The Influence of Moisture Content on Settlement of Compacted Soils

Abstract

Compaction of soils is an important pre-requisite for the construction of
man-made structures like roads, dams, embankments etc. Likewise, the
consolidation test is of great importance as the consolidation properties
determined from the test are used to estimate the magnitude and the rate
of both elastic and primary consolidation settlement of a structure. This
paper focuses on the effect of moisture content on settlement in
compacted soils. Soil samples were obtained from Useh, Upper Siluko
road in Egor Local Government Area of Edo State. Geotechnical
properties of the soil samples were carried out in accordance with the
British Standard codes. The results revealed that the soils in the area are
silty clay, the consolidation settlement were negligible but will increase
when inundated with water, indicating that the soils from the location
can actually withstand settlement problems.