There has been a recent push toward adoption of in-place soil stiffness as a means of assessing compactness of pavement geomaterials. From a series of low strain GeoGauge stiffness measurements made under controlled laboratory conditions on compacted silts, the variation of stiffness with water content, dry unit weight, degree of saturation, volume change upon wetting, shear strength, and soil plasticity is discussed. In general, the GeoGauge stiffness is not directly related to dry unit weight, and it peaks dry of optimum and decreases upon wetting. Soil specimens with a large stiffness also tend to be stronger, but they also tend to swell more upon wetting, implying that the shrink-swell potential is not optimized if stiffness is. These results help advance the understanding of the role of stiffness in assessing compactness of cohesive geomaterials.
Samenvatting