University of Wasit

College of Engineering
Civil eng. Division

Karl Terzaghi (1883–1963)

Soil Mechanics
“Lecture notes”
Prepared by
Dr. Eng. Asad Hafudh Al-Defae
Grading

• Attendance, Class Participation and quizzes

10% for each term

• Midterm Exam (20%)

• Laboratory attendance, participation and experiments

reports (10%)

• Final Exam (60%)

Description of sections
• Origin of Soil, soil composition and index
properties
• Weight-Volume Relationships, Plasticity and
Structure of Soil
• Engineering Classification of Soil
• Permeability
• Fluid flow in soil
• In Situ Stresses (Effective Stress Concept)
• Stresses in a Soil Mass Ref.
• Compressibility of Soil • Textbook- Das, B.M., Principle of Geotechnical
Engineering 5th
• Shear Strength of Soil edition.
• Soil Compaction • Soil mechanics laboratory manual 6th ed. Braja M. Das
2000
• Soil mechanics, R.F. Craig
• The term Soil has various meanings, depending upon the general field in which
it is being considered.
• To a Pedologist ... Soil is the substance existing on the earth's surface, which
grows and develops plant life.
• To a Geologist ..... Soil is the material in the relative thin surface zone within
which roots occur, and all the rest of the crust is grouped under the term ROCK
irrespective of its hardness.
• To an Engineer .... Soil is the un-aggregated or un-cemented deposits of mineral
and/or organic particles or fragments covering large portion of the earth's
crust.
Soil Mechanics is one of the youngest disciplines of Civil Engineering involving the
study of soil, its behavior and application as an engineering material.

According to Terzaghi (1948): "Soil Mechanics is the application of laws of

mechanics and hydraulics to engineering problems dealing with sediments and
other unconsolidated accumulations of solid particles produced by the mechanical
and chemical disintegration of rocks regardless of whether or not they contain an
admixture of organic constituent."
• Soil Mechanics is the branch of civil
engineering that concerns the application of
the principles of mechanics, hydraulics and to
smaller extent, chemistry, to engineering
problems related to soils.

• The study of the science of soil mechanics

equips a civil engineer with the basis
scientific tools needed to understand soil
behavior.
Define: Soil
• Naturally occurring particulate material.
• Formed, directly or indirectly, from solid rocks (i.e.
weathering)
• Composition of soil particles depends on composition of
parent rock
• The void spaces between the particles contain water and/or
air.
 Basic points:
 Every civil engineering structure, whether it be a

building, a bridge, a tower, an embankment, a road

pavement, a railway line, a tunnel or a dam, has to
be founded on the soil (assuming that a rock
stratum is not available) and thus shall transmit
the dead and live loads to the soil stratum.

Applications
• Engineer uses the SOIL to build:
• On it: e.g. buildings
• In it: e.g. tunnels
• With it; e.g. earth dams
Example: Bridge foundations
Example: Tunnels
Example: Earth dams
Example: Failure
Soil formation
A- Geoloical origin (by nature).
1- mechanical weathering process (disintegration of rocks).
• Physical forces.
• Impact of sand grain carried by high winds or water or glaciers.

2- Chemical weathering of rocks

• Due to water, acids or alkaline
• Oxidation – union of oxygen with minerals in rocks forming
another minerals
• Hydration – water will enter the crystalline structure of
minerals forming another group of minerals
• Hydrolysis – the release Hydrogen from water will union with
minerals forming another minerals
• Carbonation – when Co2 is available with the existence of
water the minerals changed to Carbonates
B- Fill (man made)
Residual soil: the products of rock weathering remain at their
original location.

Transported soil: the products are transported and deposited in

a different location. (gravity, wind, water).

Marians soil: formed by deposition in the SO4.

Soil-Particle Size or Grain Sizes
 Between boulder (D>75 mm) to Ultra fine grain (D<0.001mm)\

Coarse-grained, Granular or Cohesionless Soils

• Excellent foundation material for supporting structures and roads.
• The best embankment material.
• The best backfill material for retaining walls.
• Might settle under vibratory loads or blasts.
• Dewatering can be difficult due to high permeability.
• If free draining not frost susceptible
Fine-Grained or Cohesive Soils
• Very often, possess low shear strength.
• Plastic and compressible.
• Loses part of shear strength upon wetting.
• Loses part of shear strength upon disturbance.
• Shrinks upon drying and expands upon wetting.
• Very poor material for backfill.
• Poor material for embankments.
• Practically impervious.
• Clay slopes are prone to landslides.
Silts
Characteristics
• Relatively low shear strength
• High Capillarity and frost
susceptibility
• Relatively low permeability
• Difficult to compact

Compared to Clays
• Better load sustaining qualities
• Less compressible
• More permeable
• Exhibit less volume change
Solutions of soil engineering problems

• Soil Mechanics
• Geological exploration Engineering Judgment
• Experience solution of soil
• Economic engineering problem

Soil may be divided into three main classes:

1. Coarse – grained or non-cohesive soil
2. Fine – cohesive soil
3. Organic soil

Coarse grain soil Boulders > 300mm

Cobble 150-300mm
Gravel 2-150mm
Sand 0.06-2mm
Fine grain soil Silt 0.002-0.06mm
Clay <0.002mm
 Building block of clay mineral
• Silicon – Oxygen tetrahydra (Sio4) Silica sheet
• Aluminium or Magnisium sheet (Al2(OH)3, Mg2(OH)3- Gibbsite sheet

 Common clay minerals of (two layers sheet)

• Kaolinite and Halloysite
 Common clay minerals of (Three layers sheet)

• Muscovite (Mica) and Illite (Hydrous mica)

 Consistency: When clay mineral are present in fine grained soil, and soil can be
remolded in presence of some moisture without rumbling, this cohesive nature is due
to the absorbed water surrounding the clay minerals.

Atterberg limits: the limits are

based on the concept that the fine
grain soil can exist in any four state
depends on its water content.
L.L. = Liquid limit
P.L. = Plastic Limit.
S.L. =Shrinkage limit.
P.I. = Plastic index
P.I.= L.L. –P.L.
𝝎𝟏 − 𝝎𝟐
𝑭𝒍𝒐𝒘 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒙 = 𝑰. 𝑭. =
𝑵
𝐥𝐨𝐠(𝑵𝟐 )
𝟏

𝑷. 𝑰.
𝑻𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒙 = 𝑰. 𝒕. =
𝑰. 𝑭.
𝝎𝒄 − 𝑷. 𝑳.
𝑳𝒊𝒒𝒖𝒊𝒅 𝑰𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒙 = 𝑳. 𝑰. =
𝑳. 𝑳. −𝑷. 𝑳.
 If L.I. < 0 𝝎𝒄 < 𝑷. 𝑳. Soil in solid or semi-solid state
If L.I. = 0 𝝎𝒄 = 𝑷. 𝑳 Soil plastic limit
If L.I. > 0 𝝎𝒄 > 𝑷. 𝑳 Soil in plastic state
If L.I. = 1 𝝎𝒄 = 𝑳. 𝑳 Soil liquid limit
If L.I. < 0 𝝎𝒄 > 𝑳. 𝑳 Soil in liquid state

Activity of Clay: because of great increase of surface area per mass (specific surface) it
may be expected that the amount of attached water will be influenced by the amount of
clay minerals that is present in the soil.

𝑃. 𝐼.
Activity of Clay =
% 𝑏𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔𝑕𝑡 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑕𝑎𝑛 0.002

Activity of Clay depends on :

• Specific surface
• Amount of clay minerals
• Type of clay mineral
The physical state of a soil sample

Total Volume = Vt = Vs + Vw + Va
Total Weight = Wt = Ws + Ww
Porosity (n): is the ratio of void volume.
n = Vv/Vt
Void Ratio (e):is the ratio of void volume to solid
volume. e = Vv/Vs
now n = Vv/Vt = Vv/ Vv+ Vs = Vv/Vs/ Vv/Vs+1

e=e+1
Note:
• n < 1 and is expressed as %
• e may be any value greater or smaller than unity.

Example: A soil has a total volume of 250ml and a void ratio of 0.872. What
is the volume of solids of the sample?

Example: A soil has a porosity of 0.45. What is the value of its void ratio?
Water Content, W:
is the ratio of water weight in a soil sample to the solids weight

Ww
wc  100
Ws
Degree of Saturation, S:
is the ratio of water volume to void volume.

Vw
S 100
Vs
Bulk unit weight: Submerged Unit Weight

Dry Unit Weight

Unit weight
Unit Weight of Water

1.0g/cc =1000kg/ m3
9.8 kN/m3
Specific gravity (GS):
specific gravity of soil solids of a soil is defined as the ratio of
the density of a given volume of the solids to the density of
any equal volume of water at 4 C.

Soil type G
Gravel 2.65-2.68
Sand 2.62-2.65
Silt 2.66-2.7
Clay 2.68-2.8
Organic soils may be less than 2.0
 In term of Gs, e and w
W Ws  Ww Ws (1  Ww / Ws )
Relationship between n and e t   
V Vs  Vv Vs (1  Vv / Vs )
Vv Vv V v/ Vs
n   Ww V W
 w, v  e, and w   s  Gs w ,
V Vs  Vv 1  Vv / Vs Ws Vw Vs
e n Gs w (1  wc )
i.e. n  or e  t 
1 e
1 e 1 n
Se
wc 
Gs

Relationship between w, e, S, Gs  G  Se 
t   s  w
 1 e 
Vv Vv Vw Vv Ww /  w
e    
Vs Vw Vs Vw Ws /  s
Vv Ww Gs w 1 wcGs
    .wc.Gs 
Vw Ws w S S
s In term of Gs, e and w
W Ws  Ww Gs w  e w
 sat   
V Vs  Vv 1 e
G  e 
or  sat   s  w
 1 e 
d in terms of Gs, e and w
d in terms of Gs, w, S and w
e in terms of d, Gs and w
W Ws Ws
d   
V V Vs  Vv W Ws Ws
d   
Gs  w Gs  w V V Vs  Vv
d  
1  e 1  wc Gs Gs  w Gs  w
d  
S 1  e 1  wc Gs
Gs  w S
if S  1,  d 
1  wcGs
 Zero Air Void unit weight
 In term of Gs, e and w
W Ws Ws
d   
V V Vs  Vv
(1  e) d  Gs w
Gs  w
e 1
d
 Gs  e 
   sat w    w   w
 1 e 
 Gs  1 
or      w
 1 e 
Relationship between dry and total Unit weight
 Example 1: A moist chunk of 25kg soil had a volume of 12000 cm3.
After it is dried in an oven, the weight of the dry soil became 23kg.
The specific gravity of the soil material is 2.65.

Using a phase diagram, determine:

Water content (wc),

Unit weight of moist soil,
Void ratio (e),
Porosity (n),
Degree of Saturation (S)
Solution:
Given:
W=25kg, V=12000 cm3, Ws=23kg, Gs=2.65
w=1g/cm3

Calculate water content:

Ww=W-Ws, Ww=25-23=2kg,
so, wc=Ww/Ws=8.7%
Calculate unit weight of moist soil:
=W/V=25000/12000=2.08g/cm3

Calculate void ratio:

s=Gs w=(2.65)(1)=2.65g/cm3, Vs=Ws/s=8679.2cm3
Vw=Ww/w=2000/1=2000cm3, Vv=V-Vs=12000-8679.2=3320.8cm3
e=Vv/Vs=3320.8/8679.2=0.38

Calculate porosity:
n=Vv/V=3320.8/12000=0.28

Calculate degree of saturation:

S=Vw/Vv=2000/3320.8=0.60=60%
Example 2: A 0.01 m3 of saturated soil sample has a unit weight of
1.6g/cm3. After it is dried in the oven the weight of the soil sample
reduced to 13.5kg.

Use a phase diagram, determine:

Weight of water for the saturated soil, Ww

Water content, wc
Void ratio, e
Porosity, n
Solution: 0.01 m3
Given: 13.5kg
Ws=13.5kg, V=0.01 m3, =1.6g/cm3,
w=1g/cm3

Calculate weight of the saturated soil:

W= V=(1.6)(0.01)(1000000)=16kg

Calculate water content: 0.01 m3

Wc=Ww/Ws=(W-Ws)/Ws=[(16-13.5)/13.5](100)=19%
13.5kg
Calculate void ratio:
Vw=Ww/w=2500/1=2500cm3=0.0025 m3
Vs=V-Vw=0.01-0.0025=0.0075 m3
For saturated soil: Va=0,
e=Vw/Vs=0.0025/0.0075=0.33

Calculate porosity:
n=Vv/V=0.0025/0.01=0.25

Example 3: A soil sample has a porosity of 0.30 and specific gravity of

2.50. Use a phase diagram, determine:

Void ratio, e
Dry unit weight, d
Unit weight if the soil is 50% saturated, 50
Unit weight if the soil is completely saturated, sat
Solution:
Given: n=0.3, Gs=2.5, w=1g/cm3=1000kg/m3

Calculate void ratio: assume V=1 m3

Vv=nV=(0.3)(1)=0.3 m3
Vs=V-Vv=1-0.3=0.7 m3
e=Vv/Vs=0.3/0.7=0.43

Calculate dry unit weight:

s=w Gs=(1000)(2.5)=2500kg/m3
Ws=sVs=(2500)(0.7)=1750kg
d=Ws/V=1750/1=1750kg/m3

Calculate moist unit weight if the soil is 50% saturated:

Vw=SVv=(0.5)(0.3)=0.15 m3
Ww= w Vw=(1000)(0.15)=150 kg
W=Ww+Ws=150kg+1750kg=1900 kg
50=1900/1=1900 kg/m3

Calculate saturated unit weight:

Vw=SVv=(1)(0.3)=0.3 m3
Ww= w Vw=(1000)(0.3)=300 kg
W=Ww+Ws=300+1750=2050kg
sat=2050/1=2050 kg/m3
Example 4: A soil sample has a unit weight of 1.5g/cm3. The moisture content
of this soil is 20% when the degree of saturation is 50%.
Determine Void Ratio, Specific Gravity of soil solid, and Saturated Unit Weight.

Solution:
Given:
=1.5 g/cm3, Wc=20%, S=50%,
w=1g/cm3

Step1: Assume V=1 cm3

W=V=1.5g V= 1 cm3
W=1.5g
Wc=Ww/Ws, so, Ww=0.2 Ws
W=0.2Ws+Ws, so, Ws=W/(1+0.2)
Ws=1.25g
Ww=W-Ws=0.25g
Vw=Ww/w=0.25cm3
Vv=Vw/S=0.5 cm3
Vs=V-Vv=0.5 cm3
e=Vv/Vs=1
Gs=s/w,
s=Ws/Vs=1.25/0.5=2.5 g/cm3
Gs=s/w=2.5

For the saturated unit weight, Vv=Vw,

so, Ww=wVv=0.5g
sat=(Ww+Ws)/V=1.75g/cm3