ASSIGNMENT NO.

4
SOIL CONSISTENCY

Problem Solving. Show all your calculations. No credit will be given unless complete
calculations are shown. Submit Clear and Readable Copy of Your Solution. Use three
decimal places.
(60%)1. Following are the results from the liquid and plastic limit tests for a soil.
Liquid Limit Test:
Number of Blows (N) Moisture Content (%)
13 33
18 27
29 22
Plastic Limit Test
Weight of wet soil = 34.95 g
Weight of dry soil = 30.00 g
a). Draw the flow curve and find the liquid limit.
b). Determine the plastic limit.
c). What is the plasticity index of the soil?
d). Determine the consistency index of the soil when the in-situ moisture content is 14.8%.
e). Determine the Toughness Index of the soil.

(10%)2. A saturated soil with a volume of 19.65 cu. cm has a mass of 36 g. When the soil was dried, its
volume and mass were 13.50 cu. cm and 25 g, respectively. Determine the shrinkage limit of the
soil.

(30%)3. A clay has the following Atterberg’s limits:

LL = 60% PL = 40% SL = 25%
The clay shrinks from 15 cu. cm to 9.57 cu. cm when the moisture content is decreased from the
liquid limit to the shrinkage limit. What is the dry specific gravity of clay?

GOOD LUCK!!!