CE-222 Soil Mechanics I

Lec 05: Soil Classification systems I

Fall 2023

Dr. Abbas Haider

National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST)

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Soil Classification systems
• Identify different soils according to their index properties.
• There are different system to classify the soils which depend on the index soil properties.
For example:
A. Classify the soil based textural; U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
B. Classify the soil based on engineering behavior; The American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO) classification system, and the Unified Soil Classification System
(Unified)

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Soil Classification systems
Textural Classification- Introduction
• The classification applies to fraction of soil passing through No. 10 sieve
• To classify the soil based on the particle size distribution of sand, silt, and clay.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) used this basis.
• The system will be according to three fractions; sand (2 to 0.05 mm), silt (0.05 to 0.002 mm), and clay (less
than 0.002 mm)
• The gravel fraction will be excluded
• The percentage of each fraction will be calculated according to the whole amount of the all fractions after
excluded the gravel fraction.
• The plasticity is not considered

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Soil Classification systems
Textural Classification - Calculations
• Calculate the percentage of each fraction as
the following
A- Exclude the gravel fraction:
%𝐹𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑓𝑟𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 =
100−%𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙
B- Use the following triangle to classify the soil
C- if the percentage of the gravel high (> 10%),
the prefix will be “gravelly”.

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Soil Classification systems
Textural Classification - Practice
Use USDA system to classify the following soils!
A B C D

Gravel 12 18 0 12
Sand 25 31 15 22
Silt 32 30 30 26
Clay 31 21 55 40

For example:
%𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑑
𝑀𝑜𝑑𝑖𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑑 𝑆𝑎𝑛𝑑 = x100
100−%𝐺𝑟𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑙

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Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior - Introduction
• Both particle size distribution and plasticity are considered
• Many systems used, however, only two system will be considered in this module; (1) The American
Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials classification system (AASHTO), and (2) the
Unified Soil Classification System (Unified).
• The gravel fraction will be considered
• AASHTO is preferred on the road projects while Unified preferred on most of the geotechnical projects.

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Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior - AASHTO
• AASHTO is developed in 1929
• Standards; (a) AASHTO M145 and (b) ASTM D 3282
• Mainly used on the classification of highway subgrade materials

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Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior – AASHTO
• Seven major groups
• From A-1 to A-3 is a granular material which has 35% or less fine material (material pass No. 200 or 0.075 mm
diameter)*
• Cobbles and boulders larger than 75 mm will be excluded from the classification but their percentage will be recorded.
• Gravel fraction is passing 75 mm (3 in) and retaining of 2 mm (No. 10)*
* Using U.S. sieve
• Sand fraction is passing 2 mm (No. 10) and retaining of 0.075 mm (No. 200)*
• Fine fraction is passing 0.075 mm (No. 200)*

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AASHTO Designation: M 145-91 (2012)
Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior – AASHTO
• The plasticity value will be used to differentiate between the silty and clayey soil.
• PI≤ 10, means silty while PI > 10 means clayey soils

* Using U.S. sieve

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AASHTO Designation: M 145-91 (2012)
Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering
behavior – AASHTO
• Use the elimination strategy to classify
the soil from the left to the right, top to
bottom
• The relation between the PI and LL can
be used to located the groups with LL
and PI at the graph

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AASHTO Designation: M 145-91 (2012)
Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior – AASHTO
• The group index (GI) will be used to evaluate the quality of the subgrade material
• The higher value of GI, the lower quality of performance of subgrade material.
• The group index will depend on the liquid limits, plasticity index, and fine material percentage.
• GI have two partial group indexes; for LL = 𝐹200 − 35 0.2 + +0.005 𝐿𝐿 − 40 and for PI =
0.01 𝐹200 − 15 𝑃𝐼 − 10
𝐺𝐼 = 𝐹200 − 35 0.2 + 0.005 𝐿𝐿 − 40 + 0.01 𝐹200 − 15 𝑃𝐼 − 10
Where 𝐹200 is the percentage of the materials passing 0.075 mm (No. 200), LL is the liquid limit, and PI is the
plasticity index

The calculation of GI will subject to the following rules:

1. The negative value will be considered as zero
2. The value will be rounded off the nearest whole number (integer)
3. No upper limitat on the value of the integer number
4. GI for groups A-1-a, A-1-b, A-2-4, A-2-5, and A-3 is always zero
5. Use the partial group index for PI with groups of A-2-6 and A-2-7
𝐺𝐼𝐴−2−6,𝐴−2−7 = 0.01 𝐹200 − 15 𝑃𝐼 − 10
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Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior – AASHTO
• Examples

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Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior – AASHTO
• Examples

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Soil Classification systems
Classification based on Engineering behavior – AASHTO
• Examples

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Soil Classification systems
Classification based on
Engineering behavior –
AASHTO - Concept
Group Index Usage

Group Index Subgrade

(GI) rating
0 Excellent
0–1 Good
2–4 Fair
5–9 Poor
10–20 Very poor

Davis & Jones (1954) Flexible-Pavement Design by the Group-Index Method

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