Formulae Sheet for Topic One

Particle Size Analysis

D10 : effective size (i.e. the diameter in the particle-size distribution curve corresponding to 10% finer)
D30 : diameter in the particle-size distribution curve corresponding to 30% finer
D60 : diameter in the particle-size distribution curve corresponding to 60% finer
Cu : uniformity coefficient ( Cu = D60 D10 )
Cc : coefficient of gradation ( Cc = D302 ( D60  D10 ) )
USCS Soil Classification
PL : plastic limit
LL : liquid limit
PI : plasticity index ( PI = LL − PL )
LI : liquidity index ( LI = ( w − PL ) PI )
A : activity of soil ( A = PI ( % of clay ) )
Phase Relationships:
W : total weight of soil
Ws : weight of soil solids (i.e., the weight of dry soil)
Ww : weight of water
w : moisture content ( w = Ww Ws  100% )
V : total volume of soil
Vs : volume of solid phase
Vv : volume of the voids
Va : volume of air in the voids
Vw : volume of water in the voids
 : moist unit weight (  = W V )
 d : dry unit weight (with respect to total volume of soil,  d = Ws V )
 s : unit weight of solid phase (with respect to the volume of solid phase,  s = Ws Vs )
 sat : saturated unit weight (  sat = W V )
 w : unit weight of water (  w = 9.81 kN m3 )
Gs : specific gravity ( Gs =  s  w )
e : void ratio ( e = Vv Vs )
n : porosity ( n = Vv V )
S : degree of saturation ( S = Vw Vv )
W = Ws + Ww
V = Vs + Vv = Vs + Va + Vw
Se = Gs w
W (1 + w )Gs w
= =
V 1+e
W G
d = s = s w
V 1+e
W (G + e ) w
 sat = = s
V 1+e