COMPARISON OF METHODS FOR DETERMINATION OF

PARTICLE DENSITY OF SOIL

Ayush Chopra, Dr. M.U. Kale, Dr. S.B. Wadatkar

Department of Irrigation and Drainage Engineering,
College of Agriculture Engineering, Dr. PDKV,
Akola, Maharashtra (444001).
ayush.chopra63@gmail.com

Abstract

Two methods for determining the particle density of soil were assessed. Method I was core
cutter method. The bulk density was determined by core cutter method for both the test. In this
method, dry and sieved soil samples were filled in the core cutter and compressed by using ram
and particle density was calculated. Method II was graduated cylinder method. In this method,
50 g of the oven dry sample sieved to 0.2 mm was mixed with 60 ml of distilled water in
graduated cylinder. The volume of solids was then determined and particle density was
calculated. The average particle density obtain by Method I and Method II were 2.386 g cm-3
and 2.56 g cm-3 respectively. Considering the literature survey, the result from the Method II
was more satisfactory than Method I. Hence Method II is recommended for determining
particle density in Western Vidarbha region.