Moisture Content of Soil — Lab Manual

Objective & standard

Find the water content of a soil sample — needed for almost every other soil test.

Standard: ASTM D2216 / BS 1377-2

Apparatus

• Moisture tins with lids
• Oven 105–110 °C
• Balance (0.01 g)
• Desiccator, tongs

Procedure

1. Weigh the empty clean tin with lid (W1).
2. Put 15–30 g of moist soil (more for gravelly soil) in the tin, close it and weigh (W2).
3. Remove the lid and dry in the oven at 105–110 °C for 16–24 hours to constant mass.
4. Cool in the desiccator with the lid on and weigh (W3).
5. Repeat on two or three samples and average.

Calculations

• w (%) = (W2 − W3) ÷ (W3 − W1) × 100

Typical values: Sands 5–15 %, silts 10–30 %, clays 20–60 %+ in the field.

Open the Moisture Content calculator →

Data sheet (print this page)

Project: ____________________   Sample: __________   Date: __________   Tested by: __________

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