Generally, within the scope of road works or even construction of buildings, soil compaction is an essential process and for the most part is accomplished using vibratory rollers. This is a crucial step in order to ensure the stability of whatever that is built upon these compacted surfaces. Increasing ground stiffness is a critical process within the realm of earthworks.
However, different compactor rollers achieve different levels of earth compaction which is dependent on requirement and as opposed to conventional methods where compaction rollers utilise heavy drums to compact soil, more modern models use vibratory roller drums that are linked to monitors that are able to detect the level of soil compaction that has been achieved.
In most case scenarios, building engineers set clear standards when it comes to compaction roller configurations via numerous inspections that are executed in order to ensure that the compaction meets the project’s requirements. The standards or quality of compaction are determined by using various tests among which the most common being plate load test and field density test which allows engineers to make an evaluation of the compaction especially when it comes to road construction.
However, according to engineering experts this inspection method could be refined to be more efficient, as the test or inspection cannot be conducted in all areas due to the amount of time that is needed and also the increase in cost. Generally, operators of roller compactors independently decide on the frequency of compactions, speed, thickness and vibration levels according to the operator’s experience. Dues to this, compactions are never uniform as the task is almost entirely dependent on the operator of the compactor.
In a recent study, researchers conducted quality inspection on compaction using a new technology which in essence is an intelligent quality control system that (This technology is commercially available). The study examined primary variables that were presumed to impact the compaction process significantly. The variables generally included (operating configuration of the vibrating roller) the direction of the roller compactor, the speed of the roller compactors and the frequency of the vibration.
Among the variables, it was discovered that only the vibration and speed of the compaction roller had a significant impact on the degree of compaction, whereas the compaction direction did not impact the compaction process at a significant degree. The findings of the study contribute to road construction significantly as repetitive compaction tasks could be reduced significantly by configuring the driving speed of the roller compactor and the vibration frequency according to make-up of the surface conditions.
This would directly have a positive impact on productivity and reduce road building costs and improve compaction process efficiency greatly. Most new models readily available for roller compactor hire come with vibratory drum feature which could be controlled by operators according to the ground conditions which ensure optimal compaction is achieved with each pass.
Such studies have become crucial to the construction industry as they play an important role towards reducing project costs, especially within the scope of heavy machinery such as roller compactors.
