APPENDIX A

SI UNITS IN GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

Introduction There has always been some confusion with regards to the system of units to be used in engineering practices and other commercial transactions. FPS (Foot-pound-second) and MKS (MeterKilogram-second) systems are still in use in many parts of the world. Sometimes a mixture of two or more systems are in vogue making the confusion all the greater. Though the SI (Le System International d'Unites or the International System of Units) units was first conceived and adopted in the year 1960 at the Eleventh General Conference of Weights and Measures held in Paris, the adoption of this coherent and systematically constituted system is still slow because of the past association with the FPS system. The conditions are now gradually changing and possibly in the near future the SI system will be the only system of use in all academic institutions in the world over. It is therefore essential to understand the basic philosophy of the SI units. The Basics of the SI System The SI system is a fully coherent and rationalized system. It consists of six basic units and two supplementary units, and several derived units. (Table A.I) Table A.1
Quantity

Basic units of interest in geotechnical engineering

Unit Meter Kilogram Second Ampere Kelvin SI symbol
m kg S A K

1.
2. 3. 4. 5.

Length Mass Time Electric current Thermodynamic temperature

987

988

Appendix A

Supplementary Units
The supplementary units include the radian and steradian, the units of plane and solid angles, respectively.

Derived Units
The derived units used by geotechnical engineers are tabulated in Table A.2. Prefixes are used to indicate multiples and submultiples of the basic and derived units as given below. Factor Prefix Symbol mega M 106 3 10 kilo k io-3 milli m micro (i io~6

Table A. 2 Derived units

Quantity acceleration area density force pressure stress moment or torque unit weight frequency volume volume work (energy) Unit meter per second squared square meter kilogram per cubic meter newton pascal pascal newton-meter newton per cubic meter hertz cubic meter liter joule

SI symbol

Formula m/sec2 m2 kg/m3 kg-m/s2 N/m 2 N/m 2 kg-m 2 /s 2 kg/s2m2 cycle/sec 10-3m3 N-m

N Pa Pa N-m
N/m 3

Hz m3 L J

Mass
Mass is a measure of the amount of matter an object contains. The mass remains the same even if the object's temperature and its location change. Kilogram, kg, is the unit used to measure the quantity of mass contained in an object. Sometimes Mg (megagram) and gram (g) are also used as a measure of mass in an object.

Time
Although the second (s) is the basic SI time unit, minutes (min), hours (h), days (d) etc. may be used as and where required.

Force
As per Newton's second law of motion, force, F, is expressed as F = Ma, where, M = mass expressed in kg, and a is acceleration in units of m/sec2. If the acceleration is g, the standard value of which is 9.80665 m/sec2 ~ 9.81 m/s2, the force F will be replaced by W, the weight of the body. Now the above equation may be written as W = Mg.

SI Units in Geotechnical Engineering

989

The correct unit to express the weight W, of an object is the newton since the weight is the gravitational force that causes a downward acceleration of the object. Newton, N, is defined as the force that causes a 1 kg mass to accelerate 1 m/s2
.kg-m or 1N = 1E-r s2

Since, a newton, is too small a unit for engineering usage, multiples of newtons expressed as kilonewton, kN, and meganewton, MN, are used. Some of the useful relationships are 1 kilonewton, kN = 103 newton = 1000 N meganewton, MN = 106 newton = 103 kN = 1000 kN Stress and Pressure The unit of stress and pressure in SI units is the pascal (Pa) which is equal to 1 newton per square meter (N/m2). Since a pascal is too small a unit, multiples of pascals are used as prefixes to express the unit of stress and pressure. In engineering practice kilopascals or megapascals are normally used. For example, 1 kilopascal = 1 kPa = 1 kN/m2 = 1000 N/m2 1 megapascal = 1 MPa = 1 MN/m2 = 1000 kN/m2 Density Density is defined as mass per unit volume. In the SI system of units, mass is expressed in kg/m3. In many cases, it may be more convenient to express density in megagrams per cubic meter or in gm per cubic centimeter. The relationships may be expressed as 1 g/cm3 = 1000 kg/m3 = 106 g/m3 = 1 Mg/m3 It may be noted here that the density of water, p^ is exactly 1.00 g/cm3 at 4 C, and the variation is relatively small over the range of temperatures in ordinary engineering practice. It is sufficiently accurate to write pw = 1.00 g/cm3 = 103 kg/m3 = 1 Mg/m3 Unit weight Unit weight is still the common measurement in geotechnical engineering practice. The relationship between unit weight, 7 and density p, may be expressed as 7= pg. For example, if the density of water, pw = 1000 kg/m3, then ,..,, = ,000 4 x 9*1 i = 9810 4 ! | mj s2 m3 s 2 Since, 1N = 1 -, y =9810= 9.81 kN/m3 s2 mj
Iro rn N

990
Table A.3 To convert From Conversion factors

Appendix A

SI to FPS To ft in in in
ft2 in2 in2 in2 ft3 in3 in3
Multiply by From

FPS to SI

To
m m cm mm

Multiply by 0.3048 0.0254 2.54 25.4 929.03 xlO^ 6.452x10^ 6.452 645.16 28.317xlO- 3 1 6.387 x 10~6 16.387 4.448 4.448 x 10'3 4.448 8.896 47.88 0.04788 95.76 47.88 6.895 0.1572 271.43 1.3558 0.11298 0.4162 x 106 0.4162 x KT6 0.16387 x 105 0.16387 x 10-4 0.3048 30.48 0.3048 2.54 6.452 20.346 x 103 929.03

Length

m m cm mm

3.281 39.37 0.3937 0.03937

10.764 1550 0.155 0.155x 10~2 35.32 61,023.4 0.06102 0.2248 224.8 0.2248 0.1124 20.885 xlO-3 20.885 0.01044 20.885 x 10-3 0.145

ft in in in
ft2 in2 in2 in2 ft3 in3

m2 m2 cm2 mm'
Volume

m2 m2 cm2 mm2 m3 m3 cm3

N kN kN kN

m3 m3 cm3
N kN kN kN

in3
Ib Ib kip US ton
lb/ft2 lb/ft2 US ton/ft2 kip/ft2 lb/in2 lb/ft3 lb/in3 Ib-ft Ib-in

Force

Ib Ib kip US ton
lb/ft2 lb/ft2 US ton/ft2 kip/ft2 lb/in2 lb/ft3 lb/in3 Ib-ft Ib-in

Stress

N/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2

kN/m3 kN/m3

N/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2 kN/m2

kN/m3 kN/m3

Unit weight Moment Moment of inertia Section modulus

6.361 0.003682
0.7375 8.851 2.402 x KT6 2.402 x 106

N-m N-m mm4 m4 mm3 m3

m/min cm/min m/sec cm/sec cm2/sec m2/year cm2/sec

N-m N-m mm4 m4 mm3 m3

m/min cm/min m/sec cm/sec cm2/sec m2/year cm2/sec

in4 in4 in3 in3

ft/min ft/min ft/sec in/sec in2/sec inVsec ft2/sec

in4 in4 in3 in3

ft/min ft/min ft/sec in/sec in2/sec in2/sec ft2/sec

6.102 x 1Q-5 6.102 x 104 3.281 0.03281 3.281 0.3937 0.155 4.915 x 10-5 1.0764 x lO'3

Hydraulic conductivity

Coefficient of consolidation

SI Units in Geotechnical Engineering Table A.4 To convert from Conversion factors general Multiply by 3.9370079 10~9 3.28084 x 10-' 1 xio- 7 1 x io~8 1 x io-10 3.9370079 x 1(T5 3785 3.785 x io-3 0.133680 3.785 4.44822 x io5 453.59243 0.45359243 907.1874 2000 2
1 x IO 6 1000 2204.6223 2.2046223 1.1023112

991

To
inches feet millimeters centimeters meters inches
cm3 m3 ft3 liters

Angstrom units

Microns

US gallon (gal)

Pounds

dynes grams kilograms kilograms pounds kips grams kilograms pounds kips tons (short or US tons) lbs/in2 lbs/ft2 US tons/ft2 kg/cm2 metric ton/ft2
3

Tons (short or US tons)

Tons (metric)

kips/ft2

6.94445 1000 0.5000 0.488244 4.88244 27.6799 27679.905 1728 4

Pounds/in Poise millipoise

gms/cm3 kg/m3 lbs/ft3 kN-sec/m2 poise kN-sec/m2 gm-sec/cm2 ft/day ft/year ft/min m/min ft/min ft/year

io3 io-7 ioicr6

ft/mm ft/year cm/sec

1440 5256 x IO 2

1.9025 x 1Q-6 0.600 1.9685 1034643.6