Name of the Teacher.

​Rajendra G Hegde

​Discipline​: Civil Engineering

​Name of Subject​: Soil mechanics.

. ​Topic: ​Introduction,application of soil mechanics ,.Soil as three phase system

​Course Outcomes​:The student will be able to

1.understand the applications of soil mech

2.Define the basic definitions .

3 Analyse the problems..

1.Introductions
Soil is an unconsolidated material that has resulted from disintegration of rocks. It includes
sediments and deposits beneath rivers and seas on land along with all the organic and
inorganic materials overlaying the bed rocks . It thus constitutes the earth surface on both land
and beneath water.

The type and the characteristics of soil depend largely on its

origin.Transportation causes size and shape of the particles to alter and also sort in to
sizes. Additional particles binding is due to carbonates and oxides and even the organic
matters . Thus the engineering properties, like shear strength ,permeability
,consolidation of soil deposits largely governed by mode of formation , stress
history,ground water condition

Soil mechanics is the branch of civil engineering that concerns the application of
the principles of hydraulics, mechanics and chemistry to engineering problems
related to soils. Thus soil mechanics enables a civil engineer to understand
engineering properties and behavior of the soils in order to provide satisfactory solution
to soil problems when the civil engineering structures such as building, overhead
tanks/silos, sunk/semi sunk water reservoirs, bridges, road/railway embankments,
tunnels, canals or dams are founded on soils which ultimately supports in such a
manner that the structure do not get excessively settled or tilted or damaged due to
some kind of failure of the foundation soil.

1.2 ENGINEERING APPLICATION OF SOIL MECHANICS

Every man made structure needs foundation to support the loads applied on it. These
loads may be live load, dead load , wind loads .all these loads finally transferred to soil .
Hence we need to study the behavior of the soil and its interaction with the structure we
are going to build in that specific area in order to ensure the safety of the people who
will use it and in order to ensure it is able to with stand the forces likely to act ,including
the extreme events such as earthquakes. The knowledge of soil mechanics has wide
applications in

1)Foundation Design :-The loads from any structure have to be transferred ultimately
to the soil through foundation . The type of foundation and size of foundation greatly
depends on type of soil.

2) Underground and earth retaining structure design ​:- Underground structure such
as drainage structure , pipelines , tunnels and even earthreatining structure can be
designed and constructed only by using principles of soil mechanics and the concept
of soil structure interaction .

3) Pavement Design –​Pavement design consists of design of flexible or rigid

pavements depending on subgrade soil. Swelling , shrinkage .

4)Excavations , Embankments , and Dams .

The excavation needs knowledge of slope stability analysis. timbering methods .

Soil being particulate and heterogeneous materials , does not lend itself to simple
analysis.

A thorough knowledge of soil mechanics is a prerequisite for a successful foundation

Engineer.

1.3SOIL AS A THREE PHASE SYSTEM

A soil as a three phase system consisting of solid particles (called soil

grains), water and air. The void space between the soil grains is filled partly
with water and partly with air. However, if we take a dry soil mass, the voids
are filled with air only. In case of a perfectly saturated soil, the voids are
filled completely with water.

In general, the soil mass has three constituents which do not occupy separate
spaces but are blended together forming a complex material [Fig.a)],

Soil as a three phase system the properties of which depend upon the
relative percentages of these constituents, their arrangement and a variety of
other factors. For calculation purposes, it is always more convenient to show
these constituents occupying separate spaces, as shown in Fig.(b)(i) and Fig.
(b)(ii).

As shown in Fig.(b)

(i), the total volume V of the soil mass consists of

(i) volume of air Va,

(ii) volume of water Vw and

(iii) the volume of solids Vs.

The volume of voids Vv, is, therefore, equal to volume of air plus the volume
of water.

Similarly, Fig.(b) (ii) shows the weights.

The weight of air is considered to be negligible. Hence, the weight of total

voids is equal to the weight of water Ww. The weight of solids is represented
by Wd (or Ws) which is evidently equal to the dry weight of soil sample.

The total weight W of the moist sample is, therefore, equal to (Ww + Wd)

1.4 BASIC DEFINITIONS AND TERMINOLOGY OF SOILS

Soil is a three phase material which consists of solid particles which make up the soil
skeleton and voids which may be full of water if the soil is saturated, may be full of air if

the soil is dry, or may be partially saturated as shown in Figure.

It is useful to consider each phase individually as shown in Table 1.

UNITS

For most engineering applications the following units are used:

Length metres Mass tonnes (1 tonne = 103 kg)

Density (mass/unit volume) t/m3

Weight kilonewtons (kN)

Stress kilopascals (kPa) 1 kPa = 1 kN/m2 Unit Weight kN/m3 To sufficient accuracy the
density of water ρw is given by ρw = 1 tonne/m3 = 1 g/cm3

In most applications it is not the mass that is important, but the force due to the mass,
and the weight, W, is related to the mass, M, by the relation W = M g where g is the
acceleration due to gravity. If M is measured in tonnes and W in kN, g = 9.8 m/s

1.)Unit Weight,(​ γ​ )(Weight Per Unit Volume).

Hence the unit weight of water, γw = 9.8 kN/m3

2.)Specific Gravity

Another frequently used quantity is the Specific Gravity, G, which is defined by

It is often found that the specific gravity of the materials making up the soil particles are
close to the value for quartz, that is Gs ≈ 2.65

For all the common soil forming minerals 2.5 < Gs < 2.8

We can use Gs to calculate the density or unit weight of the solid particles ρs = Gs ρw
γs = Gs γw

and hence the volume of the solid particles if the mass or weight is known.

3. Voids Ratio and Porosity.​Soil is made up of various sized particles packed

together , with the space between the particles known as voids .These voids are
generally a mixture of air and water in some circumstances it may be completely air ,
or completely water.
 Using volumes is not very convenient in most calculations. An alternative measure that
is used is the voids ratio, e. This is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids, Vv to the
volume of solids, Vs, that is

For convince it is assumed that all solids in the sample are compressed together and
their volume is considered as unity .

Hence Vs=1

ie e=Vv​/Vs= Vv/1

e=Vv

V=Vs+Vv

V= 1+e Where V is the total volume.

Porosity (n)

It is defined as the ratio of volume of voids to the total volume of samples .It is denoted
by( n)

The relation between e and n can be determined by noting that

Vs = V - Vv = (1 - n) V

The basic difference between the void ratio and porosity

1)Voids ratio is expressed as fraction .

2)Where as porosity is expressed as percentage voids .

4. Degree of Saturation

The degree of saturation, S, has an important influence on the soil behaviour. It is

defined as the ratio of the volume of water to the volume of voids.
In case of fully saturated soil Vw= Vv in that case Sr=1. In case of perfectly dry soil
Vw=0 and Sr=0.

The distribution of the volume phases may be expressed in terms of e and S, and by
knowing the unit weight of water and the specific gravity of the particles the distributions
by weight may also be determined as indicated in Table 2.

5. Unit Weights

Several unit weights are used in Soil Mechanics. These are the bulk, saturated,
dry, and submerged unit weights. The bulk unit weight is simply defined as the weight
per unit volume

When all the voids are filled with water the bulk unit weight is identical to the
saturated unit weight, γsat, and when all the voids are filled with air the bulk unit weight
is identical with the dry unit weight, γdry.

NUMERICAL PROBLEMS
Examples . – Mass and Volume fractions A sample of soil is taken using a thin walled
sampling tube into a soil deposit. After the soil is extruded from the sampling tube a
sample of diameter 50 mm and length 80 mm is cut and is found to have a mass of 290
g. Soil trimmings created during the cutting process are weighed and found to have a
mass of 55 g. These trimmings are then oven dried and found to have a mass of 45 g.
Determine the phase distributions, void ratio, degree of saturation and relevant unit
weights.
Assignments
Example – Calculation of Unit Weights A soil has a voids ratio of 0.7. Calculate
the dry and saturated unit weight of the material. Assume that the solid material
occupies 1 m3 , then assuming Gs = 2.65 the distribution by volume and weight is as
follows.