Soil Mechanics: Calculate grain size distribution and explain its importance.

Here are the solutions to the questions:

Work required:

a) The main objective of grain size analysis is to determine the distribution of particle sizes within a soil or aggregate sample. This information is crucial for classifying soils, predicting their engineering properties (like permeability, shear strength, and compaction characteristics), and designing foundations or pavement layers.

b)
To complete the table, we first calculate the total weight of the sample.
Total weight = $0 + 48 + 18 + 50 + 83 + 187 + 176 + 33 + 405 = 1000$ g.

Now, we fill in the table columns:

• Cumulative weight retained (g): Sum of weights retained