Evaluating the Influence of Soil Plasticity on the Vibratory Roller—Soil Interaction for Intelligent Compaction

Abstract

Use of intelligent compaction (IC) is a growing technique for compaction in the field of construction. It provides an efficient way of evaluating the soil compaction level with a higher degree of certainty than traditional quality control methods. IC involves the interpretation of measured values received through the accelerometer and other sensors attached to the roller. The key objective of this paper is to analyse the dynamic roller–soil interaction via a three-dimensional nonlinear finite element model, capturing soil nonlinear response and damping in both small and large strain ranges as a result of dynamic load applied via the vibratory roller. In particular, the impact of soil plasticity index (PI) on the response of a typical vibratory roller is assessed. Indeed, the soil plasticity impacts stiffness degradation with shear strain influencing the soil stiffness during compaction and the roller response. The numerical predictions exhibit that the soil plasticity can significantly influence the response of the roller and the ground settlement level; hence, practising engineers can consider the soil plasticity index as an influencing factor to interpret the intelligent compaction results and optimize the compaction process.