‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie

Faculty of Engineering and Technology

Building Engineering Department

Soil Mechanics Lab

Experiment 1: Water Content

Instructors: Eng. Waleed zaid

Course No. : 12310349

Student name or group: Thanaa' Marabeh

Date: 11 October 2021

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  Introduction :

Most laboratory tests in soil mechanics and any sample that comes from the site
require determination of moisture content.

The water content of soil (w.c) is the ratio of mass of water to mass of soil which
is expressed in percentage. Water content defines as:

w = weight of water present in a given soil mass / weight of dry soil

=(Ww/Ws)*100%

 Theory:
w 2−w 3
w(%) = w 3−w 1 ×100 %

Where: W1: Weight of empty can.

W2: Weight of can and wet soil.
W3: Weight can and dry soil (oven dry at 110 c ° ± 5 c °for 12-18 hours, but
in the experiment we left it for one hour only).

 Standard:

The moisture in the gravel and sand (15%-20%)

The moisture in the silt and clay (30%-80%)

 Objective:

To estimate the w.c in a soil sample, which used for:

1. Determination of bearing capacity of soil.

2. Determination of bearing capacity of settlement.
3. In soil Weight-volume relationship.

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  Equipment used:

Oven Balance Can Sample of soil

 Procedures:
1. Determine the mass (g) of the empty moisture can plus its cap (WI).
2. Place a sample of moist soil in the can. Close the can with its cap to avoid
loss of moisture.
3. Determine the mass of the can and wet soil (W2).
4. Put the can in the oven to dry the soil to a constant weight. In most cases,
24 hours of drying is enough.
5. Determine the combined mass (g) of the dry soil sample plus the can and its
cap (W3).

 Result :

W1 W2 Mass of wet W3 Mass of dry Mass of

Mass of can Mass of can & wet soil (Kg) Mass of can soil (kg) water (Kg)
(kg) soil (kg) &dry soil (kg)
0.024 0.082 0.058 0.074 0.05 0.008

Mass of wet soil = mass of can & wet soil – mass of can
= 0.082-0.024 =0.058 kg

Mass of dry soil = mass of can &dry soil – mass of can

=0.074-0.024=0.05 kg

Mass of water = mass of wet soil –mass of dry soil

=0.058-0.05=0.008 kg

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w = weight of water present in a given soil mass / weight of dry soil
w(%) =(Ww/Ws)*100%

= (0.008/0.05)*100%=16%

Or
w 2−w 3
w(%) = w 3−w 1 ×100 %

0.082−0.074
= 0.074−0.024 × 100 %=16%

 Discussion and comment:

As shown in the calculations, this soil  according to standers is classified

into (Gravel and Sand soil) because the percentage of water content in the
soil is equal to 16% and it’s nearby to the percentage of (Gravel and Sand)
water content which is (15 -20) %

 Source of error:
1. Human errors.
2. Errors in the device.
3. Errors in the calculation.

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