GEOTECHNICAL

ENGINEERING
SYLLABUS
CONTENTS
• Origin of Soils • Compressibility
• Physical Properties • Compaction
• Soil Structure • Shear Strength
• Index Properties
• Classification of soil
• Permeability
• Effective Stress
Origin of Soils
• Soil is the upper layer of the earth’s surface, composed of mineral
particles, organic matter, water, air, and living organisms, formed
through the weathering of rocks.
• Soils that are formed by the weathering of rock are known as
inorganic soils.
Ex: Gravel, Sand, Silt, Clay
• Soils that are formed by the decomposition of organic matter are
known as organic soils/Cumulose soils.
Ex: Humus, Peat and Muck
• The Entire process of formation of soil is called Pedogenesis.
Origin of Soils
•Physical Weathering (Mechanical)
Breakdown of rocks without chemical change.
Caused by: Temperature changes, frost action, abrasion by water
or wind.
Gravel, Sand, Silt.
•Chemical Weathering
Breakdown involving chemical changes.
Caused by: Hydrolysis, oxidation, and carbonation.
Clay
•Biological Weathering
Caused by living organisms (plants, bacteria, lichens).
Origin of Soils
Origin of Soils
Residual Soil
Formed in place by the weathering of the parent rock.
Remains at the site of formation.
Ex: Laterite soil, Black cotton soil (from basalt)
Transported Soil
Moved from the original place by agents like water, wind, ice,
and gravity.
Classified by the transporting agent
Origin of Soils
Origin of Soils
• Organic soil:

Humus: – partially decomposed organic matter with Amorphous in

nature (powder form)
Peat: – fully decomposed organic matter which is fibrous in nature.
Muck: – fully decomposed organic matter with some fine inorganic
soils
Origin of Soils
 Physical Properties
The three-phase system of soil represents the physical state of a soil
mass, which is a mixture of:

1.Solid Phase (soil particles)

2.Liquid Phase (water)
3.Gaseous Phase (air)
Physical Properties
Vs = volume of solids Ws = weight of solids
Vw = volume of water Ww = weight of water
Va = volume of air Wa = weight of air (neglected)

Vv = volume of voids W = weight of soil

V = volume of soil V = Vv + Vs W = Ww + Ws

For a given soil, Always 'Vs' remains For a given soil, Always Ws remains
the same. the same.
Change in volume of soil depends The weight of soil depends on the
on volume of voids only. amount of water/moisture in it.
Physical Properties
Physical Properties
Void Ratio (e) Degree of Saturation (S)
The ratio of the volume of voids to The proportion of the void space filled
the volume of solids in a soil mass. with water, expressed as a
percentage.
e=Vv/Vs S= (Vw/Vv) ×100

Porosity (n) Air Content (Ac)

The percentage of the total volume The percentage of void space that
that consists of voids. remains filled with air instead of
water.
n= (Vv/V ) ×100
Ac=(Va/Vv) ×100
Physical Properties
Percentage Air Content (A)
The percentage of total soil volume that consists of air voids.

A=(Va/V) ×100

Water Content (w)

The ratio of the weight of water to the weight of solids in a soil sample.

w=(Ww/Ws) ×100
Physical Properties
Physical Properties
Unit weight (γ\gamma) of soil is the weight per unit volume of the soil
mass. It represents the density of soil, considering both solids and
voids.
Types of Unit Weight:
Bulk Unit Weight (γ)
Includes the weight of both solids and water in a given volume.
γ=W/ V Unit: kN/m³
Dry Unit Weight (γd)
Represents the unit weight considering only the soil solids, excluding
water.
γd=Ws/V
Relation with bulk unit weight:
γd=γ/(1+w) Unit: kN/m³
Physical Properties
Saturated Unit Weight (γsat)
When all voids in soil are completely filled with water.
γsat= (Ws+Ww) Unit: kN/m³

Submerged Unit Weight (γ')

Effective unit weight when soil is submerged underwater (buoyancy
effect is considered).
γ′=γsat−γw

Where γw = unit weight of water (9.81 kN/m³).

Physical Properties
Methods to determine water content of soil
Oven Drying Method:

• The oven drying method is the standard and most accurate

technique used to determine the water content of soil.

• It’s based on the principle that water in the soil will evaporate when
heated, and the loss in weight corresponds to the moisture
content.
Methods to determine water content of soil
Methods to determine water content of soil
• For inorganic soils Temp (T) = 105 C – 110 C
If T > 110 C - Structural water evaporates
• For organic soil Temp < 60 C
Organic matter oxidizes quickly
Methods to determine water content of soil
Pycnometer Method:
Methods to determine water content of soil
Pycnometer Method:
Methods to determine unit weight of soil
Soil Structure and Clay Mineralogy
Soil Structure and Clay Mineralogy
Index Properties of Soil
Index Properties of Soil

Sieve Analysis:

• Dry Sieve Analysis

d > 75 μm
Coarse-grained soil

• Wet Sieve Analysis

d < 75μm
Index Properties of Soil
Index Properties of Soil
Index Properties of Soil
Index Properties of Soil

Wet Sieve Analysis:

• Based on Stokes’ law

Pippete Analysis Hydrometer Analysis

Meniscus correction = +ve

Dispersing agent correction = -ve
Temperature Correction = +ve /-ve
Index Properties of Soil
Relative Density:
• Degree of denseness for cohesionless soils
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Consistency:
• Consistency refers to the physical state of fine-grained soils—how
soil behaves under varying moisture conditions.
• Consistency Limits (or Atterberg Limits) define the boundaries
between these states.
• These limits help in soil classification and behavior prediction under
load or environmental changes.
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Key Limits:

• Liquid Limit (LL)

• Plastic Limit (PL)
• Shrinkage Limit (SL)

• Liquid Plastic Semi-solid Solid

Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Liquid Limit:

• The LL is the moisture content at where a soil changes from a plastic

state (can be molded) to a liquid state (flows easily).

• Minimum water content at which soil starts to behave like liquid

Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Plastic Limit:

• The PL is the moisture content at where a soil changes from a semi

solid state to plastic state

• Minimum water content at which soil starts to behave like plastic

material
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Shrinkage Limit:

• The SL is the moisture content at where a soil changes from a solid

state to semi solid state

• Minimum water content at which soil is fully saturated

• It is the water content , therefore further decrease in water content

causes no reduction in volume
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Determination of Atterberg limits:
• Soils finer than 425 micron oven dried
Liquid Limit:
The most commonly used method for determining the LL is the
Casagrande method. The cup is repeatedly dropped from a height of
10 mm at a rate of two drops per second using a mechanical crank. The
number of drops (or blows) required to close the groove over a length of
12 mm is recorded. This process is repeated at different moisture
contents to obtain a series of blow count versus water content
readings. A graph is then plotted on a semi-logarithmic scale (water
content on arithmetic scale vs. number of blows on logarithmic scale),
and the water content corresponding to 25 blows is interpolated as the
Liquid Limit.
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits

Flow Index (IF) = Slope of flow curve

Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Plastic Limit:
The minimum water content at which soil can be rolled into 3mm dia
thread without any fail/crumble
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Shrinkage Limit:
The minimum water content at which soil can be rolled into 3mm dia
thread without any fail/crumble
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Plasticity Limit:
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Shrinkage Limit: (Is)

Is = Wp - Ws

Consistency Index: (Ic)

Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Shrinkage Ratio: (SR)

Sensitivity:
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Liquidity Index (IL)
Consistency Limits/Atterberg’s Limits
Activity Ratio :
Classification of Soil
IS Particle Size Classification:
Clay Silt Sand Gravel Cobble

AASHTO or HRB Classification :

Classification of Soil
USCS Unified Soil Classification System :

Low Compressible ( LL < 50%)

High Compressible ( LL > 50%)

Indian Standard Soil Classification System ISCS:

Low Compressible (LL < 35%)

Intermediate Compressible (35% < LL < 50%)
High Compressible (LL > 50%)
Classification of Soil
Classification of Soil
Permeability
This property of the soil, which permits the water or any liquid to flow through it
through its voids, is called permeability. It is the ease with which water can flow
through the soil.

Gravel particles are large. Larger the soil grains, larger will be the volume of voids
and better will be the connectivity of those pores, consequently large amount of
water may flow through them easily and higher will be the flow of water, and that we
say higher is the permeability of the soil.

Gravel soils are most permeable while clay soils are least permeable.
Permeability
Clay soils have high void ratio as they have large volume of voids because of their
flocculated soil structure. These voids in the figure look very large but it is much
zoomed view and because of clay particles being very small these voids are poorly
connected to each other and do not form a regular tube or channel like structure.
Hence even after having large amount of voids the clay soils are very less
permeable.

When a soil has extremely low permeability it is termed as an impervious soil.

Permeability
Permeability
Permeability
Permeability
Permeability
Permeability