Harison, J. A. (1988). Giotechnique 38, No.

3,433-438

TECHNICAL NOTES

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Using the BS cone penetrometer for the determination

of the plastic limit of soils

J. A. HARISON*

KEYWORDS: analysis; Atterberg limits; clays; shear versa. Wroth & Wood (1978) gave a linear
strength. relationship betwen w and the logarithm (base 10)
of undrained shear strength C, in the following
equation
INTRODUCTION
The fall-cone test has been extensively used in w + A log C, = constant (1)
some parts of the world for the determination of where A is a constant.
the liquid limit of soils, especially in Europe. The The results obtained by Skepmton & Northey
British Standards Institute (BS 1377 (1975)) calls (1953) (Fig. 1) indicated that the relationship
the fall-cone test the cone penetrometer test. This between the water content or liquidity index I,
test is the British Standard preferred method for and C, is not a straight line on a semi-
determining the liquid limit of soils (Head, 1980) logarithmic plot but a curve. However, those
since this test gives more consistent results than results agreed with the Wroth & Wood sugges-
the conventional method. The cone penetrometer tion that the shear strength of a soil at the plastic
has been standardized by the BSI in BS 4671 and limit is 100 times that at its liquid limit.
the method of test in BS 1377. From Fig. 1, the average C, at the liquid limit
This Note describes the use of the BS cone pen- is about 0.16 lb/in’ (1.1 kN/m’) and at the plastic
etrometer test for the determination of the plastic limit is about 16 lb/in2 (110 kN/m2). The
limit of soils based on the relationship between minimum radius (r) of the curves occurs at about
water content and undrained shear strength. C, = 0.32 lb/in2 (2.2 kN/m2) or twice that at the
As there are many versions of the cone pen- liquid limit. Assuming that the upper and lower
etrometer, in this Note it is referred to as the BS portions of the curves from r are straight lines,
cone penetrometer. Skempton & Northey’s results can be idealized as
two straight lines intersecting at r, i.e. a point at
which C, is twice that at the liquid limit and
WATER CONTENT AND SHEAR STRENGTH where I, = 0.77 (see Fig. 2).
The parameters of clay-like soils depend largely
on their water content w. Generally, the higher
the water content the lower the strength and vice CONE PENETROMETER AND SHEAR
STRENGTH
Discussion on this Technical Note closes on 1 January The result of the fall-cone test is the penetra-
1989. For further details see p. ii. tion depth (d) after 5 seconds. Logically, the
* Maranatha Christian University, Bandung, Indonesia. higher the value of d the lower the strength of the

433

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 1.4

1.2

0.6

0.4

0.2

Plastic limit
0I-

-0.2 I I I I I I
0.01 0.1 0.5 1 5 10 50
Shearstrength: Ibflin’

Fig. 1. Relationship between shear strength aad liquidity index of remoulded clays (after
Skemptoo 81 Northey, 1953)

0.32
0.0 , Plastlc limit
0.01 0.16 100
Shear strength: Ibf/in’

Fig. 2. Idealization of relationskip between liquidity index and shear streagtb

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 BS CONE PENETROMETER 435

61. = 20 mm (at LI= 1.OO)

d psLL = 14 mm (atLlk0.77)
dPL = 2mm(atLI=1.00)

dm
Penetration d: mm

Fig. 3. Relationship between liquidity index, water content and penetration

material under test. Therefore, it may be assumed These effects will cause a slight difference between
that C, is an inverse function of d or C, = A(qmB, k and k,, but this difference will be insignificant
where A and B are positive constants. Intro- for K = J(kJk). Therefore, it is reasonable to
ducing this relationship into equation (l), the assume K = 1.
relation between w and d will be According to Wroth & Wood (1978), C, at the
plastic limit is 100 times C, at the liquid limit or
w - A’ log d = C (2) x = 100. Thus, using equation (4) d,, can be cal-
where A’ and C are constants. culated as 2 mm, while, for x = 2 (at C, twice
Figure 3 shows the relationship between w or that at the liquid limit), d,,,, is 14 mm.
I, and d. It is a modification of Fig. 2 and will be
adopted as the model.
For a cone weight W Hansbo (1957) gives the PLASTIC LIMIT DETERMINATION
following equation It is very difficult to prepare a soil sample in an
experimentation cup that will give 2 mm of pen-
C,d2/W = k (3) etration depth. The relationship between w and d
where k is a constant. as given in Fig. 3 consists of two lines. The upper
Figure 3 shows some important points, namely line is used for the liquid limit determination with
a point at the plastic limit (dPL), a point at the a range of penetration values from about 14 mm
liquid limit (dLL), and a point (d,,,,) at a value of to 25 mm, and the lower line for the plastic limit
C, equal to twice that at the liquid limit. For the determination. Theoretically, based on the
BS cone penetrometer test, d,, is 20 mm. Using assumption that the point of intersection of the
equation (3) the penetration depth at a C, of x two lines is at d,,,, = 14 mm, the lower line can
times that at liquid limit (d,) can be obtained by be simply constructed by performing an addi-
tional penetration test with d at, say 5 mm.
d, = d,,J(llxXkJk) However, for accuracy, it is advisable to make
two additional penetration tests, one with d at
if d,, = 20 mm and JkJk = K, then
about 5 mm and the other with d at about
10 mm.
dx=y.jx (4) From the lower line, the water content at d,,
(i.e. the plastic limit) can be determined.
where k, is k in equation (3) at d, .
The value of k depends mainly on the apex
angle of the cone (Kumapley & Boakye, 1980). EXPERIMENTATION
However, there are dynamic effects associated Following the procedures given in BS 1377
with penetration depth (Wroth & Wood, 1978). (1975) Test 2(A), some penetration tests on

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 436 HARISON

110

A
V Silt wth low clay fraction
I
n t

0 CHsoll
l Silty clay (MH XII)

50-

40 -

30 L
1
Penetration d: mm
I
I
25

Fig. 4. Experimental results of the relationship between water content and penetration

0
1 .’ ILlquld llmlt
i

8
c
2 0.: 5-
.??
s
i

0.13-

Penetration d : mm

Fig. 5. Experimental results of the relationship between liquidity index and

penetration

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 BS CONE PENETROMETER 431

Bandung clays were performed. The penetration Table 2. Comparison between the plastic limits
values range from about 5 mm to 25 mm. The obtained from the BS cone penetrometer and the con-
results of the tests are given in Fig. 4 and from ventional method for Bandung clays.
this, the water content at d = 2 mm (plastic limit)
l- Difference :
can be determined.
Figure 4 also indicates that the lower lines and
the upper lines of the w-d plot actually do inter-
Soil
samples
T Cone
Plastic limit (%)

Conventional
%

sect at a point with d about 14 mm, which con-

firms the earlier assumption. Fig. 5 shows the 44 45
relationship between I, and d, the liquidity index 43 42
38 38
(I,) values being determined from wp and wL,
41 41
obtained from cone penetrometer tests. It can be
36 38
seen that the shape of the graph obtained experi- 39 39
mentally is similar to that of the model used in 43 44
this analysis. The average value of d at I, = 0 (i.e. 52 52
at wp) is 1.97 mm, at I, = 1 (i.e. at wL) is 19.9 mm 50 51
and, at the point of intersection of the two lines,
the average value of I, is 0.75 and d is 14 mm (see
Table 1). These results are comparable with the
assumptions used in this analysis, i.e. d at I, = 0 CONCLUSIONS
is 2 mm and at the point of intersection is 14 mm The determination of the plastic limits of soils
with I, = 0.77. using the BS cone penetrometer has been
described. The experimental results indicate that
the assumptions used, which are based on the
Table 1. Comparison between experimental results and results of Skempton & Northey (1953) and the
suggestion given by Wroth & Wood (1978) (as
shown in Figs 2 and 3) agree closely with the
Test values Experimental Assumptions experimental results for Bandung clays.
results (see Fig. 3): By performing cone penetration tests with a
(average): mm mm range of penetration values from about 5 mm to
d at I, = 0 1.97 2.00 25 mm, the w-d plot can be constructed. The plot
d at I, = 1 19-90 20.00 on a semi-logarithmic graph will produce two
d at straight lines intersecting at a point with d about
intersection 14 mm. From the lower line of the w-d plot, the
point (d,,,,) 14.00 14+Io water content corresponding to a penetration
I, at value of 2 mm (i.e. the plastic limit) can be ascer-
intersection tained.
point 0.75 0.77 For Bandung clays, the plastic limits obtained
by the BS cone penetrometer using the method
described compare well with those found by the
The comparison between the experimental results conventional method, with the average difference
and the assumptions used are summarized in being about 1.5%.
Table 1.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
COMPARISON WITH THE CONVENTIONAL The Author wishes to thank the staff of the soil
METHOD mechanics laboratory of the Department of Civil
The comparison between the plastic limits Engineering, Maranatha Christian University,
Bandung, for their help in the laboratory work.
obtained from the BS cone penetrometer test and
those for Bandung clays by the conventional
method are given in Table 2. The soil samples are
OH soils, CH soils, silty clays and clayey silts as
REFERENCES
well as silts with low clay fraction. Table 2 shows
BS 1377 (1975). Methods oftesting ofsoils for civil engin-
that the plastic limits obtained from the BS cone eering purposes. London: British Standards Institu-
penetrometer tests are comparable with those of tion.
the conventional method, the average difference Hansbo, S. (1957). A new approach to the determination
being about 1.5%. of the shear strength of clay by the fall-cone test.

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 438 HARISON

Proc. No. 14. Stockholm: Royal Swedish Geotech- Regional ConJ Soil Mech. Fdn Engng, Accra 1, 167-
nical Institute. 170.
Head, K. H. (1980). Manual of soil laboratory testing, Skempton, A. W. & Northey, R. D. (1953). The sensi-
volume I: soil classifkation and compaction tests. tivity of clays. Gtotechnique 3, No. 1, 3&53.
London: Pentech Press. Wroth, C. P. & Wood, D. M. (1978). The correlation of
Kumapley, N. K. & Boakye, S. Y., (1980). The use of index properties with some basic engineering
cone penetrometers for the determination of the properties of soils. Can. Geotech. J. 15, No. 2, 137-
liquid limits of soils of low plasticity. 7th African 145.

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