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A sample of wet silty clay soil has a mass of 126 kg. Find the (a) dry density (b) porosity (c) void ratio and (d) degree of saturation. The wet density (y) is 2.1 g/cm³, specific gravity of solids (g) is 2.7, and water content is 15

User Vabada
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Final answer:

The dry density of the soil is 1071.43 kg/m³, the porosity is 0.489, the void ratio is 0.5, and the degree of saturation is 0.6667.

Step-by-step explanation:

In order to find the dry density, we need to first find the solids content. The solids content can be determined by subtracting the water content (15%) from 100% to get 85%. The mass of the solids can be calculated by multiplying the mass of the wet soil (126 kg) by the solids content (0.85), which gives us 107.1 kg. The volume of the soil can be determined using the wet density (2.1 g/cm³) and the mass of the wet soil (126 kg). Converting the wet density to kg/m³, we get 2100 kg/m³. Dividing the mass of the wet soil by the wet density, we find the volume of the soil to be 0.06 m³. Therefore, the dry density can be calculated by dividing the mass of the solids by the volume of the soil, which gives us a dry density of 1071.43 kg/m³.

The porosity can be determined by subtracting the dry density from the wet density and dividing the result by the wet density. Using the values from the question, the porosity can be calculated as (2100 - 1071.43) / 2100 = 0.489.

The void ratio can be calculated by dividing the volume of the voids (the volume of the water) by the volume of the solids. The volume of the voids can be calculated by subtracting the volume of the solids from the total volume of the soil. Using the values from the question, the void ratio can be calculated as (0.06 - 0.04) / 0.04 = 0.5.

The degree of saturation can be determined by dividing the volume of water by the volume of the voids. Using the values from the question, the degree of saturation can be calculated as 0.04 / (0.06 - 0.04) = 2/3 or 0.6667.

User MeghP
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