Measurement of Soil Resilient Properties Using Noncontacting Proximity Sensors

Abstract

The utility of noncontacting proximity sensors for the measurement of small strains in resilient modulus tests is evaluated. The proximity sensor measurements of resilient modulus were compared with those obtained from linear variable differential transformers. The important issue of granular soil sample preparation and its effect on the magnitude of resilient modulus was evaluated. Two methods were proposed to facilitate sample preparation and to provide good contact between the soil and the loading platen. The effect of conditioning sequence on sample integrity was also investigated for the two proposed methods of compaction. In addition to the experimental program, a number of constitutive models, used for prediction of resilient modulus of granular soils, were examined; and model predictions were compared with the test data.