6/10/2019 Dry Unit Weight

Dry unit weight is an oven dried sample of soil. This consists only of solids and air voids. Typical dry unit weights are:

Range of
Typical Strength
Characteristics
ϕ Tan ϕ
Range of (Effective
Maximum Dry Cohesion
Group Symbol Soil Type Optimum Cohesion Stress
Unit Weight (as Moist Unit Wt 95% max
Moisture (%) (saturated) Envelop)
(pcf) compacted) (pcf) density
(psf) (Degrees)
(psf)
GW Well graded clean gravels, gravel-sand 125 - 135 11 - 8 0 0 >38 >0.79 142 135
mixtures.
GP Poorly graded clean gravels, gravel-sand 115 - 125 14 - 11 0 0 >37 >0.74 135 128
mix
GM Silty gravels, poorly graded graded 120 - 135 12 - 8 …. …. >34 >0.67 140 133
gravel-sand-silt
GC Clayey gravels, poorly graded gravel- 115 - 130 14 - 9 …. …. >31 >0.60 137 130
sand-clay.
SW Well graded clean sands, gravelly sands. 110 - 130 16 - 9 0 0 38 0.78 135 128
SP Poorly graded clean sands, sand-gravel 100 - 120 21 - 12 0 0 37 0.75 128 122
mix.
SM Silty sands, poorly graded sand-silt mix. 110 - 125 16 - 11 1050 420 34 0.67 133 127
SM-SC Sand-silt clay mix with slightly plastic 110 - 130 15 - 11 1050 300 33 0.65 136 129
fines.
SC Clayey sands, poorly graded sand-clay- 105 - 125 19 - 11 1550 230 31 0.60 132 126
mix.
ML Inorganic silt and clay. 95 - 120 24 - 12 1400 190 32 0.62 127 121
ML-CL Mixture of inorganic silt and clay. 100 - 120 22 - 12 1350 460 32 0.62 129 122
CL Inorganic clays of low to medium 95 - 120 24 - 12 1800 270 28 0.53 127 121
plasticity.
OL organic silts and silt-clays, low plasticity. 80 - 100 33 - 21 …. …. …. …. 114 109
MH Inorganic clayey silts, elastic silts. 70 - 95 40 - 24 1500 420 25 0.47 109 103
CH Inorganic clays of high plasticity. 75 - 105 36 - 19 2150 230 19 0.34 115 109
OH Organic clays and silty clays. 65 - 100 43 - 21 …. …. …. …. 109 103

Notes:
1. All properties are for condition of "Standard Proctor" maximum density.
2. Typical strength characteristics are for effective strength envelopes and are obtained from USSR data.

The dry unit weight is unit weight of a soil when all the voids are completely filled with air, no water. The formula for dry unit weight is:

https://rea-llc.com/REA Help/dry_unit_weight.htm 1/1