POROSITY OF THE SOIL

OBJECTIVE:
To determine the porosity of the given soil sample.
Theory: Porosity of a material is a measurement of how much of its volume is open space (also
called pore space).It is ratio of volume of voids to that of the total volume of the soil. Porosity is
usually expressed as a percentage of the materials total volume.
EQUIPMENT:
Cylindrical core cutter, steel rammer, steel dolly, balance, straight edge knife, pycnometer,
porcelain bowl, distilled water and heating pan.
PROCEDURE:
For determining the in-situ porosity of any soil sample we have to conduct two tests namely
Core cutter method and Pycnometer method.
Procedure for core cutter method:
To determine the field density of soil core cutter method is needed.
1. Measure the height (h) and internal diameter (d) of the core cutter and apply grease to the
inside of the core cutter
2. Weigh the empty core cutter (W1).
3. Clean and level the place where density is to be determined.
4. Drive the core cutter, with a steel dolly on its top, into the soil to its full depth with the
help of a steel rammer.
5. Excavate the soil around the cutter with a crow bar and gently lift the cutter without
disturbing the soil in it.
6. Trim the top and bottom surfaces of the sample and clean the outside surface of the cutter.
7. Weigh the core cutter with soil (W2)
8. Remove the soil from the core cutter, using a sample ejector and take representative soil
sample from it to determine the moisture content.

Pycnometer procedure:
To determine the solid density of soil this test is needed.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Wash, dry and weigh the pycnometer.

Place about 10 g of dry soil sample in the pycnometer.
Weigh the bottle with the soil.
Add sufficient distilled water to cover the soil, and heat the bottle to remove all entrapped
air.
Remove the bottle from the heater and fill the bottle with water up to the calibration
mark.
Clean the exterior surface of the bottle pycnometer with dry cloth, and weigh the bottle
with contents.
Empty the bottle and clean it.
Fill it with distilled water up to the mark and record its weight.
Do this test for two times so that we can take the average value of solid density of soil
sample.

OBSERVATIONS AND CALCULATIONS

Calculate wet unit weight (bulk) of the soil using the following relationship
bulk = (W2-W1)/V
Where,
W1 = Empty weight of core cutter
W2 = Weight of core cutter + soil
V = Volume of core cutter (d2h/4)
D = Inner diameter of core cutter
H = Height of core cutter
=

dry
solid

bulk density, b =

Mass of the soil

Volume of cutter

(3201994 )
=
999.811

=2.207g/cc

natural moisture content, w=18%

b
Dry Density = d = 1+ w
2.207
= 1+.18

Pycnometer test result:

=1.8703g/cc

W 2W 1
GS = ( W 2W 1 )(W 3W 4 )
8749
= ( 8749 )(171.5148)

= 2.6207

Solid density s = Gsw=2.6207 g/cc (w = 1 g/cc )

1.8703
n =1- 2.6207
porosity of the soil sample =0.2863

PRECAUTIONS

1.

Core cutter method of determining the field density of soil is only suitable for fine
grained soil (Silts and clay). This is because collection of undisturbed soil sample from a
coarse grained soil is difficult and hence the field properties, including unit weight cannot
be maintained in a core sample

2.

Core cutter should be driven into the ground till the steel dolly penetrates into the ground
half way only so as to avoid compaction of the soil in the core.

3.

Before lifting the core cutter, soil around the cutter should be removed to minimize the
disturbances.

RESULT: The porosity of soil is 28.63%.This soil is medium dense soil.