SOIL MECHANICS

CHAPTER 04
PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
1
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS

2. SOME PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS

3. SOME PROBLEMS

4. TYPICAL REFERENCES

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
2
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

1. SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS

SIMPLIFIED SOIL ELEMENT

Wa Air-filled voids Va
Vv
Natural soil V W Ww Water-filled voids
W Vw
element V

Ws Solid soil Vs

(a) (b)

Natural soil element (a) and its simplified element having three phases separated (b)

Note:
W = weight of the entire soil element, Wa, Ww, and Ws = weight of air portion, weight of
water portion, and weight of (dry) solid soil portion, respectively;
V = Volume of the entire soil element; Va, Vw, and Vs = volume of air potion, volume of
water portion, and volume of (dry) solid soil portion, respectively.

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
3
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

1. SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS

BASIC DEFINITIONS

Ww
Water content (w): w 100%
Ws

Unit weight and densities:

W
Bulk unit weight (): 
V

Ws 
Dry unit weight (d): d  
V 1 w


Bulk density ():
 (where g = 9.81 m/s2)
g

ms
Particle density (s): s 
Vs
Vw
Degree of saturation (S): S
Vv

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
4
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

1. SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS

BASIC DEFINITIONS

Vv
Void ratio (e): e
Vs
Vv e
Porosity (n):
n 
V 1 e
V
Specific volume (V):
V '  1 e
Vs
s
Gs 
Specific gravity (Gs): w
emax  e
Dr   100%
Relative density (Dr): emax  emin Only for coarse-
grained soils (sandy
   d min   d max 
Dr  d   100% soils and gravelly soils)
 d max   d min  d 

where emax, emin = maximum void ratio and minimum void ratio

of the soil; gd,max and gdmin = maximum dry unit weight (at emin)

and minimum dry unit weight (at emax).

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
Division of Construction and Transport Technology
5
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

1. SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS

BASIC DEFINITIONS

Liquid limit (wL or LL) and plastic limit (wP or PL) (See chapter 2)

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
6
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

1. SOME BASIC DEFINITIONS

BASIC DEFINITIONS

No. Key parameter Standard/Code

1 Water content (w) D 2216-10; BS 1377-2:1990

D 584-10; D5550-06; BS 1377-

2 Particle density (s); Specific gravity (Gs) 2:1990

3 Plastic limit (WP) and liquid limit (WL) D 4318-10; BS 1377-2:1990

D 4253-00
4 Maximum unit weight (max) of cohesionless soil

D 4254-00
5 Minimum unit weight (min) of cohesionless soil

D 6913-10; BS 1377-2:1990
6 Grain size distribution for coarse-grained soils

7 Unified soil classification system (USCS) D 2487-11

D 2488-09
8 Soil classification by visual-manual procedures

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
7
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

2. PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG , e, w, and Gs

Ww Ww Ws 
Vw    w s Vs
 w Ws  w w
s
w  wGs
w

s
Ws  Vs s   s  w
w
s
  w  Gs  w
w

Ww  Vw w  wGs w

Three separate phases of a soil element with volume of soil solids equal 1

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
8
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

2. PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG , e, w, and Gs

W Ws  Ww Gs w  wGs w 1  wGs w

Unit weight ():    
V 1 e 1 e 1 e

Ws Gs w
Dry unit weight (d): d  
V 1 e

Gs  w
Void ratio (e): e -1
d

Vw wGs
Degree of saturation (S): S 
Vv e

Gs w  e w Gs  e  w
Saturated unit weight (sat):  sat   (because S = 1, and wGs = e)
1 e 1 e

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
9
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

2. PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG , n, w, and Gs

Vv
n  Vv
V

Vs  V  Vv  1  n

Ws  Vs s  1  n Gs w

Ww  wWs  1  n wGs w

Three separate phases of a soil element with total volume of element equal 1

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
10
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

2. PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS
RELATIONSHIPS AMONG , n, w, and Gs

W Ws  Ww
Unit weight ():    Gs w 1-n   wGs w 1  n   Gs w 1  n 1  w
V V

Ws
Dry unit weight (d): d   Gs w 1-n 
V

Ws  Ww
Saturated unit weight (sat):  sat   1  n Gs w  Vw w  1  n Gs w  n w
V

Ww n w n
wsat   
Saturated water content (ws): Ws 1  n  wGs 1  n Gs

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
11
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

2. PHYSICAL RELATIONSHIPS
VARIOUS UNIT WEIGHT RELATIONSHIPS
(After Das and Sobhan 2014)

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
12
 SOIL MECHANICS: CHAPTER 04

3. SOME PROBLEMS

Students are required to solve problems 4.1 to 4.4 given in the “Review questions”

4. SOME KEY REFERENCES

Das, B.M. and Sobhan, K. (2014). Principles of geotechnical engineering, 8th edition, CENGAGE
Learning.

UNIVERSITY OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

Division of Construction and Transport Technology
13