A Revisit to the Swedish Wet Compaction Method—A Case Study of the Burvattnet Dam Reconstruction

The Swedish Wet compaction method allows soil compaction at higher water content than conventional Dry compaction methods and can be used to advantage when difficulties arise in keeping to a certain Dry compaction water content. Wet compaction was frequently applied for dam core soils of glacial till (moraine) up until late 1970s, and despite several advantages it is since no longer used in engineering practice. During the reconstruction of Burvattnet Main Dam in Sweden, the lack of dry core soil together with severe weather conditions made Dry compaction almost impossible. On the basis of laboratory compaction tests performed in compliance with the standard from the 1950s, and field compaction trials on site, this paper describes the steps taken to revisit the Wet compaction method, which made it possible to continue the filling works in keeping with the timeline of the project.