SOIL MECHANICS

LECTURE OUTLINE

 Definition, formation and nature of soil

 Particle shape and clay minerals and properties
 Soil classification
o Particle size distribution
o Atterberg limits
o Three phases of soil and their relationship

1.1 SOIL MECHANICS

Soil is defined as the material naturally obtained from weathering and decomposition or
disintegration of rocks.

Soil mechanics is defined as the application of the laws and principles of mechanics and
hydraulics to engineering problems dealing with soil as an engineering material. Soil has many
different meanings, depending on the field of study. To a geotechnical engineer, soil has a much
broader meaning and can include not only agronomic material but also broken-up fragments of
rock, volcanic ash, alluvium and other residual or transported product of rock weathering.

Other experts which are interested in soil include horticulturist, soil scientist, geologist,
agricultural scientist.

Soil Constituents: A soil mass is commonly considered to consist of solid particles, enclosed
voids. Thus on the basis of constituents, the types of soils are:

1. Dry soil: if only empty air is present in the voids of the compressed soil.

2. Saturated soil: if only water is present in the voids

3. Partially saturated soil: if water along with air is present in the void. It is also known as 3
phase soil system
1.1.1 Formation of Soil

The conversion, decomposition or disintegration of intact mass of rock mechanically or

chemically to small pieces is called weathering. There are two types of weathering

1. Mechanical Weathering: The rock is disintegrated mechanically i.e. no change in

chemical composition. The three actions that happen in mechanical weathering are: grinding,
abrasion and shattering. The physical agents that causes weathering are: temperature change, ice,
wind, flowing water and earth quake etc.

2. Chemical weathering: This may be caused by hydration, carbonation, oxidation etc. clay
minerals are obtained due to chemical weathering.

1.1.2 Types of Soil

According to origin the types of soil are:

1. Residual soil: it is soil which remains in place directly over the parent rock and relatively
shallow in depth.

2. Transportation soil: It is soil which is taken away to other place after decomposition and
disintegration. The deposit of transported soil may be considerable in depth and their
homogeneity or heterogeneity depends upon manner of their transportation and deposition. The
various agencies of transporting and depositing soil are water, ice, wind and gravity.

According to Grain size:

According to grain size there are three main groups

1. Coarse Grain Size: also known as cohesion less soil. The soil particles have large size and
do not have any intermolecular attractive forces. It can be sub divided into gravel particles and
sand particles. The particles can be identified with naked eyes or with the aid of handless

2. Fine grain soil or cohesive soil: in fine grain soil, the particles are small in size and have
intermolecular forces of attraction. These particles cannot be seen with naked eye and are further
divided into silt which has particles size larger than 0.075mm and larger than 0.002mm and clay
3. Organic soil: The soil formed by the decomposition of organic matters. The organic
matters may include vegetables and animals. The soil has low bearing capacity hence rendering
it useless for geotechnical purposes.

1.2 Minerals in Clay

There are 3 minerals in clay namely Kaolinite, illite and mon

(a) Kaolin, Al2Si2O5(OH)4. Two units are held together by attraction (van der Waals’ forces).
Note that the structure of kaolin is worth comparing with that of serpentine, in which a brucite
layer replaces the gibbsite (G) layer of kaolin. Kaolin (or kaolinite) is often termed a 1:1 sheet
silicate, since one silica layer is coupled with one gibbsite layer. This mineral is present in good
laterite. It does not swell.

(b) Illite, K0.5–1Al2(AlSi3)O10(OH)2. Illite, like the micas, is termed a 2:1 sheet silicate since one
sandwich unit consists of two silica layers with one gibbsite layer between. The units are joined
by K+ ions. They are formed by the decomposition of some micas and feldspars; predominant in
marine clays and shales
(c) Montmorillonite, [2Al2(AlSi3)O10(OH)2]2-. It is formed by the alteration of basic igneous rocks
containing silicates rich in Ca and Mg; weak linkage by cations (e.g. Na +, Ca2+) results in high
swelling/shrinking potential.

1.3 Soil Classification

Soil classification deals with the systematic categorization of soils based on distinguishing
characteristics as well as criteria that dictate choices in use. Soil classification can be approached
from the perspective of soil as a material and soil as a resource.

Engineers, typically geotechnical engineers, classify soil according to their engineering

properties as they relate to use for foundation support or building material. The most common
engineering classification system for soils is the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) and
AASHTO Soil Classification System. The former system has three major classification groups:

1. Coarse-grained soils e.g. sands and gravel

2. fine-grained soils e.g. silt and clay

3. highly organic soils referred to as peat.

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials developed AASHTO Soil
Classification System and is used as a guide for the classification of soils and soil-aggregate
mixtures for highway construction purposes.

1.3.1 Particle Size Analysis

The percentage of various sizes of particles in a given dry soil sample is found by a particle size
analysis or mechanical analysis. The mechanical analysis is performed in two stages:

i. Dry Sieve analysis

ii. Sedimentation analysis or wet sieve analysis.

Dry sieve analysis is meant for coarse grained soils only while wet sieve is for fine grained soils.
The sieve analysis is however the true representative of grain size distribution since the test is not
affected by the temperature.
Using either AASHTO or ASTM the sieve sizes are given in terms of the number of opening per
mm (75 mm, 63 mm, 50 mm, 37.5 mm, 28 mm, 20 mm, 14 mm, 10 mm, 6.3 mm, 5 mm, 3.35
mm, 2 mm, 1.18 mm, 600 μm, 425 μm, 300 μm, 212 μm, 150 μm, 63 μm). Sieving is performed
by arranging the various sieves on over the other in the other of their mesh openings – the largest
aperture sieve being kept at the top and the smallest aperture sieve at the bottom. A receiver is
kept at the bottom and a cover is kept at the top of whole assembly. The soil sample is put on the
top sieve and whole assembly is then shake either mechanically or electrically. The percentage of
soil retained on each sieve is calculated on the basis of total weight of soil sample taken and from
these results, percentage passing through each sieve is calculated.

A graph is being plotted using semi logarithm scale with percentage passing as the y-axis and
sieve no as the x-axis. The curve is called grain size distribution curve. The soil can either be:
well graded, poorly graded soil or uniformly graded soil.

D60
The uniformity co-efficient is given as C u= .
D10

Cu < 5 – uniformly graded

5<Cu<15 – well graded

Cu>15 – poorly graded

2
( D30 )
The co-efficient of curvature is given as Cc=
(D10∗D60 )

1<Cc<3 – good soil

Sieve Analysis Example

The result of a dry sieving test are given below. Plot the grading curve and calculate Cu and Cc.
Classify this soil based on your result.

Seive Seive Wt % ΣW(%) %

Numb Opening(m Retained Passin Finer
er # m) (g) g
4 4.75 52.8 16 16 84
 8 2.36 70 21.212 37.212 62.787
12 12 88
16 1.18 134 40.606 77.818 22.181
06 18 82
30 0.6 54 16.363 94.181 5.8181
64 82 83
40 0.425 8 2.4242 96.606 3.3939
42 06 41
50 0.3 4 1.2121 97.818 2.1818
2 18 21
70 0.212 4 1.2121 99.030 0.9697
2 3 01
120 0.125 1.6 0.4848 99.515 0.4848
48 15 53
200 0.075 1.2 0.3636 99.878 0.1212
36 78 17
Pan 0.01 0.4 0.1212 100 4.64E-
12 06
330 100

Grain Size
Parameters

D10 0.63

D30 1.41

D60 2.35

Cu 3.730
2
CC 1.342
9

1.3.2 Weight – Volume Relationships

Weight W =Mg

M
Density ρ=
V
 W
Unit weight γ =
V

γ = ρg

The unit weight is the product of density and gravity acceleration. It is the gravitational force
caused by the mass of material within a unit volume (density).

Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of unit weight of a given material to the unit weight of
water.

γ ρg ρ
Gs = = =
γ w ρw g ρw

1.3.3 Three phases of Soils

Naturally occurred soils always consists of solid particles, water, and air, so that soil has three
phases: solid, liquid and gas.

Fig 2.2a: Three phase diagram

Fig 2.2b: Three phase diagram

Wt: total weight Vt: total volume

Ws: weight of solid Vs: volume of solid

Ww: weight of water Vw: volume of water

Wa: weight of air = 0 Va: Volume of air

Wt = Ws+Ww Vt = Vs+Vv = Vs+Va+Vw

Mt = Ms+Mw

Vv Vv
void ratio ( e )= ; Porosity ( n % ) = x 100
Vs Vt

Vv
Vv Vv Vt n
e= = = =
Vs Vt −Vv Vv 1−n
1−
Vt

Vv Vv Vv/Vs e
n= = = =
Vt Vs+Vv 1+Vv /Vs 1+ e

Apparently, for the same material we always have e>n. For example, when porosity is 0.5(50%),
the void ratio is 1.0 already
 Vw
Degree of saturation :S= x 100 %
Vv

Saturation is measured by the ratio of volume

Ww
Moisture content ( water content ) :w= x 100 %
Ws

Ww is the weight of water, Ws is the weight of solid

Definition of 3 types of unit weight

Total unit weight (moisture unit weight, wet unit weight) γ :

Wt Ws+Ww
γ= =
Vt Vt

Dry unit weight γ d :

Ws
γ d=
Vt

Saturated unit weight (when saturation S = 1) γ sat

Wt
γ sat =
Vt

Solid unit weight γ s

Ws
γ s=
Vs

Relationship between dry unit weight and total unit weight

Ws Wt−Ww Wt Ww WwWs γ
γ d= = = − =γ − =γ−w γ d=
Vt Vt Vt Vt WsVt 1+w

Relationships among S, e, w and Gs

Vw
S= thenVw=SVv=Se givenVs=1
Vv

Ww γ w V w γ w eS eS
w= = = =
Ws γ s V s G s γ w Gs
 Se=wGs

When the soil is 100% saturated (S = 1)

e=wGs

Relationships among γ, n, w and Gs

Ww=wWs=wGs γ w (1−n)

So that the dry unit weight is

Ws Gs γ w (1−n)
γ d= = =Gs γ w (1−n)
Vt 1−n+ n

And the moist unit weight γ is

γ =Gs γ w (1−n)(1+ w)

Example:

Determine moisture content, void ratio, porosity and degree of saturation of a soil core sample.
Also determine the dry unit weight γ d

Data:

 Weight of soil sample = 1013g

 Vol. of soil sample = 585.0cm3
 Specific gravity = Gs = 2.65
 Dry weight of soil = 904.0g

Solution
From the three phase diagram we can find:

Ww 109 (g)
Moisture content w= = x 100=12.1 %
Ws 904 (g)

Vv 243.9
Void ratio, e e= = =0.715
Vs 341.1

Vv 243.9
Porosity, n n= = x 100=41.7 %
Vt 585

Vw 109
Degree of saturation, S S= = x 100=44.7 %
Vv 243.9

Ws 904 3
Dry unit weight γ d = = =1.55 g /cm
Vt 585

Example 2:

A soil sample weighs 950g and its volume is 510 cm 3. If the dry unit of sample is 890g and
specific gravity of soil solid is 2.65 determine: water content, void ratio, porosity and degree of
saturation.

Solution

Ww Wt−Wd 950−890
Water content = x 100= x 100= x 100=6.74 %
Wd Wd 890

γ w Gs
Void ratio e=γ d = =0.5185
1+ e
 e
Porosity n= x 100=34.45 %
1+ e

wGs
Degree of saturation ( s )= =34.45 %
e

1.3.4 Atterberg Limit

These limits are named after Swedish agriculturist Atterberg. Fine grained soil may be mixed
with water to form a plastic paste which can be moulded into any form of pressure. The addition
of water reduces the cohesion until material no longer retains its shapes under its own weight
flows as liquids. Enough water may be added until the soil grains are dispersed in a suspension.

Atterberg divided the entire range from liquid to solid into four stages.

1. Liquid state

2. Plastic state

3. The semi-solid state

4. The solid state

He set arbitrary limits in terms of water content. Thus the consistency limits are the water
contents at which soil masses passes from one state to the next. The limits which are most useful
for engineering purposes are:

1. Liquid limit: it was defined by casagrande as the minimum water content at which 25
blows will close a groove of standard dimension for a distance of 0.5 inches when groove is
made in the soil paste placed in the casangrade apparatus. It is the moisture content at which a
soil passes from the liquid state to the plastic state

2. Plastic Limit: it is the minimum water content at which soil mass starts crumbling when
rolled into a thread of 3mm diameter

3. Shrinkage limit: The water content at which further loss of water will not cause any
reduction in the volume of soil mass

Plasticity index is the difference between liquid limit and plastic limit (LL – PL)
Liquid index is the difference between water content and plastic limit divided by plasticity index

Flow index is the slope of flow curve