The specific weight, also known as the unit weight, is the weight per unit volume of a material.

A commonly used value is the specific weight of water on Earth at 4°C, which is 9.807 kN/m3 or
62.43 lbf/ft3.[1]
The terms specific gravity, and less often specific weight, are also used for relative density. A
common symbol for specific weight is γ, the Greek letter Gamma.

Contents

 1Definition
 2Applications
o 2.1Fluid mechanics
o 2.2Soil mechanics
o 2.3Civil and mechanical engineering
 3Specific weight of water
 4Specific weight of air
 5References
 6External links

Definition[edit]
The specific weight, γ, of a material is defined as the product of its density, , and the standard
gravity, g:

The density of the material is defined as mass per unit volume, typically measured in kg/m3. The
standard gravity is acceleration due to gravity, usually given in m/s2, and on Earth usually taken
as 9.81 m/s2.
Unlike density, specific weight is not a fixed property of a material. It depends on the value of
the gravitational acceleration, which varies with location. Pressure may also affect values,
depending upon the bulk modulus of the material, but generally, at moderate pressures, has a
less significant effect than the other factors. [2]

Applications[edit]
Fluid mechanics[edit]
In fluid mechanics, specific weight represents the force exerted by gravity on a unit volume of a
fluid. For this reason, units are expressed as force per unit volume (e.g., N/m3 or lbf/ft3). Specific
weight can be used as a characteristic property of a fluid. [2]

Soil mechanics[edit]
Specific weight is often used as a property of soil to solve earthwork problems.
In soil mechanics, specific weight may refer to:
 Moist unit weight, which is the unit weight of a soil when void spaces of the soil contain
both water and air.

where

is the moist unit weight of the material

is the unit weight of water

w is the moisture content of the material
Gs is the specific gravity of the solid
e is the void ratio

 Dry unit weight, which is the unit weight of a soil when all void
spaces of the soil are completely filled with air, with no water.
The formula for dry unit weight is:

where

is the moist unit weight of the material

is the dry unit weight of the material

is the unit weight of water

w is the moisture content of the material
Gs is the specific gravity of the solid
e is the void ratio

 Saturated unit weight, which is the

unit weight of a soil when all void
spaces of the soil are completely filled
with water, with no air.
The formula for saturated unit weight is:

where

is the saturated unit weight of the material

is the unit weight of water

w is the moisture content of the material
Gs is the specific gravity of the solid
e is the void ratio[3]
  Submerged
unit weight,
which is
defined as
the difference
between the
saturated unit
weight and
the unit
weight of
water. [4] It is
often used in
the
calculation of
the effective
stress in a
soil.
The formula for
submerged unit
weight is:

where

is the submerged unit weight of the material

is the saturated unit weight of the material

is the unit weight of water

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