Soil are classified based on their grain size and texture.

Soil particles that are passing

through 200 sieve are designated as fine grained soils. Most of the soil particles are very
fine that they are invisible when seen by naked eye. Common examples include silts and
clays having liquid limit of less than 50.

A fine soil exists in both wet and dry states. Fine grained soils have particle size less than
0.075mm.They are divided into inorganic silts, very fine sand,inorganic clays,organic
silts and clays.Fine grained soils are also known as cohesive soils.The chemical bonding
that take place between atoms impart soil, the ability of sticking together without any
necessity of external pressure. Practically, it is found that soils should have cohesion
strength.

Water content is the ratio of weight of water to weight of soil solids i.e.,

w  WW / WS

Where, WW  Weight of water

WS  weight of soil solids

Total density is the ratio of the total soil weight to the total volume,i.e.,
 T  (WS  WW ) / V

Where, WS  Weight of soil solids

WW  Weight of Water
V  Total volume of soil sample

Soil compaction is the process whereby the soil particles are forced to pack more closely
together by reducing air voids. This is achieved by applying some mechanical energy to
the soil. The purpose of compaction is to produce a soil having certain physical
characteristics suitable for a given project. The state of compaction of a soil is measured
by the dry density of soil and associated moulding water content.

The increase in dry density of soil produced by compaction, basically depends on the
water content of the soil and the applied energy. For each soil, there exists a moisture
content termed as the optimum moisture content at which a maximum dry density is
attained for a given amount of compaction. Addition of water to dry soil forms adsorbed
water around particles. When the water content is low, the soil is stiff and difficult to
compress, and results in low dry density.

The dry densities for the soil sample when water contents and total densities are given
are calculated as shown below:
(i)  T  (WS  WW ) / V
 T  99.6
WW / WS  20 / 100
20  WS  100  WW
WS  5  WW

Therefore, (5  WW  WW ) / V  99.6
(6  WW ) / V  99.6
V  (6  20) / 99.6
V  1.2048
Dry density,  D  WS / V
 D  100 / 1.2048
 D  83

(ii)  T  (WS  WW ) / V
 T  105.9
WW / WS  23.1 / 100
23.1  WS  100  WW
WS  (100  WW ) / 23.1
WS  4.329  WW

Therefore, (4.329  WW  WW ) / V  105.9

V  (5.329  23.1) / 105.9
V  1.1624
Dry density,  D  WS / V
 D  100 / 1.1624
 D  86.03

(iii)  T  (WS  WW ) / V
 T  111.2
WW / WS  25.6 / 100
25.6  WS  100  WW
WS  (100  WW ) / 25.6
WS  3.90  WW

Therefore, (3.9  WW  WW ) / V  111.2

V  (4.9  25.6) / 111.2
V  1.128
Dry density,  D  WS / V
 D  100 / 1.128
 D  88.65

(iv)  T  (WS  WW ) / V
 T  115.1
WW / WS  28.5 / 100
28.5  WS  100  WW
WS  3.508  WW

Therefore, (3.508  WW  WW ) / V  111.2

V  (4.508  28.5) / 115.1
V  1.1162
Dry density,  D  WS / V
 D  100 / 1.1162
 D  89.569

(v)  T  (WS  WW ) / V
 T  113.4
WW / WS  31.3 / 100
31.3  WS  113.4  WW
WS  3.194  WW

Therefore, (3.194  WW  WW ) / V  113.4

V  (4.194  31.3) / 113.4
V  1.1576
Dry density,  D  WS / V
 D  100 / 1.1576
 D  86.361

(vi)  T  (WS  WW ) / V
 T  111.5
WW / WS  34 / 100
34  WS  111.5  WW
WS  2.9411  WW

Therefore, (2.9411  WW  WW ) / V  111.5

V  (3.9411  34) / 111.5
V  1.20
Dry density,  D  WS / V
 D  100 / 1.20
 D  83.33

Thus, with the above obtained values of dry density,plot the water content vs dry density
curve which is shown in the figure below:
 Figure 1: Water content vs dry density curve

From the above plotted graph,it is clearly seen that the maximum dry density,
 D (max)  89.569

The value of optimum water content at which the maximum dry density is obtained is

w  28.5%