MAPUA UNIVERSITY

SCHOOL OF CIVIL, ENVIRONMENTAL AND

GEOLOGICAL ENGINEERING
SOIL MECHANICS AND MATERIALS TESTING
LABORATORY

NAME: TEJADA, DENVER JOHN M.

COURSE & SECTION: CE161P-2/A5 STUDENT NO.: 2018140603

EXPERIMENT NO. 1
WATER CONTENT IN SOIL

DATE PERFORMED: AUGUST 26, 2020

DATE SUBMITTED: AUGUST 28, 2020 GRADE

ENGR. TIMOTHY DANIEL FELICIA

INSTRUCTOR
 Experiment No. 1
WATER CONTENT IN SOIL

OBJECTIVE
This method of test is intended for determining the hygroscopic water content of
soils by oven drying to constant weight.

PROCEDURE
1. Weigh the clean and dry specimen container (and its lid, if used) and record
as WC.
2. Select a representative sample of the soil, place in the container and cover
immediately. Weigh and record as W1.
3. Open the container and dry in the oven to constant weight at a temperature
of 110 ± 5ºC. The drying time will depend on the kind of soil and size of
sample. A 25-gram sandy material can be dried at about 2 hours, while the
same weight of a plastic, fine-grained soil will require at least 4 hours to dry
at constant weight.
4. Remove the container from the oven and cool to room temperature. Weigh
and record as W2.

A sample may be cooled at room humidity within an hour after it has been
removed from the oven. If it cannot be weighed within this period, it should be
placed in a desiccator to cool to room temperature. This is especially significant
if the soil is very plastic and the room humidity is high. Weighing hot container
is not advisable as it affects the accuracy of results.
LABORATORY EQUIPMENT
Figure 1. Container
Metal tins are made up of metal
that is used in containing and
storing soil samples. It is commonly
used in various lab experiments.
Figure 3. Oven with temperature
control
Design to maintain the temperature
within a given zone as close to the
desired setpoint as possible. Used
in drying the soil sample at uniform
temperature.
Figure 2. Weighing Balance
Is a device to measure weight or
mass of an object with high
accuracy and precision. Used in
measuring weight of soil sample.
Figure 4. Desiccator
Use to store dried sample in a dry
temperature. Used for preserving
moisture sensitive items like cobalt
chloride. Its common use is to
protect chemicals which are
hygroscopic.
 Figure 5. Desiccator
A type of tool used to grip and lift object especially when it is hot
instead of holding it directly with bare hands. Also, to present a
person from risks and hazard that may occur.

APPLICATION
The process of determining the water content of the soil is essential in
engineering industry, and one of the steps that should be considered when building
a structure. Furthermore, it is essential in knowing the slope stability, or the
process of evaluating the stability of the earth, as well its embankment, and
excavated slopes. Knowing such things, especially the moisture content of a soil
will be of help for engineers to create a structure that can withstand any ground
rupture and hazard risk.

In Civil engineering field, it is an essential to have a soil investigation first before

constructing an infrastructure on a specific area. The natural soil content would be
the guide to know what the state of soil in the area is. Say for instance, structures
like, the railways, highways, and bridges, especially the building itself needs to
have a well stabilized soil where the foundation will be built upon. Soil must be
dried out well and compacted so that the foundation wouldn’t crack or cause a
breakage that might cause the entire structure to collapse. For this reason, water
content in soil is done to know that necessary soil amendments for stabilization
and to know the maximum bearing capacity that it can hold prior to failure.
 After which soil compaction is also one of the things that we can determine
through this experiment. Soil compaction can immediately increase the strength
and load bearing capacity of the structure, and it is measured in terms of its dry
unit weight. Consequently, soil compaction reduces the water seepage and thus it
makes the soil stable enough entirely. Therefore, through water content in soil
experiment will help the engineers to know the basic properties of soil and further
will also helped them on the process and solutions that they could take in order to
make the structure lasts for a long time.

TECHNICAL OBSERVATION
Moisture content is defined as quantity of water that exists in the soil mass. The
moisture content in the soil is to be determined using simple test. Take the small
quantity of soil from the sample for which the moisture content is to be found. It is
done through the process of over drying method. It is done through taking soil
samples and its weight, dry the sample using the oven and measure the weight
again.

In the laboratory manual, weight different is determined by:

(𝑊1 − 𝑊𝐶 ) − (𝑊2 − 𝑊𝐶 )
𝑊=[ ] (100%) (𝟏)
(𝑊2 − 𝑊𝐶 )

However, in the video presented, weight difference is determined by:

(𝑊2 − 𝑊3 )
𝑊=[ ] (100%) (𝟐)
(𝑊3 − 𝑊1 )
 In this experiment, Mapua University’s manual advises their students that in
soil sample must undergo sieving process first before measuring the weight.
Meanwhile in the video presented, they collected the samples and immediately
began the experiment. The reason why we do sieving is because for the soil to be
distributed evenly based on the size of its particles, the drying time would depend
on the type and size of soil used upon doing the experiment. Say for instance, a
25 - gram sample can be quickly dried in about 2 hrs. however, for a clay like soil
that has smaller particles than a normal one would require to dry at least 4 hours
at constant weight.

Upon watching the video clip and reading the laboratory manual, both shows
the same content, they only differ in some parts of the experiment like the duration
of oven drying the samples. Oven temperature used in the laboratory manual is
(110 ± 5ºC). they used this temperature to guarantee that the crystalline structure
of the soil particles will not be affected as the water vaporizes.

In conclusion, the results obtained was accurate. But in my own perspective, I

can’t say that conclusions made where through enough since there are instances
that human error can’t be avoided. The only think that I’m glad about is somehow
we were given the knowledge about how water content in soil is done ang little did
we know that knowing such process will be of help in our future career as civil
engineers as well.

REFERENCES

• https://www.jove.com/v/10011/determination-of-moisture-content-in-soil

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-
sciences/soil-water-content

• https://extension.umn.edu/soil-management-and-health/soil-compaction

• https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/agricultural-and-biological-
sciences/soil-compaction