CENTRAL PHILIPPINE UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING CE 4103 Geotechnical

Jaro, Iloilo City, Philippines Engineering 1

TITLE: Determination of Water

EXPRT
GROUP content, Unit weight, Void ratio
NO. 1 NAME: Joena May C. Tunguia NO.
4 and Degree of saturation of a soil
sample

OBJECTIVE: To determine the water content, unit weight, void ratio and degree of
saturation of a soil sample.

APPARATUS:

Steel bowl Paraffin wax Candle Oven

Weighing Cans Pestle PVC

scale
Cylinder Iron Stand

INTRODUCTION:
The properties of the soil varies from each other which depends on
several factors like, climate or weather, depth of excavation, location of the
source, the character of the soil, human intervention, etc. It primary is the
responsibility of the engineer to determine the properties of the soil that is used
for testing. These important properties provide the necessary information that
are vital in determining the other qualities or properties of the soil that are
needed. The properties that are of importance include the water content, unit
weight, void ratio, and degree of saturation of the soil.

Date: Submitted to: 3/9

Aug.16, 2017 ENGR. SHEVANEE RUTH G. DELA CRUZ
 PROCEDURES:

Setup A
Prepare three empty cans that will serve as containers for the three
different trials/soil.
Get the weight of these can containers and record these data
Get three samples of soil and put these on the empty cans.
Weigh each cans with soil in order to determine the weight of the
saturated soil.
Oven dry these samples for at least 8 hours.
After drying, weigh these cans with soil to get the weight of the oven
dried soil.
Setup B
Prepare a 5 inch cut PVC and put an amount oil around the inner
surface of it.
Fill the PVC with compact soil.
Remove the soil from the PVC and get its weight.
Melt the paraffin wax in a setup of an iron stand and an iron ring using
the fire of a candle.
Dip the compacted soil in the wax to enclose it.
Weigh the paraffin-coated soil.
Submerge this paraffin-coated soil into a cylinder with water of known
volume and record its new volume.
Gather all relevant data for computation.

DATA AND RESULTS:

Setup A
Trial 1 Trial 2 Trial 3
Wsoil 135.4 g 127.9 g 133.1 g
Wwater 28.8 g 27.9 g 28.8 g
Wdrysoil 106.6 g 100 g 104.3 g
WaterContent 27.02 % 27.90 % 27.61 %
Ave. Water Content 27.51 %

Date: Submitted to: 4/9

Aug.16, 2017 ENGR. SHEVANEE RUTH G. DELA CRUZ
 Setup B

Vwater + paraffinCoatedSoil = 570

Wsoil = 113.8 g
cm3
WparaffinCoatedSoil = 124.4 g Vsoil = 68.22 cm3
WparaffinWax = 10.6 g
= 1.67
VparaffinCoatedSoil = 11.78 cm3 e = 1.06
Vwater = 490 cm3 s =70.07 %

Diagram/Set-up:

Setup A

Setup B

Date: Submitted to: 5/9

Aug.16, 2017 ENGR. SHEVANEE RUTH G. DELA CRUZ
 COMPUTATIONS:

Setup A

. . .
= =
. .

144.4 115.6
1: = 100% = 27.02%
115.6 9

136.8 108.9
2: = 100% = 27.90%
108.9 8.9

142.7 113.9
3: = 100% = 27.61%
113.9 9.6

27.02 + 27.9 + 27.61

% = = 27.51%
3
Setup B:

, =

10.6
= = 11.78 3
0.9

= 570 490 11.78 = 68.22 3

113.8
= = = 1.67
68.22

,
+
=
1+
2.7 + 2.7(0.2751)
1.67 = (1)
1+

= 1.06

Date: Submitted to: 6/9

Aug.16, 2017 ENGR. SHEVANEE RUTH G. DELA CRUZ
 ,
=
2.7(0.2751) = (1.06)
= 0.7001
= 70.01%

ANALYSIS:
Three trials are used in determining the water content of the soil. Since
each trial gives a different value, it is preferable to get the average of the three
trials as the final value for a more precise result.
In determining the unit weight of the soil where the soil is put inside the
graduated cylinder with water, the soil must be thoroughly coated with paraffin
wax in order for the water not to get into the soil since water will change the
properties of the soil and the experiment will have a different result.

OBSERVATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS:

Based on the results of the experiment, the water content of the soil
sample is 27.51%. Its moist unit weight is equal to 1.67 g/cc which depicts that the soil
sample contains moderate amount of water. Its void ratio is equal to 1.06 which
implies that the volume of voids is smaller than the total volume of the soil and its
degree of saturation is 70.07% which indicates that it is saturated of water by 70.07%.

Date: Submitted to: 7/9

Aug.16, 2017 ENGR. SHEVANEE RUTH G. DELA CRUZ