Soil Mechanics I

CE-208
Origin of soil and grain size

By
Engr. Muhammad Fazeel
MSc Geotechnical Engineering (NUST)

Swedish College of Engineering and Technology Wah Cantt 1

 Soil-particle size
• Soils are generally called gravel, sand, silt or clay.
• Gravels are pieces of rocks.
• Sand particles are made of mostly quartz and feldspar.
• Silts are microscopic soil fractions that contain very
fine quartz grains and some flake-shaped
particles.
• Clays are mostly flake-shaped microscopic /sub-
microscopic particles of mica, clay minerals etc.

No. 200 No. 4 3-in.

fines sand gravel cobbles

.075 4.75 75
mm mm mm
 Soil composition
• The composition of soil and rock is quite different
from that of other civil engineering materials.

• Engineering properties of soils vary significantly from

place to place, and even across a single building
site.

• Soil is a particulate material that consists of

individual particles.

• Soil can contain all three phases of matter (solid,

liquid, and gas) simultaneously, and these three
phases can be present in varying proportions.
 Soil as a particulate material
• Most civil engineering
materials consist of a
continuous mass held
together with
molecular bonds.
• In contrast, soil is a
particulate material t
tha consists of
individual particles
assembled together.

• Its engineering properties depend largely on the

interaction between these particles, only secondarily
on their internal properties.
 The three phases
• Soil is different from most civil engineering
materials in that it can simultaneously contain
solid, liquid, and gas phases.
• The liquid and gas phases are contained in the
voids or pores between the solid particles.
• The three phases often interact, and these
interactions have important effects on soil’s behavior.
 Soil composition
• The soil is either coarse or fine grained.
• Coarse grained are visible to the naked eye: G (gravels)
+ S (sands)
• Fine grained are invisible to the naked eye: M (silts) + C
(Clays)
• Coarse grained soils are also called granular and fine
grained soils are commonly referred to as cohesive.
• The name “gravel” comes from French word “greve”.
Its symbol is G.
• The symbol S for sand comes from French word “sable”.
• The symbol M for Silt comes fromSwedish word “mäjala”.
Mechanical analysis 6

• Mechanical analysis is
the determination of the
size range of particles
present in a soil,
expressed as a
percentage of the total
dry weight.
• Two methods used:
– Sieve analysis: for
particle sizes larger than
0.075 mm in diameter.
– Hydrometer analysis: for
particle sizes smaller than
0.075 mm in diameter.
Sieve analysis
 Sieve designation – larger
• Sieves larger than the No.
4 sieve are designated by
the size of the openings in
the sieve.
• Commonly used larger
sieve sizes:
– 3 in.
– 2 in.
– 1.5 in.
– 1 in.
– 3/4 in.
– 1/2 in.
– 3/8 in.
 Sieve designation – smaller
• Smaller sieves are
numbered according 10 openings
to the number of per inch
openings per inch.
• Commonly used
smaller size sieves: 1 inch
– No. 4
– No. 10
– No. 20
– No. 40
– No. 60
– No. 140 No. 10 sieve
– No. 200
 US standard sieve
Sieve No. sizes
Opening (mm) Sieve No. Opening (mm)
3 inch 76.200 20 0.850
2 inch 50.800 25 0.710
1.5 inch 38.100 30 0.600
1 inch 25.400 35 0.500
3/4 inch 19.000 40 0.425
3/8 inch 9.520 50 0.355
4 4.750 60 0.250
5 4.000 70 0.212
6 3.350 80 0.180
7 2.800 100 0.150
8 2.360 120 0.125
10 2.000 140 0.106
12 1.700 170 0.090
14 1.400 200 0.075
16 1.180 270 0.053
18 1.000
Book: Geotechnical Engineering
(CODUTO) Page 115
 12
Fine gravel Coarse gravel
4.75 – 19.0 mm 19.0 – 75.0 mm

Fine Sand Medium Sand Coarse Sand

0.075 – 0.425 mm 0.425 – 2.00 mm 2.00 – 4.75 mm
 Sieve analysis
• Soil used in sieve analysis is oven-dried and all
lumps are broken.
• The soil is then shaken through a stack of sieves
with opening of decreasing size from top to bottom.
• A pan is placed below the stack.
• Breaking lumps in clayey soils may be difficult.
– In this case, the soil may be mixed with water to make a
slurry and then washed through sieves.
– Portions retained on each sieve are collected separately
and oven-dried.
– Mass retained on each sieve is determined.
 Sieve analysis - calculations
• Determine the mass of soil retained on each sieve (i.e. M1,
M2, . . . , Mn) and in the pan (i.e. Mp).
• Determine the total mass of the soil: M = M1 + M2 + . . . + Mn
+ M p.

• Determine the cumulative soil mass retained above each

sieve. For the ith sieve, it is (Mi)retained = M1 + M2 + . . . + Mi.
• The mass of soil passing the ith sieve is
(Mi)passing = M – (M1 + M2 + . . . + Mi).
• The percent of soil passing ith sieve ( or percent finer) is
F = (Mi)passing/M×100.
 D10, D30, and D60

Determining D10, D30, and D60

60
Percent passing

30

10
D10 D30 D60

Grain Diameter
 Cu and Cc

D60
Cu  Coefficient of Uniformity
D10 High Values Indicate Well-Graded Soil

2
D30 Coefficient of Curvature
Cc 
D60  D10  Values Between 1-3
Indicate Well-Graded Soil

Also called coefficient of gradation, Cz

 Cu and Cc

D60
Cu 
D10

2
D30
Cc 
D60  D10 
Cu and Cc
 Grain size distribution curve

A: fine-grained
soils
Cu = 5
Cc = 0.8

B: coarse-grained
soils
Cu = 13
Cc = 0.83
Grain size distribution curve

Cu = 1.63
Cc = 0.96
C: poorly graded or
uniformly graded
Grain size distribution curve

Cu = 190
Cc = 1.18
D: well-graded
soils

E: gap-graded
soils
Cu = 111
Cc = 0.18
 Grain size distribution curve
Well-graded poorly-graded
soil (uniformly graded) soil
2
4
 Hydrometer analysis
• Based on the principal of sedimentation of
soil grains in water.
• Particles in water settle at different velocities,
depending on their shape, size, weight, and
viscosity of water.
• Particles are assumed to be spheres and
their velocities can be expressed by Stokes
law.   w D 2
v s
18
where v = velocity (cm/s)
s = density of soil particles (g/cm3)
w = density of water (g/cm3)
 = viscosity of water (g-sec/cm2)
D = diameter of soil particles (cm)
Hydrometer analysis
 Stokes Law
  w 2 where v = velocity
v s D
18 s = density of soil particles
w = density of water
 = viscosity of water
D = diameter of soil particles

18v 18 L Distance L

D  where v  
s  w s  w t Time t

18 L
 s  Gs  w D
Gs 1w t
 Stokes Law
If L is in cm, t is in min, w in g/cm3,  in g-sec/cm2, and D
in mm, then equation can be written as

Dmm 18 L

10 Gs 1w t  60

30 L
K L
D
Gs 1w t t

30
where, K  Assuming w = 1 g/cm3
Gs 1
 Stokes law
Values of K for several specific gravity of solids and temperature
combinations
 Hydrometer analysis
• When a hydrometer is placed in the soil
suspension at a time t, measured from the start of
sedimentation, it measures the sp. gravity in the
vicinity of its bulb at a depth L.
• Hydrometers are designed to give the amount of
soil, in grams, that is still in suspension. They are
calibrated for soils that have a sp. gravity Gs of
2.65 (for other Gs values, correction is required).
• By knowing the amount of soil in suspension, L,
and t, we can calculate the %age of soil by weight
finer than a given diameter.
• For ASTM 152H hydrometer
L (cm) 16.29  0.164R (cm)
where R = hydrometer reading corrected for
meniscus
 Particle shape
The shape of silt, and gravels
varies from very angular to well
rounded.

Angular particles are found near

the rock from which they are
formed, while rounded particles
are found farther away from
their origin.

Angular particles have a greater

strength than smooth ones,
because it is more difficult to
slide past one another.

This is why crushed aggregate

is used as the base material in
pavements .