Soil Testing Machines

Soil compaction is a fundamental requirement for the construction of earth fill for dams, reservoirs, canal embankments, highways, railways and runways. The relationship between soil moisture content and compacted dry density is very useful for deciding construction specifications and quality control of compacted earth fill. While designing an earth or earth retaining structure, the strength and deformation behaviour of soil is evaluated by testing soil specimen compacted to the density as would be achieved during construction. The construction quality control is essentially to check the density of compacted soil achieved in the field, thereby checking its strength.

Invariably in every soil laboratory, compaction and penetration tests on soil are carried out regularly. The electrically operated mechanical compaction process eliminates the tedious hand compaction process and results in a considerable saving of time. With the rammers provided and two stroke lengths available, the apparatus can be used to carry out all the normal compaction operations required in soil testing laboratories including the CBR tests. It is a motor driven mechanical compactor, useful for soil compaction into 100 mm or 150 mm dia moulds. Two sets of rammers are provided, one of 2.6 kg arranged for 310 mm drop and the other of 4.9 kg arranged for 450 mm drop. For compacting soil into 150 mm dia moulds, the rammer feet for 2.6 kg and 4.9 kg are of 100 mm dia and for 100 mm dia moulds they are of 50mm dia. The rammer assembly is provided with a ratchet and pawl arrangement to lift it from the top of the soil layer. When the rammer reaches the required height, the pawl releases the rammer allowing it to fall under its own weight. The release mechanism is operated by an arm moving up and down which is connected to a reduction gear coupled to the motor through another arm. The base plate of the mould has to be fitted to the rotating base plate of the instrument, which makes 1/9, & revolution per stroke. The number of strokes required for the arm can be set on an automatic blow counter. The equipment is suitable for operation on 230 V, 50 Hz, Single Phase, AC supply.

IS: 2720 (Part 5), IS: 11196 - 1985
Enables the determination of liquid limit simply and quickly. The unit is supplied complete with a stainless steel penetration test cone 35 mm long with a smooth polished surface and an angle of 30°. Facility exists for adjusting cone height in relation to the specimen. Cone Penetrometer consists of one each of the following :

• Automatic Timer
• Penetration Test Cone
• Penetration Test Cup, 55 mm dia x 40 mm deep