Soil Phase Diagram

What am I seeing?

• The whole web of phase relationships hangs off one identity: Se = wGs.
• Void ratio e compares voids to solids; porosity n = e/(1+e) compares voids to the total.
• Water content cannot exceed e/Gs, the value at full saturation.
• Unit weights fall out of the block directly: γdry = Gsγw/(1+e) and γsat adds the water-filled voids.