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Ce341A: Civil Engineering Communications Skills: TOPIC: Phase Relationships in Soil Mechanics
Ce341A: Civil Engineering Communications Skills: TOPIC: Phase Relationships in Soil Mechanics
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
• 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
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
• 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):
• Vs = • γsat=
• n= • =
• e= • =
REFERENCE