Experiment No.

6
DETERMINATION OF WATER CONTENT, UNIT WEIGHT, VOID RATIO
AND DEGREE OF SATURATION OF SOIL

1. Objective(s):
To introduce to the student the procedure in determining the weight-volume characteristics of the soil.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
The students shall be able to:
• connect the relationship of water content, unit weight, void ratio and degree of saturation.
• describe methods in determining water content, unit weight, void ratio and degree of saturation.

3. Discussion:

The determination of water content, unit weight and void ratio is an important requirement in laboratory
tests and is part of the test included in more elaborate tests. Water content is an important measure in the
compaction of soil. In order that correct water content is obtained from a soil sample, several samples at
different points must be taken. They are then mixed and the water content is then obtained from this soil
sample.

Various methodologies have been devised to determine the unit weight of the soil in the field such as
calibrated bucket method, nuclear method to name a few. For determination of the unit weight in a
laboratory setting, paraffin wax can be used in determining the unit weight. The paraffin coating applied on
the soil will allow determination of its volume as it is submerged in water.

The specific gravity of the solid grains of the soil is an engineering parameter which is dependent on the
mineralogy of the soil and the structure of its solid grains. Upon determination of the specific gravity, the
void ratio and degree of saturation of the soil can then be determined mathematically.

4. Resources:

1. Tin cup
2. Triple-beam Balance
3. Oven
4. Pycnometer
5. Bunsen burner
6. Paraffin wax

5. Procedure:

Note: For this experiment, coarse-grained soil sample is to be utilized to expedite the oven-drying of the
sample.

Water Content Determination

1. Weigh a tin cup including its cover; identify the cover and its lid. Determine the weight of the tin
cup.
 2. Place a representative sample of wet soil in the cup. Determine the weight of wet soul and tin cup.
3. Place the sample in the oven for at least 3 hours.
4. When the sample has dried to constant weight, obtain the weight of cup and dry soil
5. Compute the water content. The difference between weight of wet soil plus cup and weight of dry
soil plus cup is the weight of water (W w). Also compute the weight of dry soil (W s).
6. To determine the water content ().

 = Ww/Ws x 100

7. Repeat until three (3) trials are achieved. Determine the average moisture content.

Unit Weight Determination

1. Trim a sample of soil to about 1 ½ inches diameter and 2 to 3 inches long. Surface should be
smooth and rounded. Weigh to up to the nearest 0.1 gram.
2. Cover with a thin coating of paraffin and weigh again. Compute the volume of paraffin from weight
of paraffin. The specific gravity of paraffin is about 0.9
3. Immerse the coated sample in water in the graduated cylinder and determine its displacement.
The volume of the sample is the volume of the water displaced minus the volume of the paraffin.
4. Compute the unit weight in grams/cu. cm.

Calculations:
• The volume of the paraffin is equal to the weight of paraffin used to coat sample divided by the
density of paraffin. Density of paraffin is 0.90

Wt. of paraffin = Wt. Soil coated with paraffin – wt. of soil uncoated with paraffin

• The volume of the paraffin—coated sample is equal to the weight in air minus the weight in water,
(express the weight in gm)
• Wet density of soil = wt of soil g/cc or kg/m
vol of soil

Specific Gravity Determination:

Calibration of Pycnometer
1. Transfer carefully the 25 gm sample to the calibrated bottle and add distilled water until about ½
full. Care must be exercised so as not to lose any of the soil in the transfer.
2. Expel the entrapped air by boiling gently for at least 10 minutes. Roll the bottle occasionally to
facilitate the removal of air.
3. Cool the sample to room temperature or to a temperature within the range of the calibration curve
of the bottle used.

Determination of Specific Gravity

1. Fill the bottle with distilled water to the calibration mark as discussed in step 2 from calibration of
bottle.
2. Dry the outside of the bottle, as in step 3, pycnometer calibration.
 3. Weigh the bottle with water and soil, and record as W b.
4. Read and record the temperature of the contents to 0.1 °C, as in step 5, pycnometer calibration.
5. Repeat procedure for at least 3 trials.

Note: An alternative heating device that can be used is an electric plate stove with wire gauze.

G t (Ws)
Gs = W + W – W
s a b

Where:

Gs – Specific gravity
Gt – Specific gravity of distilled water at the temperature when
Wb was obtained (refer to Table A)
Ws – Weight of oven-dried sample
Wa – weight of bottle + water (from calibration curve)
Wb – weight of bottle + soil and water

Determination of Void Ratio and Degree of Saturation:

The void ratio can be determined from the formula shown below:

wGs (1+w)
e= - 1


The degree of saturation can be determined from the formula shown below:

S = Gs/e
Course: CE 401 Experiment No.: 6
Group No.: 2 Section: CE41FA1
Group Leader: CASIMO GEIZEL IRISH Date Performed: November 27, 2019
Group Members: Date Submitted: December 4, 2019
1. CARALDE JAMES VINCENT Instructor: Engr. Jennifer L. Camino
2. CAY ANTHONY
3. CONTRERAS GERALD
4. DACAYMAT NILO JAY
5. DURANTE RACHEL
6. CAQUILALA JEC
6. Data and Results:

Moisture Content Determination

Description Sample 1 Sample 2 Sample 3
Wt of tin cup (Wc) 13 g 13 g 14 g
Wt. of tin cup + Wet Soil (Wc+ws) 62 g 22 g 91 g
Wt. of tin cup and dry soil (Wc+dc) 32 g 18 g 73 g
Wt. of water (Ww) 30 g 4g 59 g
Wt. of dry soil (Wds) 19 g 5g 59 g
Water Content () 157.89 % 80 % 327.77%
Average ((W w)/ (Wds) x 100 ) = 112.05

Unit Weight Determination

Description Description
Wt. of soil (Ws) 60 g Wt. of paraffin (Wp) 7g
Wt. of soil and paraffin 67 g Volume of paraffin (Vp) 66.67
(Ws+p)
Volume of soil+paraffin 295 Volume of soil (Vs) 228.33
(Vs+p)
Unit weight () 0.308 cm3

Specific Gravity Determination

Description Description
SG of distilled water (Gt) 1.0 Wt. of bottle + water (Wa) 45 g
Wt. of oven-dried 11 g Weight of bottle + soil + 58 g
sample (Ws) water (Wb)
Specific gravity of soil (Gs) 5.5

Determination of Void Ratio and Degree of Saturation

Void ratio 234.44
Degree of Saturation 0.81 %
 7. Conclusion:

- There are three Important Requirement which are Moisture Content Determination, Unit Weight
Determination, Specific Gravity, Determination of Void Ratio and Degree of Saturation. In the
moisture content determination, soil sample 3 has the highest water content with 327.77 %,
followed by soil sample 1 (157.89%) and lastly, Soil Sample 2 with 80% of water content.

In the Unit Weight Determination, the soil sample used is covered with Paraffin Wax. It can be
concluded that soil sample with paraffin wax we used has the unit weight of 0.308 cm3 .And for
the Specific Gravity determination, we filled the bottle with water and soil and the weight of
calibrated bottle with water and soil has 45 g.

Based on this Experiment, we are able to determined the connection of relationship and Described
the methods of water content, unit weight, void ratio and degree of saturation

8. Assessment (Rubric for Laboratory Performance):

BEGINNER ACCEPTABLE PROFICIENT

CRITERIA SCORE
1 2 3
I. Laboratory Skills
Members do not Members occasionally
Manipulative Members always
demonstrate needed demonstrate needed
Skills demonstrate needed skills.
skills. skills
Members are able to Members are able to set-up
Experimental Members are unable to
set-up the materials the material with minimum
Set-up set-up the materials.
with supervision. supervision.
Process Skills Members do not Members occasionally Members always
demonstrate targeted demonstrate targeted demonstrate targeted
 process skills. process skills. process skills.
Members follow safety
Safety Members do not follow Members follow safety
precautions most of the
Precautions safety precautions. precautions at all times.
time.
II. Work Habits
Time
Members do not finish Members finish ahead of
Management / Members finish on time
on time with incomplete time with complete data and
Conduct of with incomplete data.
data. time to revise data.
Experiment
Members do not know Members have defined
Members are on tasks and
their tasks and have no responsibilities most of
have defined responsibilities
Cooperative and defined responsibilities. the time. Group
at all times. Group conflicts
Teamwork Group conflicts have to conflicts are
are cooperatively managed
be settled by the cooperatively managed
at all times.
teacher. most of the time.
Clean and orderly
Messy workplace workplace with Clean and orderly workplace
Neatness and
during and after the occasional mess during at all times during and after
Orderliness
experiment. and after the the experiment.
experiment.
Ability to do Members require Members require
Members do not need to be
independent supervision by the occasional supervision
supervised by the teacher.
work teacher. by the teacher.
Other Comments/Observations: Total Score
(Total Score)
Rating= ×100
24

9. References
Murthy, V.N.S. (2011). Textbook of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering . Singapore: Alken
Company

American Society for Testing and Materials (2000). Standard Test Method for Determination of Water
Content of Soil by Direct Heating Method (D-4959) . Pennsylvania: ASTM International

American Society for Testing and Materials (2002). Standard Test Methods for Determination of Specific
Gravity of Soil Solids by Water Pycnometer (D-854) . Pennsylvania: ASTM International

Documentation
Calibrated Bottle Tin Cup

Weighing Scale Weight of Calibrated Bottle

 Weight of Tin Cup Weight of Water in the Calibrated Bottle

Weight of Soil Sample and Water We dried the soil using the oven
Weight of Dried Soil We are forming a Cylinder form using the soil that
we wet for us to mold it easily

Melts the Paraffin Wax Covered by Thin Coating of Paraffin Wax

 Weight of Soil with Paraffin Wax

Calculations:

(Unit Weight)

91
y= =0.308
295

(Moisture Content)

31
w= =0.344
60

(Void Ratio)

( 9.81 ) ( 5.5 )( 1+0.344 )

e= −1
0.308

e = 234.44

(Degree of Saturation)

0.344 (5.5)
S= x 100
234.44

S = 0.81 %