‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

FACULTY OF ENGINEERING CIVIL

ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT Soil
Mechanics I
Ahmed Alhaj Abdualgader
 Introduction:
A given volume of soil in natural occurrence consists of solid particles and the

void spaces between the particles. The void space may be filled with air

and/or water; hence, soil is a three-phase system. If there is no water in the

void space, it is a dry soil. If the entire void space is filled with water, it is

referred to as a saturated soil. However, if the void is partially filled with

water, it is a moist soil. Hence it is important in all geotechnical engineering

works to establish relationships between weight and volume in a given soil

mass.
Assumptions and Definitions:
● Weight of air = 0
● Dry Soil: Water weight and volume = 0
● “Volume of voids” include all non-soil volume, both air and water
Figure 1 (a) Soil element in natural state; (b) three phases of
the soil element
Figure 2 (a) Soil element in natural state; (b) three phases
Basic Formulas
Weight–Volume Relationships
The above figure shows an element of soil of volume V
and weight W as it would exist in a natural state. To
develop the weight–volume relationships, we must
separate the three phases (that is, solid, water, and
air) as shown in Figure1. Thus, the total volume of a
given soil sample can be expressed as
 Assuming that the weight of
where volume of soil solids the air is negligible, we can

volume of voids express the total weight of

the sample as
volume of water in the

voids
Where
volume of air in the voids
weight of soil solids

weight of water
 Void ratio

The volume relationships commonly used for the

three phases in a soil element are void ratio,
porosity, and degree of saturation. Void ratio is
defined as the ratio of the volume of voids to the
volume of solids. Thus,
Porosity

Porosity (n) is defined as the ratio of the

volume of voids to the total volume
The degree of saturation

The degree of saturation (S) is defined as

the ratio of the volume of water to the
volume of voids, or
The relationship between void ratio
and porosity
The relationship between void ratio and porosity can
be derived from the above equations as:

Also
moisture content and unit weight

The common terms used for weight relationships are

moisture content and unit weight. Moisture content
(w) is also referred to as water content and is defined
as the ratio of the weight of water to the weight of
solids in a given volume of soil:
Unit weight (g) is the weight of soil per unit
volume. Thus,

The unit weight can also be expressed in terms of

the weight of soil solids, the moisture content, and
the total volume.
Soils engineers sometimes refer to the unit weight
defined by the above equation as the moist unit
weight. Often, to solve earthwork problems, one must
know the weight per unit volume of soil, excluding
water. This weight is referred to as the dry unit
weight, gd. Thus,
From the above the relationship of unit weight, dry
unit weight, and moisture content can be given as

may sometimes be convenient. The SI unit of mass

density is kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3 ). We can
write the density equations similar to unit weight
equations as follows
where

density of soil (kg/m3 )

The unit of total volume, , is .

The unit weight in can be obtained from densities in as

And

where acceleration due to gravity 9.81 .

Note that unit weight of water () is equal to 9.81 or 1000 .

Relationships among Unit Weight, Void
Ratio, Moisture Content, and Specific
Gravity
To obtain a relationship among unit weight (or
density), void ratio, and moisture content, let us
consider a volume of soil in which the volume of
the soil solids is one, as shown in Figure below. If
the volume of the soil solids is 1, then the volume
of voids is numerically equal to the void ratio, e
[from above equation]. The weights of soil solids
and water can be given as
where

specific gravity of soil solids

moisture content

unit weight of water

Three separate phases of a soil
element with volume of soil
solids equal to 1
Specific gravity of soil solids (Gs) can be expressed as

Now, using the definitions of unit weight and dry unit weight

Because the weight of water for the soil element under consideration is , the
volume occupied by water is
This equation is useful for solving problems involving three-phase relationships.
If the soil sample is saturated—that is, the void spaces are completely filled with
water (Figure above) the relationship for saturated unit weight () can be derived
in a similar manner:

Also, from the above equation with S=1

Relationships among density, Void Ratio,
Moisture Content, and Specific Gravity
As mentioned before, due to the convenience of working with densities in the SI
system, the following equations, similar to unit–weight relationships was
mentioned before, will be useful:

where the density of water 1000 .

where density of water 1000 . Equation may be derived by referring to
the soil element shown in Figure above, in which the volume of soil
solids is equal to 1 and the volume of voids is equal to e. Hence, the
mass of soil solids, , is equal to . The moisture content has been defined
in Eq. (3.8) as where mass of water.

Where

mass of water.

Since the mass of soil in the element is equal to , the mass of water
 𝑊 𝑊 𝑠 +𝑊 𝑤 𝐺𝑠 𝜌 𝑤 + w 𝐺𝑠 𝜌 𝑤 𝐺𝑠 𝜌 𝑤 (1+𝑤 )
𝜌= = = =
𝑉 𝑉 𝑠+𝑉 𝑣 1+ e 1+ 𝑒
Relationships among Unit Weight,
Porosity, and Moisture Content
 The relationship among unit weight, porosity,
and moisture content can be developed in a
manner similar to that presented in the
preceding section. Consider a soil that has a total
volume equal to one, as shown in Figures below
If is equal to 1, then is equal to , so . The weight of soil
solids () and the weight of water () can then be expressed
as follows:
So, the dry unit weight equals

The moist unit weight equals

The figure above shows a soil sample that is saturated and has .
According to this figure,

The moisture content of a saturated soil sample can be expressed as

Various Unit Weight Relationships
Homework
Q1:Show that