Geotechnical Volume–Mass Relations

SoilVision systems Ltd. is pleased to announce the release of a free utility which can be used to calculate volume–mass relations for solving geotechnical problems. More specifically, the software allows the calculation of volume and mass relations in a soil containing various measures of air, water, and soil solids. The physical relations have been understood for decades but the specific calculations can be difficult. Three volume–mass properties are generally needed to determine all the remaining properties. The problem comes in that the practicing geotechnical engineer may be presented with any three particular properties. Calculation of the remaining properties can therefore be complex. The Geotechnical Volume-Mass Calculator provides the geotechnical engineer with a simple and free tool to easily perform the calculations.

The volume-mass relations for an unsaturated soil may be defined as in the following figure taken from “Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils” by D.G. Fredlund and H. Rahardjo, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., 1993.

From this figure the relation between volume definitions on the left-hand side and mass definitions on the right-hand side can be seen. In this context the term “soil solids” is used when referring to the summation of masses and volumes for all the soil particles. The software presents definitions of each of the geotechnical parameters as well as some of the theoretical relations between such parameters. The initial three soil properties obtained by the geotechnical engineer can be entered in the software and locked such that they are recognized as initial measured properties. Any remaining properties can then be calculated by pressing the “calculate” button. Metric or imperial units can be utilized in the calculations. Results can be exported to text files or graphed in relation to soil saturation levels as shown in the following figure.

The calculation of volume-mass relations has previously been implemented in the SoilVision software. This new free tool allows a simple methodology to calculate volume-mass relations. Particular combinations of parameters can be saved to a file and opened at a later time.