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SOIL MECHANICS-І

CHAPTER TWO-PHYSICAL
CHARACTERISTICS OF SOILS

Birhanu Belete (MSc)

 Contents
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1. Phase Relationships
2. Determination of Particle Sizes of Soils
3. Physical States and Index Properties of Fine-grained Soils
4. Determination of plastic, liquid and shrinkage limits
5. Soil Classification Schemes
 2.1 PHASE RELATIONSHIPS
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 Soil is composed of solids, liquids and gases

 The solid phase may be mineral, organic matter, or both
 The spaces between the solids (soil particles) are called voids and
are filled with liquids or gases or both
 Water is the predominant liquid and air is the predominant gas
 We will use the terms water and air instead of liquids and gases
 The soil water is commonly called pore water and plays a very
important role in the behavior of soils under load
 If all the voids are filled with water, the soil is saturated, Otherwise,
the soil is unsaturated
 If the voids are filled with air the soil is said to be dry.
 2.1 PHASE RELATIONSHIPS
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 The phase system may be expressed in SI units either in terms of

mass-volume or weight-volume relationships
 The inter relationships of the different phases are important since
they help to define the condition or the physical make-up of the soil
 Mass-Volume Relationship-In SI units, the mass M, is normally
expressed in kg and the density p in kg/m3. Sometimes, the mass
and densities are also expressed in g and g/cm3 or Mg and
Mg/m3 respectively. The density of water po at 4 °C is exactly
1.00 g/cm3 (= 1000 kg/m3 = 1 Mg/m3). Since the variation in
density is relatively small over the range of temperatures
encountered in ordinary engineering practice, the density of water
pw at other temperatures may be taken the same as that at 4 °C.
The volume is expressed either in cm3 or m3.
 Common Soil Types
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 Weight-Volume Relationship-Unit weight or weight per unit

volume is still the common measurement in geotechnical
engineering practice. The density p, may be converted to unit
weight by using the relationship Y=pg. The 'standard' value
of g is 9.807 m/s2 (= 9.81 m/s2 for all practical purposes).
 Class Exercise 1: Convert the density of water to its unit
weight for range of temperatures under ordinary engineering
practices
 PHASE DIAGRAM( BLOCK DIAGRAM)
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 Phase Relationships- (Mass and Weight -Volume)

 The mass/weight of air may be assumed as zero

V  Vs  Vw  Va  Vs  Vv W  Ws  Ww
 Volumetric Ratios
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 There are four volumetric ratios that are very useful in

geotechnical engineering and these can be determined
directly from the phase diagram
1. The void ratio, e, is defined as
Where, Vv -volume of voids, and Vs - volume of the
solids.
The void ratio e is always expressed as a decimal.

2. The porosity n is defined as

Where, V - total volume of the soil sample.
The porosity n is always expressed as a percentage.
 Volumetric Ratios
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3. The degree of saturation S is defined as

4. The Specific Volume (v) is defined as

V
V  1 e
'

Vs
 Class Exercise #2: Derive an expression for the void ratio in
terms of porosity. e=f(n)
 Class Exercise #3: Derive the specific volume in terms of void
ratio
 Volumetric Ratios
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5. Percentage air voids, na , is defined as

6. Air content, ac, is defined as

Class Exercise # 4: Derive an inter relationship between

percentage air voids and air content ?
 Volumetric Ratios
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 The other aspects of the phase diagram connected with mass

or weight can be explained with reference to the phase
diagram
1. Water content (w) is the ratio, often expressed by
percentage, of the weight of water to the weight of solids.
Ww
w  100%
Ws
 The water content of a soil is found by weighing a sample of
the soil and then placing it in an oven at 110 0C until the
weight of the sample remains constant; that is all the absorbed
water is driven out
 Volumetric Ratios
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2. Specific gravity (Gs) is the ratio of the weight of the soil

solids to the weight of water of equal volume:

Ws
Gs 
Vs w
 Two types of containers are used to determine the specific
gravity. One is a pycnometer, which is used for coarse-
grained soils. The other is a 50 mL density bottle, which is
used for fine-grained soils.
 Density (Mass-Volume Relationship)
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 Another very useful concept in geotechnical engineering is

density (or, unit weight) which is expressed as mass per
unit volume.
 There are several commonly used densities
 These may be defined as the total (or bulk), or moist
density, 𝜌𝑡 ; the dry density, 𝜌𝑑 ; the saturated density,
𝜌𝑠𝑎𝑡 ; the density of the particles, solid density, 𝜌𝑠 ; and
density of water 𝜌𝑤 . Each of these densities is defined as
follows
 Conti…
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 Total density, pt

 Dry density, pd

 Saturated density, psat

(For S=100%)

 Density of solids, ps

 Density of water , Pw
 NORMALIZING THE PAHSE DIAGRAM
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 Let us normalize or make it dimensionless by dividing the

volume parameters in the phase diagram by Vs
 Relationships e, Gs, w and S
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Class Exercise #5: Calculate the porosity of a saturated soil

which has a natural water content 25%. (Take Gs=2.67) ?
 Relationships Between Density p and Other Parameters
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 The density of soil can be expressed in terms of other

parameters for cases of soil
1) partially saturated (S < 100%);
2) fully saturated (S = 100%);
3) Fully dry (S = 0); and
4) submerged
Case (1): For S < 100%
 Relationships Between Density p and Other Parameters
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 Case (2): For S=100%

 Class Exercise #6: Derive the formula for calculating
the total density of a saturated soil in terms of e, Gs

 Case (3) Fully dry (S = 0)

 Relationships Between Density p and Other Parameters
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 Case (4) submerged

 If the soil is submerged, the density of the
submerged soil psub, is equal to the density of the
saturated soil reduced by the density of water, that
is

 The submerged density is also known as effective

density
 Relative Density
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 The looseness or denseness of sandy soils can be

expressed numerically by relative density Dr,
defined by the equation
 WEIGHT-VOLUME RELATIONSHIPS
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 The weight-volume relationships can be established

from the earlier equations by substituting y(Gamma)
for p and W for M
 Examples
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Example 1) A sample of saturated clay was placed in a

container and weighed. The weight was 6 N. The clay in
its container was placed for 24 hours at 1050C. The
weight reduced to a constant value of 5 N. The weight of
the container is 1 N. If Gs = 2.7, determine:
a) the water content,
b) void ratio,
c) bulk unit weight,
d) dry density, and
e) effective unit weight.
 Solution: -
 Examples
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Example 2) A sample of silty clay has a volume of 14.88cm3, a

total mass of 28.81 g, a dry mass of 24.83 g, and a specific
gravity of solids 2.7. Determine the void ratio and the degree of
saturation?
Example 3) Earth is required to be excavated from borrow pits for
building an embankment. The wet unit weight of undisturbed soil is 1
8 kN/m3 and its water content is 8%. In order to build a 4 m high
embankment with top width 2 m and side slopes 1:1, estimate the
quantity of earth required to be excavated per meter length of
embankment. The dry unit weight required in the embankment is 15
kN/m3 with a moisture content of 10%. Assume the specific gravity
of solids as 2.67. Also determine the void ratios and the degree of
saturation of the soil in both the undisturbed and remolded states.
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 ‘Wereb’ borrow area
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 A foundation being compacted in ‘peda’
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 Solution to example 3
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 Explanation of the question: There is a specific area in

which there is a specific soil (borrow pit) with specific
specifications and it is intended to build a sand
dam(embankment) in this area as the shape of the dam
is shown in the figure, but this dam requires soil With
certain specifications. Accordingly, there are several
demands, but the idea, as we are used to, is that the
same must be preserved Vs value for both the existing
soil and the embankment soil.
 Solution to example 3
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 Solution to example 3
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 Solution to example 3
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