The water content of soil is is the ratio of mass of water to mass of soil which is expressed in

percentage. Oven Dry Method and Pycnometer Method are commonly used to determine the
water content of soil in laboratory.

 Loss on Drying. In this method, a wet sample is weighed on a balance, placed in an

oven, and heated until the end of the drying period, i.e., until the sample reaches
equilibrium. The weight loss is the moisture content of the sample. In moisture balances,
this process is sped up by superheating the sample by a variety of means, including
infrared, halogen, and microwaves.
 Karl Fischer. In this method, the amount of water in a sample is determined directly by
titration with Karl Fischer reagent, which consists of iodide, sulfur dioxide, a base, and a
solvent system. 

Temperature- 105 to 110 c (for inorganic soil)

Time 4 hours (sandy soil)
12-16hrs (silt and clay)
Temperature -60 c (for organic soil)
For soil having high gypsum, temperature should be 80 to avoid loss of water crystallization

1. Pycnometer method is also useful to determine water content. But this is used when the specific
gravity of the given soil sample is already known. However, Specific gravity can also be determined
using pycnometer.

2. Sand Bath Method:

It is a quick field method that is generally used when facility of oven is not available

Container placed over sand bath and heated on stove. Not used for orfanic soil and soil with high
gypsum

No control over tenperature

The principle for determination of water content in this method is the
same as in the oven-drying method except that drying of the wet soil is
done using a sand bath.

The sand bath method allows rapid determination of water content

within 0.5 to 1 h. It is more suitable as a field test. The result obtained
is less accurate than that obtained by the oven-drying method because
there is no control over temperature during drying in this method.
This method should not be used if it is suspected that the soil contains
significant quantities of gypsum, calcareous matter, or organic matter.

3. Alcohol Method:
The principle of water content determination in the alcohol method is
the same as in the oven-drying method except that drying of wet soil is
done with the help of a methylated spirit.

Infrared Lamp Torsion Balance Method:

This method enables rapid determination of water content of soils by
employing a device providing infrared lamp for drying and torsion
balance for getting percentage of water on wet basis from a scale. The
results obtained are convertible to water content on dry basis.

4. Calcium Carbide Method:

The calcium carbide method is a rapid and reasonably accurate

method of determination of water content of soil using a portable
moisture content kit.
The method is based on the principle that when the water in the soil
reacts with calcium carbide, acetylene gas is produced and the
pressure exerted by the acetylene gas on a diaphragm gives a measure
of the water content.
The water content obtained from the calcium carbide method is based
on the initial weight of wet soil. It should be converted to water
content based on the dry weight of soil.
This Method is very quick and the result can be obtained in 5-10 min.
The method is more suited as a field method of water content
determination for compaction control where water content is to be
quickly determined. Care should be taken to ensure that the wet soil-
calcium carbide mixture is not exposed to air as calcium carbide will
then react with the moisture in air and as a result, the water content of
the soil will be overestimated.

5. Pycnometer Method:
The pycnometer method is a rapid method of water content
determination for soils whose specific gravity is accurately known. The
method is suitable for coarse-grained soils only as the entrapped air is
likely to cause a significant error in water content determination for
fine-grained soils.
Pycnometer is a density bottle of 900 mL capacity. A brass conical cap
is used as a cover. The conical cap is always screwed to the pycnometer
up to the mark on the pycnometer to give the designated volume of
900 mL. A rubber washer is placed inside the conical cap to prevent
the leakage of water through the walls of the pycnometer and the
conical cap.

The advantage of the pycnometer method is that drying of the soil is

not required for determination of water content. However, entrapped
air can become a source of serious error in this method. Also, the
accuracy of the water content obtained through this method is
dependent on the accuracy of the specific gravity used in calculations.
The method is not recommended by IS – 2720 (Part 2) – 1973, which
is the code of practice for water content determination.