GEO-01 Soil Formation Nature Classification State Parameters GDS

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GEOTECHNICS
LESSON 1
BASIC CHARACTERISTICS OF SOILS
Soil formation, nature, classification

and state parameters
Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Course of GEOTECHNICS, A.Y. 2020-21 Lesson 1: Basic characteristics of soils
1
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SOIL FORMATION

2
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Soil formation
Soils or “loose rocks”: natural aggregate of particles with
very different sizes (from less than a micron to more than some
millimeters), that forms the upper part of the earth crust. It is
generated by physical, chemical and biological destructive
processes of rocks.
Physical alteration: reduction of particle sizes up to around
0.01 mm without any alteration of the original chemical
composition, due to stress variation, erosion, freezing,
weathering and towing, thermal expansion of the rocks, …
Chemical weathering: reduction of particle size due to
chemical actions and change of composition …

3
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Soil types
Residual soil: the soil that remains on the same place where
it forms. It can have a chemical composition almost similar or
completely different to the parent rocks.
(a) A view of sedimentary rock (b) A detail view of the residual soils due to
undergoing chemical-physical alteration degradation of a sedimentary rock

4
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Soil types
Sediment transportation: the process in which the soil can
be transported from the original formation site to a new
depositional site by means of water, air, glacial actions.
Transportation is in suspension, for the smallest particles, or
rolling on the bottom of the flow, for the largest particles, or in
solution with a subsequent chemical precipitation.
The transportation produces the selection (larger is the particle
shorter is its transportation path) and abrasion of particles
(particles reduce their size and become more rounded).
Deposit characterization: sedimentation, stratigraphy and
structural characteristics depend on:
- the soil composition (size and mineralogy)
- environment characteristics in the deposition site
(continental, marine, lagoon, lake environments)
- the geological history or anthropic action…
5
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Deposit types
Deposit Description
Alluvional Formation by erosion, transportation in water and deposition in
continental environment, generally consists in a layering system of
sand and gravel with silt and clay …
Colluvial Formation at the base of mountains, the composition is almost the
same of to the above rocks …
Lacustrine Formation by sedimentation in fresh water, the composition varies
from sand to clay …
Marine Formation by the deposition of sand, silt and clay in a salt water,
more uniform distribution of soil with the presence of marine
organism and shells …
Glacial Formation by the glacial transportation, all the soil fractions are
present (from clay to gravel with also inclusions of boulders or
rocks fragments …
Eolic Formation by the transportation of sand particle in the wind with a
very uniform distribution …
6
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Colluvial deposit
(b) A detail of rock fragment in a

colluvial deposit
(a) Deposit of rock fragments at the base of a rock slope

7
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Eolic and coastal deposit
(a) The eolic erosion of rock slopes
(b) Dunes formed by poorly graded sands
(c) Sand deposits along the shore

are formed by poorly graded
sands, like occurs for dunes
8
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Lagunar deposit
(a) A satellite view of the

Venetian lagoon
(b) A detail view of the stratigraphy of lagoon deposit

9
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Soil composition
A soil is constituted by:
 Rock fragments
 Crystals of the more stable and resistant minerals
(quartz, feldspar, mica, etc.)
 Clay minerals (minerals based on silicon-oxygen and
aluminium-hydroxyl crystals combined to form sheet-
structures).
Infinite variations of composition: gravel and sand fractions (coarse

particles or granular particles), silt or clay fractions (fine particles or
cohesive) are present alone or mixed with different combination
and with organic material also …
What we call “soil” is more complicated than any other material
created by humans.

10
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Engineering interest
Engineering soil strata: Deposits up to a depth of 50-60m

below ground surface, with the exclusion of the top layer
(about 50cm) because is too much variable, loose or
deformable.
Mechanical behavior of soils: depends from grain size and
composition of soils. For this reason engineers classified the
soils describing their grain-size composition.

11
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Soil fractions
Inorganic soils
Clay Silt Sand Gravel Cobble

0,002 0,06 2 60 d (mm)
Organic soils

12
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Fraction subdivision
The fraction
subdivision
differs in the
various
international
standards.
Here some
examples:

13
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Clay minerals
Conventionally, the clay particles are those with a size less than 2
micron. They are constituted by two prevalent units:
Tetrahedra Units: Silicon Oxygens SiO4
Si
Octahedra Units: Aluminum Hydroxyls Al(OH)6
Al

14
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Common clay minerals
 Kaolinite
Strong bonding
(hydrogen)

15
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 Illite
Relatively weak bonding
(potassium)
Particles of caolinite-illite clay viewed a

electronical microscope. The plate-form
Potassium of particles is evident.
ions

16
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 Montmorillonite
nH2O
molecules
Very weak
bonding

17
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Interaction with water
• The clay particles present external negative ions that attract the
dipolar molecules of water and the hydrated cations, forming a
water cloud around the particles (ADSORBED WATER)
• The adsorbed water can’t be removed by gravity but needs to be

remove only at high temperature with a completely destruction of
the crystal reticulate. It has different properties from the free
water because it can transfer shear forces …
• Moving away from the particle, the negative attraction which links
the adsorbed water to the particles reduces its value with the
distance. The water that is not influenced by the particle
attraction is free to move (FREE WATER OR INTERSTITIAL WATER).
This water can be removed by gravity or mechanical compression
of the soil.
18
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Clay structure
• During sedimentation, the clay particle interaction forces are

attraction or repulsion in function of the ions present on water.
• If the attraction forces prevail the structure can be like a card
castle or with a flocculated structure, a structure similar to a flake
(a).
• If the repulsion forces prevail the structure can be in a dispersed
form with the single particle disposing one parallel to each other (b).
(a) flocculated structure (b) dispersed structure

19
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Structures of granular soils
 The interaction between particles in a granular soil is only a

mechanical interaction and the structure that a granular soil can
form is a function of the particle energy in deposition phase.
 If the particles of a granular soil are considered like spheres with
the same radius, they can be placed in a cubic shape (loose state)
or in a tetrahedral shape (dense state), with the loose state
occurring in low energy depositional environment.

20
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SOIL CLASSIFICATION

21
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Grain size and grain size distribution
The range of grain size distribution of natural soils is enormous (e.g.,

cobbles can be ~20 cm in diameter while the colloidal mineral
can be as small as 0.00001 mm = 0.01 micron => It has a
tremendous range of 6 orders of magnitude.
The particle size analysis is the procedure to determine the gradation

curve = grain size distribution
Coarse grained soils  Sieve analysis

(size ≥ 0.075mm) using a stack of sieves with wire
mesh cloth
Fine grained soils  Hydrometer analysis

(size < 0.075mm) Analysis based on Stoke’s Law
for falling spheres in a viscous fluid

22
Sieve analysis
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A specimen of dry soil is shaken mechanically through a series of

wire square‐mesh sieves with successively smaller openings. The
over sized materials are trapped above the screen, while undersized
materials can pass through the screen.

23
Sieve test procedure
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Determine the mass of soil retained on each sieve and the pan at
last (i.e. M1, M2, M3, … Mn, and Mp).
• The sum of these retained masses on each sieve plus the mass in
the pan should be approximately equals to the total mass
ΣM= M1+M2+M3+… +Mn+Mp ≈ Mtot
A loss of more than 2% is unsatisfactory.
• Calculate the percent retained on each sieve by dividing the

weight retained on each sieve by the original sample mass.
% retained = (Mi/Mtot) x 100
• Determine the percent passing (or percent finer) by starting with

100% and subtracting the percent retained on each sieve as a
cumulative procedure.
% passing = 100 – (M1+M2+M3+…+Mi)/Mtot*100
24
Gradation curve
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The results are shown in a cumulative frequency diagram

gradation curve.
X scale  Grain diameter are plotted in logarithmic scale
Y-axis  Percentage by mass (or weight) passing (finer than) in an
arithmetic scale.

25
Gradation curve
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Larger gradation means a wider particle size distribution.

Well graded poorly sorted (e.g., glacial till)
Poorly graded well sorted (e.g., beach sand)

26
Gradation curve
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Generally Dx represents a grain diameter for which x% of the sample

will be finer than it.
For instance, D50 is the mean diameter, because a 50% of sample is
composed by smaller particles and the other 50% of larger particles
Two coefficients have been defined to
characterize soils based on the distribution
of the particles
Cu = D60/D10 = Uniformity coefficient
CC = D230/(D60D10)= Coefficient of curvature
Well – graded soil:

1< CC <3 and CU ≥4 (for gravels)
1< CC <3 and CU ≥6 (for sands)

27
Hydrometer analysis
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Hydrometer analysis is the test used to determine the grain

size distribution of the fine grained soils (silts and clays).
Analysis based on Stoke’s Law, which relates the terminal velocity of a
free‐falling sphere in a liquid to its diameter 
velocity is proportional to square diameter
v = terminal velocity
s w 2 s = unit weight of sphere
v D  cD 2 w = unit weight of water
18   D = diameter of sphere
 = viscosity of water
The size of a particle is given as the diameter of a

sphere which would settle at the same velocity as
the particle.

28
Hydrometer test
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The hydrometer is the instrument used to measure the density

of the suspension at a known depth below the surface.
The density measurement determines the percentage of
dispersed soil particles in suspension at the time and depth of
measurement.
Stokes’ law is used to calculate

the maximum equivalent
particle diameter for the
material in suspension at this
depth and for the elapsed time
of settlement.

29
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• Lab #2A Hydrometer and Sieve Analysis -

Bing video
• Lab #2A Hydrometer Analysis - YouTube

30
Gradation curve
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If a soil is composed by a mixture of coarse and fine particles, the

gradation curve is obtained reporting in the same plot the results of
sieve and hydrometer tests

31
Gradation curve
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Engineering applications
• It will help us “feel” the soil texture (what the soil is) and it will
also be used for the soil classification (next topic).
• It can be a criterion for selecting fill materials of embankments and
earth dams, road sub‐base materials, and concrete aggregates.
• The grain size distribution for coarse‐grained soils, has
some effects to their engineering behaviour.
For instance, the hydraulic conductivity k of granular soils can be
estimated using the effective grain size D10, by the Hazen’s
equation
[Applicable when 0.1 mm < D10 < 3.0 mm and (D60/D10)<5]

[The correlation factor C could vary between 0.007 and 0.014. In geotechnical practice, C is
commonly taken to be 0.01]
32
Particle shape
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For granular soils the shape of the individual particles is as

important as the grain size distribution in affecting their
engineering behaviour:
• Angular soil particle  higher friction
• Round soil particle  lower friction
Keep in mind that clay

particles are platy shapes
and the presence of water
affects their engineering
response much more than
grain size or texture alone. Examples of shape in granular soils
33
Atterberg limits
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Atterberg limits are thresholds water contents, separating the

different states of a fine grained soil (i.e., where the soil
behaviour changes)
= Soil state

34
Atterberg limits: Liquid Limit
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The Liquid Limit (LL) is the water content corresponding to

the boundary water content at which a soil changes from a
viscous liquid to a plastic state.
The liquid limit can be determined by two standard procedures

on material passing the No.40 (425 m) sieve:
1) Casagrande Method (ASTM D4318‐95a)

2) Cone Penetrometer Method (BS 1377: Part 2: 1990:4.3)

35
Liquid Limit: Casagrande method
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Casagrande defined the LL as the water content at which a standard

groove cut in the remoulded soil sample will close over a distance of
13mm at 25 blows of the LL cup falling on a hard rubber plastic base.

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Liquid Limit: Casagrande method
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Typical liquid limit results from the Casagrande’s cup method.

37
Liquid Limit: Cone penetrometer method
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The fall‐cone test is based on the principle of the static penetration.

A 80 g metal cone tip is suspended and positioned on the surface of a
remoulded soil specimen; the cone is released for 5s and its
penetration into the soil measured. The cone LL is defined as the water
content at 20 mm penetration.

38
Atterberg limits: Plastic Limit
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The plastic limit PL is defined as the water content at which a soil

thread with 3.2 mm diameter just crumbles when it is rolled out
on a plate. Detailed description in ASTM D4318‐95a
(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)

39
Atterberg limits: Shrinkage Limit
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The Shrinkage Limit SL is the water content at which a further

reduction in water does not cause a decrease in the volume of the
soil mass.
The Shrinkage Limit is

determined allowing
a small soil sample to
dry slowly

40
Atterberg limits: video
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41
Plasticity and Liquidity Index
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Plasticity index PI
For describing the range of water content over which a
soil is plastic:
PI = LL – PL
Burmister (1949) classified the plasticity index in a qualitative

manner as follows:
PI Soil
0-1 No plastic
1-5 Slightly plasticity
5-10 Low plasticity
10-20 Medium plasticity
20-40 High plasticity
>40 Very high plasticity

42
Liquidity Index
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Liquidity index LI
It gives an idea of relatively consistency of a cohesive soil in
natural state
A) LI<0  brittle fracture if sheared
B) 0<LI<1  plastic solid if sheared
C) LI>1  viscous liquid if sheared

43
Activity Index
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Skempton (1953) observed that PI of a soil increase linearly with

the % of clay fraction CF (<0.002mm).
The type of the clay soils give different lines with slope also called
activity index: A=PI/CF
• Normal clays: 0.75<A<1.25
• Inactive clays: A<0.75
• Active clays: A> 1.25
High activity:
• Large volume change when wetted
• Large shrinkage when dried
• Very reactive (chemically)
44
Plasticity chart
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The Atterberg limits enable clay soils to be classified. Casagrande

proposed a plasticity chart by plotting Atterberg limits of various
soils around the world.
• The A‐line generally
separates the more claylike
materials from silty
materials, and the organics
from the inorganics.
• The U‐line indicates the
upper bound for general
soils.
Note: If the measured limits of
soils are on the left of U‐line,
they should be rechecked.

45
Typical clay materials
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Typical value of Liquidity limit and Plasticity index for fine soils with a
fraction of a typical clay mineral.

46
Introduction to Soil Classification
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A soil classification system represents a language of communication

between engineers. It provides a systematic method of categorizing
soils according to their probable engineering behaviour
Two commonly used systems:

• Unified Soil Classification
System (USCS): the most
common soil classification system
among geotechnical engineers. It
is standardized in ASTM D2487
• American Association of State
Highway and Transportation
Officials (AASHTO) System:
the most widely used for
highways and airfields

47
USCS – basic concepts
-
• Coarse‐grained soils can be classified according to their

grain sizes and grain size distribution
• Fine‐grained soils are related to their plasticity
Required tests to classify a soil: Three major soil divisions:

• Sieve analysis • Coarse‐grained soils
50% > #200 (0.075mm)
• Atterberg limits
(no hydrometric analysis) • Fine‐grained soils
50% ≤ #200 (0.075mm)
• Highly organic soils

48
USCS - method
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The USCS utilizes some letters for classify the soils. A soil is
classified by mean of 2 or more letters put in sequence.
Soil symbols: Liquid limit symbols:

G Gravel H High plasticity (LL>50)
S Sand L Low plasticity (LL<50)
M Silt
C Clay Gradation symbols:
O Organic W Well‐graded
Pt Peat P Poorly‐graded
Example:
SW = Well‐graded sand
SC = Clayey sand
SM = Silty sand
MH = Silt of high plasticity
49
USCS – Coarse-grained soils
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If the percent passing #200 is between 5% and 12%, the material is

classified as either W or P based on Cu and CC and the fines according
to the plasticity chart. A double symbols assigned, i.e. GW‐GC, SP‐SM.
50
USCS – Fine-grained soils
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Modified Casagrande’s plasticity chart to be used in USCS

Classification for fine-grained soils.

51
AASHTO classification system
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This system was originally developed by Hogentogler and Terzaghi

in 1929 as the Public Roads Classification System. The original
purpose of this classification system is used for road construction
(subgrade rating).
• 7 major groups: A1~ A7 (with several subgroups)
• A‐1, A‐2 and A‐3 are granular materials of which the
particles pass through the No. 200 sieve ≤ 35%
• A‐4, A‐5, A‐6 and A‐7 with more than 35% pass through the
No. 200 sieve are mostly silt and clay‐type materials
• The required tests are sieve analysis and Atterberg limits.
• The group index GI, an empirical formula, is used to further
evaluate soils within a group (subgroups).

52
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53
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54
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To evaluate the quality of a soil as a highway subgrade material,

one must also incorporate a number called the group index (GI).
This index is written in parentheses after the group or subgroup
designation. The group index is given by the equation:
GI = (F200-35)[0.2+0.005(LL-40)] + 0.01(F200-15)(PI-10) (1)
F200: percentage passing through the No.200 sieve.
In general, the quality of performance of a soil as a subgrade

material is inversely proportional to the group index.
Some rules for determining the group index:
1. if Eq. (1) gives a negative value then GI=0;
2. round up the value calculated by Eq. (1) to an integer;
3. there is no upper limit for GI;
4. the GIs for soil groups A‐1‐a, A‐1‐b, A‐2‐4, A‐2‐5, and A‐3
are always zero (0).
55
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WEIGHT-VOLUME
RELATIONSHIPS

56
Definitions
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If we consider an infinitesimal volume of a continuous media

V, with mass M and weight W, we define:
M 
Density:   lim  
V 0 V 
 W 
Bulk weight:   lim    g
V 0 V 
For ordinary engineering purpose the gravity g is equal to

9.806 m/s2
For water: w =0.99997 ≈ 1.0 Mg/m3 a 4 °C, w = 9.806 kN/m3

57
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Soil phases
Soils are three‐phase systems containing solid, fluid and gas. The liquid
(normally water) and gas (normally air) fill the void spaces between the
solid particles.
VOID = AIR
Water + Air
(WW) WATER
SOLID SOLID
PARTICLES PARTICLES
(WS)
V = Total Volume M = Total Mass

Vw = Water Volume Mw = Water Mass
Vs = Solid Volume Ms = Solid Mass
Vg = Air Volume Mg = Air Mass ≈ 0
58
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Relation among phase volumes
Total volume: V  Vg  Vw  Vs  Vv  Vs
Void volume: Vv  Vg  Vw
Porosity: n  Vv V
n
Void index: e  Vv Vs 
1 n
Vw Sr =1 Saturated soil
Saturation degree: S r  (Voids completely
(natural number or Vv filled of water)
percent)
Sr =0 Dried soil
(No water in the voids)
59
Relative density of granular soils
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Granular soils can have a rather wide range of void ratios depending
on the grain shape, grain size distribution and the fabric of the soils.
Cubic packing Rhombohedral

Relative or Index Density Dr packing
e ≈ 0.90 e ≈ 0.35
emax  e0
Dr 
emax  emin
emax = void ratio at the loosest condition
e = void ratio at the natural condition
emin = void ratio at the densest condition - Dr < 0.2 very loose
- 0.2 < Dr < 0.4 loose
Both emax and emin are measured in lab tests
- 0.4 < Dr < 0.6 medium dense
- 0.6 < Dr < 0.8 dense
NB: Dr is a natural number or percent - Dr > 0.8 very dense

60
Relation among phase weigths
-
Water content: w  Ww Ws natural number or percent
Unit weight of solid phase:  s  Ws V s
Specific weight of solid particles: Gs   s  w  2.5  2.9  2.70

W Ws  Ww  sVs   w S rVv  w Gs  S r e
    
 
Unit weight:
(Sr=[0-1]) V Vs  Vv Vs (1  e) 1 e
 w Gs  wGs   wGs (1  w)
Saturated unit weight:  sat  
1 e 1 e
(Sr=1 or 100%)
 wGs
Dried unit weight: d 
1 e
(Sr=0 or 0%)
Submerged unit weight:  '   sat   w

61
Usual values of state parameters
-

62

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Soil formation, nature, classification

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

(b) A detail of rock fragment in a

(a) Deposit of rock fragments at the base of a rock slope

(b) Dunes formed by poorly graded sands

(c) Sand deposits along the shore

(a) A satellite view of the

(b) A detail view of the stratigraphy of lagoon deposit

Infinite variations of composition: gravel and sand fractions (coarse

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Engineering soil strata: Deposits up to a depth of 50-60m

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Clay Silt Sand Gravel Cobble

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Octahedra Units: Aluminum Hydroxyls Al(OH)6

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Particles of caolinite-illite clay viewed a

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

• The adsorbed water can’t be removed by gravity but needs to be

• During sedimentation, the clay particle interaction forces are

(a) flocculated structure (b) dispersed structure

 The interaction between particles in a granular soil is only a

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

The range of grain size distribution of natural soils is enormous (e.g.,

The particle size analysis is the procedure to determine the gradation

Coarse grained soils  Sieve analysis

Fine grained soils  Hydrometer analysis

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

A specimen of dry soil is shaken mechanically through a series of

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

• Calculate the percent retained on each sieve by dividing the

• Determine the percent passing (or percent finer) by starting with

The results are shown in a cumulative frequency diagram

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Larger gradation means a wider particle size distribution.

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Generally Dx represents a grain diameter for which x% of the sample

Well – graded soil:

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

Hydrometer analysis is the test used to determine the grain

The size of a particle is given as the diameter of a

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

The hydrometer is the instrument used to measure the density

Stokes’ law is used to calculate

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

• Lab #2A Hydrometer and Sieve Analysis -

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

If a soil is composed by a mixture of coarse and fine particles, the

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

[Applicable when 0.1 mm < D10 < 3.0 mm and (D60/D10)<5]

For granular soils the shape of the individual particles is as

Keep in mind that clay

Atterberg limits are thresholds water contents, separating the

Eng. Giorgia Dalla Santa

The Liquid Limit (LL) is the water content corresponding to

The liquid limit can be determined by two standard procedures