SOIL MECHANICS

Module 1 Unit 4

GENERAL INFORMATION OF SOILS

The term soils used by the engineers, refers to the unconsolidated mineral materials at or near the
earth’s surface including the air, moisture, organic matter and the substance which may incorporate resulting
from natural processes such as weathering, decay and chemical reaction. From engineering point of view, soils is
distinguished from a sound rock by a simple test.
If an air dried soil is immersed in water, it will disintegrate after a short time. A sound rock will remain
intact if treated similarly.
3 MAJOR DIVISIONS OF SOILS
o Granular Soils - sand and gravel
o Fine Grained Soils – silt and clay
o Organic Soils – peat, muck or organic silts/organic clays
GRANULAR SOILS - sand and gravel having the following qualities
 Good load bearing qualities
 Permeable, hence they drain easily
 Incompressible when subjected to static loads
 Not subject to changes in strength or volume due to variation in water content, however, loose granular
materials will undergo reduction in volume if subjected to vibratory loads
FINE GRAINED SOILS - silt and clay having the following qualities
 Poor load sustaining qualities
 Highly impermeable (holds water)
 Compressive under sustained load
 Subject to changes in volume and strength due to variation in water content
ORGANIC SOILS - peat, muck or organic silts/organic clays
Inferior than fine grained soils with respect to the properties stated under the latter group.

SOIL IDENTIFICATION BY VISUAL

1. GRAVEL – round or water-worn pebbles. No cohersion or plasticity and crunchy under feet.
2. SAND – gritty and loose grained. Individual grains easily seen and felt. No plasticity or cohersion. If dry, a cast
formed in the hand will fall apart. If moist, a cast will crumble when touched.
3. SILT – fine and barely visible grains. When in a dirty pulverized condition, it feels soft and floury. Can hardly
be made plastic. Exhibits little or no strength when air-dried. A dried cast is easily crushed in the hands. In the
wet state, an organic silt cannot support own weight if held by one hand. When mixed with water to the
consistency of thick paste, the surface of an organic silt will appear wet and shine. If a pat is squeezed, the
surface will dry up, appear dry and eventually crack.
4. CLAY – can be made plastic adjusting its water content. Cohesive. Exhibits considerable strength when dried
and difficult to crush in hands. Can be molded and rolled into thin threads without breaking or crumbling within
a moderate to wide range of water content. The threads of considerable length will support its own weight when
held by one hand.
5. ORGANIC SOILS – gray to black color. Fibrous substance due to presence of undecomposed plant matter.
Unhealthy sewage odor found as deposits in swamps and peat logs.

TWO SIMPLE MANUAL TESTS USED TO DETECT THE PRESENCE OF FINES IN SAND
a. A handful of dry sand is sifted through the fingers and allowed to fall on the ground, it is considered dirty if
appreciable amount of dust appears.
b. A small quantity of wet or dry sand is placed in a tube or bottle, water is added and the bottle shaken
vigorously. The sand particles will settle 76.2mm (3”) in about 10 seconds. If after about half a minute, the top of
the water does not appear clear, the sand maybe considered dirty.

SOIL IDENTIFICATION BY STRUCTURE

Soil structure is the physical constitution of a soil material as expressed by the size, shape and arrangement of
solid particles to form compound particles and the compound particles themselves.
DETAILED SOIL STRUCTURE
1. Soil Particle Structure – soil particle size and shape.
Particle Size: (ranges from gravel to the finest)
Particle Shape:
a. angular b. sub-angular c. rounded d. sub-rounded e. well rounded

The dividing line between each particle size:

gravel – 75.0 mm to 2.0 mm (determined by naked eye)
sand – 2.0 mm to 0.075 mm (determined by naked eye and or hand lens)
Coarse sand – 2.0 mm to 0.425 mm
Fine sand – 0.425 mm to 0.075 mm
silt – 0.075 mm to 0.002 mm (determined by microscope)
clay – 0.002 mm to 0.001 mm (determined by microscope but shape can’t be made out)
colloids – smaller than 0.001 mm (determined by electron microscope)
Particle Shape: well rounded, sub-rounded, rounded, angular, sub-angular
2. Soil Mass Structure – the orientation of the particles in a mass depends on the size and shape of the grains as
well as upon the minerals of which the grains are formed.

SOIL-WEIGHT-VOLUME RELATIONSHIP
Soil mass is generally a three phase system. It consist of solid particles, liquid and gas. For all purposes, the liquid
maybe considered to be water (although in some cases the water may contain some dissolved salts) and the gas as
air. The inter-relationships of the weights and volumes of the different phases are important since they help define
the condition or the physical make up of soil.

BLOCK DIAGRAM also known as PHASE DIAGRAM

(A block of a sectional area is considered)
Wa = weight of air and maybe assumed as zero
The following relationships can be established based on the diagram:
1. VOID RATIO – the ratio of the volume of voids, Vv to the volume of solids, Vs
Vv
e= expressed in decimal
Vs

2. POROSITY – a second way of expressing the relation between voids and solids
Vv
n= x 100 % (always in percent)
V

3. DEGREE OF SATURATION – it is expressed as a ratio of the volume of water, Vw in the voids, to the volume of
voids
Vw
S= x 100 % (always in percent)
Vv

A soil is said to be saturated if S = 100%

4. WATER CONTENT – defined as the ratio of the weight of water, Ww in the voids to the weight of solids, Ws
Ww
w= x 100 % (always in percent)
Ws

5. UNIT WEIGHTS
a. Unit weight of water, ϒw
At a given temperature, it is expressed as a ratio of the weight of water to the volume of water in the
same temperature, designated as ϒw. The notation ϒo is generally used for unit weight of water at reference
temperature 4°C.
𝑊𝑤
ϒw =
𝑉𝑤

b. Total unit weight of soil mass, ϒt

The ratio of the weight of the mass W to the volume of the mass V.
W
ϒt = also known as BULK DENSITY of soil
V

c. Saturated Unit Weight of Soil Mass, ϒsat

The ratio of the saturated weight of the mass (when S = 100%) to the total volume
W
ϒsat =
V

d. Dry unit weight of mass, ϒd

The ratio of the weight of solids, Ws to the total volume.
Ws
ϒd =
V

e. Unit weight of solids, ϒs

The ratio of the weight of solids Ws, to the volume of the solids.
Ws
ϒs =
Vs

f. Specific Gravity (a dimensionless ratio and therefore has no units)

The ratio of the substance weight in air to the weight of an equal volume of water at reference
temperature 4°C. The specific gravity of a mass of soil (including air, water and solids) is termed as mass specific
gravity, Gm
Unit weight of soil mass

ϒ𝑡 𝑊 𝑊
Gm = = ; ϒt =
ϒ₀ V.ϒ₀ 𝑉

Unit weight of water at 4°C

 The specific gravity of the solids, G (excluding air and water) is expressed by:

Unit weight of solids

ϒ𝑠 𝑊𝑠 𝑊𝑠
G= = ; ϒs =
ϒ₀ Vs.ϒ₀ 𝑉𝑠

Unit weight of water at 4°C

INTERRELATIONSHIPS OF DIFFERENT PARAMETERS

Relationships between different parameters can be established from the different equations presented.
In order to develop the relationships, the block diagram has been introduced and used.
Since sectional area perpendicular to the plane of the paper is assumed as unity, the heights of the blocks
will represent the volumes in the block diagram. When the soil is fully saturated, the voids are completely filled
with water.

= Vv

= V

= GVs Vs =

Establish further relationship between e and n

𝑉𝑣 𝑉𝑣 𝑉𝑣 𝑒 𝑛
‘e = = = Vv ; ‘n = = or e =
𝑉𝑠 1 𝑉 1+𝑒 1−𝑛

Relationship between e, G and S

Case I – When partially saturated, the degree of saturation, S by definition is:

𝑉𝑤 𝑉𝑤 𝑊𝑤 𝑊𝑤
S = 𝑉𝑣 = 𝑒 ; Vw = ϒw ; Ww = wWs ; water content w = Ws ; Ws = GVsϒ₀; Vs = 1
Substituting:
𝑤𝐺ϒ₀ ϒ₀
S = 𝑒ϒw ; but since ϒw can be assumed as equal to unity

𝑤𝐺 𝑤𝐺
S= or e =
𝑒 𝑆

Case II – When saturated, S = 100% since voids are completely filled with water.
When S = 1; e = wG
UNIT WEIGHT OF SOIL EXPRESSED IN TERMS OF OTHER PARAMETERS
Case I When partially saturated
Total unit weight is:
w Ww
ϒt = V=1+e ; W = Ww + Ws; w = therefore Ww = wWs
Ws

W = wWs + Ws = Ws (1 + w) ; Ws = GVs ϒ₀
Here: ϒ₀ = 1 gm/cm3
= 9.8 KN/m3 for all practical purposes
𝐺ϒ₀(1+w) 𝑒𝑆
ϒt = ;w=
1+𝑒 𝐺

𝐺ϒ₀(1+eS/G) 𝐺ϒ₀+eSϒ₀ ϒ₀(𝐆+𝐞𝐒)

ϒt = = =
1+𝑒 1+𝑒 𝟏+𝒆

Case II When fully saturated, S = 1

ϒ₀(G+eS)
ϒt = ϒsat = ;S=1
1+𝑒

ϒ₀(G+e)
ϒsat = 1+𝑒
Case III When the soil is dry, S = 0

ϒ₀(G+eS)
ϒt = ϒd = ;S=0
1+𝑒

ϒ₀(G+e(0)) ϒ₀G
ϒd = =
1+𝑒 1+𝑒
Case IV When soil is submerged
If the soil is submerged, the unit weight of the submerged soil is equal to the unit weight of the
saturated soil reduced by the unit weight of water.

ϒb = ϒsat − ϒw

ϒ₀(G+e)
ϒb = 1+𝑒
– ϒw; it is assumed that ϒo = ϒw or all practical purposes
ϒw(G+e)−ϒw(1+e)
ϒb = 1+𝑒
; simplifying

ϒw(G−1)
ϒb = 1+𝑒

LEARNING ACTIVITY
A clay sample is found to weigh 423.53 gms. in its natural state. It is then dried in an electric oven at
105°𝐶. The dried weight is found to be 337.65 gms. The specific gravity of the solids is 2.70 and the unit
weight of the soil mass in its natural state is 1.7 gm/cm 3. Determine the water content, degree of
saturation and the dry unit weight of the mass in its natural state.
Given: Solution:
Ww 423.53−337.65
W = 423.53 gms 1. w = Ws x 100 = 337.65
x 100 = 25.43%
Ws = 337.65 gms
W W 423.53
G = 2.7 2. ϒt = V ; V = = 1.7
= 249.21 cm3
ϒt
Yt = 1.7 gm/cm3
Ws 337.65
ϒd = V = 249.21
= 1.35 gm/cm3
Solution:
3. Ws = GVs; Vs = Ws/G = 337.65/2.7 = 125.06 cm 3
V = Vv + Vs ; Vv = 249.21 – 125.06 = 124.15 cm 3
‘e = Vv/Vs = 124.15/125.06 = 0.993
‘e = wG/S = 25.43(2.7)/0.993 = 69.14%