Soil compaction system and method

An impact compactor which includes:

• a chassis structure;
• at least one non-round impact drum which is rotatably mounted to the chassis structure via a drum mounting arrangement, wherein the drum mounting arrangement allows displacement of the at least one impact drum relative to the chassis structure such that the at least one impact drum is displaced upwardly and downwardly relative to the chassis structure as the impact compactor travels along a soil surface;
• and
• a measuring arrangement, which is operatively connected to the chassis structure and/or the drum mounting arrangement, and which obtains an indication of the soil strength of soil over which the impact compactor travels when the impact compactor travels over the soil surface by determining a stroke depth to which the at least one impact drum penetrates into and depresses the soil surface during application of an impact blow by the impact drum to the soil surface, wherein a duration of the impact blow begins when an impact face of the impact drum strikes the soil surface and ends when the impact face lifts away from the soil surface.

A soil compaction system which includes:

• an impact compactor;
• a measuring arrangement which includes an inertial measurement unit which is operatively connected to the impact compactor, wherein, when the impact compactor travels over the soil surface, the measuring arrangement obtains an indication of the soil strength of soil over which the impact compactor travels during operation by determining a stroke depth to which a non-round impact drum of the impact compactor penetrates into and depresses the soil during application of an impact blow by the impact drum to the soil surface, wherein a duration of the impact blow begins when an impact face of the impact drum strikes the soil surface and ends when the impact face lifts away from the soil surface;
• and
• a processor which is operatively connected to the measuring arrangement and processes data received from the measuring arrangement.