Soil compaction for improvement of reclaimed land

Soil compaction is used increasingly for improvement of reclaimed land in coastal areas and is often a cost-effective alternative to traditional deep foundations. The most important application of soil compaction is to improve the static and dynamic deformation characteristics of soils. During the past decade, compaction equipment as well as soil investigation and design methods have been improved significantly, resulting in more efficient design solutions. The application of different field investigation methods is described, as well as their application for different design problems. Soil compaction results in a permanent increase of the lateral effective stress. This pre-consolidation effect is of great practical importance. Soil properties change during compaction and after compaction, an effect which should be taken into consideration.