CE 313

Principles of Soil Mechanics

Soil Structure
 Materials Credit
Dr. Abu Siddique and Dr. Sarwar Jahan Md Yasin
Professor, Civil Engineering Department, BUET
Modified by
Sadia Rahman Badhan
Lecturer, Civil Engineering Department
BUBT
badhanoffice135@gmail.com
 Soil Structure and Fabric
• Soil structure may be defined as the geometric and skeletal arrangement
of the particles and inter-particle forces that may act on them. Soil
structure includes gradation, arrangement of particles, void ratio, bonding
agents, and associated electrical forces.

• Soil fabric is a term used to describe the structure of clays and denotes
the geometric arrangement of the mineral particles in a clay mass as
observed by optical and electron microscope. The geometric
arrangement includes particle spacing and pore size distribution.
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 Fabric of Soil
The term fabric is used to define the arrangement of the particles.

Micro-fabric: The term micro fabric refers to those particle arrangements

that require, an optical microscope for their study.

Macro-fabric: Macro fabric refers to features such as stratification, fissures

and voids that can be observed by naked eye.

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 Structure of Soil
• Primary Structure:
Primary structure of soil refers to the arrangement of grains and this
arrangement is generally developed during the process of sedimentation or
weathering of rock.
• Secondary Structure:
Various discontinuities may develop subsequent to deposition or formation of
soil. These discontinuities constitute the secondary structure of soil deposit.
They correspond to systems of joints in sedimentary rocks.

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 Primary Structure of Soil
• Single grain structure
Cohesionless Soil
• Honeycomb structure

• Flocculated structure

• Dispersed structure Cohesive Soil

• Domains; Clusters; Packets or Peds

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 Classification Based on Cohesive Properties
Cohesionless soil: Gravel, Sand,
Non-plastic silt.
Cohesionless means the soil has no
shear strength if no frictional
properties.
Cohesive soil: Clay, Plastic silt.
Cohesive soil contains clay minerals
and possesses plasticity.

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Primary Structure of Soil

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 Primary Structure of Soil (Single Grained)
• Single grained structure is primary structure of a coarse grained soil. In single
grained structure, each particle touches several of its surrounding ones in such a
way that the soil particles are in stable positions even if there are no forces of
adhesion at the point of contact between the grains.
• The arrangement may be very loose (void ratio, e = 0.91) or very dense (e =
0.35). The properties of the aggregate of particles are markedly influenced by the
state of compactness (i.e., looseness or denseness).
• The dense configuration occurs in deposits built in active water environment.
Loose deposits are typically formed in quiet water.
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 Primary Structure of Soil (Honeycomb)
• Very fine sand and silt may develop honeycomb configuration of very open structure.
• If the gravitational forces during deposition of these materials are not sufficient to
overcome inter particle attractive forces honeycomb structure results. The term
metastable is sometimes used to describe this condition because of its inherent
sensitivity to even the most minor disturbance. Soil deposits of this nature often appear
to be firm and strong but become wet and unworkable as the excavation process breaks
down the primary structure.
• Soil exhibiting honeycomb structure have large void ratios, and they can resist ordinary
static load. However, under a heavy load or when subjected to chock loading
(earthquake),the structure breaks down which results in a large amount of settlement.
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Primary Structure of Soil

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 Primary Structure of Soil (Dispersed)
In dispersed structure, the edges, corners and faces of the clay platelets have like
electrostatic surface charges. So, the particles repel one another and occupy nearly
parallel positions. Clay soil particles deposited as sediment in fresh water constitute
dispersed structure. Even though the dispersed structure may be quite loose at the
time of sedimentation, pressure can force adjacent platelets into a dense state more
readily than if they possessed flocculated structure.

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 Primary Structure of Soil (Flocculated)
In flocculated structure, the edge or corner of one clay platelet tends to be attracted
to the flat face of another. The particles develop a loose (high void ratio) but fairly
stable structure that can be maintained as long as the electrical charges on the edges
of the platelets remain opposite in sign as those on the faces. The degree of
looseness depends on the nature and amount of electrolytes present during
sedimentation. Clay deposits formed in the sea have flocculated structure.

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 Primary Structure of Soil
(Domains, Clusters, Packets or Peds)
Domains: Aggregated or flocculated submicroscopic units of clay particles.
Clusters: Domains group to form clusters. Domains can be seen under light
microscope.
Peds: Clusters group to form peds. Peds can be seen without microscope. Peds may
exist in randomly arranged configuration. Packets or peds are made up of highly
oriented individual particles.

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 Secondary Structures: Cracks, Joints,
Slickenslides and Concretions
• Cracks and joints are formed as a result of desiccation sometime after the
deposition of the material.
• Slickenslides are polished surfaces in stiff clays that have experienced
differential movement or expansion.
• Concretions are accumulations of carbonates or iron compounds.
• All these features disrupt the continuity of the soil mass and may impart
to it properties significantly different from those of intact samples taken
from the deposit.
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