Expt. No.

1 Date: 16-8-2019

DETERMINATION OF GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION OF SOIL BY SIEVE

ANALYSIS
AIM:

To determine the grain size distribution of the given specimens of river and beach sand.

APPARATUS:

 Electronic balance: The balance shall be such that it is readable to an accuracy of 0.1% of
the weight of the test sample.

 Sand specimen
 Sieves: Sieves of sizes (4.75mm, 3.36mm, 2.80mm, 2.36mm, 1.18mm, 600μm, 300μm,
150μm and 75μm) conforming to IS 460-1962 shall be used.
 Mechanical sieve shaker.

REFERENCES:

1. Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics by Gopal Ranjan and ASR Rao.
2. IS 2720 (part 4) : 1985 [Methods of test for Soils (Grain Size Analysis)].
3. Faculty.une.edu>oce>labPDF.s

THEORY:
Distribution of different grain sizes affects the engineering properties of soil. Test for grain
size analysis of soil is done to determine its particle size distribution, fineness modulus, effective
size and uniformity coefficient.

 Dry sieve analysis is performed for cohesion less soils if fines are less than 5%.
 Wet sieve analysis is carried out if fines are more than 5% and of cohesive nature.

Coastal sediment is made up of weathered terrigenous rock (terrigenous detritus) for the most
part, plus organic detritus, plants, worms, sea shells if marine, and pore spaces. There may also
be small amounts of calcite cement. The type of terrigenous detritus found in sediment is
dependent upon the types of rocks in the source area of the sediment.
 One way to characterize sediment is to determine the sizes of grains in that sediment. Rather
than measure each grain, scientists rely on sub sampling. In order to characterize the sediment,
one would take a representative sample of the sediment and run it through a set of sieves to break
the sample subset in to size classes and using statistics reconstruct what the population's size
characteristic are.

The parameters calculated for these analyses include:

 Mean: Mean is the arithmetic average of a series of values. It gives the average grain-size.
 Standard deviation: It is the square root of the average of the squares of deviations about
the mean of a set of data. It evaluates sorting of the sediments.
 Skewness: It is the quality, state, or condition of being distorted or lacking symmetry.
Symmetrical curves have a skewness equal to 0.00; those with a large proportion of fine
material are positively skewed; those with a large proportion of coarse material are
negatively skewed.
 Kurtosis: It is the quality, state, of condition of peakedness or flatness of the graphic
representation of a statistical distribution. If a sample curve is better sorted in the central
part than in the tails, the curve is said to be excessively peaked, or leptokurtic; if the
sample curve is better sorted in the tails than in the central portion, the curve is flat
peaked or platykurtic.

PROCEDURE:

1. Weigh accurately about 1000g of river sand and beach sand samples.
2. Clean the sieves and pan with brush and weigh them up to 0.1g accuracy.
3. Arrange the sieves in the increasing order of size from top to bottom (4.75mm, 3.36mm,
2.80mm, 2.36mm, 1.18mm, 600μm, 300μm, 150μm and 75μm).
4. Keep the required quantity of soil sample on the top sieve and shake it with mechanical
sieve shaker for about 10 to 15 miutes. Care should be taken tightly fit the lid coveron the
top sieve.
5. After shaking the soil on the sieve shaker, weigh the soil retained on each sieve. The sum
of the retained soil must tally with the original weight of soil taken.
6. Plot the graph in log scale taking percentage of cumulative finer on y axis and diameter
of particle on x axis. Plot the graph in normal scale taking percentage of cumulative
finer/weight retained on y axis and phi scale on x axis. Calculate the various parameters.
FORMULAE:

Mean Diameter = Φmean

Standard Deviation = σ
OBSERVAIONS:

River Sand:

Wt. retained % retained in % cumulative % cumulative

Sieve Φ Scale
in gm each sieve retained finer

Beach Sand:

Wt. retained % retained in % cumulative % cumulative

Sieve Φ Scale
in gm each sieve retained finer
RESULTS:
INFERENCE:
CALCULATIONS: