January 20, 2021

CE 401 – CE31S6 Geotechnical Engineering 1 (Soil Mechanics)

GROUP ____ (5 Members)

ACDAL, ABEGYL LAGBO, ISABELLA

BOBIS, ANGELIKA SECRETARIO, MARK JAMES
EMPERADO, TRISHA MAE

Laboratory Report
DETERMINATION OF SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF SOIL
1. Objective(s):
The activity aims to introduce the basic concepts, significance and
procedures for conducting the determination of specific gravity of soil, which will
be used for the specification for field gravity of soil.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
The students shall be able to:
2.1 Apply laboratory equipment with ease and precision suiting the objectives
of the experiment.
2.2 Determine the specific gravity of soil by
using a pycnometer.
3. Discussion:
This lab is performed to decide the particular gravity of soil by utilizing a
pycnometer. Explicit gravity is the proportion of the mass of unit volume of soil at
an expressed temperature to the mass of similar volume of without gas refined
water at an expressed temperature.
The specific gravity (GS) of a soil refers to the ratio of the solid
particles' unit weight to the unit weight of water. GS should not be
confused with the soil density since it is a dimensionless unit and
expresses the ratio of two particular densities.
4. Apparatus:
 Pycnometer
 Balance
 Vacuum pump
 Funnel
 Spoon
 Straight Edge
  Sample extruder
 Draying oven
 Mixing tools
 Container
 Sieves
 Molds
 Rammer
5. Application:
Knowing the specific gravity of soils helps engineers understand how porous the
soil is or how many voids it contains. It also indicates how saturated the soil is
with water. Engineers use these measurements to perform important
calculations that predict whether the soil at a site will be stable enough to
support a structure and allow proper drainage. The two most common involve a
specific gravity bench or specific gravity flask, also known as a volumetric or le
Chatelier flask.

(Numerous.)
6. Procedure:

1. The sample as prepared shall have distilled water added to fill the
volumetric flask about three fourths full of the stoppered bottle about half
full.

2. Remove entrapped air by boiling slowly for 10 min. Roll occasionally the
pycnometer to assist in the removal of air.

3. Cool the sample to room temperature.

4. Fill the pycnometer with distilled water to the calibrated capacity.

5. Clean and dry the outside of the pycnometer with dry cloth.

6. Weigh the pycnometer with water and soil (Wb) and record the
 temperature TX

7. Data and Results:

CALCULATION:

Gs = (W_S G_(T_X ))/(W_S+(W_a-W_b))

Gs= Specific gravity of soil
Ws = mass of sample of oven-dried soil in grams
Wa = mass of pycnometer filled with water at temperature T1 in grams
Wb = mass of pycnometer filled with water and soil at temperature Tin grams
Tx= temperature of the contents of the pycnometer when mass Wb was taken
GTx = density of distilled water at Tx

Container + Dry soil, g 23.77 23.45

Container, g 7.56 7.24
Container number 1 2
Dry Soil, g 16.21 18.49
Temp. after boiling (at room temp.)
Pycnometer + soil + water, g, Wb 153.61 165.75
Pycnometer + water (fr.calibration curve), g, 137.37 153.70
Wa
Specific gravity of distilled water 0.9940 0.9940
Specific gravity of soil 2.65 2.61
AVERAGE:
WORK SHEET FOR SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF FINE-GRAINED SOIL
Formula:

W S GT
GS =
x

W s +(W a−W b )
Where:
Gs = Specific gravity of soil
Ws = Weight/mass of dry soil
GT = Specific gravity of distilled water
Wb = Pycnometer + Soil + Water
Wa = Pycnometer + Water (from calibration curve)
 8. Conclusion:
Numerous calculations in the field of geotechnical designing require the
utilization of explicit gravity of soil solids. By and by, explicit gravity of soil solids
is resolved in the research facility by the touchy pycnometer/thickness bottle
technique, which is portrayed by numerous complexities and troubles. The
current specialized note proposes the utilization of a portion of the estimations
taken during the normal shrinkage limit test in the research facility to process
the particular gravity of soil solids reasonably precisely. It is appeared through
comprehensive exploratory outcomes that the estimations of explicit gravity of
soil solids got from the proposed strategy is in close concurrence with those
decided from the customary pycnometer/thickness bottle technique
9. References:
(n.d.). ASTM D 854-00 – Standard Test for Specific Gravity of Soil Solids by
Water Pycnometer. Retrieved January 19, 2021,

From http://users.rowan.edu/~sukumaran/geotechnical/notes/Experiment%204-
Specific%20Gravity.pdf
 (n.d)Geoengineer laboratory testing/measurement of specific gravity Retrieved
January 19, 2021,

From https://www.geoengineer.org/education/laboratory-testing/measurement-of-
specific-gravity-of-soils

n.d.). A Simplified Approach of Determining the Specific Gravity of Soil Solids

K. Prakash, A. Sridharan, H. K. Thejas & H. M. Swaroop Retrieved January 19,

2021, from

From https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10706-012-9521-6