Soil Physical and Hydraulic Properties over Terrace Adjacent Four Major Rivers

The soil does not only serve as a medium for plant growth but also for engineering construction purposes. It is very weak in tension, very strong in compression and fails only by shearing. The behaviour of the soil under any form of loading and the interactions of the earth materials during and after any engineering construction work has a major influence on the success, economy and the safety of the work. Soils and their management have therefore become a broad social concern. A limitless variety of soil materials are encountered in both agronomy and engineering problems, varying from hard, dense, large pieces of rock through gravel, sand, silt and clay to organic deposits of soft compressible peat. All these materials may occur over a range of physical properties, such as water contents, texture, bulk density and strength of soils. Therefore, to deal properly with soils and soil materials in any case requires knowledge and understanding of these physical properties. The desired value of bulk density varies with the degree of stability required in construction. Bulk density is also used as an indicator of problems of root penetration,soil aeration and also water infiltration. This property is also used in foundation engineering problems. While not conforming to standard test procedures, this work attempts to add to the basic information on such important soil parameters as water content, bulk density.