TITLE

Determination of dry density of soil by sand replacement method

OBJECTIVES
To determine the field density of soil at a given location by sand replacement method

INTRODUCTION
The dry density of the compacted soil or pavement material is a common measure of the
amount of the compaction achieved during the construction. Knowing the field density and
field moisture content, the dry density is calculated. Therefore field density test is important as
a field control test for the compaction of soil or any other pavement layer. Sand replacement
test method is used to determine the field density or in-place density of earth embankments,
road fills, sub-grade, sub-base or any of compacted material. This method serves as base upon
which one can accept the density of a compacted material to a specified magnitude or to a
percentage maximum unit dry density determined as proctor. There are several methods for the
determination of field density of soil such as core cutter method, sand replacement method,
rubber balloon method, heavy oil method and etc. One of the common methods of determining
field density of fine grained soils is core cutter method. But this method has a major limitation
in the case of soils containing coarse grained particles such as gravel, stones and aggregates.
Under such circumstances, field density test by sand replacement method is advantageous, as
the presence of coarse grained particles will adversely affect the test results. The basic principle
of sand replacement method is to measure the volume of hole from which the material was
excavated from the weight of sand with known density filling in the hole.

THEORY
By conducting this test it is possible to determine the field density of the soil. Determination of
field density of cohesion less soil is not possible by core cutter method, because it is not
possible to obtain a core sample. In such situation, the sand replacement method is employed to
determine the unit weight. In sand replacement method, a small cylindrical pit is excavated and
the weight of the soil excavated from the pit is measured. Sand whose density is known is
filled into the pit. By measuring the weight of the sand required to fill the pit and knowing its
density the volume of pit is calculated. The sand pouring cylinder test is used to determine the
soil density in the field and to control the results of the field compaction. In this method, the in-
situ density is obtained by measuring the weight and the volume of soil obtained from a hole,
which is manually excavated at the place where the density is required. Therefore, in this
experiment there are two stages, namely calibration of sand density and measurement of soil
density.
W 1W 3W 2
Bulk density of sand ( sand) = Va

Weight of sand filling excavated hole alone (Wb) = (W1- W4- W2)
The volume (V) of excavated soil is determined from the volume of fine sand required to fill
the excavated hole.

W 1W 4W 2
Volume of excavated soil (V) = Psand

W5
In-situ bulk density of the wet excavated soil s = V

100 (W Wd )
Moisture content of soil w% = Wd

Wd 100
In-situ dry bulk density of the excavated soil (d) = s w = s (100+W )

s = Bulk density of soil sample.

d = Dry density of soil sample.
sand = Bulk density of sand.
W2 = Weight of sand required to fill cone.
V = Volume of excavated soil.
Va = Volume of the container.
w% = Water content of the soil sample.
W1 = Weight of the cylinder and sand filled up to 10 mm from top edge.
W3 = eight of cylinder and sand after pouring into calibration container and cone.
W4 = Weight of cylinder and sand after pouring into excavated hole and cone.
Wb = Weight of sand required to fill excavated hole alone
W5 = Weight of soil from excavated hole.
Wd = Oven dry weight of the soil from the hole.
W = Weight of soil sample.
APPARATUS

Sand pouring cylinder with fitted valve, metal funnel and base plate
Uniform fine sand with grain size ranges from 1.00mm to 0.60mm
Digging tools to dig a hole in the soil
Airtight container to collect the removed soil.
Drying can for water content determination
Balances sensitive to 1g and 0.01g
Drying oven with temperature ranges from 1050C to 110oC
Desiccator

PROCEDURE
Calibration of apparatus

The internal volume was determined of the calibrating container by using the
dimensions as follows,
V = (d2/4) h
The sand pouring cylinder was filled with the sand to be calibrated within about 10mm
of its top left vacant and then determine the mass of the sand pouring cylinder long with
sand and note it as W1.
The cylinder was placed on a clean plane surface and the shutter was kept open till the
sand fills up the cone fully. The shutter was closed and the sand collected on the plate
(W2) was weight.
The cylinder was refilled such that it get the initial weight. (W1)
The cylinder was placed over the calibration container and the shutter was opened until
the cone and the container volume was completely filled with sand. (W3)
The bulk density of the sand was determined by dividing the mass of sand in the
calibrating cylinder with the volume of the calibrating cylinder.

Measurement of field density

The area of the embankment was prepared which was subjected to test. The top of the
soil was leveled using the scrapper tool.
 The metal tray was placed on the flat surface.
The circular hole of the tray was traced on the ground and excavated the soil carefully
without losing any of the soil fragment. A hole was dogged approximately 150mm in
the ground.
All the excavated material was collected in a metal container and cleaned the hole using
a brush.
The mass of this soil was determined as weight of wet soil from hole.
The sand pouring cylinder was filled with the calibrated sand and determined its mass
as W1 and place the cylinder directly over the excavated hole. Sand was run out the
cylinder by opening the shutter. The shutter was closed when the hole is completely
filled and no further movement of sand is observed.
The remaining sand was weighted in the sand pouring cylinder and note it as W4.
A sample of the excavated soil was taken in an air tight sampler for the determination
of the water content or moisture content.
Volume of the hole was determined by using the unit weight of the calibrated sand
already known.
REFERENCES
http://civilblog.org/2014/04/02/determination-of-field-density-of-soil-by-sand-
replacement-method-is-2720-part-28/ ( last accessed on 14/09/2016 )
http://www.slideshare.net/NurulAdha2/sand-replacement
( last accessed on 14/09/2016 )
https://www.scribd.com/doc/188910196/Report-Field-Density-Sand-Replacement-
Method ( last accessed on 14/09/2016 )
http://www.iamcivilengineer.com/2015/01/determination-of-field-density-of-soil.html
( last accessed on 14/09/2016 )