January 20, 2021

CE 401 – CE31S6 Geotechnical Engineering 1 (Soil Mechanics)

GROUP ____ (5 Members)

ACDAL, ABEGYL LAGBO, ISABELLA

BOBIS, ANGELIKA SECRETARIO, MARK JAMES
EMPERADO, TRISHA MAE

Laboratory Report
DETERMINATION OF MOISTURE CONTENT
1. Objective(s):
The activity aims to introduce the basic concepts, significance and procedures for conducting
the determination of moisture content, which will be used for the specification for field gravity of soil.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
The students shall be able to:
2.1 Apply laboratory equipment with ease and precision suiting the objectives of the
experiment.
2.2 Determine the behavior of a soil is markedly influenced by the amount of moisture it
contains.

3. Discussion:
The following experiment will demonstrate how to measure soil moisture content in the
laboratory using these principles. The knowledge of the natural moisture content is essential in all
studies of soil mechanic.
The moisture content of soil is described as the ratio of the mass of water held in the
soil to the dry soil. The mass of water is determined by the difference before and after
drying the soil. The following experiment will demonstrate how to measure soil
moisture content in the laboratory using these principles.
The moisture content of soil determination is a routine laboratory procedure. ASTM has
designated it with a Standard, ASTM D-2216-90 which can be found in “ASTM
Standards vol. 4.08”, and also AASHTO T-265, found under “AASHTO Materials: Part
II: Tests”. This is a laboratory procedure to determine the amount of water Ww present
in a quantity of soil in terms of its dry weight Ws. The water content w is usually
expressed in percent.
4. Apparatus:
 Balance, sensitive to 0.1g
 Container, with cover
 Oven with temperature control
  Sieves
 Molds
 Desiccator
5. Application:
The technology of halogen drying is an excellent method for moisture content determination. Halogen
moisture analysis can be used for determining the moisture content of virtually any substance.
A sample may be fooled at room humidity if it is weighed within an hour after it has been removed from the
oven. If it cannot be weighed within this period, it should be placed in a desiccator to cool to room
temperature. This is especially significant if the soil is very plastic and the room humidity is high. Weighing
hot containers is not advisable as it affects the accuracy of the results.
Commonly, moisture content is resolved through a thermogravimetric methodology, for example by
misfortune on drying, in which the example is warmed and the weight reduction because of dissipation of
moisture is recorded. Generally utilized moisture investigation advances are the moisture analyzer and the
drying broiler in blend with an equilibrium.
6. Procedure:

1. Weigh the container with cover, and record as W C.

2. Take a representative sample of the soil, place in the container and cover
immediately. Weigh and record as W1.

3. Open the container and dry in the oven to constant weight at a temperature of
110±5oc. The drying time will depend on the kind of soil and size of sample. A 25 g
sandy material can be dried in about 2 hours, while the same weight/mass of a
plastic, fine-grained soil will require at least 4 hours to dry to constant
weight/mass.

4. Remove the container from the oven and cool to room temperature. Weigh and
record as W2.
7. Data and Results:

CALCULATION:
W 1−W 2
Moisture Content, MC % = ×100
W 2−W C
where:
W1 = weight/mass of container plus wet soil
W2 = weight/mass of container plus dry soil
WC = weight of container

8. Conclusion:

Moisture substance of obscure examples are dictated by backhanded estimations and afterward
by broiler drying as prescribed to plan guidelines. Readings or relating values from the adjustment
graph are contrasted and mc by oven drying. At the point when esteems are equivalent, the
alignment is viewed as accomplished else, it should be done again and the strength of readings
for an equivalent standard should be evaluated. This should be possible by estimating mc of
norms with the meter a few times. All in all, Moisture meters are aligned for beans yet they
additionally can be utilized. for dry cherries and dry material however, there is no ISO strategy to
decide moisture substance of these two items. For this situation, the best is to build up an
adjustment graph utilizing a similar technique concerning beans to decide mc by oven drying.
Although it is a simple experiment to perform, there are several sources of error that can occur in
the experiment to determine the moisture content of soil
 9. References:

(n.d.). ‘Good Hygiene Practices along the coffee chain Retrieved January 19, 2021,
http://www.ico.org/projects/Good-Hygiene Practices/cnt/cnt_sp/sec_3/docs_3.2/Determine%20m%20c.pdf

(n.d) AASHTO DESIGNATION: T-265 ASTM D-2216-90 Retrieved January 19, 2021,
From https://www.aboutcivil.org/to-determine-moisture-content-of-soil.html
(n.d) ASTM, 2001 Annual Book of ASTM Standards, West Conshohocken, PA, 2001.
Copyright, American Society for Testing and Material, 100 Barr Harbor Drive, West Conshohocken, PA
19428-2959. Reprinted permission.
https://sndl.ucmerced.edu/files/MHWG/Laboratory/Soils/Protocol/Chapter_3_Moisture_content.pdf