CONSISTENCY LIMIT

-Consistency is the resistance to deformation of a soil.

-It denotes the degree of firmness of a soil and is indicated by such

terms as soft, firm, stiff or hard.

-Consistency is used to describe the fine grained soils, and is related to

moisture content.

-Plasticity is the property of a soil which allows it to be deformed

without cracking or appreciable volume change.

-Sensitivity is a measure of the loss of strength of cohesive soil on

remoulding.

-Sensitivity St = unconfined compressive strength (undisturbed)

unconfined compressive strength (remoulded)
-Depending on the moisture content (m.c.), four states of consistency
are recognized :

(i) liquid state

(ii) plastic state

(iii) semi-solid state

(iv) solid state

-The m.c. at which a soil passes from one state to the other are called
the consistency limits or Atterberg Limits.
 Volume

Solid semi - plastic liquid

solid

Ws Wp WL moisture content

Consistency State and Limit

Plasticity Index Ip= WL - Wp

-At high m.c., the soil behaves as a viscous liquid.

-With gradual reduction of m. c., the flow properties change to that of a

paste-like material.

-Up to this stage, the soil is said to be in a liquid state.

-Further drying of the soil leads to the development of a plastic

behavior, when the soil can be moulded without crumbling. This is
plastic state.

-With further m. c. reduction, the soil mass ceases to be plastic and

becomes brittle. The soil is under semi-solid state.

-Up to the end of semi-solid state, the reduction in the total volume of
soil is very nearly equal to the volume of water lost.
-When the loss of water is not accompanied by an equivalent reduction
in volume of the soil mass, the soil is said to have entered the solid
state.

The three consistency limits are :

1. Liquid Limit, WL

-is the minimum m.c. at which the soil can flow under a specified small
disturbing force.

-method of test is cone penetration method.

2.Plastic Limit, Wp

-is the minimum m. c. at which the soil can be rolled into a thread
approximately 3 mm in diameter without crumbling.

3.Shrinkage Limit, Ws

-is the maximum m. c. below which the soil ceases to decrease in

volume on further drying.

-In other words, it is the m. c. which will fully saturate the dry soil
without increasing its total volume.