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Course No. : CE 341

Course Name: Geotechnical Engineering I
Credit :3
WEIGHT VOLUME RELATIONSHIPS

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GENERAL
➢ Soil deposits comprise the accumulated solid particles plus the
void space between the particles
➢ The void spaces are partially or completely filled with water or
other liquid.
➢ Voids space not occupied by fluid are filled with air or other gas.
➢ Hence soil deposits are referred to as three-phase system,
i.e. Solid + Liquid (water) + Gas (air)

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GENERAL (continued)
➢ Bulk soil as it exists in nature is a more or less random
accumulation of soil particles, water, and air as shown
above.
➢ Properties such as strength, compressibility, permeability
are directly related to the ratio and interaction of these
three phases.
➢ Therefore, an understanding of the terminology and
definitions relating to soil composition is fundamental to the
study of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering as a
whole.

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PHASE DIAGRAM
For purpose of study and analysis it is convenient to represent
the soil mass by a PHASE DIAGRAM, with part of the diagram
representing the solid particles, part representing water or
liquid, and another part air or other gas.

Volumes Weights

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Phase diagram in terms of mass

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Possible Cases:

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➢ The total volume of a given soil sample can be
expressed as:
V =Vs +Vv =Vs +Vw +Va
Where
V = Total volume
Vs = Volume of soil solids
Vv = Volume of voids
Vw = Volume of water
Va = Volume of air
➢ Assuming that the weight of the air is negligible, we
can give the total weight of the sample as
W =Ws +Ww
Where Ws = weight of solids
Ww = weight of water
➢In engineering practice we usually measure the
8 total volume, V, the mass of water, Mw, and the
mass of dry solid Ms.
Volume Relationships
There are three volumetric ratios that are very useful in
geotechnical engineering , and these can be determined directly
from the phase diagram

Vv
1. Void Ratio e=
Vs

Vv
2. Porosity n=
V
Vw
3. Degree of S=
Saturation Vv
Porosity and degree of saturation are commonly expressed as a
9 percentage.
Void Ratio (e) is defined as the ratio of
volume of voids to the volume of solids
in a given volume of soil.

Porosity (n) is defined as the ratio of

volume of void to the total volume in a
given volume of soil.

Degree of Saturation (S) is defined as the

ratio of volume of water to the volume of
voids in a given volume of soil.
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 Weight or Mass Relationships

The common term used for weight relationships are:

• Moisture content
Moisture content (w) is also referred
to as water content and is defined as
the ratio of weight of water to the
weight of solids in a given volume of
soil:

ww
w=
ws
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Weight-Volume, Mass-Volume Relationships
I. Unit Weights (N/m3 or kN/m3)
1. Unit weight (total, wet or moist unit weight) ()
is the weight of soil per unit volume.

W
=
V
Ws
2. Solid unit weight s =
Vs

3. Unit weight of water Ww

w =
Vw

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( w = 9.807kN / m3 )
Weight-Volume, Mass-Volume Relationship

4. Dry unit weight

Ws
d =
V
5. Saturated unit weight

Ws + Ww
 sat = (S = 100%)
V

6. Submerged unit weight

 =  − w
/

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 Density and Unit Weight
• Mass is a measure of a body's Mass
inertia, or its "quantity of Density,  =
Volume
matter". Mass does not changed Weight Mass  g
at different places. Unit weight ,  = =
Volume Volume
• Weight is force, the force of
gravity acting on a body. The g : acceleration due to gravity
value is different at various
 =   g =   9. 8 m
places. sec2
• The unit weight is more Water,  = 9.8 kN
m3
frequently used than the density
is (e.g. in calculating the s   g s
overburden pressure). Gs = = s =
w w  g  w

Note: The density/or unit weight are ratios which connects the
volumetric side of the PHASE DIAGRAM with the mass/or weight
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side.
The knowledge of specific gravity is required in
calculation of soil properties like void ratio, degree
of saturation and also weight-volume relationship.

Definition: Specific gravity G is defined as the

ratio of the unit weight ( or density ) of soil solids
only to unit weight (or density ) of water.

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Relationships Between Various Physical Properties
All the weight - volume relationships needed in soil
mechanics can be derived from appropriate
combinations of six fundamental definitions. They
are:

1. Void ratio
2. Porosity
3. Degree of saturation
4. Water content
5. Unit weight
6. Specific gravity

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1. Relationship between void ratio and porosity

2. Relationship among Void ratio, Degree of Saturation,

Water content, and Specific Gravity
ww  wVw  wVw Vw
w= = = =
ws  sVs  wGsVs GsVs
Dividing the denominator and numerator of the R.H.S. by Vv yields:

Se = wGs
This is a very useful relation for solving THREE-PHASE
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RELATIONSHIPS.
3. Relationship among Unit Weight, Void Ratio,
Degree of Saturation and Specific Gravity

W Ww + Ws  wVw +  sVs  wVw +  wGsVs

= = = =
V Vs + Vv Vs + Vv Vs + Vv
( Se + Gs )
= w
1+ e

Notes:
• Unit weights for dry, fully saturated and submerged cases
can be derived from the upper equation

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• Water content can be used instead of degree of saturation.
Various Unit Weight Relationships

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Example 1

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Example 1

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Example 2

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Example 2

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Example 3

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 Relative Density
The term relative density is commonly used to
indicate the in situ denseness or looseness of
granular soil.
emax − e
D r (%) = x100
emax − emin
emeasured
emin emax

dmax d measured d min

increasing density
Example 4

For a given soil sample, emax = 0.75, emin=0.46, and

Gs =2.68. What is the moist unit weight of
compaction(kN/m3) in field if Dr = 78% and w = 9%?

emax − e
D r (%) = x100
emax − emin