How Strong is Soil?
In the Chesapeake Bay area, soil is giving way to rising tides. Superstorm Sandy changed the shape of the Atlantic coastline and seabed. It’s easy to understand how the strength of the soil beneath this coastal region’s growing infrastructure is of paramount importance.
Measuring soil strength combines the study of the interlocking particles that comprise the soil, how they move about one another, how they work wet and dry, when they expand/contract and what happens when they do. Calibration of soil strength translates into establishing how much load the soil can carry, for how long, and in what conditions.
Bob Taylor of Bob Taylor Engineering explains how soil is processed through a calibration apparatus to establish its strength:
I would be interested in knowing how this is done and what factors are considered important. Compaction of farmland, due to chemical fertilizers and heavy equipment, the removal of hedge rows and wildlife have increased run off since I was a child. Analysis of what is coming down in precipitation would also impact soil compaction and the life of humus in the soil structure.