THE OPERATION OF EARTH MOVING PLANT ON WET FILL

For both economic and environmental reasons, it is becoming increasingly necessary to make the maximum use of wet cohesive soils in embankment construction. The feasibility of using these soils is determined primarily by the necessity for stable earthworks, but an important additional consideration is the ability of earthmoving plant to operate on the fill. This report reviews published data on the ability of earthmoving plant to operate on wet soils and describes observations made on motorway sites to determine the effect of the condition of the fill on the ability of scrapers to operate. The upper limit of soil moisture content and lower limit of vane shear strength at which tracked vehicles and scrapers can operate within indicated limits of efficiency are shown. /TRRL/