Experimental Study on the Compaction Characteristics and Evaluation Method of Coarse-Grained Materials for Subgrade

Coarse-grained materials are widely used in high-speed railway construction, and it is of great significance to research its compaction characteristics due to the high quality control requirements. In this regard, a field compaction experiment was conducted at a subgrade near Bazhou Station of Beijing-Xiong’an Intercity Railway. The test results of the compaction effect were presented in this study at first. The roller-integrated compaction measurements (i.e., compaction meter value, CMV) were compared with several traditional in-situ tests (i.e., plate load test, light falling weight deflectometer test, and shear wave velocity test). Then the stability of CMV was evaluated by the proposed δ criterion. The spatial uniformity of compaction was further investigated. Based on the analysis, the target value of CMV was preliminarily determined. It showed that E(vd) was more variable than CMV. The results convincingly indicated that the compaction parameters increased with the increasing number of roller passes at first. A further increase in compaction effort could result in the decompaction of material when the compaction number up to a certain value. The stability analysis method proposed in this study showed its potency of quantifying the percentage of areas with acceptable compaction. The geostatistical analysis could reflect the spatial uniformity of compaction. Overall, the conducted study could provide a useful reference for geo-material compaction control in the transportation engineering.