Advantages of sand replacement method over core cutter method
Answers
There are two conventional methods to determine the field density of soils – Sand replacement method and Core cutter method.
These methods are used to study the in-situ density of soils to understand the soil bearing capacity, stability, and to determine the degree of compaction of the fills.
Core Cutter method – is used to determine the field density of soft soils like clay soils or other cohesive soils which are placed as fills. This method cannot be used for coarse grained soil since the core cutter does not penetrate through them due to high resistance at the tip of the instrument. It is conducted on the field.
Sand Replacement method – in this method, a small pit is made and the soil is that is excavated is weighed. The pit is replaced with sand, whose density has been measured. The volume of the pit is calculated by knowing the weight and density of the sand that is required to fill the pit. The weight of the soil that is excavated from the pit and the volume of the pit is calculated to determine the density of the soil.
Sand replacement method is known to be better than the core-cutter method because it can be used in any type of soil and the results are far more appropriate than the approximate values of the core-cutter method.