Specific Gravity of Soil Soild by Pycnometer

Hello Friends, This is Mukesh from Learning Technology. I will tell you in today’s post, Specific Gravity of Soil Solids by Pycnometer in a very easy way.

Object of Experiment

The object of the experiment is to determine the specific gravity of soil solid by using a pycnometer.

Standard Reference

IS 2720 (Part III, Section 1) – Determination of Specific Gravity for fine-grained soil.

Equipments

1. Pycnometer

2. Balance

3. Vacuum pump

4. Funnel

5. Spoon

Theory

The specific gravity of soil solid is the ratio of the weight of unit volume of soil solid at a stated temperature to the weight of the same volume of air-free distilled water at that temperature.

Calculate the specific gravity of soil solids using the following formula:

Specific Gravity, G_S = W_S / [W_S + (W_A – W_B)]

Where,

W_S = Weight of sample of oven-dry soil = (W_PS – W_P)

W_PS  = Weight of pycnometer containing the dry soil

W_P = Weight of empty clean and dry pycnometer

W_A = Weight of pycnometer filled with water

W_B = Weight of pycnometer filled with water and soil

Procedure

1. Determine and record the weight of the empty clean and dry pycnometer (W_P).

2. Place 10 grams of a dry soil sample (passed through the sieve 2 mm) in the pycnometer. Determine and record the weight of the pycnometer containing the dry soil (W_PS).

3. Add distilled water to fill about half to three-fourths of the pycnometer. Soak the sample for 10 minutes.

4. Apply a partial vacuum to the contents for 10 minutes, to remove the entrapped air.

5. Stop the vacuum and carefully remove the vacuum line from the pycnometer.

6. Fill the pycnometer with distilled (water to the mark), clean the exterior surface of the pycnometer with a clean, dry cloth. Determine the weight of the pycnometer and contents (W_B).

7. Empty the pycnometer and clean it. Then fill it with distilled water only (to the mark). Clean the exterior surface of the pycnometer with a clean, dry cloth. Determine the weight of the pycnometer and distilled water (W_A).

8. Empty the pycnometer and clean it.

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• Specific Gravity Test for Bitumen
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Observation table

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Sample description: ………………..

Remarks

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