Hashemite University Department of Civil Engineering
Hashemite University Department of Civil Engineering
Hashemite University Department of Civil Engineering
Geotechnical Engineering
Volume-Volume relation
Mass-Mass relation
Mass-Volume relation
Derivative formulas
The nature of Soil
Sand Grain
Void Space
Water
=
Solids
• The porosity (n) is the ratio of the volume of voids to the total
volume of the soil,
specific volume (v) is the total volume of soil which contains unit volume of
solids,
The air content or air voids (A) is the ratio of the volume of air to the
total volume of the soil
Mass-Mass Relation
• The water content (w), or moisture content
(m), is the ratio of the mass of water to the
mass of solids in the soil,
Mass-Mass Relation
• The bulk density () of a soil is the ratio of the
total mass to the total volume,
or
The unit weight () of a soil is the ratio of the total weight (a
force) to the total volume,
or
Unit Weights
where w is the unit weight of water. Convenient units are
kN/m3, the unit weight of water being 9.8 kN/m3 (or 10.0
kN/m3 in the case of sea water).
When a soil in situ is fully saturated the solid soil particles
(volume: 1 unit, weight: Gsw) are subjected to upthrust (w).
Hence, the buoyant unit weight () is given by
or
Relative density
In the case of sands and gravels the density index (ID) is used
to express the relationship between the in-situ void ratio (e), or
the void ratio of a sample, and the limiting values emax and emin.
The density index (the term ‘relative density’ is also used) is
defined as