DEPARTMENT OF CIVIL ENGINEERING

RESOURCE PERSON: HIRA SATTAR (hira.sattar@umt.edu.pk)

LECTURE 2
19TH FEBRUARY 2020
1. Residual soil deposits

Soils formed by weathering of rocks in place (by leaching).

i. Coarse grained (gravels and sands) Good to excellent foundation and construction material.
ii. Fine grained(Silts and clays) Variable properties

2. Transported soil deposits

Soils formed by transporting weathered soils at a distance from
the parent rocks are known as transported soils.
i. Alluvial deposits
ii. Aolean deposits
iii. Colluvial deposits
iv. Glacial deposits
v. Lucastrine deposits
vi. Marine deposits
vii. Pyroclastic deposits
3. Organic soil deposits
Formed in-place by growth and subsequent decay of plant and
animal life. (Highly plastic, very compressible, unsuitable for
foundation and construction material)
i. Peat (partially decomposed organic matter)
ii. Muck (completely decomposed organic matter)

Peat Muck shift

 Deposited at the place of decomposition.
 Properties of coarse grained soils generally depend upon size of
particles.
 Properties of fine-grained soils are greatly influenced by mineral
content, moisture content, etc.
 The knowledge of "classical“ geotechnical engineering is mostly
based on behavior of transported soils. The understanding of
residual soils is insufficient in general.
 Moved and deposited at other places by moving water, wind, glacier,
gravity etc.
 Particle size generally depends on mode of transportation
 Transported soils can be categorize based on the mode of
transportation and deposition.
1. Glacial soils: formed by transportation and deposition of
glaciers.
2. Alluvial soils: transported by running water and deposited
along streams.
3. Lacustrine soils: formed by deposition in quiet lakes.
4. Marine soils: formed by deposition in the seas.
5. Aeolian soils: transported and deposited by the wind.
6. Colluvial soils: formed by movement of soil from its original place
by gravity, such as during landslide.
7. Pyroclastic soils: materials ejected from volcanoes, and
transported through gravity and wind, etc.
 Soil Texture → Appearance /feel of soil
Soil texture depends on the relative sizes and shapes of the particles as well as
distribution of those sizes.
1. Coarse textured soils (sands, gravels and their mixture)
2. Fine textured soils (silts, clays)
 Coarse textured soils Fine textured soils

Engineering behavior is controlled by soil Engineering behavior is greatly affected by

texture. presence of water (Moisture content).

Classified based on grain sizes Moisture content affects their plasticity and
cohesiveness. Classifies based on their
consistency.
e.g sands, gravels and their mixture e.g silts, clays
Inter-Particle Forces

1. Weight of soil particles, Fg

Fg α (Dia)3 (For Equidimensional particles)
In case of coarse textured soils Fg is dominating.
2. Particle surface forces, Fs
Fs α (Dia)2 (For Equidimensional particles)

Fg/Fs α Dia
• • In case of fine textured soils Fs dominates.
Soil Fabric:
Geometric arrangement of soil particles.

Soil Structure:
Geometric arrangement + inter-particle forces
 1. Single grained structure
 2. Honey-combed structure
 3. Flocculent structure

Single-grained soil structure Honey-combed soil structure

Single Grained Structure
• Formed by the suspension of coarse-grained particles in a soil-fluid
suspension.
• Generally formed by cohesionless particles (e.g. sands)
• In loose form soils may be weak and unstable but quality can be
improved by compaction.
Honey Combed/Cellular Structure
• Formed by the particles having inter-particular attraction (cohesion) greater than
their weight. Fs>>Fg
• Structure having large voids inside.
• Meta-stable structure.
• May be stable under static loads but can fail upon vibrations or dynamic load
application.
Flocculent Structure
• Formed by very small sized particles. Very fine soils only (< 5x10-4cm)
• Soil particles floating at the surface join together and form
flocs. Settling down of flocs give rise to flocculent structure.
• Double honey-combed structure.

Flocculant structure
1. Kaolinite
2. Illite
3. Montmorillonite
(details from An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering by Holtz &
Kovacs; Chapter #4)
S: Solid Soil particle
W: Liquid Water
A: Air Air
V = Total volume of soil mass
Vs = Volume of soil solids
Vw = Volume of water
Va = Volume of air
Vv = Va+Vw = Volume of voids
W = Total weight of soil
Ws = Weight of soil solids
Wa = Weight of air ≈ 0
Ww = Weight of water
1) Void ratio, e

Volume of voidsVv
e= (0 < e < ∞)
Volume of solids Vs

For sands, 0.5 ≤ e ≤ 0.9

For clays, 0.7 ≤ e ≤ 1.5 (or even higher)
2) Porosity, n

Volume of voids (Vv)

n= (0 < n < 1)
Total volume of soil sample (Vt)

Typical range, 9-70%

For sands, 25% ≤ n ≤ 50%
3) Air Porosity, na’
Volume of air (Va)
n𝑎′ = (0 < na’ < 1)
Total volume of soil sample (Vt)

4) Percentage Air Voids, na

Volume of air (Va)
n𝑎 = (0 < na < 1)
Volume of voids (Vv)
5) Degree of Saturation/ Saturation Ratio, S (or Sr)
Volume of voids containing water V𝑊
S= x 100 % (0 < Sr < 100%)
Volume of voids (Vv)

6) Volumetric Water Content, wv

Volume of voids containing water V𝑊
wv = (0 < θv < 1)
Total volume of soil sample (Vt)
An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering (2nd Edition) By R. D. Holtz, W. D.
Kovacs and T. C. Sheahan
Chapter #2; Chapter #4

Fundamentals of Soil Mechanics By M. S. Qureshi & Aziz Akbar

Chapter #1; Chapter #2
1. Differentiate clearly between structure and fabric soil.
(One page hand written assignment to be submitted in the
next class.)