Engineering Properties of soil

Assoc. Prof. Tirawat Boonyatee

Soil and engineering construction

As supporting material

Bearing capacity (Strength)

Settlement (Deformation)

As sustained material

Lateral pressures

Lateral pressures & Settlement

As transported material

Weight, Volume / Compaction

Stability of borehole wall

As contaminated material

Permeability

Permeability

Basic soils properties

Physical Properties

Engineering Properties

/
Chemical Properties
7

Basic soils properties

Physical Properties

Engineering Properties

/
Chemical Properties
8

Soil as a group of particles

Solid

Void
9

Weight - Volume Relationships

Gas

Va
Vv

Ww

Liquid

Vw

Ws

Solid

Vs

Volume of soil

= Vsolid + Vvoid

= Vsolid + Vair + Vwater

= Vs + Va + Vw
Weight of soil

= Wsolid + Wliquid

= Wsolid + Wwater

= Ws + Ww
10

Volume relationships

Void ratio, Porosity, Degree of Saturation

Gas

Va
Vv

Ww

Liquid

Vw

Ws

Solid

Vs

Void ratio e =

Vv
Vs

Porosity

Vv
V

Degree of Saturation

n =

Vw
Vv

= Vw 100%
Vv

Relationship between Void ratio and Porosity

e=

n=

Vv
Vv
Vv
n
V

Vs V Vv 1 Vv 1 n
V

Vv
Vv
Vv
e
Vs

V Vs Vv 1 Vv 1 e
Vs

Weight relationships Water content, Unit weight

Gas

Va
Vv

Ww

Liquid

Vw

Ws

Solid

Vs

Water content

Unit weight
Dry unit weight

g = rg

w =

Ww
Ws

g =

W Ws Wv Ws (1 w)

V
V
V

gd =

Ws
V

g = gd (1+w)

13

 (Specific gravity)
Unit weight of a given material
Gs
Unit weight of water (at 4o c)
Gs of soil particle usually falls within
a range of 2.6 2.9
Soil

Gs

Mineral

Specific gravity

Quartz

2.65

Kaolinite

2.60

Illite

2.80

Montmorillonite

2.65 2.80
2.00 2.55

Gravel

2.65 2.68

Halloysite

Sand

2.65 2.68

Potassium feldspar

Silty sand

2.67 2.70

Sodium feldspar

2.62 2.76

Silt

2.65 2.68

Hornblende

3.00 3.47

Clay (inorganic)

2.68 2.70

Clay (organic)

2.62 2.66

Limonite

3.60 4.00

Soils with mica or

Fe

2.75 3.00

Olivine

3.27 3.70

2.57

14

Apparent and Absolute Gs

Apparent specific gravity

Volume

of air included
Air

Absolute specific gravity

Volume

of air excluded
Solid
Water
15

16

17

Relative density (Dr)

Indicate the in-situ denseness or looseness of

granular soil
Dr =
Dr
e
emax
emin

emax e
emax emin
= relative density
= in-situ void ratio of the soil
= void ratio in the loosest state
= void ratio in the densest state
18

Dr and densities

by relation

Gsg w

Dr =

gd

Gsg w

gd

g d ( max )

1
1

g d ( min )
gd
Gsg w
Gsg w

g d ( min ) g d ( max )

Dr

Gsg w

g d ( min )
1

g d ( min )

gd
1

g d ( max )

g d ( min ) g d ( max )

g d ( min ) g d

19

ASTM D-2049 : for gd(min) of granular soils

Mold volume = 0.1 ft3

(2,830 cm3)
Sand

Drop height = 1 inch

0.5"
1"

g d (min)

Ws
=
Vm

Mold
Vm = 0.1 ft3

20

ASTM D-2049 : for gd(max) of granular soils

Mold volume = 0.1 ft3

(2,830 cm3)
Drop height = 1 inch
Vibrated table

2 lb/in2 surcharge at top of mold

vibrate frequency = 3600 rpm
vibrate amplitude = 0.025 in
vibrate time = 8 min

g d (max)

Sand
0.5"
1"
Mold
Vm = 0.1 ft3

Ws
=
Vm
21

Qualitative Description of granular soil

The problem in
determining of Dr is due to
the difficulty to obtain the
undisturbed sample from
the field.
Granular soil
=>Cohesionless
Practically, Dr is
determined from

the N value of SPT (standard

penetration test)

the vertical effective stress

Gibbs and Holtz s chart

Dr

Designation

0~15

Very loose

15~50

Loose

50~70

Medium

70~85

Dense

85~100

Very dense

22

Basic soils properties

Physical Properties

Engineering Properties

/
Chemical Properties
23

Soil Particle Size Definitions

(Rocks)

(Earth's crust)

(Soils)
10 mm

1 mm
100
m
10 m
1 m

Gravel
Sand
Silt
Clay

4.75 mm

(Gravels)

(Sands)

(Granular Soils)

(Silts)
(Clays)

(Cohesive Soils)

75 m
5 m
24

Soil Particle Size Definitions

Name
cobbles, boulders, rock fragment
gravel:
sand:
silt:

Limit of unaided vision.

clay

Size (mm)
> 60
4.75 - 60
0.075 4.75
0.005 - 0.075
< 0.005

Limit of optical microscope resolution.

25

Structure of coarse grained soil

Angular

Loosed state

Subangular
Densed state
Subround
Round

Honeycomb

26

Structure of fine grained soil

Dispersed

Flocculated

Packet

27

Particle size analysis of soils

Determination of the size range of particles present in a soil

Expressed as a percentage of total weight of dried soil
Composed of

Sieve analysis for large grain (>75m)

Hydrometer analysis for fine grain (< 75 m)

28

Sieve analysis

Shaking the soil sample through a set of sieves that have

progressively smaller openings
Each successive lower sieve is approximately half of the
opening of upper sieve

29

Sieve no. and Opening

Sieve no 4
=>

4 divisions in 1
Opening ~

Sieve no 200
=>

200 divisions in 1
Opening ~ 1/200

Sieve no
4
5
6
7
8
10
12
14
16
18
20
25
30
35
40
50
60
70
80
100
120
140
170
200
270

Opening (mm)
4.75
4.00
3.35
2.80
2.36
2.00
1.70
1.40
1.18
1.00
0.850
0.710
0.600
0.500
0.425
0.355
0.250
0.212
0.180
0.150
0.125
0.106
0.090
0.075
0.053

30

Example

SIEVES

mass retained on sieve

Size D1
m1

Size D2

m2

Size D3

m3

Size D4

m4

Pan

mp

Percentage finer than size D2

weight below D2

total weight
mp m4 m3

100%
mp m1 m 2 m3 m4

31

Example

32

Hydrometer analysis

Analysis based on Stokes Law

Sediment velocity is proportional to diameter

The larger, the faster

As time lapse, concentration along depth varies

Indirect measure for percent finer of soil particles

33

Hydrometer

34

Schematic diagram of hydrometer test

35

Grading curves

36

Fuller packing

0.5

% finerat x

Dx
100

Dmax

37

Important indexes

38

D60
Cu
D10

2
D30
Cc
D10 D60

Basic soils properties

Physical Properties

Engineering Properties

/
Chemical Properties
39

Consistency of clays

Behavior of clays depends on amount of water

Addition of water reduce cohesion flow

Brittle solid Plastic Liquid

Plasticity: Property of a material that can be deformed rapidly without

rupture, without elastic rebound, and without volume change

Cause of Plasticity: double-layer water

40

Effect of double-layer water to clay

4
1

Atterbergs limits

Water contents when the soils change their behavior

Atterbergs limits

Shrinkage limit (SL) : No further volume change when moisture decreases

Plastic limit (PL) : Lower limit of that soils will exhibit plastic behavior

Liquid limit (LL) : Soils are about to flow when the moisture increases

Plasticity index = LL - PL

42

Liquid limit (LL)

43

44

Liquid limit condition

Groove width 2 mm
Water content, required to close a distance of 0.5
in along the bottom of groove after 25 blows
One blow generates shear stress of ~ 0.01 t/m2
At liquid limit, Shear strength of clay ~ 0.25 t/m2

45

Flow curve
Flow index

46

Flow index
w1 w
IF
log N
N1
I F w1 w10 , or, w10 w100
If N [20,30]
N
LL wn
25

tan

; tan 0.121

47

Plastic limit (PL)

Roll into 1/8 thread

Moist content at which soil crumbles

48

Shrinkage limit

Shrinkage limit :
Moisture content at which the volume of soil stop to change

49

Calculation for Shrinkage limit

SL wi w
m1 m2
wi
x 100 (%)
m2

V V r

w
i

m2

x 100 (%)

50

PI and LI

PI LL PL

The amount of water that a soil can absorb during plastic state

w PL w PL
LI

LL PL
PI

The amount of water in natural state, normalize by PI

LI = 0

LI = 1
PI

PL

LL
51

Important of PI

Indicate the strength of clay minerals in a soil

The higher w it can hold, the stronger the plasticity it can exhibit
PI
0

Type of clay
Nonplastic

1-5
5 - 10
10 - 20

Slightly plastic
Low plasticity
Medium plasticity

20 - 40
40++

High plasticity
Very high plasticity
52

Meaning of Liquidity index

53

Soils with LI > 1, when remolded will transformed to

liquid phrase
Soil deposits that are heavily overconsolidated may
have a LI < 0
Implicitly indicate the stress history of soil
LI

= 1 : Normally consolidated clay

LI = 0 : Over consolidated clay

54

Activity (A)

Index that shows the influence of particle < 2 to the

plasticity index of soil

PI
A
percent finer at 2
slope of PI - %<2 plot
Montmorillonite

1-7

Illite

0.5 1

Kaolinite

0.5

Halloysite

0.5 - 1
55