Civil Engineering

Materials and Geology

Classifying Coarse and Fine grained soils
Particle size and grading

To develop a systematic way to describe

and classify soils; and
To group soils of similar geotechnical
characteristics

2
 Boulder

Cobble

Gravel

Sand

Clay Silt
 sedimentation
sieve analysis

Cohesive Granular soils or

soils Cohesionless soils

Clay Silt Sand Gravel Cobble Boulder

0.002 0.063 2.00 60 200

Grain size (mm)

Fine grain Coarse grain

soils soils
4
 Boulder

Cobble

Gravel

COARSE
FINE

Sand

Clay Silt
 Boulder

Cobble

Gravel

GRANULAR
(Cohesionless)

COHESIVE

Sand
Silt

Clay
 Sieve analysis

Particle size
distribution

7
 PSD Curve

100

80
% Passing (Finer)

60

40

20

0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

Particle size (mm) Logarithmic

W Well graded scale
The distribution of particle size in a soil deposit is usually expressed in
terms of a grading curve or particle size distribution (PSD) curve, in which
the percentage by mass of particles finer than any particular size is plotted
against particle size on a logarithmic scale. 8
 100
% Finer

80

60

40

20

0
0.0001 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100

Particle size (mm)

W Well graded
U Uniform
Poorly graded (i.e. U Uniformly graded or P Poorly graded )
C Well graded with some clay
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F Well graded with an excess of fines
 Effective size (D10)

The size of the sieve through

which 10% of soil passes

What is D30? D60??

D10 D30 D60
 Coefficients to describe grain size
distribution curve

D 60
Uniformity
coefficient Cu 
D10
2
Curvature D
coefficient Cc  30

D 60 . D10
 Well, uniformly and gap graded:

Cu  4.0 uniformly graded

Cu  4.0either well graded or gap

graded (correct description based
on the grading curve)

1< Cc <3 a well graded soil

Soil Classification
Fine-grained Soils (Silt & Clay)

Consistency / Atterberg limits

Drying

Drying (Decreasing moisture)

BS5930 Soil Classification

19
 Plasticity chart
Plasticity Chart - To determine if the fine
grained soil is silt or clay of low medium
or high plasticity

70

Inorganic
clay Organic silt
clay
Grading and Classification
Worked Example 1
– Grading curve for Soil A provided
– Grading data for a representative sample of Soil B of mass
1211g is given
– Sample of Soil C has a wL = 40, wP = 18 and a grading
curve as given

CLASSIFY THE SOILS

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23
– Soil A:
• need to determine the PERCENTAGE PASSING for:

- 63m (distinction between fine and coarse soil)

24
 Smaller than 63m = 0%

0% finer
than 63m

25
26
– Soil A:
• need to determine the PERCENTAGE PASSING for:
– 2mm (distinction between sand and gravel)

27
 Percentage passing (smaller) than 2mm = 23%

23% finer
than 2mm

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29
30
Grading and Classification

Worked Example 1
– Soil A:
0.063mm < Sand =23% < 2mm
[BS classification table] => Very Sandy Gravel

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Grading and Classification

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– Soil A:
Very Sandy Gravel => Well graded or Poorly graded
(Uniformly graded or Gap graded)?

• Grading curve covers a broad range of particle sizes

within the classification, so the soil can be described
as ‘well graded’(Proof??)

Soil is a: well graded very Sandy GRAVEL

GWS
 Grading and Classification
D60

D30

D10

0.425mm 4mm 20mm

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Soil A:

D60 20
Cu    50 > 4 =well graded or gap-graded
D10 0.4
NAME:
Soil is a: Well-graded very Sandy GRAVEL

GWS
Worked Example 1
– Soil B:

• Need to determine the PERCENTAGE PASSING for

two particle sizes:
Finer than 63m – ?%

ALL MATERIAL IN THE SAND-GRAVEL RANGE

(COARSE GRAINED)
Finer than 2mm – ?%
44
13% finer
than 2mm
0% finer
than 63m

45
Worked Example 1
– Soil B:

• Need to determine the PERCENTAGE PASSING for

two particle sizes:
Finer than 63m – 0%

ALL MATERIAL IN THE SAND-GRAVEL RANGE

(COARSE GRAINED)
Finer than 2mm – 13%
?

?
48
49
?

? 50
51
4

55
5

56
Worked Example 1
– Soil B:
Sand component 5 – 20%
(in this case: 0.063mm<13% <2mm), hence ‘Sandy’

Soil is a Sandy GRAVEL

Quality…? (well graded, uniformly graded or gap graded)

57
Grading and Classification

58
Worked Example 1
– Soil B:
Grading curve covers a narrow range of particle
sizes within the classification, so is described as
‘poorly graded – uniformly graded’ (Proof??)
 Grading
7
and Classification
D60

D30

D10

1.80mm 4mm
3.35mm

60
Worked Example 1
– Soil B:
Could carry out a quantitative analysis - Cu

D60 4
Cu    2 .2 Cu < 4 = uniformly graded
D10 1.8
Worked Example 1
– Soil B:

Soil is a: Uniformly-graded Sandy GRAVEL

GPuS
Note: Symbols…
W => Well graded
Pu => Poorly graded uniformly graded
(uniformly graded)
Pg => Poorly graded gap graded (gap graded)
Worked Example 1
– Soil C has a wL = LL=40%, wP = PL=18% and
a grading curve as given.

Classify and name the soil

Worked Example 1
– Soil C:

%Passing 63m? / %Retained on 63m?

%Passing 2mm?

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Worked Example 1
– Soil C:

%Passing 63m? 53% / %Retained on 63m 47%?

%Passing 2mm? 93%

FINES (TOTAL) = 53% (Silt, Clay)

COARSE (TOTAL) = 47% (Sand, Gravel, Coble,…)
SAND + FINES = 93%

68
?

? 69
70
?

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Worked Example 1
– Soil C:

Passing 63m (FINES) = 35%<53% < 65% =>

so has to be “Sandy” or “Gravelly” Silt or Clay

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73
Worked Example 1
– Soil C:

% of Sand =
[%passing 2mm - %passing 0.063mm] / [% retained
on 0.063mm]

Or:

% of Gravel =
[%passing 60mm - %passing 2mm] / [% retained on
0.063mm]

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Worked Example 1
Soil C
(FINES)
(Sand + FINES)

(93%−53%)
=> × 100 = 85% of coarse soil is Sand >50%=>
47%
Sandy (Silt or Clay) ?
What level of Plasticity?

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80
– Soil C:
wL = 40%; wP = 18%, hence PI=LL-PL = 22%
 Point above A-line => It is a CLAY

PI = 22

wL = 40
82
MS

CS
 – Soil C:

Soil is a Sandy CLAY

What level of plasticity?

(REMINDER: this is only for CLAY or SILT)
 Intermediate Plasticity

PI = 22

wL = 40
85
 – Soil C:

Soil is a: Sandy CLAY with intermediate plasticity

CIS
or: FIS (Sandy FINES with intermediate plasticity)
Tutorial exercise1:
Tutorial exercise 2: Results from a cone penetration test on a fine grained soil
are as below.

Determine the liquid limit value for the soil.

Penetration (mm) 15.6 18.2 21.4 23.6

Water Content (%) 34.6 40.8 48.2 53.4

Assume Wp=24%, classify the soil.