Geotechnical Engineering is concerned with the engineering properties of

earth materials. At MnDOT, geotechnical activities are focused on earth

materials and their interaction with transportation projects. The Geotechnical
Section conducts surface and subsurface investigations to gather information
about earth materials and then performs testing and analyses to arrive at
appropriate solutions for construction or maintenance projects

Sieve analysis is one of the important practices in civil engineering as it is

used for finding particle size distribution of particular aggregate. It is also
used for finding the fineness modulus of aggregate. Particle size distribution
helps in finding the different sizes of aggregates and helps in classification
i.e either fine or coarse. As the size of the aggregate has its influence in
strength of concrete the desired size should be known to mix to get desired
characteristic strength of concrete.
Stokes’s law, mathematical equation that expresses the settling velocities of
small spherical particles in a fluid medium. The law, first set forth by the
British scientist Sir George G. Stokes in 1851, is derived by consideration of
the forces acting on a particular particle as it sinks through a liquid column
under the influence of gravity. The force acting in resistance to the fall is
equal to 6πrηv, in which r is the radius of the sphere, η is the viscosity of the
liquid, and v is the velocity of fall. The force acting downward is equal
to 4/3πr3 (d1 - d2)g, in which d1 is the density of the sphere, d2 is the density of
the liquid, and g is the gravitational constant. At a constant velocity of fall
the upward and downward forces are in balance. Equating the two
expressions given above and solving for v therefore yields the required
velocity, expressed by Stokes’s law as v = 2/9(d1 - d2)gr2/η.

Stokes’s law finds application in several areas, particularly with regard to the
settling of sediment in fresh water and in measurements of the viscosity of
fluids. Because its validity is limited to conditions in which the motion of the
particle does not produce turbulence in the fluid, however, various
modifications have been set forth. If we drop a grain of soil into a viscous fluid, it
eventually achieves a terminal velocity v where there is a balance of forces between viscous drag
forces, gravity weight forces, and buoyant forces,

If we knew mathematically precisely how the velocity in this flow pattern

varied near the ball, we could find the total viscous force on the ball by
finding the velocity gradient near each little area of the ball’s surface, and
doing an integral.  But actually this is quite difficult.  It was done in the
1840’s by Sir George Gabriel Stokes.  He found what has become known
as Stokes’ Law: the drag force F on a sphere of  radius a moving
through a fluid of viscosity η at speed v is given by:

WHAT IS THE THEORY BEHIND

HYDROMETER ANALYSIS TEST OF SOIL?
Hydrometer analysis is based on Stokes law. According to this law, the velocity at which grains
settles out of suspension, all other factors being equal, is dependent upon the shape, weight and
size of the grain.

In case of soil, it is assumed that the soil particles are spherical and have the same specific gravity.
Therefore we can say that in a soil water suspension the coarser particles will settle more quicjly
than the finer ones.

WHAT IS HYDROMETER?
A hydrometer is an instrument which is used to measure the relative density of a liquid. Hydrometer
is made of glass and primarily consists of two parts;

 A cylindrical stem with graduation marks

 A bulb at bottom weighted with mercury

The lower the density of the liquid the more the hydrometer will sink. Consider water and petrol for
example. The density of petrol is lower than that of water, therefore the depth of immersion of a
hydrometer will more in case of petrol than water.

WHY HYDROMETER IS USED FOR GRAIN

SIZE ANALYSIS OF FINE GRAINED SOIL?
In case of fine grained soil, sieve analysis test does not give reliable test result. This because a fine
grained soil consist of different sizes of particles starting from 0.075 mm to 0.0002 mm. and it is not
practicable to design sieve having so smaller screen size. Also there is a chance of lost of sample
during sieving. Therefore hydrometer analysis is done for grain size analysis of fine grained soils.
Nearly 120 years ago a guy named Allen Hazen set out on a goal to identify, from a soil
mass, the particular size/diameter of soil grains that can be used to speculate various
properties of the whole soil mass. He conducted several experiments on filter sand and
found that the diameter he was looking for was D10, which is a diameter just larger
than the diameters of 10% of the soil grains, in other words, it's the size of the sieve
through which only 10% of the soil grains pass. He discovered that this diameter can be
related to most of the soil properties such as liquid limit, plasticity index, unconfined
compressive strength, etc and hence can be used to empirically calculate those
properties.

Why D10, It was found from several experiments that diameter D10 is more
representational of the properties of the soil sample than any other diameter and hence
more useful and accurate in calculating those properties. Therefore, it's
called equivalent/effective diameter.

There are a number of methods used to monitor particle size distribution.

The most popular of which include sieve analysis, direct imaging and laser diffraction.
Historically, particle size distributions were calculated based on results from sieve
analysis. Sieve analysis presents particle size information in the form of an S – curve of
cumulative mass retained on each sieve versus the sieve mesh size. The most
commonly used metrics when describing particle size distributions are D-Values (D10,
D50 & D90) which are the intercepts for 10%, 50% and 90% of the cumulative mass.
D-values can be thought of as the diameter of the sphere which divides the sample's
mass into a specified percentage when the particles are arranged on an ascending
mass basis. For example, the D10 is the diameter at which 10% of the sample's mass is
comprised of particles with a diameter less than this value. The D50 is the diameter of
the particle that 50% of a sample's mass is smaller than and 50% of a sample's mass is
larger than.
The mass of an ellipsoid is given by (π/6)*A*B*C*ρ where A, B and C are the diameters
of the 3 axes of the particle. If it is assumed that ρ is constant and by cancelling all
constants an equation for relative mass = A*B*C is obtained.
By calculating the relative mass for each particle and summing to get the total mass it is
possible to obtain D-values when the particles are arranged in ascending order. The
Eyecon™ measures two real diameters for each particle analysed and uses the
average of these two dimensions to calculate the 3rd unknown diameter. This allows the
Eyecon to construct a cumulative mass distribution in order to obtain required D-values.

Although particle shape and angularity definitely affect the macroscopic behavior of soils, they
are very difficult to quantify. Hence these measures are not used in practice nearly as often as
grain−size distributions and related grading coefficients. GSD measurements, which can be
performed quickly and inexpensively, tell us whether a given soil is predominantly sandy, silty,
or clayey. This simple information is often of great help in trying to anticipate a soil’s possible
mechanical properties