G MS THESIS_final version_Maxim Prokudin.pdf - Digital Repository ...

53The process of using the Shelby tube in the test bed consisted of manually pushing the tubeinto the soil by means of lifting and dropping a heavy mass on the top of the tube. Theextraction of the sample out of the tube was performed using a hydraulic press machinewhere a 70 mm diameter piston was used to push the sample out of the tube. After that thesoil sample was placed between two steel mold casings designed to fit the 72 mm diametersample and the casings were clamped around the sample. Finally, the ends of the samplewere trimmed to the desired length of 140 mm and the sample preparation process wascompleted. Even though a small level of disturbance was caused during the pushing andextraction stages, the samples were treated with a great care and the best engineeringpractices were utilized as outlined in ASTM D2166-00.(a)(b)(c)(d)Figure 24: (a) Shelby tube inserted in matrix soil, (b) Shelby tube sample beingextruded, (c) 72 mm x 140 mm sample trimmed, and (d) sample weighted and measured