WMM
gravel and cobble stone having maximum
dimension in any one direction between 75
and 300 mm

EMBANKMENT
CONSTRUCTION

EARTH WORK IN EMBANKMENT

Borrow area selection

No Borrow pit in any case should be dig with
in the Row or immediately after row
If any borrow pit dig near the road it should
be rectangle in shape and parallel to Cway
and min. 5Mts distance should be
maintained after toe.
Borrow pits should not cut continuously.
Ridges not less than 8mts should be left in
intervals not less than 300mts

When it is necessary to borrow earth from

cultivable land top 15cm to be removed and
stocked aside.
When borrow earth taking from river side or
lake the inner edge of the borrow pit should
not be less than 15mts from the toe of the
bank

Borrow area marking

Grid the borrow area at 25 m c/c (or closer, if
the variability is high) to full depth of proposed
working.
These pits should be logged and plotted for
proper identification of suitable sources of material

.
25
25
25
25

25

25

25

25

Test on borrow samples

Sand Content
2 tests per 3000 cubic metre of soil.
Plasticity Test
Each type to be tested, 2 tests per 3000 cub. metres of soil.
Density Test
Each soil type to be tested, 2 tests per 3000 cubic metres of
soil.
Deleterious Content Test
As and when required by the Engineer.
Moisture Content Test
One test for every 250 cubic metres of soil.
CBR Test
One CBR test for every 3000 cu.m. atleast or closer as and
when required by the Engineer.

Borrow area rehabilitation

After borrow excavation completed the pits
should be levelled
The side slopes to be trimmed in a slope 1:2
If the pit is not for water storage the top soil
removed and stocked should be spread
uniformly on the excavated area
The access roads to the borrow area to be
repaired

Suitable material
Soil
Gravel
moorum

stump

Unsuitable Material
Materials from swamps, marshes and bogs
Peat, log, stump and perishable material
Materials susceptible to spontaneous
combustion;
Materials in a frozen condition;
Highly expansive soils exhibiting marked
swell and shrinkage properties (free
swelling index exceeding 50 per cent when
tested as per IS: 2720-Part 40)

Density requirement

Embankments up to 3
metres
height,
not
subjected to
extensive
flooding

Embankments exceeding 3
metres
height
or
embankments
of
any
height subject to long
periods of inundation

Subgrade and earthen

shoulders/verges/backfill

Not less than 15.2 kN/cu. m.

Not less than 16.0 kN/cu.

Not less than 17.5 kN/cu. m

Construction
Before starting any activity the toe line
should be marked.
the original ground shall be leveled to
facilitate placement of first layer of
embankment, scarified, mixed with water
and then compacted by rolling to achieve
the compaction requirements

Spreading
The embankment and subgrade material
shall be spread in layers of uniform
thickness not exceeding 200 mm
compacted thickness over the entire width
of embankment/sub grade
Each compacted layer shall be finished
parallel to the final cross-section of the
embankment/sub grade

Compaction
Moisture content of the spreaded soil to be
checked and if required water to be added
are else it should be allowed for dry.
At the time of compaction Moisture content
should be in the range of 1 per cent above
to 2 per cent below the optimum moisture
content Compaction
In no case compaction started when
moisture is more than required OMC

Quality control Checks

The compaction test to be conducted @
one test for 1000sqm in EMB and 500Sqm
for subgrade
The minimum test should be Six for
Embankment and ten for subgrade
The Maximum dry density for Embankment
is 95% and for sub grade is 97% of lab MDD
The level tolerance should not be more than
+20mm to -25mm

Earth work engineer