SOIL MECHANICS – PROBLEM SET 1

1. Consider a 0.5 m3 sample of moist soil weighing 712 kg. after drying in an oven, the sample
weighs 630.3 kg. The specific gravity of soil is 2.68. Find the following:
 Moisture content
 Moist Density
 Dry Density
 Void Ratio
 Porosity
2. The dry unit weight of soil is 17.5 KN/m3. Given that Gs=2.69 and w=9.8% determine:
 Moist unit weight
 Void Ratio
 Degree of Saturation
3. Consider a sample of soil with specific gravity of 2.67, a moist unit weight of 17.6 kN/m3, and a
moisture content of 10.8%. Determine:
 Dry Unit weight
 Void Ratio
 Porosity
 Degree of Saturation
4. A saturated soil has a dry unit weight of 103 lb/ft3. Its moisture content is 23%. Determine:
 Saturated unit weight
 Specific gravity
 Void ratio
5. For a given sandy soil, emax=0.75 and emin=0.4. Let Gs=2.68. In the field, the soil is compacted
to a moist density of 112 lb/f3 at a moisture content of 12%. Determine the relative density of
compaction.
6. A certain cohesionless soil has specific gravity of 2.67. A 1000 cu.cm. container is just filled with
a dry sample of this soil in its loosest possible state. Later, the container is filled at the densest
state obtainable. The total weights for the loosest and densest samples are 1550 and 1720
grams respectively.
 Determine the maximum and minimum void ratio
 If the dry unit weight of the in-situ soil is 103.5 lb/ft3, compute for the relative density.
7. In a standard compaction test, a sample of silty sand was compacted in a mold whose volume is
1/30 cu.ft. The moist weight of soil sample is 4.01 lb. When dried, the soil weighted 3.52 lb. If
the specific gravity of soil solids is 2.69, compute for the following:
 Void ratio
 Moisture content
 Dry unit weight
 Degree of saturation
 Moist unit weight
 Saturated unit weight
 Buoyant unit weight
8. Determine the shrinkage limit of the soil based from the results of a shrinkage limit test:
Initial volume of soil in a saturated state = 24.6 cm3
Final volume of soil in a dry state = 15.9 cm3

ENGR. JOHN RICHARD V. MAGHINANG 1

 SOIL MECHANICS – PROBLEM SET 1

Initial mass in a saturated state = 44.0 g

Final mass in a dry state = 30.1 g
9. Determine the liquid limit and the flow index based from the results from the liquid tests for a
soil. Liquid limit test:

10. Determine the plastic limit based from the data given below.

TRIAL WATER CONTENT

1 19.2
2 18.2

11. Based from the data given from nos. 9 and 10, determine the liquidity index and plasticity index
such that is in-situ weight of soil is 42.8 grams and after oven drying it weighed 32.02 grams.

ENGR. JOHN RICHARD V. MAGHINANG 2