GEOTECHNICAL

ENGINEERING I
Soil Properties
Soil-Particle Size
Mechanical Analysis of Soil
Review: Formation of Soil
• Process and conditions that form soils
• Breakdown of parent rock: weathering, decomposition,
erosion
• Transportation to site of final deposition: gravity,
flowing water, ice, wind
• Environment of final deposition: flood plain, river
terrace, glacial moraine, lacustrine or marine
• Subsequent conditions of loading and drainage: little
or no surcharge, heavy surcharge due to ice or
overlying deposits, change from saline to freshwater,
leaching, contamination.
 Soil Typology
• As soil was formed from different processes, soil
composition varies
• To identify soil according to its type,
considerations are given to its purpose
• Soil type can be identified according to its origin,
particle-size distribution, general
characteristics (cohesiveness, water exposure)
• Two basic characteristics that can immediately
identify soil are size and texture
 Soil-Particle Size
• Gravel
• pieces of rocks with occasional particles of quartz, feldspar, and
other minerals.
• Sand
• made of mostly quartz and feldspar. Other minerals may exist

• Silt
• microscopic soil fractions that consist of very fine quartz grains and
some flake-shaped particles that are fragments of micaceous
minerals
• Clay
• mostly flake-shaped microscopic and submicroscopic particles of
mica, clay minerals, and other minerals
Particle-Size Classifications
Soil-separate-size limits by various
systems
Particle-Size Distribution and Shape
• Main factor that affects soil
• pore geometry
• total pore volume (porosity)
• pore size distribution
• solid surface area
• Weathering process affects the particle size
distribution and classification
• Gravel and Sand/Coarse grained soil/Cohesionless soil
• Mostly produced by physical weathering
• Silt and Clay/Fine grained soil/Cohesive soil
• Mostly produced by chemical weathering
 Clay and Clay Minerals
• particles smaller than 0.002 mm; however in some cases,
particles between 0.002 and 0.005 mm in size also are
referred to as clay
• Clays have been defined as those particles “which
develop plasticity when mixed with a limited amount of
water” (Grim, 1953)

Additional Reading
Soil identified as clay does not necessarily mean that they
contain clay minerals
 Mechanical Analysis of Soils
• determination of the size range of particles present in a
soil, expressed as a percentage of the total dry weight
• Sieving methods
• soil particles ≥0.075 mm (sand fraction) we use Sieving methods.
• Sedimentation methods
• Pipette
• Hydrometer
• X-ray attenuation
• Particle counting methods
• Light, SEM Microscopy
• Coulter method
• Laser/Light diffraction methods
Sieve Analysis
• Method involves shaking the soil sample through a set of
sieves that have progressively smaller openings
1. Samples (with fines removed) are dried and shaken through a
set of sieves of descending size.
2. The weight retained in each sieve is measured.
3. The cumulative percentage quantities finer than the sieve sizes
(passing each given sieve size) are then determined
4. The resulting data is presented as a distribution curve with
grain size along x-axis (log scale) and percentage passing along
y-axis (arithmetic scale)
• Particles are rarely spherical, hence these diameters
should be regarded as effective diameters based on sieve
opening size
US Standard Sieve Sizes
Sieve Analysis Test Method
• ASTM D6913 - 04(2009)e1
• Standard Test Methods for Particle-Size Distribution
(Gradation) of Soils Using Sieve Analysis
Hydrometer Analysis
• for particle sizes smaller than 0.075 mm in diameter
• based on the principle of sedimentation of soil grains in
water; when a soil specimen is dispersed in water, the
particles settle at different velocities, depending on their
shape, size, weight, and the viscosity of the water.
• assumed that all the soil particles are spheres and that
the velocity of soil particles can be expressed by
Stokes’ law
𝜌𝑠 − 𝜌𝑤 2
𝜈= 𝐷
18𝜂
Hydrometer

The hydrometer settling depth h’ is dependent on the

concentration R in g/l of the pure Sodium
pyrophosphate solution and the shape and design of
the hydrometer.
For the ASTM 152H Hydrometer h’=-0.164R+16.3
[cm].
When h’ is known we can calculate settling times, t as:

18 h'
t=
(  s − l ) d 2 g
Particle Size Distribution Curve
Parameters Identified by PSDC
• Effective size (D10)
• diameter in the particle-size distribution curve corresponding to
10% finer.
• effective size of a granular soil is a good measure to estimate the
hydraulic conductivity and drainage through soil

• Uniformity coefficient (Cu)

where D60 = diameter corresponding to 60% finer.

Parameters Identified by PSDC
• Coefficient of gradation (Cc)
• Sorting coefficient (S0)
• another measure of uniformity
• not frequently used as a parameter by geotechnical engineers
• generally encountered in geologic works and expressed as
Particle Size Distribution Curve
Textural Triangle (USDA Classification)
Textural Triangle (USDA Classification)
Particle Size Distribution Curve
• type of distribution of various-size particles
Particle Shape
1. Bulky
• formed mostly by mechanical weathering of rock and minerals
• Geologists use such terms as angular, subangular, subrounded,
and rounded to describe this shapes
 Angularity and Sphericity
Angularity, A Sphericity, S
𝐷𝑒
𝑆=
𝐿𝑝
𝐴𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑟𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑐𝑜𝑟𝑛𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑒𝑑𝑔𝑒𝑠
𝐴=
𝑅𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑢𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑎𝑥𝑖𝑚𝑢𝑚 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑐𝑟𝑖𝑏𝑒𝑑 𝑠𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒

3 6𝑉
𝐷𝑒 =
𝜋

Where:
De = equivalent diameter of the particle
V = volume of particle
Lp = length of particle
Particle Shape
2. Flaky
• very low sphericity—usually 0.01 or less
• predominantly clay minerals

3. Needle shaped
• much less common than the other two particle types
• examples are coral deposits and attapulgite clays
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