Geo-technical Engineering

1. Experiment No: 1 Date:
DETERMINATION OF WATER CONTENT BY OVEN DRYING METHOD
Objective and Scope:
To determine water content of soil sample by Oven drying method.
Reference:
IS: 2720 (Part II) -1973
Theory:
Water content is expressed as the ratio of weight of water to weight of dry soil. Engineering
properties of soil such as shear strength, compaction etc depends on water content in a soil mass.
Water content is one of the important parameter required in different soil tests.
Following are the methods available to determine water content of a given soil.
1) By Oven Drying Method
2) By Sand Bath Method
3) By Alcohol Method
4) By using Infra-Red Lamp Torsion Balance Moisture Meter
5) Rapid determination of water content from the gas pressure developed by the reaction of calcium
carbide with the free water of the soil
Soil specimen:
The soil specimen taken shall be representative of soil mass. The soil of specimen selected depends
on the quantity required for good representation, which is influenced by the gradation and the
maximum size of particles, and on the accuracy of weighing. The following quantity is
recommended for general laboratory use.
Size of particle more than 90%
passing
Minimum quantity of soil specimen to
be taken for test in gram.
425  IS sieve 25
2 mm IS sieve 50
4.75 mm IS sieve 200
10 mm IS sieve 300
20 mm IS sieve 500
40 mm IS sieve 1000
Equipments:
1) Non-corrodible air tight container.
2) Balance with accuracy of 0.1 gm
3) Thermostatically controlled Oven capable to maintain the temperature at 1100C.
Procedure:
1) Clean the container and lid, dry and weigh it (W1).
2) Take the required quantity of the soil specimen in the container, crumble it and place loosely,
take weight with lid (W2).
3) Keep it in an oven with the lid removed, and maintain temperature of oven at 110 ± 50C for
duration of 24 hours. Every time the container is taken out for weighing replaced the lid on the
container and cool the container in the desiccators.

2. 4) Record the final mass (W3) of the container with lid and oven dried soil sample.
5) Repeat step 2 to 4 for two more determinations of water content.
Observation table:
Sr.
No.
Description 1 2 3
1 Mass of empty container with lid
(W1) gm
2 Mass of container with lid + wet soil
(W2) gm
3 Mass of container with lid + dry soil
(W3) gm
4 Water content (%)
Average water content (%)
Calculation:
Water content (%) ω =
( 𝑊2−𝑊3)
( 𝑊3−𝑊1)
× 100
Result:
Water content of given soil sample is =