SOIL MECHANICS I

ASSIGNMENT 1
Submission Date: A week after today
1. A site investigation revealed a uniform deposit of clay. A sample of the clay 76mm high and of 38mm
diameter taken from above the water table had a bulk mass of 175g. After oven drying, the mass of the
sample was 143g. The specific gravity of the soil particles was found to be 2.71. Determine
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)

the bulk density and bulk unit weight

the moisture content
the dry density and dry unit weight
the void ratio
the porosity
the degree of saturation
the air void content

2. The undisturbed soil at a borrow pit has a water content of 15 percent, void ratio of 0.6 and specific gravity
of solids 2.70. The soil from the borrow pit is to be used for the construction of an embankment with a
finished volume of 40,000m3. The specification for the embankment require a water content of 18 percent
and a dry unit weight of 1.76g/cc. Calculate the quantity of soil required to be excavated from the borrow
pit for the construction of the embankment. What would be its weight? What is the weight of the
embankment soil?
3. A natural deposit of loose, dry sand, 5m thick, with an in situ unit weight of 14 kN/m3 was compacted by
vibroflotation technique and the surface settled by 0.5m. The relative density of the sand after compaction
was found to be 85 %. If the dry unit weight of the sand in the loosest state is 10.8kN/m3. Calculate
i.
ii.
iii.

The unit weight of the soil after vibroflotation

The dry unit weight in the densest state, and
The maximum possible settlement of the surface under ideal compaction

4. The soils were tested for their consistency limit in the laboratory. The following data were obtained.
Soil A
No of blows N
8
20
30
45
Plastic limit =25%

%
43
39
37
35

Soil B
No of blows N
5
15
30
40

Plastic limit =30%

65
61
59
58

The natural moisture contents of soil A and B were measured in the field and were found to be 40% and 50%
respectively.
a)
b)
c)
d)

Which soil has greater plasticity?

Which soil will be better foundation material upon remoulding?
Which soil ha a higher strength at plastic limit?
Is there a likelihood of organic matter being present in these soils?

5. 50g of minus 75 micron (# 200), oven dried soil was used in a hydrometer analysis. The corrected
hydrometer reading after 2min in 1000cc soil suspension was 25.0. The effective depth He for RH of 25 is
12.13 cm. taking specific gravity of solids as 2.75 and viscosity of water as 0.01poise. Calculate the
coordinate of the point on the grain size curve.
6. The following data refers to the classification test carried out on three samples from borrow pit
Percent finer
Sieve Size

Sample 1

Sample 2

Sample 3

4.75mm

100.000

100.000

100.000

2.00mm

100.000

99.250

100.000

1.00mm

99.800

98.750

99.900

450 micron

99.650

98.000

99.700

212 micron

98.950

54.150

90.000

150 micron

97.550

7.600

81.500

75 micron

96.850

6.000

63.000

Liquid limit

23.000 -

Plastic limit

16.770 -

Classify the soils as per Unified Soil Classification System.

7. Given the data of the above question classify the soil using AASHTO system.
Soil

WL

WP

1
2
3

35
42

21
26

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

Percentage Finer, %

Grain Size Distribution Curve

0.0001

0.0010

0.0100

Grain Size, mm

0.1000

1.0000

10.0000

100.0000