CE 412

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING 1: SOIL MECHANICS

LAB 5: UNIT WEIGHT OF SOIL

Lab Date: November 3, 2018

Report Date: November 10, 2018

Teaching Assistant: Engr. Marcelo H. Teñoso Jr.

Lab Group: Group 5

Lab Partners: Dalawampu, Mac David

Rosario, Kenneth Adrian

Sabando, Judy Ann Ruth D.

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 ABSTRACT

This laboratory report is to present the Unit Weight of the soil sample

collected from Pinagtongulan, San Jose, Lipa City. The determination of Unit Weight

is useful because it helps us to understand other important soil properties such as how

much water can be stored in the soil, how fast water and heat will be moved through

the soil, how easily roots can move through the soil, and the potential for flooding or

drought in an area.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. ABSTRACT……………………………………………………………………….….........2

2. OBJECTIVES………………………………………………………………………….......4

3. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND………………………………………….……….......4

4. MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENT……………………….………………………….......5

5. EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES…………………………………………..…...…......5

6. ANALYSIS OF DATA……………………………………………………………..……...6

7. DISCUSSION OF RESULTS………………………………………………….…....….....7

8. CONCLUSIONS AND RECCOMENDATIONS…………………...……………….......7

9. REFERENCES ………………………………...……………………….…………….........7

10. APPENDICES………………………………..……………………………….…..............8

A. INDIVIDUAL DISCUSSIONS AND CONCLUSIONS……………….....….....9

B. PICTURES…………………….……………………………………..……............9

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OBJECTIVE

 To determine the field or in-situ density or unit weight of soil

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND

Soil unit weight is the weight per unit volume of soil. It may refer to wet unit

weight or dry unit weight. Wet unit weight is the unit weight of the soil when the

pores are fully or partially filled with water. While dry unit weight is the unit weight

of the soil when the pores are filled only with air without any water. Moreover, soil

unit weight, depends on the packing, compaction, and humidity condition of the soil.

The determination of unit weight is an important requirement in laboratory tests and is

part of the test included in more elaborate tests. Various methodologies have been

devised to determine the unit weight of the soil in the field such as calibrated bucket

method, nuclear method to name a few. For determination of the unit weight in a

laboratory setting, paraffin wax can be used in determining the unit weight. The

paraffin coating applied on the soil will allow determination of its volume as it is

submerged in water.

Unit Weight is defined as weight of unit volume of soil present in site. That is

𝑊
𝛾=
𝑉

Where, 𝛾 = Unit Weight of Soil

W = Total weight of soil

V = Total volume of soil

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The soil weight consists of three phase system that is solids, water and air. The voids

may be filled up with both water and air, or only with air, or only with water.

Consequently the soil may be dry, saturated or partially saturated.

MATERIALS AND EQUIPMENTS

 Beaker

 Weighing Scale

 Pan

 Distilled Water

 Cling Wrap

EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES

1. Trim a sample of soil on a undisturbed sample. It should be smooth and

rounded.

2. Cover with a thin coating cling wrap and weigh again.

3. Immerse the coated sample in water in the graduated cylinder and determine

its displacement. The volume of the sample is the volume of the water

displaced minus the volume of the paraffin.

4. Compute the unit weight in kN/cu. m

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 ANALYSIS OF DATA

Sample No. 1 2 3

Pan No. 1 2 3

Mass of pan (g) 168.8 170.8 172.5

Mass of pan + soil (g) 328.6 309.3 316.3

Mass of soil (kg) 0.1598 0.1385 0.1438

Weight of soil (kN)=

Initial Volume; 𝑉𝑖 (𝑚3 ) 5 × 10−4 5 × 10−4 5 × 10−4

Final Volume; 𝑉𝑓 (𝑚3 ) 6.75 × 10−4 6.5 × 10−4 6.25 × 10−4

Volume =𝑉𝑖 − 𝑉𝑓 (𝑚3 ) 1.75 × 10−4 1.5 × 10−4 1.25 × 10−4

Unit Weight (𝑘𝑔/𝑚3 )

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DISCUSSION OF RESULTS
The tests conducted throughout this lab report was Unit Weight. Unit Weight

is the ratio of the weight of soil over its volume. We took some samples from the

undisturbed soil and weighed the three samples with the pan. We weighed the three

samples again and then computed for the unit weight. We used the formula

𝑊𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙
𝛾= then took the unit weight of each sample.
𝑉

CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

group.

REFERENCES

Das, Braja M. And Nagaratnam Sivakugan. 2017, Fundamentals of Geotechnical

Engineering. 5th ed. Phil. Edition: Cengage Learning

http://www.uta.edu/ce/eotech/lab/Main/sieve/index.htm

https://civilblog.org/2015/11/30/how-to-determine-unit-weight-or-density-of-soil/

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 APPENDICES

A. INDIVIDUAL DISCUSSIONS AND CONLUSIONS

B. PICTURES