An investigation has been made into the relative performances oflightweight vibrating plate compactors in order to assess the effect of variations of mass, centrifugal force, and base plate contact area on the state of compaction produced. An assessment was also madeof the soil conditions (dry density, moisture content and soil type) required to enable these machines to achieve a satisfactory state of compaction in 100 mm layers of soil with a reasonable number of passes. The results showed that static force per square metre of baseplate contact area is the dominant factor contributing to the compaction performance of these machines, having a much greater effect than variations in centrifugal force or of base plate contact area forthe six vibrating plate compactors tested. All the machines required a large number of passes and higher than average moisture contentsto achieve satisfactory states of compaction in thin layers of bothcohesive and well-graded granular soils
Abstract