CV252

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

“Everything is built on soil”

Course details
Course Code CV252

Course name Geotechnical Engineering-I

Name of the faculty Dr. Harikumar M

Evaluation Plan • Internal (2 Quiz/ 2 Test / 3 Assignment): 25

• Mid Sem. Exam: 25
• End Sem. Exam: 50
• Karl Von Terzaghi (1883-1963)

• Soil mechanics-branch of mechanics that deals with soil, rock, and underground water, and their
relation to the design, construction and operation of engineering projects (Coduto,1998)

• Applications-foundations, retaining structures, stability of slopes, underground structures,

pavement design, dams
Why soil mechanics?
Complexity and unique nature of soil

• A natural soil deposit is unlike other construction material known to man

• Heterogenous-properties vary between locations

• Stress strain relationship for a soil deposit is non-linear (elasto-plastic)

• Soil deposits have a memory for stresses they have undergone

• Lab tests are performed on disturbed samples-differs from undisturbed

• Soil layers at significant depths are buried and hidden from view-reliance on tests carried out at
limited depths and locations
Soil

• Soil-unconsolidated material, composed of solid

particles produced by disintegration of rocks.

• Void spaces-filled with air and/or water

• Soils are formed by weathering of rocks-mechanical

disintegration and chemical decomposition

• Soil formed and found at the same place-

residual/sedentary soil

• Soil deposited at a place far away from its formation-

transported soil
Formation of soils
Physical disintegration

• Temperature changes

• Wedging action of ice

• Spreading of roots

• Abrasion

Chemical decomposition

• Hydration

• Carbonation

• Oxidation

• Solution

• Hydrolysis
Transported soils
• Deposited by running water - alluvial deposits

• Lakes - lacustrine deposits

• Wind - aeolian deposits (loess)

• Glaciers - glacial deposits (till)

• Gravity - colluvial deposits (talus)

• Combined action
Major soil deposits of India
3 phase system
• Soil mass primarily consists of solid particles that form a porous structure, blended together

• Voids may be filled with water and/or air

• For convenience they are shown separately

3 phase system

• Volumes are written on left, mass/ weights on right side

• Volume of voids, Vv=Va+Vw

• Total mass of soil=Ma+Mw+Ms

2 phase system
• Soil becomes a 2 phase system in two cases:
Volumetric relationships
• Void ratio, e
- Ratio of volume of voids to volume of solids
Vv
e
Vs

- Void ratio for clays is greater than that of sands. Why?

- Can ‘e’ be greater than 1?
Porosity
• Porosity, n

• Ratio of vol. of voids to total volume

Vv
n
V
• Also called percentage voids

• ‘e’ and ‘n’ are measures of looseness/denseness of soil

• As density increases, what happens to e?

• Porosity cannot exceed 100%. Why?

Relation between e and n

Vv
n
V
1 V Vv  Vs V 1 1 e
   1 s  1 
n Vv Vv Vv e e
e
n
1 e
Degree of saturation
• Degree of saturation, S

• Ratio of volume of water to volume of voids

Vw
S
Vv
• S=0, when soil is absolutely dry

• S=1 or 100%, when soil is fully saturated

• 0<S<100 for a partially saturated soil

Percentage air voids

• Percentage air voids, na

• Ratio of volume of air to total volume, expressed in %

Va
na 
V
Air content

• Air content, ac

• Ratio of volume of air to volume of voids

Va
ac 
Vv

Va  Va   Vv 
na     .   ac n
V  Vv   V 
na  n.ac

Relation between ac and S?

Water content
• w= ratio of mass of water to mass of solids

Mw
w
Ms

• Also called moisture content, expressed in %

• Usually w/c of fine grained soils (silts, clays)> coarse

grained soils (gravels, sands)

• w/c of some fine grained soils may be even greater than

100%
Volume-weight relationship
• Unit weight of soil = weight of soil per unit volume

W
• Bulk unit weight  
V
Ws

• Dry unit weight d 
V
Wsat
• Saturated unit weight  sat 
V
W
• Submerged unit weight  sub   ' 
sub

V
Ws
• Unit weight of soil solids  s 
Vs
Specific gravity of soil solids, Gs

• G=ratio of mass density of a given volume of solids to the mass density of an equal volume of water
at 4oC
s  s
G 
w  w

• For most soils, G lies between 2.65-2.8, smaller values for coarse-grained soils

Mass density of water, ρw = 1 g/cc =1000 kg/m3

Weight density of water, γw = 9810 N/m3 = 9.81 kN/m3
3 phase diagram in terms of void ratio

ea Ma

e
ew Mw

1+e

1 Ms
 ea Ma

e
ew Mw

1 Ms
 ea

e
ew

1
1. The mass of a chunk of moist soil is 20 kg, and its volume is 0.011 m3. After drying in an oven, the mass reduces to 16.5 kg.
Determine the water content, density of moist soil, dry density, void ratio, porosity and degree of saturation
2. A soil specimen has a water content of 10% and a wet unit weight of 20 kN/m3. If the specific gravity of solids is 2.70,
determine the dry unit weight, void ratio and degree of saturation. Take γw=10 kN/m3.
3. A sample of dry soil weighs 68g. Find the volume of voids if the total volume of the sample is 40 ml and the specific gravity of
solids is 2.65. Also determine the void ratio
4. A moist soil weighs 3.52 N. After drying in an oven, its weight is reduced to 2.9 N. The specific gravity of solids and the mass
specific gravity are 2.65 and 1.85 respectively. Determine the water content, void ratio, porosity and the degree of saturation.
Take γw=10 kN/m3.
5. A soil has a porosity of 40%, the specific gravity of solids of 2.65 and a water content of 12%. Determine the mass of water
required to be added to 100 m3 of this soil for full saturation.
6. A sample of saturated soil has a water content of 25% and a bulk unit weight of 20 kN/m3. Determine the dry density, void
ratio and specific gravity of solid particles. What would be the bulk density of the same soil at the same void ratio but at a
degree of saturation of 80%. Take γw=10 kN/m3.
7. A compacted cylindrical specimen, 50 mm dia. and 100 mm length is to be prepared from oven dry soil. If the specimen is
required to have a water content of 15% and the percentage air voids of 20%, calculate the mass of the soil and water required
for the preparation of the sample. Take G=2.69.
8. A sample of clay was coated with paraffin wax and its mass, including the mass of wax was found to be 697.5 g. The sample
was immersed in water and the volume of water displaced was found to be 355 ml. The mass of the sample without wax was
690 g, and the water content of the representative specimen was 18%. Determine the bulk density, dry density, void ratio and
the degree of saturation. The specific gravity of solids was 2.7 and that of wax was 0.89.
9. A borrow area soil has a natural water content of 10% and a bulk density of 1.80 Mg/m3. The soil is used for an embankment
to be compacted at 18% moisture content to a dry density of 1.85 Mg/m3. Determine the amount of water to be added to 1m3 of
borrow soil. How many cubic meters of excavation is required for 1m3 of compacted embankment?
10. There are two borrow areas A and B which have soils with void ratios of 0.8 and 0.7 respectively. The in-place water content
is 20% and 15 % respectively. The fill at the end of construction will have a total volume of 10,000 m3, bulk density of 2 Mg/m3
and a placement water content of 22%. Determine the volume of soil required to be excavated from both areas. Take G=2.65. If
the cost of excavation of soil and transportation is Rs.200/- per 100 m3 for area A and Rs. 220/- per 100 m3 for area B, which of
the borrow area is more economical?