Friction Angle of Loose Sand: Unit Weight, Cohesion, Permeability
The friction angle of loose sand typically runs from 28 to 34 degrees, with a bulk unit weight of 16 to 19 kN/m3 and effective cohesion of 0 to 0 kPa. Permeability is on the order of 1e-3 to 1e-5 m/s. The table collects the screening values and the note explains what moves them.
| Property | Typical range |
|---|---|
| Friction angle | 28 to 34 degrees |
| Bulk unit weight | 16 to 19 kN/m3 |
| Effective cohesion | 0 to 0 kPa |
| Permeability | 1e-3 to 1e-5 m/s |
What moves the numbers
Low friction, high compressibility, and the liquefaction candidate when saturated: loose sand is the state you densify before you build. These are screening ranges for preliminary work and study: design values come from site specific testing, and the tools below show how each property is used once you have it.
Use these values
- Free Online Slope Stability Risk Calculator to turn these ranges into a probability of failure.
- Lateral Earth Pressure Calculator for the pressures this friction angle implies.
- Hazen Permeability Calculator for estimating permeability from grain size.
- The Property Library for every soil, rock, and mineral on this site.
Related Calculators and Reference
- Terzaghi Bearing Capacity Calculator for Shallow Foundations, to turn this friction angle into an allowable bearing pressure.
- Retaining Wall Pressure Calculator (Rankine and Coulomb), because the same friction angle sets both the active and the passive side.
- Void Ratio, Porosity and Unit Weight Converter, to move between the density terms this table quotes.
- Slope Stability Factor of Safety Calculator, for when this material forms a slope rather than a foundation.
- Friction Angle of Dense Sand, for the neighbouring soil type when a borehole log is ambiguous.
- ASTM D2487, the standard practice behind the classification these values are grouped by.