Field Testing

In the construction and earthmoving industry the testing most commonly carried out is compaction testing. Despite the huge numbers of these tests being carried out on projects throughout Australia, it is the most misunderstood geotechnical test.

The compaction of soil or gravels is measured or compared against a standard as found in AS1289 or AS1141. Identifying the relative compaction of a material – in simple terms – is done by measuring the density of the soil on the site and then comparing that value with a density value obtained utilising a standard compaction test in the laboratory. The comparison between the field density and the laboratory density can then be expressed as a percentage. Generally the required percentage of field compaction will be 95% of the laboratory compaction but this is dependent on what the site is to be used for.

• Nuclear density gauge
  
• Sand replacement method
  
• Undisturbed deep bore core
  
• Inplace California Bearing Ratio (CBR) using
  
• Dynamic Cone Penetrometer
  
• Drilling, logging and sampling soils by auger drilling
  
• Inplace density testing of land fill to EPA method Bulletin No 455.
  
• Insitu permeability by the EPA method Publication No 451 for effluent disposal or by pump out well method
  
• Asphalt, concrete coring using water cooled diamond tipped coring
  
• Pavement surface deflection testing by Benkleman beam.