ABSTRACT
Although compacted soil is widely used for constructing earth structures, the mechanism of compaction has not been explained using principles of soil mechanics. Therefore, designing and constructing such structures depend on empirical methods. In this study, we considered compaction as un-drained compression of unsaturated soil, and have simulated the compaction process using principles of unsaturated soil/water coupling problem. The constitutive model proposed by Ohno et al. (2007) and the soil-water retention characteristic curve model proposed by Kawai et al. (2000) were used for these simulations. When compared with static compaction tests performed by Kawai et al. (2003), the simulation results showed good agreement. Consequently, the shape of the observed compaction curve could be explained. The results achieved in this study can be applied to construction management on geotechnical engineering sites.
