CE341A: CIVIL ENGINEERING COMMUNICATIONS SKILLS

TOPIC : Phase relationships in soil mechanics

Name : Nikunj Gautam
Roll No.: 180481

Section : Group - C
Instructor: Prof. Gaurav Tiwari
INTRODUCTION : PHASE DIAGRAM

• Soil mass in general, a three way system • If the voids completely are filled by water, the soil
composed of solid, liquid and gas phases. is saturated. Otherwise, the soil is unsaturated.

• The solid phase may be mineral or organic • If all the voids are filled with air, the soil is said to
matter or both. be dry.

• The spaces between the solids (soil particles) • Though different phases of soil mass can not be
separated, for better understanding they are
are called voids.
thought to occupy separate spaces.
• Water is often the predominant liquid and air is
• The diagrammatic representation of different
the predominant gas.
phases of soil is phase diagram.
• The soil water is called porewater
 PHASE DIAGRAMS

3-Phase System(partially saturated) 2-Phase System

(a) Dry soil (b) Saturated Soil
PHASE DIAGRAMS

• The physical properties of soils are infl- uenced • These relations are described for 3-phase
by the relative proportions of each of these system.
phases.
• Vs : Volume of solids
• Total volume of the soil is V.
• Vw : Volume of water
V= Vs + Vw + Va =Vs + Vv
• Va : Volume of air
• Weight of air is assumed to be zero for practical
purposes. • Vv : Volume of Voids

• Weight of soil is W. • Ws : Weight of soil solids

W = Ws + Ww • Ww : Weight of water
SIMPLE DEFINITIONS / PHASE RELATIONSHIPS

• Water Content (w) : It is defined as ratio of • Porosity (n) : It is defined as ratio of volume of voids
weight of water to weight of solids. It is usually to the volume of soil. It is usually expressed in
expressed in percentage. percentage.
n = (Vv / V) * 100%
w = (Ww / Ws) * 100%
Range : 0 – 100%
No Upper limit for w.
• Degree of Saturation (S) : It is defined as ratio of
• Void Ratio (e) : It is defined as ratio of volume
volume of water to volume of voids. It is usually
of voids to volume of solids. expressed in percentage.
e = (Vv/ Vs) S = (Vw/ Vv) * 100%
No Upper limit for Vv. Range 0 – 100%
SIMPLE DEFINITIONS / PHASE RELATIONSHIPS

• Air content (ac ) : It is defined as ratio of • Percentage Air voids ( na ) : It is defined as

volume of air voids to volume of voids. ratio of volume of air voids to total
ac = (Va/Vv) volume, It is expressed as %.

• It can be seen that ac = 1- S na = (Va/V) * 100 %

• It can be seen that na = n* ac

SIMPLE DEFINITIONS / PHASE RELATIONSHIPS

• Unit
  Weight : It is weight per unit • Saturated Unit Weight (γsat):
volume. Fully saturated soil sample.
• Bulk Unit Weight (γt): γsat = Wsat/ V
γt = W/ V = • Unit weight of solids (γs):

In SI units, it is kN/m3. γs= Ws/ Vs

• Dry Unit Weight (γd): • Submerged unit weight (γ’):
γd = Ws/ V = γ’ = W(sub)/V = γsat - γw
SIMPLE DEFINITIONS / PHASE RELATIONSHIPS

••  Specific Gravity • The value of Gs for a majority of soils lies

between 2.65 to 2.80.
• Specific gravity of solids (Gs): Ratio of
• Low values for coarse-grained soils.
weight of given volume of solids to
• The presence of organic matter leads to very
equivalent volume of water.
low values.
Gs = =
• Soils high in iron or mica result in high
At 4˚C, values.
SOME IMPORTANT RELATIONSHIPS

•  Ws = (here bottom w is water content) •  =

• Vs = • γsat=

• n= • =
• e= • =
REFERENCE

• Chapter 2 of Basic and Applied Soil

Mechanics Gopal Ranjan and A.S.R. Rao