SEMINAR ON

PROPERTIES OF SOIL

SUBMITTED BY-
UTTKARSH RASTOGI,
SEM-4
PHASE DIAGRAM

 A soil mass is, in general is a three phase system composed of solid, liquid and gaseous
matter. The solid phase is comprised of mineral or organic matter or both. The mineral
portion consists of particles of different sizes and shapes. The organic fraction is mostly
plant and other organic elements. The liquid phase is generally water which fills partially
or wholly the voids. The gaseous phase occupies the voids which are not filled by water.
PHASE DIAGRAM OF UNSATURATED
SOIL

Vv Va AIR Wa
V Vw WATER Ww W

Vs SOLID Ws

UN SATURATED SOIL
PHASE DIAGRAM OF SATURATED SOIL

Vw WATER Ww

V W
Vs SOLID Ws
PHASE DIAGRAM OF DRY SOIL

Va AIR Wa
V W

Vs SOLID Ws
SIMPLE DEFINATIONS

 WATER CONTENT-
Water content is defined as ratio of weight of water to the weight of solids in a given mass of soil.
w=(Ww/Ws)x100%
It can be written that w>=0, since there is no upper limit of water content.
 VOID RATIO-
It is defined as the ratio of volume of voids to the volume of solids.
e=Vv/Vs
In general e>0, since soil has to contain some voids but they cannot be the upper limit of void volume.
 
 POROSITY-
It is defined as the ratio of volume of the volume of voids to the total volume of the soil, it is derived in
percentage.
n=(Vv/V)x100%
The porosity cannot exceed 100%.thus it can be
0<n<100
 
 DEGREE OF SATURATION-
It is defined as the ratio of volume of water to the volume of voids. It is usually expressed in percentage.
Thus
S=(Vw/Vv)x100% 
The value of S varies between 0% and 100%.
 
 BULK UNIT WEIGHT-
Bulk unit weight is defined as the ratio of total weight of soil mass’W’ to unit of total
volume.
ϒt =W/V
 
 DRY UNIT WEIGHT-
It is the ratio of weight of solid to the total volume, thus,
ϒd=Ws/V
It is used to measure the denseness of soil. Higher the value of ddry unit weight more solids
are packed in the unit volume of the soiland hence a more compact soil.
 SATURATED UNIT WEIGHT-
It is a ratio of total weight of a fully saturated soil sample ‘Ws’ to its total volume ’V’, thus,
ϒsat=Wsat/V
 SUBMERGED UNIT WEIGHT-
When a soil mass is submerged below the ground water table a buoyant force acts on the soil
solids which is equal in magnitude to the weight of water displaced by the solids. Therefore,
ϒ’=Wsub/V= ϒsat- ϒw
THANKYOU