Many years ago, a new concept called relative density was developed with the intention of appropriately defining the looseness and denseness of sand or sand-gravel soils in a meaningful way. Soon after, relative density found its way into ground improvement as an acceptance criterion by engineers who were more familiar with the construction of engineered backfilling rather than thick mass treatment. There are considerable amounts of research and publications that are able to well demonstrate the unreliability of relative density as an acceptance criterion. Relative density has no real influence on the soil's performance, its range of application does not span across all soil types, and it is subject to large inherent errors that make its use a technical risk. Here, the reasons why the concept of relative density is unreliable and should not be used for a ground improvement acceptance criterion are presented and discussed.
Abstract. Although tank construction is well advanced in the Middle East, not all tanks are located on suitable grounds, and many require the implementation of specific foundation measures to ensure that design specifications are satisfied. While ground improvement of tank foundations in the region has a proven track record that dates back to the 1980s, and can potentially be the most appropriate solution for many tanks, it is the authors' experience that occasionally the projects' settlement requirements appear to have been influenced by building specifications that have not been developed for the purpose. Consequently and unnecessarily, more expensive solutions with longer construction schedules may have to be adopted that will not bring any additional benefits to the foundation solution. This paper initially reviews settlement criteria of a number of internationally recognized standards and then presents a number of case studies of tank foundation improvement by dynamic compaction and quality control by Menard pressuremeter tests.
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