Soil

Soil structure
➢It generally consist particles of soil, water and air.
➢The characteristics of soil changes according to the quantity of the
water and air.
➢The higher the ratio of gravel the more stable the soil.
➢On the other hand, the higher the ratio of clay the more difficult
to operation.
 Soil classification
➢Soil is classified into following according to the diameter of the soil
particles
• Gravel
• Sand
• Slit or clay
➢However actually soil is mixture of different size of particles.
Types of soil
Types of soil
 Properties of soil as construction material
Gravelly soil:
➢A mixture of sand and gravel
➢It has a high bearing capacity and is most stable for equipment working.
Sandy soil:
➢It is consisting of hard particles and is very sable material.
➢However, it has no binding power, so it collapse easily. Because of high
rolling resistance it gives serious problem to trafficability with wheeled
vehicles.
 Types of soil
Sandy slit:
➢It is mixture of sand and slit.
➢It has no cohesion; it is less stable than sand and is difficult to compact.
➢It has little bearing power after rain so work on this mixture is difficult.
Loam:
➢This is a mixture of sand and slit and clay.
➢If it is dry, it is very hard.
➢However, if it contains water, it is soft and work on this mixture is
difficult.
 Types of soil
Clay and slit clay:
➢This forms poor ground.
➢If it contains water, the bearing power becomes low and
mechanized operation becomes very difficult.
 Soil compaction
Soil compaction is carried out for the following purposes,
➢To reduce the volume of voids in the soil, to reduce
softening of the soil.
➢To increase the strength of the soil.
➢To reduce the settlement due to consolidation(united) of
piled soil.
 Soil compaction

Difficult to compact Easy to compact

Rocks
 Rocks
➢Rock is an aggregation of minerals.

➢If the ratio of these minerals varies, the name of the rock also
changes.

➢However rock does not consist of aggregation only, in case like sand
stone or gravel it may also consist of aggregation of rocks.
 Classification of rock
Igneous rock:
➢Magma inside of the earth finds its way through cracks in the crust and
erupts to the earth’s surface.
➢It is then cooled by the atmosphere and becomes solid rock.
Sedimentary rock:
➢External forces working on the earth’s surface break the rock into fine
pieces. These fine pieces of rock are then deposited on the beds of rivers,
lakes or the sea.
➢The pressure of the water compress the layers deposited on the top into
rock.
Igneous rock
 Classification of rock
Metamorphic rock:
Metamorphic rock is igneous rock or sedimentary rock which has
changed its form due to the pressure of organic movement or under
the heat generated by magma forcing its way through cracks in the
earth’s crust.