Effect of Dry Compaction on Strength, Stiffness and Deformation Behaviour of Natural Unbound Gravelly Material

摘要

Availability of water for pavement construction in arid and semi-arid areas in Sudan is hazardous, and it becomes the most highly expensive construction material. Local practice used to compact natural unbound gravelly materials at moistures below the optimum moisture content. This paper investigates the influence of dry compaction on strength, stiffness and deformation behaviour of these natural materials. Two different unbound gravelly materials from Al-Silait open quarry are proposed for this study, Al-Silait1 and Al-Silait2 which are from colluvial deposits originally conglomerates belonging to Nubian Sandstone. An experimental laboratory testing program was performed on the two designated materials, such as sieve analysis, resilient modulus and permanent deformation tests. All specimens that watered dry of optimum collapsed upon the repeated load tri-axial testing process, this indicated that the dry compacted pavements will not be able to sustain sufficiently when subjected to repetitive traffic.