What term describes the ratio of the volume of voids to the volume of solids in a soil?

The term that describes the ratio of the volume of voids to the volume of solids in a soil is porosity. Porosity is a crucial concept in geotechnical engineering as it influences the storage capacity of soil for water and the behavior of soil under various loading conditions.

Porosity is expressed as a percentage or a decimal fraction, reflecting how much of the total volume of the soil is occupied by voids (the spaces between soil particles) compared to the volume of the solid particles themselves. This property directly affects aspects such as soil permeability, drainage, and overall strength.

Understanding porosity is essential in various engineering applications, including assessing groundwater flow, evaluating soil stability, and designing foundations. It helps engineers determine how much water can be retained in the soil and how the soil will behave when subjected to different pressures.

In contrast, moisture content refers to the amount of water present in the soil relative to its dry weight, density relates to mass per unit volume irrespective of voids, and compressibility describes how much a soil will deform under applied stress. These terms address different soil properties but do not specifically denote the relationship between voids and solids as porosity does.