Various terms and relations used in soil mechanics

Determination of moisture content Moisture can

Balance
Oven

W1 = Wt. of can

W2 = Wt. of can + Wet soil

W3 = Wt. of can + Dry soil

W2  W3
w * 100
W3  W1

The range of water content: 0 ≤ w (percent) << ∞

Most natural soils  w < 60%

Marine & organic soil may have water content up to 300 to 400 percent.

Soils that appear dry often have 2 to 4 percent water content

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unit of b: SI  kN/m3 , fps system  lb/ft3 (pcf)

bulk unit weight of most natural soils  14 to 19 kN/m380 to 120 lb/ft3

Think of unit weight of water  9.81 kN/m3, 62.4 lb/ft3 or 1000 kgf/m3

Unit of b kg/m3 or gm/cc

2
bIf= bulk
b.gunitgweight
= 9.81ism/sec
18.35 kN/m3 You should be able to do conversion of unit
Such as-
then corresponding bulk density is
1000 N 1000 1
(18.35*1000)/9.81 = 1870.5 kg/m3 1 kN/m 3  * * lb/ft 3
9.81 m/s 453.6 3.283
2

or 1.87 gm/cc = 6.368 lb/ft3

There are different methods of determination of density in the laboratory and field (in-situ).

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Specific Gravity of Soil SolidsG or Gs
Weight of a given volume of material
basic definition G s 
Weight of same volume of water at 40 C

γs Ws Notice: sp.gr. of Mercury 13.6,

Gs   for most soils  2.60 to 2.80 of gold 19.3, of Iron 7.87
γ w Vs γ w

depends on mineral content; soils rich in iron and mica have higher Gs, whereas soils with
organic matter have lower Gs

Sp.Gr. 2.7 means 2.7 times heavier than water; unit weight 2.7 gm/cc (water is 1 gm/cc)

 = w.Gs If Sp.Gr.1.5 then unit weight 1.5 * 62.4 pcf 93.6 pcf

For a soil if Sp.Gr 2.7 then will unit weight be 2.7*62.4 = 168.5 pcf ?

γsat

Special case of bulk unit weight / bulk density i.e. when soil is saturated.

Saturated unit weight is the ratio between total weight of saturated soil and
the total volume of the soil.

Submerged unit weight or Buoyant unit weight or Effective unit weight ′

′ = sat - w
3
Dry/Partially saturated/
If sat = 20 kN/m then Saturated (due to surface
Water Table tension of water), , sat
′ = 20 – 9.81 = 10.19 kN/m3
Submerged unit weight of soil is almost Submerged
half of its original unit weight i.e. soil &saturated ,sat, ʹ
losses almost half of its weight due to
submergence.

Void ratio, e

Normally e is expressed as decimal; possible range 0 < e << ∞

most natural soils e  0.5 to 0.8; soft inorganic clay  0.9 to 1.4; soft organic clay  2.5 to 3.2

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Porosity, n Usually expressed as %; although in calculations used as
decimal; Can never be more than 100%; 0 ≤ n ≤ 1

Degree of saturation, S Usually expressed as %. Indicate what percentage

of void is filled with water.

0 ≤ S (percent) ≤ 100

Air Content, ac Va
ac 
Vv

Vw
S and Vv = Vw+Va S + ac =1
Vv

Percentage Air Voids, na

Va Vv
na  n
V V

Relationships between various mass-volume or weight-volume quantities

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pp.6-7, Advanced Soil Mechanics, B M Das

Page 5 of 9
Relationship between Void Ratio and Porosity

or

𝑽𝒗
𝑽𝒗 𝑽𝒗 𝑽𝒔 𝒆
𝒏= = = =
𝑽 𝑽𝒔 + 𝑽𝒗 𝟏 + 𝑽𝒗 𝟏+𝒆
𝑽 𝒔

Let, Vs = 1 ; Since e = Vv/Vs, Vv = e So, V = Vs + Vv = 1 + e ⸫n = =

Relation among S, e , w and G

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Alternatively

Ws
γd 
V
Ws

Vs  Vv
Ws /Vs

1  Vv /Vs
γs

1 e
G γ
 s w
1 e

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 Relation between b, d and w
W
γb 
V
W  Ww
 s
V
1  Ww /Ws

V/Ws
1 w

1/γ d

γb
 1 w
γd

γb
γd 
1 w

From previous page Alternatively using the basic definition of b

W
γb 
V
W  Ww
 s
V
W W
 s  w
V V
Ww
 γd 
Vs  Vv
Ww /Vs
 γd 
1  Vv /Vs
Vv Ww
.
Vs Vv
 γd 
1 e
e Ww Vw
 γd  . .
1  e Vw Vv
e
 γd  γ wS
1 e
S e γw
 γd 
1 e

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