Soil Mechanics and Foundations and

Testing properties of materials

Chapter Two
Phase relationships

Dr. Lina Jaber

 Chapter Three
Phase Relationships
In natural occurrence, soils are three-phase systems consisting of soil solids, water, and air.
To develop the weight–volume relationships, we must separate the three phases
(that is, solid, water, and air) .Thus, the total volume of a given soil sample can be
expressed as:
V = Vs + Vv = Vs + Vw + Va

where Vs = volume of soil solids

Vv = volume of voids
Vw = volume of water in the voids
Va= volume of air in the voids

Dr. Lina Jaber

 Soil behavior is effected by the varying amounts of solid, water, and air present in a soil
mass.

Density and Unit weight

The unit weight in kN/m3 can be obtained from densities in kg/m3 as

where g = acceleration due to gravity = 9.81 m/sec2.

Dr. Lina Jaber

 Note that: unit weight of water (gw) is equal to 9.81 kN/m3 or 62.4 lb/ft3 or 1000 kgf/m3.
the submerged unit weight is: γ’ = γ – γ w

SPECIFIC GRAVITY

• The Specific gravity of soil is defined as the ratio of the unit weight of solids to the unit
weight of water. For most soils, it ranges between 2.6 to 2.8. It is unit‐less.

Assuming that the weight of the air is negligible, we can give the total weight of the
sample as :
W = Ws + Ww
where Ws = weight of soil solids
Ww = weight of water

• Void ratio (e) is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids to the volume of solids.
Thus,

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 • Porosity (n) is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids to the total volume, or

Thus,

The degree of saturation (S) is defined as the ratio of the volume of water to the
volume of voids, for dry Soil S= 0 %, for totally saturated soil S=100%

• Moisture content (w) is also 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:

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 • Unit weight (g) is the weight of soil per unit volume. Thus,

• the weight per unit volume of soil, excluding water. This weight is referred to as the
dry unit weight, γd Thus,

 To obtain a relationship among unit weight

(or density), void ratio, and moisture content,
let us consider a volume of soil in which
the volume of the soil solids is one,

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 where Gs = specific gravity of soil solids
w = moisture content
γw = unit weight of water

Thus , with S = 1,

If the soil sample is saturated—that is, the void spaces are completely filled with water,
the relationship for saturated unit weight (γ sat) can be derived :

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 Relative Density

The term relative density is commonly used to indicate the in situ denseness or
looseness of granular soil. It is defined as

where Dr = relative density, usually given as a percentage

e = in situ void ratio of the soil
e max = void ratio of the soil in the loosest state
e min = void ratio of the soil in the densest state

The values of Dr may vary from a minimum of 0% for very loose soil to a maximum
of 100% for very dense soils.

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 Problem 1​

A moist silty clay soil has a unit weight of 19.2 KN/m³ and a water content of
9.8 %. If the specific gravity of the soil is 2.69, compute the:​
a. void ratio​
b. unit weight​
c. degree of saturation​
​

Problem 2​

A wet soil sample weighs 2350 kg and occupies a volume of 1.2 m³.
The water content in the soil is equal to 8.6 % and Gs = 2.71. Estimate
the wet density, dry density, void ratio, and porosity.​

Dr. Lina Jaber

 Solution

Problem 1

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 Problem 2

Dr. Lina Jaber