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A Simplified Approach of Determining the Specific Gravity of Soil Solids

Article  in  Geotechnical and Geological Engineering · August 2012

DOI: 10.1007/s10706-012-9521-6

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A Simplified Approach of Determining the
Specific Gravity of Soil Solids

K. Prakash, A. Sridharan, H. K. Thejas &

H. M. Swaroop

Geotechnical and Geological

Engineering
An International Journal

ISSN 0960-3182
Volume 30
Number 4

Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:1063-1067

DOI 10.1007/s10706-012-9521-6

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 Author's personal copy
Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:1063–1067
DOI 10.1007/s10706-012-9521-6
TECHNICAL NOTE
A Simplified Approach of Determining the Specific
Gravity of Soil Solids
K. Prakash • A. Sridharan • H. K. Thejas •
H. M. Swaroop
Received: 23 January 2012 / Accepted: 5 May 2012 / Published online: 22 May 2012
 Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2012
Abstract Many computations in the field of geo-
technical engineering require the use of specific
gravity of soil solids. Presently, specific gravity of
soil solids is determined in the laboratory by the
sensitive pycnometer/density bottle method, which is
characterized by many complexities and difficulties.
The present technical note suggests the use of some of
the measurements taken during the routine shrinkage
limit test in the laboratory to compute the specific
gravity of soil solids fairly accurately. It is shown
through exhaustive experimental results that the
values of specific gravity of soil solids obtained from
the proposed method is in very close agreement with
those determined from the conventional pycnometer/
density bottle method.
Keywords Density bottle  Fine-grained soils 
Shrinkage limit  Specific gravity
K. Prakash (&)  H. K. Thejas  H. M. Swaroop
Department of Civil Engineering, Sri
Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering,
Mysore 570 006, India
e-mail: kprakash60@yahoo.com
A. Sridharan
Department of Civil Engineering, Indian
Institute of Science, Bangalore 560 012, India
e-mail: asridhran@yahoo.com
1 Introduction
Specific gravity of fine-grained soil solids (GS) is an
important soil grain property, which is required in the
computations of other quantities such as void ratio,
degree of saturation, soil densities; in the sedimenta-
tion analysis; in the compaction and consolidation
analysis and the like. Hence, it has to be determined in
the laboratory with utmost care. While the specific
gravity of coarse grained soils can be determined
without much difficulty, same thing cannot be said
about that of fine-grained soils, particularly of clays,
due to many practical difficulties.
Conventionally, specific gravity of soil solids is
determined in the laboratory by the pycnometer/density
bottle method (ASTM Designation D 854-06, 2007; IS:
2720-Part 3/sec 1, 1980; BS: 1377-Part 2, 1990). The
test is of moderate difficulty with the major source of
error due to the presence of entrapped air in the soil
sample (Bowles 1997). The value of GS of inorganic
silts and clays varies over a narrow range of 2.6–2.8.
Presence of entrapped air, even to a small extent may
result in appreciable error in the determined value of GS
(see Appendix 1).
The difficulties one faces with the laboratory
determination of GS using pycnometer/density bottle
method are as follows;
• The pore liquid used in the experimentation shall
be air-free, distilled water and if the available
distilled water is not air-free, it has to be de-aired
before use.
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1064
• The entrapped air in the soil mass has to removed
by any one of the following tedious procedures.
• By keeping the density bottle without stopper,
containing soil and water, in a vacuum desiccator
and by applying vacuum in a controlled condition
for several hours ranging from 4 to 8 h.
• By heating the density bottle with the soil and
water inside on a water bath or sand bath.
• The test is required to be conducted in a constant
temperature room or cabinet. In the absence of
such a facility, it is required to keep the density
bottle with water and the density bottle with soil
and water on a constant temperature bath, before
determining the masses of density bottle with
water and density bottle with soil and water.
• If the soil is highly expansive, then the addition of
water to the soil mass leads to cluster formation
and uniform dispersion of soil particles in water
cannot be achieved. This situation makes the
removal of air entrapped within the cluster all the
more difficult. In addition, the soil swells inside the
density bottle, thus increasing the complexity of
the process. For soils containing soluble salts, use
of water as the test liquid is not preferred. Instead
kerosene or white spirit or carbon tetra chloride
may be preferred (ASTM Designation D 854-06,
2007; IS: 2720-Part 3/sec 1, 1980). The use of
organic liquids is not admissible as they prove to
be health hazardous substances.
• The time consumed by the conventional pycnom-
eter/density bottle method is, with clays, prohib-
itively more.
In view of overcoming various difficulties encoun-
tered during the determination of specific gravity of soil
solids, an alternate simple method of determining the
same in the laboratory is suggested in this technical note.
2 Specific Gravity from the Shrinkage Limit
Test Data
Shrinkage limit (wS) is one of the three Atterberg
limits of fine-grained soils, the other two being liquid
and plastic limits. Any laboratory testing of fine-
grained soils invariably involves the determination of
the Atterberg limits of soils. Using some of the
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Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:1063–1067
measurements made during the determination of the
shrinkage limit in the laboratory, one can calculate the
value of specific gravity of soil solids easily. Follow-
ing are the steps involved.
• The soil is mixed with distilled water such that the
water content of the soil paste is slightly above the
liquid limit of the soil, which ensures the complete
filling of the soil voids with water.
• After the moisture equilibration of the soil paste is
achieved, the soil paste is worked into the shrink-
age dish without entrapping the air bubbles in the
soil paste in the dish and the mass of the wet soil
paste in the shrinkage dish (m1) is recorded. The
entrapped air bubbles, if any, can be removed by
keeping the shrinkage dish with wet soil paste in a
vacuum desiccator, with the vacuum pressure
applied.
• The volume of the wet soil mass (V) in the
shrinkage dish is taken as the volume of the
shrinkage dish itself. Conventionally, the volume
of the shrinkage dish is measured by the mercury
displacement method. However, it can also be
measured by directly measuring the internal
dimensions of the shrinkage dish with a slide
calipers. Prakash et al. (2009) have shown that the
volume of the shrinkage dish measured by the slide
calipers is the same as that obtained from mercury
displacement method.
• After allowing the wet soil mass in the shrinkage
dish to air dry to prevent the cracking of the soil
pat, the air dried soil pat is oven dried for 24 h at
105–110 C to constant mass. The oven dried soil
pat is cooled in a desiccator and the mass of the dry
soil pat (md) is recorded.
The value of specific gravity of soil solids is then
calculated using Eq. 1, the derivation of which is
provided in Appendix 2.
md
GS ¼ ð1Þ
Vqw  ðm1  md Þ
where qw = density of water (which can be taken 1 g/
cm3); m1 = mass of the wet soil paste in the shrinkage
dish, in g; md = mass of the dry soil pat in g;
V = volume of the wet soil paste in the shrinkage
dish, in cm3.
It may be noted that for determining the specific
gravity, volume of the dry soil pat is not required.
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3 Experimental Program limit of the soils varied in the range 16–52 %;

Soils with wide variation in their plasticity charac-
teristics (both pure clays and natural soils) were
used in the experimental work (Table 1). Liquid
limit of soils varied in the range 26–402 %; plastic
shrinkage limit of the soils varied in the range
9.1–33.5 %; the clay mineralogy of the soils varied
from kaolinite and montmorillonite clay minerals
(i.e., commercial clays) to multi clay minerals (i.e.,
field soils).

Table 1 Details of the soils studied and the comparative statement of the values of specific gravity obtained from conventional
method and from the proposed method
Soil Soil wL, (%) wP, (%) wS, (%) GCon GSL % deviation
No.

I. Pure clays and mixtures of pure clays

1. Fine kaolinite 46.8 29.4 33.5 2.65 2.60 ?1.89
2. Kaolinite (K) 59.8 30.0 24.8 2.58 2.54 ?1.55
3. China clay 68.0 30.0 24.8 2.67 2.68 -0.37
4. 90 K ? 10 B 74.2 31.2 24.8 2.63 2.68 -1.90
5. 85 K ? 15 B 85.2 31.5 25.5 2.65 2.60 ?1.89
6. 75 K ? 25 B 118.0 31.9 24.6 2.68 2.70 -0.75
7. 50 K ? 50 B 186.4 39.5 24.2 2.79 2.76 ?1.08
8. Bentonie (B) 402.0 47.4 9.9 2.92 2.84 ?2.74
II. Natural soils
9. Brown soil – 3 26.7 17.5 20.6 2.66 2.67 -0.38
10. Red earth-3 29.8 18.2 14.2 2.71 2.76 -1.84
11. Vaddara palya soil 31.7 16.3 13.4 2.65 2.68 -1.13
12. Red earth-2 38.5 20.1 16.1 2.71 2.64 ?2.58
13. Red earth-1 38.6 18.0 14.7 2.64 2.63 ?0.38
14. Pandavapura soil-1 40.7 17.7 11.5 2.65 2.63 ?0.75
15. Silty soil 41.4 30.5 28.6 2.82 2.82 Zero
16. Field soil-4 44.2 30.0 25.0 2.76 2.71 ?1.81
17. H.D. kote soil 45.2 22.8 13.5 2.62 2.66 -1.53
18. Brown soil-2 47.0 22.4 13.8 2.79 2.79 Zero
19. Satagalli soil-2 47.1 23.6 13.6 2.70 2.70 Zero
20. Silty clay 47.7 23.6 10.1 2.68 2.64 ?1.49
21. Peenya soil-8 50.7 35.5 28.6 2.64 2.63 ?0.38
22. Satagalli soil-1 51.6 24.0 14.0 2.73 2.71 ?0.73
23. Field soil-8 53.1 42.0 28.6 2.75 2.71 ?1.45
24. Pandavapura soil-2 56.2 18.5 11.5 2.58 2.61 -1.16
25. H.P. soil 58.5 31.0 19.2 2.82 2.84 -0.71
26. Bikaner clay 58.5 25.4 17.5 2.76 2.74 ?0.72
27. Raichur B.C. soil 61.6 27.8 11.2 2.65 2.67 -0.75
28. Brown soil-1 64.6 26.6 14.5 2.66 2.61 ?1.88
29. Bannur soil 67.0 30.0 16.1 2.68 2.70 -0.75
30. R.K. nagar soil 68.0 35.6 9.8 2.69 2.66 ?1.12
31. Peenya soil-7 72.2 52.2 29.5 2.68 2.67 ?0.37
32. B.C. soil-3 73.8 31.4 9.1 2.63 2.71 -3.04
33. B.C. soil-2 76.6 35.4 9.9 2.71 2.75 -1.48
34. B.C. soil-1 100.8 51.9 13.2 2.67 2.61 ?2.25

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For each of the soils, the value of the specific
gravity of soil solids was determined by two methods.
1. The conventional density bottle method using
carbon tetra chloride as the test liquid: Here, the
specific gravity was determined by conducting
three trials on each soil. Care was taken to see that
the results by the three trials calculated do not
differ by more than 0.03. The average of the three
or two very close values obtained was recorded as
the specific gravity of soil solids by the conven-
tional method, GCon.
2. Shrinkage limit test: Three determinations were
made on each soil as per the procedure explained
in the previous section of this note. The value of
specific gravity in each case was determined using
Eq. 1. The average of three or two very close
values obtained was recorded as the specific
gravity of the soil solids predicted from the test
procedure described above, GSL.
4 Results and Discussion
Figure 1 presents the relationship between the values
of specific gravity obtained from the conventional
density bottle method and those obtained from the
shrinkage limit test procedure. Statistical analysis
shows that the relationship between the two quantities
mentioned above is given by
GCon ¼ 1:0027 GSL
with a correlation of 1.00.
2.95
2.90
GCon= 1.0027 GSL
2.85
r = 1.00
2.80
GCon
Table 1 presents the comparative statement of the
values of specific gravity obtained from the conven-
tional density bottle method and from the shrinkage
limit test procedure. It can be noted from Table 1 that
the deviation of GSL, from GCon is quite negligible.
Considering the complexities in conducting the con-
ventional density bottle method of testing and the
utmost care that needs to be exercised during testing,
this deviation can be considered allowable, as the
values obtained from the conventional density bottle
method themselves cannot be treated as error free.
5 Conclusions
Determination of specific gravity of fine-grained soil
solids in the laboratory by the conventional density
bottle method is quite sensitive and involves a lot of
complexities. In the present technical note, it is
proposed to determine the value of specific gravity
of fine-grained soils by the shrinkage limit test
procedure. Since, the shrinkage limit test is a routine
test that is done on all fine-grained soils during their
laboratory testing, some of the measurements done in
that process can also be utilized to calculate the value
of specific gravity. This does not necessitate any new
measurements and additional procedures. The values
of specific gravity obtained from the shrinkage limit
test procedure are in good agreement with those
ð2Þ obtained from the cumbersome conventional density
bottle method. As a consequence, one can dispense
with the conventional specific gravity test. Since the
proposed method does not require the use of any non-
polar chemical or the use of health hazardous mercury
for the determination of specific gravity of soil solids,
the proposed method is an eco-friendly method.
6 Appendix 1

2.75

2.70
The value of specific gravity in the conventional
2.65
pycnometer/density bottle method is calculated using
2.60 the following equation.
2.55 md
2.55 2.60 2.65 2.70 2.75 2.80 2.85 2.90 2.95 GS ¼ ð3Þ
GSL md  ðm3  m4 Þ
where, md = mass of dry soil sample; m3 = mass of
Fig. 1 Comparison of values of specific gravity obtained from
conventional density bottle method with those obtained from the (pycnometer ? soil ? water); m4 = mass of (pyc-
proposed method nometer ? water)

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Geotech Geol Eng (2012) 30:1063–1067 1067

Ex: 1 Soil: Clay; md = 100 g; m3 = 614.03 g; m4 = 550 g; By definition, the specific gravity of soil solids is
Actual value of GS = 2.78 the ratio of the mass of a given volume of soil solids at
Volume of entrapped air Calculated value a given temperature to the mass of an equal volume of
in the soil–water system, cm3 of GS distilled water at that temperature, which is expressed
as,
0.5 2.74
1.0 2.71 qs
GS ¼ ð4Þ
1.5 2.67 qw
   
2.0 2.63 mS 1 md 1
2.5 2.60 i:e: GS ¼ ¼ ð5Þ
VS qw VS qw
3.0 2.57
From the figure,
 
m1  md Vqw  ðm1  md Þ
Ex: 2 Soil: Clayey silt; md = 52.2 g; m3 = 706.71 g; VS = V  ¼ ð6Þ
qw qw
m4 = 674.28 g; Actual value of GS = 2.64
Volume of entrapped air Calculated value Substituting Eq. 6 in Eq. 5, the following equation
in the soil–water system, cm3 of GS results.
md
0.5 2.58 GS ¼ ð7Þ
1.0 2.51
Vqw  ðm1  md Þ
1.5 2.45

7 Appendix 2
References
The phase diagrammatic representation of a saturated ASTM Designation D854-06, 2007, Standard test method for
soil mass is shown below: specific gravity of soil solids by water pycnometer: annual
book of ASTM standards, Vol. 04.02, ASTM, West
Conshohocken, PA
Bowles JE (1997) Foundation analysis and design. The
McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc., New York, p 29
Vw Water BS: 1377-Part 2, 1990, British standard methods of test for soil
for engineering purposes: classification tests, BSI, London
IS: 2720-Part 3/sec.1, 1980, Indian standard methods of test for
soils: determination of specific gravity of fine-grained
V m1 soils, BIS, New Delhi
Prakash K, Sridharan A, Ananth Baba J, Thejas HK (2009)
VS Soil Solids mS = md Determination of shrinkage limit of fine-grained soils by
wax method. Geotech Test J ASTM 32(1):86–89

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