FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN AWAM

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

SHAH ALAM LABORATORY MANUAL

COURSE NAME

COURSE CODE

OPEN-ENDED LAB

SEMESTER
TITLE OF EXPERIMENT : Particle Density

DATE OF EXPERIMENT : 8 APRIL 2021

NAME : Muhammad Aiman Syafiq Bin Isma Samsulzamani

UiTM NO :2020853552

CLASS GROUP :EC2202A3

LECTURER : DR. Nurul Ainain Binti Mohd Salim

LEVEL OF OPENESS :1

MARKS COMMENTS

INTRODUCTION

BASIC CONCEPTS

METHODOLOGY

RESULTS&ANALYSIS 1 2 3 4 5

DISCUSSION 1 2 3 4 5

CONCLUSION 1 2 3 4 5

ORGANIZATION 1 2 3 4 5

TOTAL MARKS

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FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN AWAM
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
SHAH ALAM LABORATORY MANUAL

COURSE GEOTECHNICAL LABORATORY

COURSE CODE ECG428

LEVEL OF OPENNESS 1

CATEGORY PARTIALLY OPEN

DEGREE OF OPEN-ENDED (%) 1

ENGINEERING PROPERTIES
PARTICLE DENSITY
(With reference to clause 7 of BS1377: Part 7: 1990)

Introduction

The traditional methods of conducting laboratory activities will not be able to

provide the avenue for students to enhance independent learning activities and
inculcate creativity and innovation. Level 0 is fully prescriptive where problems,
ways & means and answers are provided to the students. However, it is still
necessary especially to first- and second-year students.
Specific gravity, Gs is defined as the ratio of the weight of a certain volume of soil
solids to the weight of an equal volume of distilled water at a constant temperature,
i.e. it is the most accurate method.

Objectives
PREAMBLE To determine the specific gravity of soil using density bottles.

Learning Outcomes

At the end of the laboratory activities, students would be able to:

1. Acquire the understanding of engineering properties of soils in determination
of the unconfined compressive strength
2. Acquire the necessary skill to prepare sample and conduct force measuring
device and the axial deformation gauges in performing standard laboratory
3. Calculate and analyze data to report and present result in a proper engineering
format.

PROBLEM Specific gravity flask or pycnometer methods are only suitable for coarse grained
STATEMENT soils.
Apparatus
Density bottle will stop having a capillary hole at its center, wash bottle, de-aired
distilled water, alcohol, ether balance, vacuum sets, constant temperature water
bath, etc.
WAYS & MEANS
Procedure
1. Density bottle and stopper had been cleaned and dried properly.
2. Recorded the weight of dried bottle and stopper as m1.

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FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN AWAM
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
SHAH ALAM LABORATORY MANUAL

3. About 10 to 20 grams of oven-dried soil sample that been cooled had been put
carefully in density bottle. After that the mass of the density bottle had been
recorded as m2.
4. About 10 ml de-aired distilled water had been poured into bottle to soak the soil
and rested for 2 to 10 hours.
5. More distilled water had been added into the bottle to make it half full.
Entrapped air inside the bottle had been removed by applying partial vacuum.
6. Gently added some more water into the bottle until full without left any
entrapped bubbles then put the stop on.
7. The bottle had been keep on the stand in a constant temperature water bath for
one hour.
8. Took out the bottle from the water bath and wiped it to clean and dried the
outside. If the capillary of the stopper was not full, filled it with drops of distilled
water. Then, ensure the bottle and stopper were cleaned and dried.
9. Recorded the mass of bottle filled with water and soil with a stopper as m3.
10. The bottle had been emptied and cleaned properly. Distilled water had been
filled fully into the bottle and no entrapped air bubble exist in the bottle. If there is
air bubble partial vacuum needed to be used.
11. The stopper had been put on as in step 8 and outside had been wiped dried. The
mass had been recorded as m4 then emptied the bottle and cleaned it again.
12. step 2 to 11 had been repeated for other two observation to obtain the average
G of the sample.

Specific Gravity of Soil

RESULTS

The specific gravity should be calculated at a temperature of 27oC and reported to the
nearest 0.01. If the room temperature is different from 27oC, the following correction
should be done: -
G’ = kG
where,
G’ = Corrected specific gravity at 27oC
k = [Relative density of water at room temperature]/ Relative density of water at 27oC.

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FAKULTI KEJURUTERAAN AWAM
UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA
SHAH ALAM LABORATORY MANUAL

Sample Calculation:

Specific gravity:
1- 28.57 – 18.57 / (84.74 – 18.57) - (90.88 – 28.57)
= 2.59
2- 28.50 – 18.50 / (84.00 – 18.50) – (90.20 – 28.50)
= 2.63
3- 28.62 – 18.62 / (84.83 – 18.62) – (91.02 – 28.62)
=2.62

Average gravity ( at 31°c)

(2.59 + 2.63 + 2.62) / 3 = 2.61

Specific Gravity (at 27°C)

G’ = kG
DATA ANALISIS G’ = 0.996542(2.61)
= 2.60

The average specific gravity obtain from the result is 2.60. this indicated the
CONCLUSION
volume of voids contain inside the soil.
The density of the minerals that make up individual soil particles determines the
basic gravity of the soil. It basically tells you how much heavier or lighter a
substance is than water. This test involves determining the specific gravity of soil
solids using the pycnometer process, which involves weighing oven-dried soil and
water. The specific gravity was determined using the formula shown in the sample
DISCUSSION AND
measurement, which is the ratio of the mass of a unit volume of soil at a given
RECOMENDATION
temperature to the mass of the same volume of gas-free distilled water at the
same temperature. While conducting this lab, we need to ensure the is no
entrapped bubble trap inside the bottle. We also need to calibrated the balance
before star taking measurement to avoid any reading errors.

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