Lectures 6 & 7 : Plasticity and structure of soil

Lecture outline:

Consistency of clay soil

Determination of Atterberg
limits
Activity Soil structure
Eng. Jihane Aouf
CONSISTENCY OF CLAY SOIL

Consistency is a term used to indicate the degree of firmness of cohesive soils

Very soft, soft, stiff, very stiff and hard

The physical properties of clays greatly differ at different water contents

A soil which is very soft at a higher percentage of water content becomes very hard
with a decrease in water content.

At the same water content, two samples of clay of different origins may possess
different consistency.
One clay may be relatively soft while the other may be hard.

A decrease in water content may have little effect on one sample of clay but may
transform the other sample from almost a liquid to a very firm condition.

Water content alone, therefore, is not an adequate index of consistency for

engineering and many other purposes
Atterberg limits
Different states and consistency of soils with
Atterberg (a Swedish scientist) proposed in 1911 a series of tests for defining the properties
of cohesive soils. These tests indicate the range of the plastic state and other states. He
showed that if the water content of a thick suspension of clay is gradually reduced, the clay
water mixture undergoes changes from a liquid state through a plastic state and finally into
a solid state.

Plasticity is defined as the property of cohesive soils which possess the ability to undergo
changes of shape without rupture
Transition stages from the liquid to solid state
Behavior of soil and Atterberg limits
Liquid limit (LL) device

Liquid limit
Determination
Liquid limit device and grooving too

Soil before test Soil after test

Liquid Limit Determination

IF: flow index

w2: moisture content corresponding to N2 blows
w1: moisture content corresponding to N1 blows
Plastic limit (PL) determination

The plastic limit is defined as the moisture content in percent, at which the soil crumbles,
when rolled into threads of 4.2 mm in diameter.

The plastic limit test is simple and is performed by repeated rollings of an ellipsoidal-sized soil
mass by hand on a ground glass plate.
Shrinkage limit (SL)
Soil shrinks as moisture is gradually lost from it.

With continuing loss of moisture, a stage

of equilibrium is reached at which more
loss of moisture will result in no further
volume change.

The moisture content, in percent, at which

the volume of the soil mass ceases
to change is defined as the shrinkage limit
Plasticity index (PI)
Plasticity Index

he plasticity index (PI) is the difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit of a soil
Liquidity index (LI)
Activity

The plasticity of soil is caused by the

adsorbed water that surrounds the clay
particles. Therefore, the type of clay
minerals and their proportional amounts in
a soil will affect the liquid and plastic limits.

Skempton(1953) observed that the

plasticity index of a soil increases linearly
with the percentage of clay-size fraction
present.

On the basis of these results, Skempton

defined a quantity called activity, which is
the slope of the line correlating PI and %
finer than 2 mm.
Plasticity chart
Casagrande, 1932
Soil structure

Soil structure is defined as the geometric arrangement of soil particles with respect to one
another. Among the many factors that affect the structure are
the shape, size, and mineralogical composition of soil
particles, and the nature and composition of soil water. In
general, soils can be placed into two groups: cohesionless
and cohesive.
Structures in Cohesionless Soil
The major Categories
o major categories
In single-grained structures, soil particles are in stable positions, with each particle in contact
with the surrounding ones. The shape and size distribution of the soil particles and their
relative positions influence the denseness of packing; thus, a wide range of void ratios is
possible.

In the honeycombed structure, relatively fine sand and silt form small arches with chains of
particles. Soils that exhibit a honeycombed structure have large void ratios, and they can carry
an ordinary static load. However, under a heavy load or when subjected to shock loading, the
structure breaks down, which results in a large amount of settlement.
Structures in Cohesive Soil

Forces acting between clay particles

When two clay particles in suspension come close to

each other, the tendency for interpenetration of the
diffuse double layers results in repulsion between
the particles. At the same time, an attractive force
exists between the clay particles that is caused by
van der Waals forces and is independent of the
characteristics of water.

Both repulsive and attractive forces increase with

decreasing distance between the particles, but at
different rates.

When the spacing between the particles is very small, the force of attraction is greater
than the force of repulsion
 Structures in Cohesive Soil
Sediment structures

Dispersed structure: all

particles are oriented more or
less parallel to one another.

Edge-to-face contact: the particles are held

together by electrostatic attraction of positively
charged edgesto negatively charged faces.
this aggregation is known as flocculation

Edge-to-face contact: When salt is

added to a claywater suspension
that has been initially dispersed, the
ions tend to depress the double
layer around the particles. This
depression reduces the interparticle
repulsion. The clay particles are
attracted to one another to form
flocs and settle (salt flocculation)
Structures in Cohesive Soil
Sediment structures
Structures in Cohesive Soil
Sediment structures

Individual clay particles tend to be aggregated or flocculated in submicroscopic units. These

units are referred to as domains. The domains then group together, and these groups are
called clusters. Clusters can be seen under a light microscope. This grouping to form clusters
is caused primarily by interparticle forces. The clusters, in turn, group to form peds. Peds can
be seen without a microscope.
Structure of Clay Soils