Time necessary for microwave drying of mineral soils

Abstract

Construction of large earthworks (cuts and embankments) brings the necessity of fast and reliable testing quality control procedures to be applied directly on the building sites. The paper presents a conventional, standardized method for determining soil moisture - consisting in drying a sample in a machine that circulates dry, hot air. This procedure is widely used and is considered to be very reliable and effective for any type of soil. Its main disadvantage is the time it takes to complete, as it takes a minimum of 24 hours to obtain the results of moisture content and consequently, to compute the compaction (density) indicator. An experiment was conducted, based on former Jastrzȩbska's experiments and recommendations, consisting in drying soil samples in a microwave oven. The results were confronted and discussed with a special regard to necessary for microwave drying of mineral soils of different nature. Some recommendations were given in conclusions. As all the authors are still students, some remarks were juxtaposed concerning the importance of practical "experience-based" education within a frame of international exchange programs.