SOIL PARTICLES

American Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials system (AASHTO)
• The description of the grain size distribution
of soil particles according to their texture
(particle size, shape, and gradation).

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Particle Size Classifications (Das, 2012)

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Soil-separate-size limits

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U.S. Standard Sieve Sizes

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ASTM D422

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 Soil Particle
Soils generally are called gravel, sand, silt, or clay, depending on
the predominant size of particles within the soil.
• Gravels are pieces of rocks with occasional particles of quartz,
feldspar, and other minerals.
• Sand particles are made of mostly quartz and feldspar.
• Silts are the microscopic soil fractions that consist of very fine
quartz grains and some flake-shaped particles that are
fragments of micaceous minerals.
• Clays are mostly flake-shaped microscopic and
submicroscopic particles of mica, clay minerals, and other
minerals.

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WEIGHT – VOLUME
RELATIONSHIP
 Soil Phases
• Dry
• Saturated
– Fully Saturated
– Partially Saturated
• Submerged

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Graphical Representation of Soil
Phases
• Soils are made of a
combination of
dissimilar materials:
solids, liquid, gas

• Strength & behavior is

a function of the
interaction the
components

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The Phase Diagram

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 BASIC CONCEPTS

= Hs x A
= (Ha+Hw) x A
= Hw x A
= Ha x A

Assuming the weight of the air to be negligible, we can give the total
weight of the sample as

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 VOLUME RELATIONSHIPS
• The volume relationships commonly used for
the three phases in a soil element are:
– void ratio
– porosity
– degree of saturation.

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 VOLUME RELATIONSHIPS
• Void ratio (e) is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids to
the volume of solids

• Porosity (n) is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids to

the total volume

• Degree of saturation (S) is defined as the ratio of the volume

of water to the volume of voids
(percentage)
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 VOLUME RELATIONSHIPS
• The relationship between void ratio and
porosity can be derived

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 WEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
The common weight relationships are
• MOISTURE CONTENT
• UNIT WEIGHT

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 WEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
• MOISTURE CONTENT (w) is also referred to as
water content and is defined as the ratio of
the weight of water to the weight of solids in a
given volume of soil,

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 WEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
• UNIT WEIGHT (g) is the weight of soil per unit volume

• This is also known as (same thing by different names)

- Bulk Density
- Soil Density
- Wet Density
- Moist Unit Weight

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 WEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
• The unit weight can also be expressed in terms of
weight of soil solids, moisture content, and total
volume

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 WEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
• It is sometimes necessary to know the weight per
unit volume of soil excluding water. This is referred to
as the dry unit weight, gd

• The relationship among unit weight, dry unit weight,

and moisture content as

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 WEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
• UNIT WEIGHT is expressed in kilo Newtons per cubic
meter (kN/m3)
• Since the newton is a derived unit, it may sometimes
be convenient to work with DENSITY of soil (r). The
SI unit of density is kilograms per cubic meter
(kg/m3)

and

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 SPESIFIC GRAVITY
• Specific gravity – Gs
is defined as the ratio of the unit weight of a given
material to the unit weight of water.
Most common range: 2.6 – 2.9
• The specific gravity of solids of light-colored sand,
which is mostly made of quartz, may be estimated to
be about 2.65; for clayey and silty soils, it may vary
from 2.6 to 2.9.

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 SPESIFIC GRAVITY
WS
Unit weight of solid – gs : gS 
VS

WW
Unit weight of water – gw : gW 
VW

gS
Specific gravity – Gs : GS 
gW

WS WS
GS  or VS 
VS g W GS g W
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RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT,
VOID RATIO, MOISTURE CONTENT, AND
SPESIFIC GRAVITY
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RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

Three separate phases of a soil element with Vs =1 25

 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

• To obtain a relationship among unit weight (or

density), void ratio, and moisture content,
consider a volume of soil in which the volume
of the soil solids is 1 (Vs =1)
• If the volume of the soil solids is 1, then the
volume of voids is numerically equal to the
void ratio, e (Vv = e)

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 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

• The weights of soil solids and water can be

given as

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 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

• The unit weight of water is 9.81 kN/m3

• Using the definitions of unit weight and dry unit
weight, we can write

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 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

• Since the weight of water in the soil element under

consideration is wGsgw, the volume occupied by it is

• Hence, from the definition of degree of saturation,

we have

or
This is a very useful equation for solving problems
involving three-phase relationships
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RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

Saturated soil element with Vs =1 30

 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

• If the soil sample is saturated, the void spaces are

completely filled with water, the relationship for
saturated unit weight can be derived in a similar
manner:

where gsat = saturated unit weight of soil.

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 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO,
MOISTURE CONTENT, AND SPESIFIC GRAVITY

• As mentioned before, because it is convenient

to work with densities, the following
equations are useful:

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RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT,
POROSITY, AND MOISTURE CONTENT

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RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, POROSITY,
AND MOISTURE CONTENT

Soil element with total volume equal to 1 (V=1) 34

 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, POROSITY,
AND MOISTURE CONTENT

• If V is equal to 1, then Vv is equal to n, so

Vs = 1 – n
• The weight of soil solids (Ws) and the weight
of water (Ww) can then be expressed as
follows:

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 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, POROSITY,
AND MOISTURE CONTENT

• The dry unit weight equals

• The moist unit weight equals

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 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, POROSITY,
AND MOISTURE CONTENT

Saturated soil element with total volume equal to 1 (V=1)

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 RELATIONSHIPS AMONG UNIT WEIGHT, POROSITY,
AND MOISTURE CONTENT

• Soil sample that is saturated and has V = 1

• The moisture content of a saturated soil

sample can be expressed as

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Various Forms of Relationships for
g, gd, and gsat

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VOID RATIO, MOISTURE CONTENT, AND DRY UNIT
WEIGHT FOR SOME TYPICAL SOILS IN A
NATURAL STATE

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 REMINDER
• Try not to memorize the equations.
Understand the definitions, and develop the
relations from the phase diagram with VS = 1;
• Assume GS ≈ 2.6 – 2.8 when not given;
• Do not mix densities and unit weights;
• Soil grains are incompressible. Their mass and
volume remain the same at any void ratio.

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 SOLUTION OF PHASE PROBLEMS
Remember the following simple rules
(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981):
1.Remember the basic definitions of w, e,
gs, S, etc.
2.Draw a phase diagram.
3.Assume either Vs=1 or V=1, if not given.
4.Often use gwSe = wgs, Se = wGs
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RELATIVE DENSITY

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 RELATIVE DENSITY
• The term relative density is commonly used to
indicate the in situ denseness or looseness of
granular soil.
• It is defined as

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 RELATIVE DENSITY
By using the definition of dry unit weight given in Eq.

we can also express relative density in terms of

maximum and minimum possible dry unit weights.
Thus,

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RELATIVE DENSITY

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 RELATIVE DENSITY
• The relationships for relative density can also be
defined in terms of porosity,

where nmax and nmin = porosity of

the soil in the loosest and densest
conditions

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Qualitative Description of Granular Soil
Deposits

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