• Journal of the Korean GEO-environmental Society
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.5-14
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• 2023

The dry unit weight of the soil can be obtained by measuring the weight of the oven dried soil. According to the Korean Industrial Standards (KS F), oven dried soil at 110±5℃ continuously increases in weight when exposed to air. However, there is no regulation on the weight measurement time of oven dried soil, making it difficult to accurately measure the dry weight. In this study, a method to easily determine the dry weight was presented through the analysis of the weight singularity that appears during weight measurement. The weight singularity represents the smallest value among the measured weights, and is the weight at which the effect of moisture absorption in the air of the sample is minimized. In the course of the experiment, a container was selected using a statistical analysis method, and a photograph of the soil samples were presented using an optical microscope. In addition, the temperature of the weight singularity was measured using a non-contact infrared thermometer. As a result of analyzing the weight singularity of six types of soil, including Jumunjin sand, Naeseong stream sand, Yecheon weathered granite soil, Jeju sand, Sabkha sand, and Ulleung sand, the weight singularity of oven dried sample appeared between 8 and 27 seconds after weight measurement, and the temperature ranged from 103.4 to 108.13℃. The weight decrease rate of the singularity was 0.0066 to 0.0085% depending on the soil samples.