Holy Angel University

School of Engineering and Architecture

Department of Civil Engineering

[Type the document title]

UNIT WEIGHT, POROSITY AND VOID RATIO
DETERMINATION.
EXPERIMENT NO. 7

Submitted by: Pineda, Ernesto Jr. G.

CE – 403

August 18, 2018

Submitted to: Engr. Renato David

Soil Mechanics Laboratory 1|Page

LABORATORY EXPERIMENT NO.7
UNIT WEIGHT, POROSITY AND VOID RATIO DETERMINATION

Significant engineering properties of a soil deposit, such as strength and

compressibility are directly related to or at least affected by basic factors such as how much
volume or weight of a bulk soil is solid particles or water or air. Information such as unit
weight, void ratio and porosity are used in calculations to determine the bearing capacity for
foundations, to estimate foundation settlement, and to determine the stability of earth
slopes.

Soil unit weight, as referred to as specific weight, is the weight per unit volume of soil.
In symbols,

𝑊𝑇
𝛿𝑇 =
𝑉𝑇

Unit weight tests are performed on the soil to determine the undisturbed soil
properties for field quality-control purposes to determine whether an earth or rock fill has
been compacted to the desired or specified density or unit weight. These are also conducted
for making comparisons and calculations related to volume and weight relationships such as
void ratio or degree of saturation. For design purposes, the tests are often conducted to
provide information for calculating soil loads or stresses within a soil mass or exerted by a
soil mass. Another important reason for these test procedures is to assist in the control and
management of the borrow area by providing information for calculating volume differences
between excavated volume and the volume of the compacted fill areas.

Porosity is defines as a (volumetric) ratio of the volume of void space, and the total
or bulk volume of material. In symbols,
𝑉
𝑛 = 𝑉 𝑠 × 100 (in percentage)
𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒

"Soil porosity" refers to the amount of pore, or open space between soil particles.
Pore spaces may be formed due to the movement of roots, worms, and insects; expanding
gases trapped within these spaces by groundwater; and/or the dissolution of the soil parent
material. Soil texture can also affect soil porosity.

Porosity of surface soil typically decreases as particle size increases. This is due to
soil aggregate formation in finer textured surface soils when subject to soil biological
processes.

Porosity depends on both soil texture and structure. For example, a fine soil has
smaller but more numerous pores than a coarse soil. A coarse soil has bigger particles than a
fine soil, but it has less porosity, or overall pore space. Water can be held tighter in small
pores than in large ones, so fine soils can hold more water than coarse soils.

Soil porosity is important for many reasons. A primary reason is that soil pores
contain the groundwater that many of us drink. Another important aspect of soil porosity
concerns the oxygen found within these pore spaces. All plants need oxygen for respiration,
so a well-aerated soil is important for growing crops. Compaction by construction equipment
or our feet can decrease soil porosity and negatively impact the ability of soil to provide
oxygen and water.

Soil Mechanics Laboratory 2|Page

 Void ratio characterizes the compactness of soil. It is defined as (volumetric) ratio of
the volume of void space and the volume of solids. In symbols,

𝑉𝑉
𝑒= 𝑉𝑇
(in decimal)

The value of the void ratio depend on the volumetric changes of soil (the void ratio
of loose soils is higher than that of sense soil) thus, it can be determined only form
undisturbed soil samples.

The void ratio of a dense sandy gravel soil is about 0.3 that of a loose sand is about
0.6, while the void ratio of clays (in natural conditions) varies between 0.5 and 1.0 and
decreases with depth of soil layers.

OBJECTIVE:
 To determine unit weight, void ratio, and porosity of soils.
 To gain a better understanding of basic measurements used in soil mechanics.

APPARATUS
 Cylindrical Tube
 Balance
 Graduated Cylinder
 Knife
 Paraffin wax
 Brush

PROCEDURE
I. Unit Weight Determination
NOTE: Undisturbed soil sample are to be used.
1. Take a representative soil sample from the previous experiment in a cylindrical tube
and trim it using a knife by 2” to 3” in length, (having a cylindrical shape). Avoid
re-entrant corners. Weigh the sample from the tube (WS) and get the dimensions for
the volume (VS).

2. Coat the sample by melting the paraffin wax and brush it on the sample, sufficient
enough to seal all void spaces. Record the weight of the waxed sample as MT.

3. Immersed the waxed sample in the graduated cylinder with water and determine its
displacement.
Volume of waxed sample = Volume of displacement

4. Compute the Volume of the paraffin coating the sample by

𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛 𝑀𝑇 − 𝑀𝑆
𝜌𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛 = =
𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛 𝑉𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛
𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝐷𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛 = 0.90

5. Determine the volume of the sample.

𝑉𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 = 𝑉𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑝𝑙𝑎𝑐𝑒𝑑 − 𝑉𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑖𝑛

Soil Mechanics Laboratory 3|Page

 6. Compute the Unit Weight

𝑊𝑆
𝛿𝑇 = 𝑉𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒
=0.022976555/0.0005495=41.81357 kn/cu.m

II. Void Ratio and Porosity Determination

1. Using the values from the data gathered, compute the void ratio and porosity from
the following formulas:
Void Ratio:

𝑉𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒 − 𝑉𝑠
𝑒= 𝑉𝑠
(in decimal) =0 .0005495-0.000378792/.0005495= 0.31066

Porosity:
𝑉
𝑛= 𝑉 𝑠 × 100 (in percentage) =.0005495-0.000378792/0.000378792 x
𝑠𝑎𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒
100
=45.06639%

Soil Mechanics Laboratory 4|Page

CONCLUSION

For this experiment I had learned on how to get the actual specific gravity ,porosity and void
ratio of the sample soil and some technique that I had encounter like getting the volume of
something by using of body of water. This is a very effective specially when you are lack
tools available in labaratory, and instead of paraffin wax we used alternatives materials like
a candle to coating the sample soil to maintained the shape of the soil.

This experiment are very important especially to somebody dealing for civil engineering
work and we are lucky to perform and giving knowledge for this and we can used this in our
future work.

Soil Mechanics Laboratory 5|Page

Soil Mechanics Laboratory 6|Page