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Geomechanics and Engineering
  Volume 28, Number 5, March10 2022 , pages 521-529
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12989/gae.2022.28.5.521
 


Uniform large scale cohesionless soil sample preparation using mobile pluviator
Irfan Jamil, Irshad Ahmad, Wali Ullah, Muhammad Junaid and Shahid Ali Khan

 
Abstract
    This research work deals with the development of air pluviation method for preparing uniform sand specimens for conducting large scale laboratory testing. Simulating real field conditions and to get reliable results, air pluviation method is highly desirable. This paper presents a special technique called air pluviation or sand raining technique for achieving uniform relative density. The apparatus is accompanied by a hopper, shutters with different orifice sizes and numbers and set of sieves. Before using this apparatus, calibration curves are drawn for relative density against different height of fall (H) and shutter sizes. From these calibration curves, corresponding to the desired relative density of 60%, the shutter size of 13mm and height of fall of 457.2 mm, are selected and maintained throughout the pluviation process. The density obtained from the mobile pluviator is then verified using the Dynamic Cone Penetrometer (DCP) test where the soil is poured in the box using defined shutter size and fall height. The results obtained from the DCP test are averaged as 60+0.5 which was desirable. The mobile pluviator used in this research is also capable of obtaining relative densities up to 90%. The instrument is validated using experimental and numerical approach. In numerical study, Plaxis 3D software is used in which the soil mass is defined by 10-Node tetrahedral elements and 6-Node plate is used to simulate plate behavior in the validation phase. The results obtained from numerical approach were compared with that of experimental one which showed very close correlation.
 
Key Words
    cohesionless soil; DCP; mobile pluviator; relative density
 
Address
Irfan Jamil, Irshad Ahmad, Wali Ullah, Muhammad Junaid and Shahid Ali Khan: Department of Civil Engineering, University of Engineering & Technology, Peshawar, Pakistan
 

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