Moisture Content of Soil

P R E PA R E D BY:
E N G R . Y U R I M . VA L E N C I A
E N G I N E E R II
M AT E R I A L S T E S T I N G D IV I S I O N
Moisture Content
❖Moisture content is defined as quantity of water that exists in the soil
mass. It can represent either the naturally present (In-Situ) or water
which is manually added.
❖Hygroscopic moisture content is the water content of an Air‐dried soil.
Moisture Content
Significance:
❖Moisture content has an important characteristic in the soil material
where the behavior of soil is markedly influenced by the amount of
moisture it contains.
❖Moisture content is the ratio of the mass of water in the soil to the
mass of oven-dried soil after it has been dried to a constant mass at a
temperature of 110 plus or minus 5 degress celsius.
Moisture Content
❖Moisture Content (MC)/In-situ:

𝑾𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍–𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍

◦ MC x 100
𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍

❖Hygroscopic Moisture Content (HMC):

𝑨𝒊𝒓 𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍 –𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍

◦ HMC x 100
𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍
Computation

Determine the moisture content of the two samples.

Sample A Sample B

MC = 𝑾𝒆𝒕 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍–𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍 x 100 HMC = 𝑨𝒊𝒓 𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍 –𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍 x 100
𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍 𝑫𝒓𝒚 𝑺𝒐𝒊𝒍

MC = 𝟓𝟎.𝟐 –𝟒𝟓.𝟕 x 100 = 9.85% HMC = 𝟒𝟎.𝟑 –𝟑𝟗.𝟖 x 100 = 1.26%

𝟒𝟓.𝟕 𝟑𝟗.𝟖
Activity

Determine the in-situ and hygroscopic moisture content of the two samples.
5 MINS
Computation
Sample A
𝟒𝟗.𝟖–𝟏𝟏.𝟐 –𝟑𝟎.𝟒
◦ In-situ MC
𝟑𝟎.𝟒
x 100 = 26.97%

Sample B
𝟒𝟗.𝟒– 𝟒𝟒.𝟏
◦ In-situ MC
𝟒𝟒.𝟏– 𝟏𝟏.𝟐
x 100 = 16.11%

𝟒𝟒.𝟔–𝟒𝟒.𝟏
◦ HMC
𝟒𝟒.𝟏–𝟏𝟏.𝟐
x 100 = 1.52%
THANK YOU!