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Soil composition
Soil can be of either three-phase or two-phase composition. The
relationship of soil’s components determines soil’s property.

• Completely dry soil

• Fully saturated soil
• Partially saturated soil

Phase Relationships
Solid particles + Pore water + Pore air
HU Minyun
TEL： 88320621 Email： zjut_tulixue@163.com（hu123456） Minor impact on
Soil skeleton which Significant impact
controls soil’s behavior on soil’s behavior soil’s behavior

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The state of soil Phase diagram: The components of a soil can be represented by a
phase diagram and the phase relationships are defined with reference to it.
Phase
Index of soil’s physical property: relationships: V  Vs  Vv  Vs  Vw  Va
Density 9 relationships are m  ms  mw
Porosity degree defined according to
Moisture degree the mass and volume
Mass Volume
of soil’s components.

ma=0 Air Va
Soil description:
Vv
Coarse soil: compactive state Soil’s m mw Water Vw V
Fine soil: stiffness behavior
ms Solid Vs

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 Test method: Cutting ring method Test method:
Bulk density () Specific gravity of soil particles (Gs) Bottle method

is the ratio of the total mass to the total volume. ms 

0 Air Va Gs   s
m ms  m w Vs  w4 C  w4 C
  (kg/m3 or g/cm3) mw Vv
V Vs  Vw  Va Water Vw 0 Air Va
m V
ρw4C The density of water at 4C mw Vv
Water Vw
General range:1.60 ~ 2.20 g/cm3 ms Solid Vs  4wC =1.0 g/cm3 m V
Note that the density of water is w=1.0 g/cm3. Solid
s: Particle density, is numerically equal to Gs ms
Vs
Mass Volume
General range:
Unit weight () Clayey soil: 2.70 ~ 2.75 Mass Volume
is the ratio of the total weight (a force) to the total volume. Silty soil: 2.70 ~ 2.71
W mg Sand: 2.65 ~ 2.69
γ   ρg (kN/m3)
V V

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Volume
Test method: Drying method Void ratio (e)
Water content (w) Air Va
is the ratio of the volume of voids to the volume of solids.
is the ratio of the mass of water to the mass of solids in the soil. Vv
Vv The specific volume (v) is the total volume Water Vw
e V
Vs of soil which contains unit volume of solids.
Air v = 1+e Solid
mw m  ms 0 Va Vs
w  100%   100% (%)
ms ms mw Vv Porosity (n)
Water Vw
m V
is the ratio of the volume of voids to the total volume of the soil.
Sandy soil：28 ~ 35% Volume
 Also named as Moisture content. ms Solid Vs V
n v (%) Clayey soil：30 ~ 50% Air
 Note that water content of soil has a large V or 60 ~ 70%
value range. It can be 0% for completely dry Mass Volume Water Vv=e
The void ratio and the porosity are inter-related V=1+e
soil, and can be greater than 100%.
e n Solid
n e
1 e 1 n Vs=1

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 The degree of saturation (%） Dry density (d)
ms
is the ratio of the volume of water to the total volume of void space. For a completely dry soil d 
V 0 Air Va
V Vv
S r  w  100% 0 Air Va
Dry unit weight  d  d g mw Water Vw
Vv Vv
m V
mw Water Vw
The degree of saturation can range between m V
Saturated density (sat) ms Solid Vs
the limits of zero for a completely dry soil
and 1 (or 100%) for a fully saturated soil ms Solid m   wVv
Vs For a fully saturated soil  sat  s
V Mass Volume
Sr=0 : Completely dry
Sr=1 : Fully saturated Mass Volume Saturated unit weight  sat   sat g
Water content characteristic of sand
Buoyant unit weight (’)
Slightly wet Wet Saturated
ms g  Vs w
Sr (%) 50 50~80 >80    sat   w
V
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Densities and unit weights of soil Conversion relationships of soil’s phase indexes
m ms  m w Mass Volume
Bulk density  
V V G

Dry density
m
d  s
sat    d 0 Air
V
ms   wVv wGs e Gs+e

Saturated density  sat  wGsw Water

V
重     sat   w
Bulk unit weight   g Gsw Solid 1
Dry unit weight  d  d g
 sat     d   
Saturated unit weight  sat   sat g G Gs

Buoyant unit weight     sat   w

G

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 Coarse soil’s compactive state
The state of soil
Problem: How to evaluate the compactivity
A description of soil mass characteristics should include an assessment of in- of single-particle structured soil sample of
situ compactive state or stiffness by some physical indexes. cobbles, gravels and sands?
A1: Solid particle volume content or the void
Phase volume content of a given soil mass volume.
Index of soil’s physical property: relationships: d or e or n
Density:  (), d (d), sat (sat), ’ 9 relationships are
Porosity degree: e, n emin = 0.35
defined according to It is simple but when the gradation of soil is
Moisture degree: w, Sr the mass and volume different…….
of soil’s components. A2: A relationship between the void ratio of
sample and two limiting values emax and emin.

Density emax  e
Soil description: index
Dr 
Coarse soil: Compactive state emax emin
Fine soil: Stiffness emax ,emin ：maximum and minimum void ratio of a soil emin = 0.20
particle assembly.
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emax:
is related to the minimum density. A dry Density index
sample is put into a cylinder (partially filled)
which is top-closed with a rubber stopper,
after being shaked and inverted several
times, the resulting volume being read from emax  e (d  d min )d max
the graduations on the cylinder to get the Dr  Dr 
dry density dmin. emax emin (d max  d min )d

emin:
is related to the maximum density. Compactive state of coarse soil
A sample is compacted underwater in
Dr = 1 Densest state
a mould, using a circular steel tamper
attached to a vibrating hammer. The Dr = 0 Loosest state
sample is dried after compacting to get Dr≤ 1/3 Loose state
the dry density dmax. 1/3 < Dr ≤ 2/3 Medium dense state
Dr > 2/3 Dense state
Note that it is not easy to get the theoretical maximum and minimum void
ratios of soil by lab test.
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 Standard penetration test

Fine particle soil’s stiffness

There are also several field tests to determine in-situ
Fine soils’Stiffness is related to the water content.
soil’s compactive state, such as Standard Penetration
Test (SPT) and Heavy Dynamic Penetration Test (DPT).

Stiff
The compactive state of in-situ sand Fine soil Softened
Flow
The number of standard penetration test blow N
30 15 10

Dense Medium dense Slight dense Loose Water content (w)

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Weakly Weakly
Strongly Strongly absorbed Strongly absorbed
absorbed absorbed water absorbed water
water Particle water water
Volume Solid Semi-solid Plastic Liquid

Soil Soil
particle particle Free water

Stiffness state Solid or semi-solid Plastic Liquid

Water in void Strongly Weakly Free water

Water absorbed water absorbed water
w
Vs+Va Water content
Vs Water content
Plastic limit wp Liquid limit wl
Particles limit

O w
wL Strongly absorbed Absorbed water
wS wP
water to the limit to the limit

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Problem：
If two different clayey soils have the same water content, are they in the Plastic index
same stiffness state?
is the water content range over which the soil exhibits plastic behavior.

Ip  wl - w p is used to classify the fine soil

Answer: Not certain.

Activity
Liquid index
is the degree of plasticity of the clay-size fraction of a soil .
w  wp
IL  Ip
wl  wp wp w wl A
p 0.002

IL<0 Stiff 0.00 ~ 0.25 Hard plastic p0.002: the percentage by mass of particles smaller than d=0.002mm.
IL=0 ~ 1 Plastic 0.25 ~ 0.75 Plastic
A < 0.75 Inactive clay
IL>1 Liquid 0.75 ~ 1.00 Soft plastic
A = 075 ~ 1.25 Normal clay
A > 1.25 Active clay

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【Example】A soil sample has a volume of 100cm3，a mass of 187g. After

The state of soil being completely dried, the sample is 167g. The value of Gs for the soil is 2.66.
Determine the water content w、bulk density ρ、unit weight  、dry unit
Phase weight d 、void ratio e、saturated unit weightsat and buoyant unit weight  .
Index of soil’s physical property: relationships:
Density:  (), d (d), sat (sat), ’ 9 relationships are
Porosity degree: e, n defined according to m 187  167 m 187
Moisture degree: w, Sr w  100%   11.98%    1.87 g / cm3
the mass and volume V 100
ms 167
of soil’s components. 167
  g  1.87 10  18.7kN / m3  d  d g  10  16.7kN / m3
100
G (1   )  2.66(1  0.1198)
e s 1   1  0.593
Soil description: Why the state indexes  1.87
Coarse soil: Compactive state （e, Dr） are different to coarse Gs 0.1198 2.66
Sr    53.7%     sat   w  20.4 10  10.4kN / m3
Fine soil: Stiffness ( w, IL, Ip, A) soil and fine soil? e 0.593
Gs  e 2.66  0.593
 sat     10  20 .4 kN / m 3
1 e 1  0.593

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