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Soil Mechanics (Prepared by: Er. Hem Raj Oli)
Soil is defined as an unconsolidated materials, composed of solids particles & produced by mechanical &
chemical disintegration of rocks
Terzaghi Father of soil mechanics
Classification of Soil
Classification of soil based on grain size.
Boulder >300 mm
Very coarse soils Cobble 80 ‐ 300 mm
Coarse 20 ‐ 80 mm
Gravel
Fine 4.75 ‐ 20 mm
Coarse soils Coarse 2 ‐ 4.75 mm
Sand Medium 0.2 – 2 mm
Fine 0.06 – 0.2 mm
Fine Soils Silt 0.002 – 0.06 mm
Clay < 0.002 mm
Based on cohesion
a) Cohesive Soil Clay, Plastic, Silt
b) Non – Cohesive Soil Sand, Non plastic, Silt, Gravel
# Classification of transported soil
1) Soil transported by River Alluvial
2) Soil deposit form by Sea Marine
3) Soil deposited in lake Lacustrine
4) Soil deposits formed by wind Loess, dune sand, aeoline
5) Soil transported by gravity colluvial soil, talus
6) Soil formed by decay of vegetable peat
7) Soil deposited by glacier / ice glacier drift
8) Residual Soil Form by disintegration of rock and may remain at the same
place of formation.
Terminologies
1. Mooram = mixture of iron, stone, gravel & red clay
2. Loam = mixture of sand, silt & clay
3. Black cotton soil: high shrinkage & swelling characteristics
4. Well (uniform) graded soil: soil contains particles of different sizes in good proportion
5. Uniform soil: soil contains particles of almost same sizes
6. Gap (skip) graded soil: a soil which contains particles size such that intermediate particles are
missing.
7. Coefficient of Curvature, Cc =
Cc = 1 to 3, well graded soil for gravel & sand
8. Uniformity Coefficient Cu =
Cu < 2, uniform soil
Cu > 4, well graded soil for gravel
Cu> 6, well graded soil for sand
Where, D10, D30, D60 are percentage of particles finer than these values are 10%,
30% & 60%.