Implementation of New Time Saving Test Method

Event Date: February 4, 2013
Recently, Alain El Howayek, Antonio Bobet, Sulaiman Dawood, Andrew Ferdon, and Maria C. Santagata from Purdue, with Nayyar Zia Siddiki from INDOT, completed "SPR-3517: Classification of Organic Soils and Classification of Marls - Training of INDOT Personnel."


This project provided hands-on training on INDOT standard specification 903.05 and 903.06 respectively and Indiana Test Method (ITM 507) developed in previous projects "SPR-3005 - Classification of Organic Soils" and "SPR-3227 - Classification of Marl Soils."

In addition to the hands on training, a video was produced to train district engineers of INDOT and consultants. To date, INDOT technicians and consultants have performed more than 500 tests using the simplified procedure developed in the research. The tests are simple and inexpensive, and easy to run. This has resulted in substantial savings because it has reduced the time to run each test from 10 days to 1-2 days.

More Information | In addition to the JTRP technical reports, the results of this research were disseminated in two journal entries as well a paper presented at the 90th Transportation Research Board annual meeting. Publication details, and hyperlinks to those publications, are listed below:

  • Jung, C., S. Jung, A. Bobet, and N. Z. Siddiki. Classification of Marl Soils. Publication FHWA/IN/JTRP-2009/20. Joint Transportation Research Program, Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 2009. DOI:10.5703/1288284314286
  • Huang, P., M. Patel, M. C. Santagata, and A. Bobet. Classification of Organic Soils. Publication FHWA/IN/JTRP-2008/02. Joint Transportation Research Program, Indiana Department of Transportation and Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana, 2009. DOI:10.5703/1288284314328.
  • SPR-3517: Project Implementation: Classification of Organic Soils and Classification of Marls - Training of INDOT Personnel
  • Jung, C.M., Bobet, A., and Siddiki, N.Z., "Simple Method to Identify Marl Soils," Transportation Research Record, Vol. 2232, pp.76-84, November 2011. DOI: 10.3141/2232-08
  • Huang, P.-T., Bobet, A. and Santagata, M., "Identification of Low Organic Content Soils: An Engineering Perspective Approach," Geotechnical Testing Journal, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 1-11, March 2011. DOI: 10.1520/GTJ103869
  • Jung, C.M., Siddiki, N.Z., and Bobet, A., "Geotechnical Characteristics and Classification of Marl Soils," Proceedings of the 90th Annual Meeting of the Transportation Research Board, Paper Number 11-0021, Session AFP20, 18 pp, 2010. DOI: 10.3141/2232-08