Sustainable Civil Infrastructure: In-situ determination of void ratio and compactness in satured soils usign a partially automated measuring system based on microwaves

Katterbach, Maren and Poretti, Samuel (2017) Sustainable Civil Infrastructure: In-situ determination of void ratio and compactness in satured soils usign a partially automated measuring system based on microwaves. In: Civil Infrastructures Confronting Severe Weathers and Climate Changes: from failure to sustainability, 23-25.7.2017, HangZou, China. (Submitted)

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Abstract

Void ratio and compactness are one of the principal parameters used for geotechnical characterization of soils. They determine, amongst others, the deformation, settlement or liquefaction potential, that might significantly impair the quality and performance of the foundation for any kind of structure. The direct measurement of the natural void ratio, thus the parameter typically used as indication for the soil compactness, is particularly difficult, since it requires undisturbed samples. Such undisturbed sampless are hard to obtain and practically impossible in case of soils including coarse components. This is the reason, why indirect methods, such as the SPT, NSPT or CPT tests, to mention only the most commonly used ones, have been developed since many years to overcome this difficulty. Such indirect methods have however many limitations in particular in soils with gravelly components. The interpretation of the results is not immediate and is often affected by uncertainty. This situation gave rise to develop a more reliable, flexible approach, which allows to provide a direct quantitative measure of the in-situ void ration of satured soils. The article presents a newly developed partially automated measuring system based on microwaves. The measurement method and an application example on dam foundation will be illustrated.

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