Date of

Course No: 5620363 22.11.2021

Testing:

Lab. No. and Title of Test: Grain Size Distribution by Sedimentation (Hydrometer)

Section:4 Section:4
Registered Attended*
Lab Group:2 Lab Group:2

Surname, Name of Student: YILMAZ ZEYNEP

Student Number: 2371359

CONTENT
1. PURPOSE OF THE TEST

2. EQUIPMENT

3. GENERAL RULES

4. SPECIMEN PREPARATION

5. CALIBRATION

6. TEST PROCEDURE

7. CALCULATIONS

8. REPORTING RESULTS

9. CONCLUSION
1. Purpose of the test
Determine the grain size distribution (GSD) of the fine fraction (smaller than 75mm) of a soil
sample.
In order to obtain the entire GSD of a soil, sieve analysis (lab session 3) must be done on the
same sample. In this lab session, you are given the fine particles that are separated from the
rest of the soil by a fine sieve. These fines constitute a known fraction of the total soil sample.
In other words, the soil sample for this test is a fraction of the original soil. This means in an
actual test, you have to merge data from these two tests to obtain the entire GSD.
Note: ASTM D422 suggests putting the fraction of soil that is finer than #10 into this test.
However, this means particles as large as 2mm will go into the sedimentation test. Many
engineers use #40 or #200 sieves instead. The standard allows changing the separation sieve,
but requires this separation sieve size to be indicated in the data sheet and properly taken into
account in the calculation stage.

2. Equipment

- high-speed stirrer
- scale
- hydrometer
- thermometer
- ruler
- two 1L-volume cylinders
- distilled water
- squirt bottle
- temperature bath (or a third volumetric cylinder)
- dispersing agent: sodium hexametaphosphate (NaPO3)6
- large evaporating dish

3. General Rules
- Do not oven-dry hydrometer specimen before the test.
- If the soil contains salt or other soluble material, the experiment results will be affected.
- Always take hydrometer readings on top of the meniscus (see 5.3).
- When taking a hydrometer reading, insert and withdraw the device into the suspension
slowly and carefully. Proper insertion procedure is: (i) slowly submerge the hydrometer until
you barely feel an upwards resultant force (uplift) on the device, (ii) release the device so
that it moves slightly up and comes to equilibrum. A few practice readings before starting
the test is recommended.
- When transferring soil, slurry or suspension from one container to another, leave no solid
behind – wash everything into the new container. This must be done using minimal amount
of water, as the water accumulates and may reach impractical volumes before the start of
the test. Use of a squirt bottle helps this aim.
4. Specimen Preparation
- Record the separation sieve size and %passing.
- Determine water conent of the soil.
- Weigh about 40-60 grams of soil (dry weight).
- Add 5 g sodium hexametaphosphate to the soil.
- Add about one tea-glass of distilled water to make it a slurry. Mix thoroughly.
(Some labs keep (NaPO3)6 in dissolved form, with a concentration of 40 g/L. You can replace
the last two steps with adding 125mL of this solution to the soil.)
- Let the slurry temper overnight in a sealed container. (skip this step in this lab session)
- Place the mixture in the high-speed stirrer, and mix for 5-10 minutes. Wash all soil grains
into the stirrer’s cup, but don’t fill more than half the cup. (you can do the calibration
readings while waiting for this step)

5. Calibration

a. Conversion to density: There are two types of standard soil hydrometers. Neither type
directly measures the density. The hydrometer reading (r) has to be converted to density (r).
- Type 151H is graduated to read specific gravity, with a range of 0.995 to 1.038, in 0.001
divisions at 20°C. To convert a reading to density, multiply it by rw@20°C (0.99821 g/cc).
- Type 152H measures in grams per liter of suspension and has a range of -5 to +60 g/L, in
1g/L divisions at 20°C, assuming Gs = 2.65. Convert readings to density (g/cc) by
r = rw@20°C + r x 1.65/2650.

b. Density changes due to temperature and solute concentration: Have a separate column of
water with 5 g sodium hexametaphosphate in the same environment as the test cylinder. This
is the reference fluid. Multiple tests in the same environment can share a single reference fluid.
- Take a reference density measurement (of this fluid) using the hydrometer before the test.
Read at the level of the flat water surface (i.e. bottom of the meniscus, see part 5.3). Convert
the reading to density as described in part 5.1.
- Measure the temperature of the reference fluid.
- Record the difference between density of pure water at this temperature and that of the
reference fluid as the effect of the sodium hexametaphosphate ( Dragent ).
- For any hydrometer reading, density of fluid can be calculated as density of pure water at
the measurement temperature plus the effect of (NaPO3)6 , as will be done in part 7.1.

c. Meniscus reading: Meniscus is the water climbing up the hydrometer stem due
to interfacial properties.
- Insert the hydrometer into reference fluid.
- Take a reading at the top of the meniscus.
- Take another at the level of the flat water surface. This is the true measurement.
- The difference between these two readings is the meniscus correction (cm), and should be
added to all readings taken from the top of meniscus.

d. Height of fall: The height of fall is from the water surface to centroid of the hydrometer
bulb. This distance varies linearly with density.
- Find centroid of the bulb. Measuring the bulb by a ruler and marking the center with a pen
is acceptable.
- Measure the distance from the centroid to a low density reading and a high density
reading, to construct a linear equation between them.
 e. Water elongation: When hydrometer is inserted, it displaces and stretches the
suspension, increasing the height of fall. So the real height of fall is less than what you
measure in 5.2.
- Determine average volume of submerged portion of the hydrometer. You can do this by
weighing the hydrometer and dividing its mass by the density measurement. You can take
a constant number (such as the average of your density measurements, or the mean of
the measurement range of the hydrometer), as the volume of the stem is negligible; or
you can tie this calculation to each density measurement during the test.
- Determine cross section area of the cylinder by dividing volume of 1000 cm3 by height of
the 1 lt mark from the base of the cylinder.
- Elongation above the centroid is equal to Vhyd / 2Acyl where Vhyd is the volume
of submerged portion of hydrometer and Acyl is the cross section area of the cylinder.

6. Test Procedure

This procedure folows immediately after part 4.

- Transfer the slurry (washing all soil particles) into a 1-liter test cylinder.
- Add distilled water to fill the cylinder to 1 L mark.
- Mix the suspension by inversion.
- Place the test cylinder and the cylinder with reference fluid in the temperature bath.
- Wait 1 hour for temperature equilibration (skip this step for this lab session)
- Before the test, inexperienced operators should practice how to insert the hydrometer
with minimum disturbance to the suspension.
- Measure temperature of the suspension.
- Mix the suspension, start the clock, and insert the hydrometer as quickly as possible.
You can repeat this step if it was slow.
- Take the first reading as soon as the hydrometer becomes stationary. Record elapsed
time.
- Take readings at 30 sec, 1 min, 2 min.
- Take the hydrometer out of the suspension, place it in the washing water (can be the
water in the temperature bath, or an additional cylinder), spin it.
- Take readings at 4, 8, 15, 30 min. Note that you must insert the hydrometer a bit (usually
15-20 seconds) before the desired time, to let it become stationary. In a real test this
continues at 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 24 hours. Clean the hydrometer as in the previous step, after
every reading, and leave the hydrometer in the washing water. You may change these
reading times according to your schedule, but record such changes on your data sheet.
If your lab session is in the morning, you can return to the lab and take additional readings in
the afternoon. If you’ll do this, you have to label (section,group) your cylinder. Otherwise the
assistant will provide additional data points.
 Calculations

Total dry mass (g) 50

Gs 2,7
Max grain size (mm) 0,074
% of total sample 60
Meniscus correction (cm) 0,0005
Volume of hydrometer (cm3) 55,16
Area of cylinder (cm2) 30,17
Tref (˚C) 22
reference fluid (g/cm3) 1,001
agent (g/cm3) 0,00179
3
Volume of suspension (cm ) 1000
H1 (cm) 16,4
H2 (cm) 8,4
r1 1
r2 1,03

PERCENT ADJUSTED
HYDROMETER DENSİTY OF DENSİTY OF HEİGHT OF EQUİVALENT FİNER PERCENTAGE
TİME(sec) TEMP(C)
READİNG SUSP.(g/cm^3) FLUİD(g/cm^3) FALL(H)(cm) DİAMETER(D)(mm) THAN D FİNER THAN
(%) D (%)

30 24 1,024 1,0222 1,001 9,4413 0,0583 72,9654 43,7792

60 24 1,0235 1,0217 1,001 9,5744 0,0415 71,3790 42,8274
120 24 1,023 1,0212 1,001 9,7075 0,0296 69,7927 41,8756
240 24 1,0228 1,0210 1,001 9,7607 0,0210 69,1582 41,4949
480 24 1,0221 1,0203 1,001 9,9471 0,0150 66,9373 40,1624
900 24 1,021 1,0192 1,001 10,2399 0,0111 63,4474 38,0684
1800 23 1,02 1,0182 1,001 10,5061 0,0079 60,2747 36,1648
3600 22 1,018 1,0162 1,001 11,0384 0,0058 53,9294 32,3577
7200 21 1,014 1,0122 1,001 12,1032 0,0043 41,2388 24,7433
14400 19 1,011 1,0092 1,001 12,9018 0,0031 31,7209 19,0325
28800 18 1,01 1,0082 1,001 13,1680 0,0022 28,5482 17,1289
43200 19 1,006 1,0042 1,001 14,2327 0,0019 15,8576 9,5145
86400 23 1,004 1,0022 1,001 14,7651 0,0014 9,5123 5,7074
I will show the calculations at time = 120 sec.

Density of Fluid: f = 1 g/cm3

Density of Suspension: The density of water at 20 C0 is 0.99821 g/cm3

Density of Suspension at 120 sec. = 1.023 * 0.99821 = 1.0212

Height of Fall (H):

16,4+(-8/0,03)*(1,0212+0,0005-1)-55,16/(2*30,17) = 9,7075

Equivalent Diameter (D):

(((−)))= 

Percent Finer Than D (%):

2,7*0,99821/(2,7*0,99821-0,99921)*(1000/50)*(1,0212-0,99921)*100= 69,7927
Adjusted Percentage finer than D:
D(%) = 69,7927*0,6 = 41,8756

agent (g/cm3)= 1,001-0,99921= 0,00179

8. Reporting Results
50,00
45,00
40,00
35,00
Percantage

30,00
25,00
20,00
15,00
10,00
5,00
0,00
0,0001 0,0010 0,0100 0,1000 1,0000

Clay Silt Grain Size

By interpolation; clay fraction=

9.Interpretation of Results

In this experiment, we calculated the density of suspension, density of fluid, height of fall, equivalent
diameter, percentage diner than D and adjusted percentage finer than D. After the calculations, I drew
the graph so that I can see the distribution easily. Thanks to the hydrometer test, we can calculate the
silt and clay fractions.