Current Trend in Compaction Engineering for Highway Works and Relevance to Highway Construction in Nigeria

Abstract

Compaction of soil and other aggregates used in the construction of civil Engineering facilities is a very important and necessary operation. A well compacted highway sub-grade or sub-base of a highway pavement usually will result in good pavement service and its being serviceable till the end of its life span. A soil that is well compacted meets a required or specified maximum density and an optimum moisture content. To ensure that this specified density is achieved, some tools are employed during the construction operation for measurement of these properties. These tools can be classified into two groups; namely quality control, which are used during the construction and quality assurance tools that are employed after construction. The principle of operations and use of the different tools available for each of these stages, intelligent and deep compaction methods and their use in the Nigerian construction Industry are examined in this article.