Determination of moisture content of soil

All the three phases exist in a soil mass. In soil, solids enclose water or air. The open space between solid particles is called as voids. It is also called as pores. Soil, where voids are filled with air is known as dry soil. Saturated soil is the soil where voids are completely filled with water. In a wet soil, these voids are partially filled with water and partially by air. Moisture content which is also known as water content of a soil is the ratio of the weight of water to the weight of solids. Fine control of shear strength and compressibility of the soil can be achieved by proper variation in its moisture content. Moisture content also plays a key role in understanding the behavior of fine-grained soils. For the determination of moisture content in a soil, we require tools like bins (containers), oven, tongs, desicator and a sensitive balance. In the first step, measure the weight of the bin. Let this be M1. Put some sample quantity of soil specimen into bin and then measure the weight again. Let this weight be M2. Now dry the specimen by using an oven. Dried specimen then transfer into a desicator. Now measure the weight of dried soil. Let this weight be M3. Moisture content can be evaluated by using the relation, moisture content = M2-M3/M3-M1.