Weight-Volume

Relationships
1
Dr. Jonathan R. Dungca
 Soil: A 3-Phase Material

Air
Water

Solid
The Mineral Skeleton

Solid Particles

Volume

Voids (air or water)

 Three-Phase Diagram

Air

Water

Solid

Mineral Skeleton Idealization:

Three Phase Diagram
 Three - Phase System

Va Air Wa~0
Vv

Vw
V Water Ww
W

Vs Solid Ws

Volume Weight
 Fully Saturated Soils

VW = VV
Water
V = VV + VS

V = VW + VS

Solid W = WW + WS

Mineral Skeleton Fully Saturated

 Dry Soils

Va = VV
Air V = VV + VS
Wa = 0
W = WS
Solid

Mineral Skeleton Dry Soil

8 Partly Saturated Soils

Air
VV = Va + VW

Water
V = VV + VS
Wa = 0
Solid W = WW + WS

Mineral Skeleton Partly Saturated Soils

VOID RATIO and POROSITY
Void ratio (e) is defined as the ratio of the volume of
voids to the volume of solids.
´ Volume Components:
Vv ´ Volume of Solids = Vs
Void Ratio, e = (1)
´ Volume of Water = Vw
Vs
´ Volume of Air = Va
´ Volume of Voids = Va + Vw = Vv

Porosity (n) is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids

to the total volume.
Vv
Porosity , n(%) = ´100% (2)
V
9
Relationship between void ratio and porosity
´ From (1) : 𝑉𝑣 = 𝑒𝑉𝑠
´ Since V = Vv +Vs
´ Then (2) can be written as:

𝑒𝑉𝑠 𝑒𝑉𝑠 𝑉𝑠(𝑒)

𝑛= = =
𝑉𝑣 + 𝑉𝑠 𝑒𝑉𝑠 + 𝑉𝑠 𝑉𝑠(𝑒 + 1)

e
n= (3)
1+ e

n
e= (4)
1- n
10
DEGREE OF SATURATION or SATURATION RATIO
The degree of saturation (S) is defined as the ratio of the
volume of water to the volume of voids.
´Volume Components:
´ Volume of Solids = Vs
´ Volume of Water = Vw
´ Volume of Air = Va
´ Volume of Voids = Va + Vw = Vv

Vw
Degree of Saturation, S (%) = ´100% (5)
VV
For dry state: VW = 0 \S = 0
For fully saturated state: VW = VV \S = 100% 11
Specific Gravity
Specific gravity (Gs) is defined as the ratio of the unit weight
of a given material to the unit weight of equal volume of water
.
Weight of a Substance
Specific Gravity =
Weight of an Equal Volume of Water
gs Ws
GS = = (6)
g w Vsg w

Density of a Substance
Specific Gravity =
Density of Water
rs Ms
Gs = = (7)
r w Vs r w 12
Specific Gravity

13
14 Expected Value for GS (Bowles, 1978)

Type of Soil GS
Sand 2.65 – 2.67
Silty sand 2.67 – 2.70
Inorganic clay 2.70 – 2.80
Soils with mica or iron 2.75 – 3.00
Organic soils Variable, but maybe
under 2.00
WATER CONTENT or MOISTURE CONTENT
´Moisture content (w) is referred to as water content and is
defined as the ratio of the weight of water to the weight of
solids in a given volume of soil.
´Weight Components:
´Weight of Solids = Ws
´Weight of Water = Ww
´Weight of Air ~ 0
Ww
Water Content , w(%) = ´100% (8)
Ws
MW
w(%) = ´ 100% (9)
MS 15
16 DENSITY and UNIT WEIGHT
´Density = mass per unit volume
´Unit Weight = weight per unit volume
´Density of water, ρw = 1000 kg/m3
ρw = 1 g/cm3
´Unit weight of water, γw = 9.81 kN/m3
γw = 62.4 lb/ft3
17
Soil’s Unit Weight
´Moist Unit Weight or Bulk Unit weight
- unit weight of a soil when void spaces of the soil
contain both water and air.
W Ws + Ww
g = = (10)
V Vs + VV

(not fully saturated) Vv = Vw + Va

18
Soil’s Unit Weight
´Saturated unit weight
- unit weight of a soil when all void spaces of the
soil are completely filled with water, with no air.

W Ws + Ww
g sat = = (11)
V Vs + Vv
Fully saturated condition: Vv = Vw
 Soil’s Unit Weight
19
´ Dry unit weight
- unit weight of a soil when all void spaces of the soil are
completely filled with air, with no water
Ws
gd = (12)
V
´ The relationship of unit weight, dry unit weight, and
moisture content can be derived from:

and 𝑊𝑠 = 𝛾! 𝑉

𝛾
𝛾! = (13)
1+𝑤
20 Soil’s Unit Weight

´ Submerged (Buoyant) unit weight or Effective Unit

Weight)
- the difference between the saturated unit weight and
the unit weight of water

g ' = g sat - g w (14)

21
Typical Unit weights
RELATIONSHIPS among Unit Weight, Void
Ratio, Moisture Content, and Specific Gravity

Consider a volume of soil in which the

volume of the soil solids, Vs = 1

Fig. 1.3 Three separate phases of a soil element with volume of soil solids equal to 1

Ws = Gsg w (15)

Ww = wGsg w (16)
´ Using the definitions of unit weight and dry unit weight

(17)

(18)

(19)

Since volume of water is

)! (+,*!
𝑉( = = = 𝑤𝐺𝑠
*! *!
The degree of saturation:
"! $%& (20)
𝑆= = x 100% or 𝑆𝑒 = 𝑤𝐺𝑠
"# '
If the soil sample is saturated, that is, the void
space are filled with water (Fig. 1.4), the
relationship for saturated unit weight :

(21)

For soil sample where the void spaces are

not filled with water, the moist unit weight
(γ) can be written as:
g w (Se + Gs )
g = (22)
1+ e
25 Relative Density, Dr
The term relative density is commonly used to
indicate the in-situ denseness or looseness
of granular soil. It is defined as:
emax - e
Dr = x100% (23)
emax - emin
where
e - void ratio (natural void ratio)
e min - Minimum void ratio (soil in very dense condition)
e max - Maximum void ratio (soil in very loose condition)
26
Relative Density, Dr

´ By using the definition of dry unit weight given in Eq. (18), we can
express relative density in terms of maximum and minimum possible
dry unit weights. Thus,

(24)
27
Relative Density, Dr
28 Relative Compaction
´Another term used in regard to the degree of compaction of
coarse-grained soils is relative compaction, Rc
´Degree of compaction is also sometimes expressed in terms
of an index called relative compaction (RC) defined as
follows:
gd
Rc = (25)
g d (max)