INTRODUCTION

Geotechnical &
Soil Properties
p Chemical Properties
of Soils

GEOTECHNICAL
G OT CHNICA PROPERTIES
PROP RTI S CHEMICAL PROPERTIES

1. Index properties
1.Index 1. pH
1.pH
2 Compaction characteristics
2.Compaction
2. 2 Surface charge
2.Surface
2.
3.Hydraulic
3. Hydraulic
y characteristics 3.Cation
3. Cation exchange
g capacity
p y
4.Consolidation
4. Consolidation characteristics, 4.Anion
4. Anion exchange capacity, and
and 5 Specific surface
5.Specific
5.
5.Shear
5. Shear strength
g
 WHY STUDY THESE PROPERTIES ? SOME STANDARD GEOTECHNICAL
ENGINEERING PUBLICATIONS
Answer:
Answer:
1) These properties are important in Lambe & Whitman, 1969
understanding geoenvironmental behaviour of USACE 1979
USACE,
soils Hioltz & Kovacs, 1990
2) The important geotechnical properties of soils Mitchell,
Mitchell 1993
are required in the analysis and design of Das, 1994
waste containment & waste remediation Terzaghi et al
al., 1996
facilities (Reference to some geotechnical Coduto, 1999
engineering
g gp
publications is useful)) ASTM 2003
ASTM,

Table 1 Mass
Mass--Volume Relationships of Soils
Geotechnical Properties : Note: In some GE applications, the water content is defined based on volumes and is
called the vulumetric moisture content (wv) = Vw/Vt , and at 100% saturation , wV = n

Mass--Volume Relationship
Mass Void ratio e
Voidratio,e
RATIO DEFINITION
Vv/Vs
UNIT
Nondimensional
Porosity Vv/Vtx100 %
1. Three pphases of soils: solid,, liquid
q Deg of saturation,S
Degofsaturation,S Vw/Vsx100 %
(water) and gas (air) Watercontent,w Mw/Msx100 %
2 Mass volume relationships: void ratio
2. ratio, Wet/totaldensity,
/ y,t Mt//Vt g/cm2
g/
Drydensity,d Ms/Vt g/cm2
porosity, degree of saturation, water
Saturateddensity,sat Mt/Vt g/cm2
content wet/total density
content, density, dry density
density, whenS=100%
saturated density, submerged density, Submergeddensity,d sat w g/cm2
density of solid, specific gravity Densityofsolid,s Ms/Vs g/cm2
Specificgravity,Gs s/w Nondimensional
 Index Properties
Geotechnical Properties
p : Index Particle size distribution
properties & Soil Classification
1 Soil particles: irregular shaped
1. shaped, represent by equivalent
particle diameter,
1. Grain size distribution 2. Diameter is determined by sieve analysis & hydrometer
3. Sieve analysis involves
2. Plasticity or consistency (e.g. Atterberg A) Coarse-
Coarse-grained
limits) passing a known amount of soil through a series of sieves,
stacked with larger sizes atop the smaller ones. After the soil
3. Classification of soils is placed in the top sieve, the entire stack is shaken in a sieve
4 Correlation with various engineering
4. shaker for a fixed time before the amount of soil remained on
each sieve is then measured. From the results, the grain size
properties of soils distribution of the soil passing the top sieve (say No.4 or
4.75mm opening size) but retained on No.200 sieve is
determined.

Index Properties Index Properties

Particle size distribution Particle size distribution
3 B) Fine
3. Fine--grained 5 Using these coefficients
5. coefficients, a soil may be defined as well graded
graded,
Following the above, the grain size distribution of the soil uniformly graded or poorly graded.
passing a No.200 sieve is determined by performing a 6. Well graded: 1<Cc < 3;
hydrometer analysis which starts with a mixture of soil, water, Gravelly soils: Cu > 4
and a dispersing agent placed in a graduated glass jar. The Sandy soils: Cu > 6
particle size is measured based on the settling velocity of
those particles using a hydrometer. This relationship is
determined using Stokes law:
4 Two parameters can be calculated
4. 18 based on grain size 18
x x
(Gsuniformity
distribution: the coefficient of 1) w (Cu), defined as Cu= (Gs 1) w
D60/D10, and coefficient of curvature, Cc, defined as
(D30)2/D60D10 or (D30)2/Cu where D10,D30 & D60 are the
equivalent grain diameters corresponding to 10,30 and 60%
passing the sieve sizes, respectively
 SHEAR STRENGTH
SHEARSTRENGTH
ShearStrengthofsoil
Shear Strength of soil
=Theshearresistancetofailure

i.e.thefailureconditionisexcessive
deformation that cannot be tolerated in a
deformationthatcannotbetoleratedina
design

MOHRCOULUMBFailureCriterion SHEAR STRENGTH UNDER DRAINED CONDITIONS

SHEARSTRENGTHUNDERDRAINEDCONDITIONS
ShearStrengthofSoil, =c+n tan
Lowloadingrate
Low loading rate
Where
Excessporewaterpressure,ue isdissipated
n =Normalstress
c, =shearstrengthparameterswherecisthe Volumechangeoccursduringshearing
l h d i h i
cohesionparameterand theangleofinternal Thedrainedshearstrengthparametersaredenoted
frictionorthefrictionparameter asc and
Forcohesionlesssoilsandnormallyconsolidated
y
Strictlyspeakingthesehavenophysicalmeaning
(NC)cohesivesoils,c 0
becausethesedependontestmethodsandtest
p
drainageconditions
 SHEARSTRENGTHUNDER
SHEAR STRENGTH UNDER UNDRAINED CONDITIONS
SHEARSTRENGTHUNDERUNDRAINEDCONDITIONS UNCONSOLIDATEDUNDRAINEDCONDITION

Fastloadingrate
Fast loading rate Unconsolidated
UnconsolidatedUndrainedCondition
Undrained Condition
Excessporewaterpressureue isgenerated isaspecialcaseofundrained
Novolumechangeoccursduringshearing
l h d i h i conditionsoccurswhenthesoilis
Theundrainedshearstrengthparametersare not allowed to consolidate either
notallowedtoconsolidateeither
denotedascand
priortoorduringshearing(or =0
condition)
diti )

METHODSTODETERMINESHEARSTRENGTHOFSOILS
1)) Laboratory
b METHODS TO DETERMINE SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOILS
METHODSTODETERMINESHEARSTRENGTHOFSOILS
directsheartest(ASTMD3080)
thetriaxialtest(ASTMD4767)
the triaxial test (ASTM D 4767) 2) FIELD
FIELDTESTS
TESTS
3Conditions standardpenetrationtest(ASTMD1586)
UU(unconsolidated,undrainedASTMD2850)
( , )
CU(consolidated,undrainedASTMD4767) conepenetrationtest(ASTMD3441)
i ( S 3 )
CD(consolidated,drained) thevanesheartest(ASTMD2573)
theunconfinedcompressiontest(ASTM2166)
hollowcylindertest(specialtest,st1)
planestraintest(st2)
plane strain test (st2)
thetruetriaxialtests(st3)
thetorsionalsheartest(st4)
the torsional shear test (st 4)
thedirectsimpleshear(st5)
METHODS TO DETERMINE SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOILS
METHODSTODETERMINESHEARSTRENGTHOFSOILS

2) Empirical
EmpiricalCorrelationstoestimateshearstrength
Correlations to estimate shear strength
basedonrelationshipsbetweentheindex
properties and c c ,
propertiesandc,,c