Compaction and shrinkage of sands and sand-kaolin mixtures

A comparison was made between the porosities of sands and of mixtures of sand and kaolin paste which had either been allowed to air-dry or had been consolidated under a load of 1.5 MPa. For all the mixtures of sand and kaolin, air-drying resulted in porosities which were from 0.1 to 0.05 (v/v) lower than those produced by consolidation. In contrast, two sands had porosities 0.01 and 0.05 (v/v) higher when air-dried than when consolidated. This demonstrates that some sandy-textured soils may compact significantly on drying.