SOIL MECHANICS II - EC 513 I

LABORATORY REPORT N°3

Tests: SIMPLE COMPRESSION TEST ASTM D2166

Note Note of
Surnames and names (in order) Note from
No. group of student
alphabetical) test
report e
1 ABREGÚ GONZALES, Josep Jesús
2 MORALES VARGAS, Flavio
3 Bernie Johan VARGAS CERNA
Jeison Villanueva Carhuancho
4
Albert

Submission date: 12/12/2022

Signature of the grading professor: Eng. Rocío Pérez Collantes

CYCLE 2022-2
 NATIONAL ENGINEERING UNIVERSITY

Faculty of Civil Engineering

SIMPLE
Department COMPRESSION
of Geotechnical TEST ASTM D2166
Engineering

1. INTRODUCTION
The unconfined compression test, also known by the name of test
simple compression or uniaxial compression test is very important in
Soil Mechanics, as it allows obtaining a value of ultimate load of the soil, the
which, as will be seen later, is related to the soil shear strength and
provides a load value that can be used in projects that do not require
a more precise value, as it provides a conservative result. This is a test.
it can be defined in theory as a particular case of the triaxial test. It is important
understanding the behavior of soils subjected to loads, as it is in
they or about them on which the structures are going to be founded, whether bridges, buildings or
roads, which require a firm base, or even more so that they can take advantage of the
soil resistances in benefit of its own capacity and stability, being the
study and experimentation are the tools to achieve it, and finally be able to
to predict, with a certain approximation, the behavior under the loads of these
structures. Due to the complex and variable nature of soils, especially
regarding shear stress resistance, there are many methods of
essay to evaluate its characteristics. Even though other methods are used more
representatives, such as the triaxial, the simple compression test meets the
sought objective, without having to use such a complex method or employ a team
that can sometimes be inaccessible, which means lower cost. This method of
The test is applicable only to "cohesive materials" that do not expel water during the process.
loading stage of the test and maintain their intrinsic resistance after
remove the confinement pressures, such as clays or soils
cemented. The dry crumbly soils, the fissured, laminated or
varvados, the silts, the crowds, and the sands cannot be analyzed by this
method to obtain significant values of compressive strength not
confined.

2. OBJECTIVES OF THE CONSOLIDATION ESSAY

Determine the simple compression strength.

Recognize and correctly use the materials and equipment necessary for
perform the unconfined compression test, learning the
characteristics of each one, and the care that must be taken to carry out
the experience.
Obtain data from the tests and record them in an organized log of
according to an established method.

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Understand precisely the methodology and procedures used in the
Academic Department of Geotechnical Engineering
rehearsal, including the time and intervals with which it will be rehearsed
sample.
Build the stress-strain graph from the data obtained from
the experience and the necessary theoretical formulas.
Build the Mohr circle graph indicating the main stresses and
the resistance parameters.

[Link] AND MATERIAL USED

Press with good approximation or a triaxial press.

Vernier caliper.
Scale with an approximation of 0.1 g.
Stopwatch.
Cylindrical mold.
Pillow.
Soil sample

4. TEST PROCEDURE WITH PHOTOGRAPHS

4.1. Unaltered sample

a. If it is an unaltered sample, the cylinders are prepared; they can also be

remold trying to reproduce the required volumetric weight, seeking
that the diameter of these is 3.3 cm and the height is 2 to 2.5 times the
Diameter.
The sample is measured and weighed and recorded in the corresponding log.
If the samples are carved, the diameters will be measured: upper (Ds), central (Dc)
and inferior (Di).
The average of the previous diameters is taken, which is multiplied by 2.5.
this is to obtain the height that the specimen will have.
The specimen is cut at the calculated midpoint; after cutting it, one ...
take the real height of the specimen and it is recorded as the mean height (Hm).
The sample is placed in the press, and the load application plate is put on it.
The load is applied to the sample, taking load readings and
deformation corresponding to every 15 seconds, until the specimen fails,

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

this means that 2 equal loads should be registered or that a load less than the
Academic Department of Geotechnical Engineering
immediate previous.
The calculations of the record are made and the value of soil cohesion is obtained.
with the following formula:

q/2

Maximum effort (kg/cm2)

4.2. Direct application of the load (controlled stress)

a. Mount the sample in the base with the base and head already installed well centered under the
load frame. It is checked that the weight of the load frame is complete.
balanced by the counterweight and a weight is placed on the bracket. The
extensometer or a micrometer on the support glued to the load frame adjusted to
zero.
b. At the same time we apply the first load, we activate the stopwatch and before
to increment the load again, the reading of the micrometer is recorded 5 seconds
before applying the following increase.
The closer the sample gets to failure, we must observe it to detect
the possible failure planes, cracks, and other points of interest.
If the sample fails abruptly, record the time elapsed after the application.
from the last load increase; then remove the weights from the bracket. If not
there is a sudden failure, the test will be terminated upon the sample suffering a
unitary deformation of the order of 20%.
Cut the sample of the device and make a diagram of its failure and cracks.
a correct scale.
Cut a thin slab, about 3 mm thick, parallel to the fault plane.
to determine the water content. The rest of the sample will be placed to
dry for the same purpose.
Calculate the deformations corresponding to the different stresses, according to
the observed data, calculated with corrected areas and draw a diagram
strain-stress.

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Academic Department of Geotechnical Engineering

Figure No. 1. Sample placed in the equipment

Figure No. 2. Dials at load 0

Figure No. 3. Equipment in use

5. DESCRIPTION OF THE TYPE OF SOIL

5.1. Sample type
The test is carried out on unaltered, remolded, or compacted samples.
laboratory.
5.2. Sample dimensions
The sample must have a minimum diameter of 33 mm. The largest particle contained
it must be less than (1/10) of the diameter of the sample. The height-diameter ratio
the samples must be between 2 and 3. In the Mechanics Laboratory of
Soils (LMS) usually use samples of 7.1 x 14.2 cm at most. but normally of
test samples of 5x10 cm.

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

5.3. Sample data
Academic Department of Geotechnical Engineering
The diameter, height, humidity, wet density, and dry density must be measured.

Figure No. 4. Sample used in the LMS

6. CALCULATIONS AND RESULTS

INITIAL DATA

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Department of Geotechnical Engineering

6.1. CALCULATION OF THE PHYSICAL PROPERTIES OF THE SAMPLE

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Department of Geotechnical Engineering

6.2. STRESS - STRAIN GRAPH

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

6.3.
AcademicMOHR CIRCLE
Department GRAPH
of Geotechnical Engineering
The main efforts and the resistance parameters will be indicated.

Kpa

95.6712
Kpa

(Kpa)

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

7. SUMMARY TABLE OF RESULTS
Academic Department of Geotechnical Engineering

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Department of Geotechnical Engineering

8. ANALYSIS OF RESULTS AND OBSERVATIONS

The advantage of the simple compression test compared to the direct shear test is that it
they produce more uniform efforts and deformations, another advantage is that the surface of
failure tends to develop in the weakest area of the sample, while in the test
a direct cut, the failure occurs along a predetermined surface, which can be
not be the weakest.
The results obtained from the undisturbed soil sample subjected to the test of
simple compression yielded the following values for the parameters under study.
It was evident that the maximum normal effort occurred at 1.8158% which is before the
15% deformation, therefore the ultimate load and maximum stress will be taken as the value of
191.34 KPa.
After calculating the resistance parameters, we can make a
comparison with the table of the maximum compressive strength value in a
clay, which can be classified in the manner indicated below (Terzaghi and Peck,
1955).
We would have a firm clay, due to the ultimate load of 1.95 kg/cm2.
The cohesion gave us a value of 0.98 kg/cm2, confirming that it is a clayey soil.
with high cohesion.

[Link] RESULT VALUES FOR THE TYPE OF SOIL TESTED,

COMMENTS

Figure No. 5. Consistency values with respect to their ultimate load (Terzaghi and Peck, 1955).

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 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

School of Civil Engineering

Department of Geotechnical Engineering

Figure No. 6. Soil classification based on its Nspt (number of blows/minute) for a
value of penetration resistance

Figure No. 7. Classification of soils concerning their stress.

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Abreg, Morales, Vargas, Villanueva
 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Department of Geotechnical Engineering

10. CONCLUSIONS
The simple or unconfined compression test is a relatively
simple that allows us to measure the ultimate load to which a soil is subjected to a
compression load failure. However, it is very important to take into account the
simplifications that this essay implies, and for which it is not an exact method,
rather more approximate, despite this it is a highly requested essay, since the
The simplicity of his method and the equipment he uses make it a low-cost trial.
cost in relation to other related ones, such as the triaxial test, which requires
more specialized team.
It could be said that this essay is a particular case of the triaxial essay, in which
the lateral pressure is equal to zero, and although this may signify an inaccuracy,
it does not clearly reproduce the conditions on the ground, in fact, it is obtained
a more conservative result, since the lateral confinement pressure helps to
I tend to resist the load, and in its absence, the obtained value would be lower than the real one.
that leaves the engineer with an additional safety margin. In this essay, there
works by maintaining constant deformation, which is controlled by means of the
dial or solidarity deformometer to the soil sample and the stopwatch, being the load
applied, or resisted, what varies and produces the shape of the stress curve-
deformation.
The sample area changes as the test progresses without this being
too significant since most of the deformations fail at
low deformations.
Based on the ultimate soil load, according to the table by Terzaghi and Peck (1955);
having a final load of 191.34 KPa, equivalent to 1.95 kg/cm2, we
it will give a firm consistency to the clayey soil.
This essay generally does not provide a reliably sufficient value of the
shear resistance of a cohesive soil, due to the loss of restriction
lateral provided by the soil mass, the internal conditions of the soil such as the
degree of saturation or pore pressure that cannot be controlled and the friction in
the ends produced by the support plates. However, if the results are
they interpret adequately, recognizing the deficiencies of the essay, these will be
reasonably reliable.

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Abreg, Morales, Vargas, Villanueva
 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING

Faculty of Civil Engineering

Department of Geotechnical Engineering

11. RECOMMENDATIONS
The unaltered test tube must be tested in the same direction in which it is
found in the natural stratum.
The rate of load application must be such that deformation occurs.
from 0.5 to 2% per minute.
The essay should be conducted with a minimum of 2 participants, one of them
in charge of operating the triaxial press and the other takes notes of the times and values.
The sample in the form of a cylinder must be protected in such a way that it is prevented
some alteration such as water loss due to exposure to the environment.
Be very attentive to the deformation of the sample in the press, the cracking that
It is generated on the side showing the increase in the load.
It is necessary to perform the compression test at a slow pace so that it is not seen.
affected the trial.

12. BIBLIOGRAPHY
Notes and laboratory manuals of soil mechanics. [Link]. Adolfo
Morales Lozano
Soil Mechanics. Lambe-Whitman
Morales Lozano Adolfo 'Study Material 2013' Autonomous University
Warrior
Soil Mechanics, Juárez Badillo – Rico Rodríguez.

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