Department of Civil Engineering Technology

Instructor: Eng. Tech. Bilal Muhammad Ismail Memon

bilalismail100@gmail.com
A soil description include the material characteristics;

Primary Characteristics
i. Particle Size Distribution
ii. Plasticity

Secondary Characteristics
i. Color
ii. Shape
iii. Texture
iv. Composition
 Soil Classification is the arrangement of soils into various groups or

sub-groups to express primary material characteristics.

 Soil is denoted by major constituent and minor constituents are

indicated by adjectives.

 The color, density and moisture content conditions are added to fully

describe the field condition of soil.

Soils can be grouped as;

1. COARSE-GRAINED OR NON-COHESIVE

 Easily identified by naked eye on the basis of grain size

 Gravel and Sand are major materials
 Gravel or Sand can be classified as fine, medium or coarse
 Grains may be rounded, sub-rounded, angular or sub-angular
 Mica or shale may also be present but identified with magnifying
glass
 Lesser significant percentage of material should also be identified
 2. FINE-GRAINED SOIL OR COHESIVE SOIL

 Silts and Clays are fine grained soil

 Based on organic material can be categorized as inorganic soil or

organic soil;

i. Inorganic soil

Field identification of this soil can be made by following tests;

Dry strength test

 Dry strength of soil is an identification of presence of cohesion

 Pat of soil about 6 mm is dried naturally or in oven

 Dry strength can be estimated by breaking and crushing between

fingers

 Dry inorganic clay shows high strength

 Dry inorganic silts have little or no dry strength

Dilatancy test

 Pat of soil is made with water as soft, not sticky

 Pat is placed in open palm in horizontal position

 The side of the hand is struck against the other hand several times

 The appearance of shiny film of water on the surface of pat shows silt

 Due to less permeability of clay, no significant change on surface of

pat is seen
Plasticity test

 Small quantity of soil is rolled into thread on flat surface or on palm

 If soil is rolled in long thread of about 3mm, it shows presence of

large quantity of clay

 Silt cannot be rolled into 3mm long thread without cracks

Dispersion test

 Small quantity of soil is put into jar of water, allowing particles to

settle

 Coarse-grained particles settle first, then fine-grained particles

 In 10cm depth, sand particles settle within 30 seconds

 Silt particles may take 15 to 20 mins to settle

 Clay particles remains in suspension for several hours or even days in

absence of flocculation
 ii. Organic Soil
 Organic matter is due to disintegrated plant roots and other dispersed
vegetable matter such as muck or more fibrous materials
 Have distinctive odor and often are dark brown, dark grey or bluish grey
 Organic silts are less plastic and contains silt-size particles and finer
particles of organic material and shell fragments
 Organic Clay contains clay-size particles and finely divided organic
material
 Highly organic soil e.g. peat consists of plant remains, usually dark brown
or black in color and with distinctive odor
 To establish as set of conditions which will allow useful comparison
between soils

 One set of conditions may not be preferred for another set of conditions

 Classification system may be simple and directly involved with

engineering properties of soil

 Geotechnical properties such as permeability, shear strength and

compressibility that are important

 A classification system should permit identification by either inspection

or testing, and tests should be as simple as possible.
Basic properties for classification;
i. Grain size
ii. Mineral composition
iii. Organic matter content
iv. Soil plasticity

Tests that require disturbed samples are preferable as not only do they
dispense with the need for undisturbed sampling or field testing but, in
addition, the properties they measure do not depend on the structure of the
soil mass.
 However, since correlations are only approximate, classification systems can
give only a rough guide to suitability and behavior

 This is particularly important where a classification system based on the testing

of disturbed samples is used to predict properties that depend on the state of the
soil mass.

 For instance, since the shear strength of a clay is heavily influenced by factors
such as moisture content and field density, a classification system based on soil
plasticity tests alone cannot be expected to predict bearing capacity to any great
accuracy.
 Determines the range of size of particles and percentage of particles in
each of sizes between maximum and minimum
 The designation given to different grain size ranges are;
i. Gravel > 4.75 mm
ii. Sand 0.075 mm – 4.75 mm
iii. Silt 0.002 mm – 0.075 mm
iv. Clay < 0.002

 The coarse particles (gravel and sand) may be separated by sieving

 The fine particles (silt and clay) may be analyzed by sedimentation
 1. SIEVE ANALYSIS

 Soil sample is passed through stack of standard sieves

 The percentage of weight retained, cumulative percentage of weight

retained and percentage passing (by weight) in each sieve are calculated

 The resulting data are presented with grain size along x-axis and
percentage passing along the y-axis (arithmetic scale)

 All points are connected by smooth curve (particle/grain size distribution

curve)
Wet Sieve Analysis

 In case of clayey soil, fine fraction cannot be easily passed through a

75 𝜇𝑚 sieve in dry condition

 In such case, material is washed with water (preferably mixed with 2 gm

of sodium hexa-metaphosphate per liter), until wash waster is clean

 The washed material is allowed to dry and then weighed

 2. SEDIMENTATION ANALYSIS

Based on Stoke’s law;

“In a suspension the velocity of a spherical particle is governed by the
diameter of the particle and properties of the suspension”

Thus, terminal velocity is given by;

𝑫𝟐 𝜸𝒔 𝜸𝒘
𝒗=
𝟏𝟖𝜼𝒘
D = diameter of particle (m)
𝛾𝑠 = unit weight of particles (𝑘𝑁/𝑚3 )
𝛾𝑤 = unit weight of suspension fluid (𝑘𝑁/𝑚3 )
𝜂𝑤 = viscosity of suspension fluid (𝑘𝑁 𝑠/𝑚2 )
Then;

𝟏𝟖𝜼𝒘 𝑯𝒆
𝑫= .
(𝜸𝒔 − 𝜸𝒘 ) 𝒕

𝐻𝑒 = height of distance fallen (m) by particle in time (t) in seconds

Above equation is valid for particles larger than 0.002 mm because smaller
size particles will be influenced by Brownian movement
i. Soil is placed as suspension in distilled water

ii. Deflocculating agent is added to ensure independent settling of particles

iii. Soil particle in suspension is allowed to settle out

iv. Allow the sample to settle for time (t)

v. A sample at depth 𝐻𝑒 below the surface, will contain no particles of size

larger than D

vi. Particles smaller than D will be present in sample in same proportion,

thus effect is same if sample is separated on sieve of mesh size D
i. Then the concentration of particles remaining in suspension at any level
at any time may be determined by adopting any one of following
methods;

PIPETTE METHOD
 The sample of suspension is drawn off with a pipette at specified depth
from surface
 Sample contains only particles smaller than size D
 Samples are taken at specified depth at times corresponding to other
chosen particle sizes
 The samples are dried and weight of solid residue is recorded
The percentage of finer particles N is given as;

𝑴′𝒊
𝑵= × 𝟏𝟎𝟎
𝑴𝒃

𝑀𝑏 = mass of soil sample after pre-treatment

𝑀𝑖′ = mass of material (specific size) in entire suspension from corresponding sampling

Now D (in mm), H (in cm), t (in min) and 𝜂𝑤 (in poise, 1 poise = 10−4 𝑘𝑁 𝑠/𝑚2 );

𝟑𝟎𝜼𝒘 𝑯𝒆
𝑫= .
𝟗𝟖𝟎(𝝆𝒔 − 𝝆𝒘 ) 𝒕

The diameter of particle at every specified depth is obtained and grain-size distribution is
obtained.
 HYDROMETER METHOD

 This method measures the specific gravity of suspension using

Hydrometer.
 The S.G decreases as the settling starts.
 Specific gravity readings at different time intervals provide information
about the size of particles that have settled down and the mass of soil
remaining in solution.
 Hydrometer is graduated in increasing order from top to bottom
 A number of corrections are made for the hydrometer reading.
 Corrections in hydrometer reading
i. Meniscus correction (cm), as lower meniscus cannot be seen clearly
ii. Correction for expansion of hydrometer bulb due to increase in
temperature
iii. Correction due to addition of dispersing agent

 The first two factors lead to lower reading

 The third factor increases the density of suspension, hence reading is
negative
 A calibration curve is drawn between hydrometer reading corrected for
meniscus correction (𝑅𝑏 ) and height of fall of particle (H).
 Thus, diameter of particle at time t after starting of sedimentation is
obtained from above formula.
 The percentage of finer particle corresponding to each hydrometer
reading can be obtained by;
𝟏𝟎𝟎𝑮
𝑵% = 𝒓𝒉
𝑴𝒃 𝑮 − 𝟏
 From the data for D and corresponding percentage of finer particles after
each instant time, the grain-size distribution curve is obtained.
Sedimentation method is based on following Stoke’s assumptions;

i. The particles are spherical

ii. The flow around particles is laminar

iii. The particles are much larger than molecular size

 Assumption (i) and (iii) are not valid for fine-grained soils

 Spherical shape and molecular influence causes the particles to settle slowly
 The dispersion may be incomplete

 The viscosity is not constant due to changes in temperature

 This method is more applicable to silts than to clays

 The gradation curve is not used evaluation of engineering properties

of fine-grained soils and hence slight variation is insignificant

 This curve is obtained from wet and dry methods
 In sieve analysis, a cylindrical particle of diameter D and a spherical
particle of same diameter D fir through sieve opening
 Particle size measured in sedimentation method assumes and equivalent
diameter of a spherical particle which would settle at same rate
 Thus the accuracy of gradation curve is questionable
 Particle size curve of sands and silts have some practical value in design
of filters and in assessment of permeability, capillarity and frost
susceptibility
 The useful information may be obtained from grain-size curve, such as;
i. Total percentage or larger or finer particles than a given size
ii. Uniformity or range in grain-size distribution

 The range of particle sizes present in soil is reflected in the flatness of

curve.
 Flater the curve, larger the range of size of particle and steeper the curve,
smaller the range
 SIZES IN CURVE

i. The effective particle size is that for which 10% of material by

weight is smaller than that size

ii. The 𝐷50 of soil is used to represent the medium particle size

iii. The 𝐷85 and 𝐷15 are used to decide certain filter criteria
 GRADATION OF SOIL

i. The soil is well graded or non-uniform if there is a distribution of

particle over a relatively wide range

ii. A soil is poorly graded or uniform if the sample has a very narrow
range of particles

iii. A soil is gap graded if the sample is deficient in certain intermediate

grain sizes
A numerical measure of gradation is obtained by defining

 Uniformity Coefficient
𝐷60
𝐶𝑢 =
𝐷10

 Curvature Coefficient
2
𝐷30
𝐶𝑧 =
𝐷60 × 𝐷10
As long as the grain-size distribution curve is smooth and symmetrical;

 Soil with 𝐶𝑢 < 4 is uniform

 Soil with 𝐶𝑢 > 4 is well graded

 Soil with 𝐶𝑢 = 6 is sand

The 𝐶𝑧 is the measure of symmetry and shape of gradation curve.

 For well-graded soil, 𝐶𝑧 will be around 1

 For poorly-graded soil, 𝐶𝑧 will be much smaller or much greater

 Consistency refers to the texture and firmness of soil
 Consistency is denoted as soft, medium stiff, stiff or hard
 Consistency of fine-grained soil is largely influenced by water content of soil
 Decrease in water content causes the soil to pass from liquid state to plastic state
to semi-solid state and finally to solid state.
 The water content that correspond to these changes of state are called Atterberg
limits, which are;
i. Liquid Limit (𝑤𝐿 )

ii. Plastic Limit (𝑤𝑝 )

iii. Shrinkage Limit (𝑤𝑠 )
 LIQUID LIMIT BY CASAGRANDE METHOD
 It is water content expressed as percentage of weight of oven-dried soil, at
the boundary between liquid and plastic state of consistency of soil.
 It is determined by Casagrande Method, by placing a soil pat in a cup with
pat grooved at the center by standard tool.
 The cup is allowed to drop from height of 10 mm.
 The water content of soil when groove cut in cup closes over 12 mm at 25
drops is referred to as the liquid limit of soil.
 A plot of water content versus number of blows (on log scale) is called a
flow curve.
 LIQUID LIMIT BY CONE PENETROMETER METHOD

 The penetration of a standard cone into a saturated soil sample is measured

for 30 seconds.
 If penetration is less than 20 mm, the wet soil is taken out and mixed
thoroughly with water and test is repeated till penetration is between 20
and 30 mm.
 The exact penetration value is noted down and corresponding water
content determined.
 The test is repeated for a variety of water content and water content
corresponding to penetration of 25 mm is taken as liquid limit of soil.
 PLASTIC LIMIT

 Expressed as a percentage of weight of oven-dried soil at the boundary

between plastic and semi-solid state of consistency of soil
 It is determined by rolling a pat of soil into a thread
 The water content at which soil shows signs of crumbling at diameter
3mm is plastic limit.
 Sand has no plastic stage, but very fine sand exhibits slight plasticity.
 Earth roads are easily usable at this water content.
 Excavation work and agricultural cultivation can be carried out with least
effort.
 SHRINKAGE LIMIT

 It is the maximum water content expressed as percentage of oven-dried

weight at which any further reduction in waster content will not cause a

decrease in volume in soil mass.

 It is determined by completely drying out a lump of soil and measuring

its final volume and mass.

Thus referring to the phase diagram, shrinkage limit is given as;

𝑀 − 𝑀0 − 𝑉 − 𝑉0 𝜌𝑤
𝑤𝑠 = × 100
𝑀0

𝑀 = 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑤𝑒𝑡 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙

𝑀0 = 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑚𝑎𝑠𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙

𝑉 = 𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙

𝑉0 = 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑑𝑟𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑖𝑙

 The finer the particles of soil, greater is the amount of shrinkage.

 Soils that contain montmorillonite clay mineral, shrinks more.

 Such soils shrink heterogeneously during summer, as a result of which

cracks develop on the surface.

 These soils imbibe more and more water during monsoon and swell.

 Soils than shrink and swell are categorized as expansive soils.

 Soil is in plastic range when it possesses water content in the range between
𝑤𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑝 .

 The range of plastic state given by difference between 𝑤𝐿 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑤𝑝 , is known as

Plasticity Index (𝐼𝑝 );
𝑰 𝒑 = 𝒘𝑳 − 𝒘𝒑

 This index represents the range of water content over which a soil is plastic.

 The greater the plasticity index, higher will be the attraction between particles
of soil and greater the plasticity of soil.
 Based on plasticity index, soils are classified by Atterberg as follow;

 The plasticity index is used in soil classification and various

correlations with other soil properties as a basic soil characteristic.
The Liquidity Index or Water Plasticity Ratio (𝐼𝐿 ) is the percentage of natural
water content (𝑤𝑛 ) of soil mass minus its plastic limit to its plasticity index;

𝒘𝒏 − 𝒘𝒑
𝑰𝑳 =
𝑰𝒑
i. 𝐼𝐿 < 0 the soil is in semi-solid state

ii. 𝐼𝐿 = 0 the soil is in solid state

iii. 0 < 𝐼𝐿 < 1 the soil is in plastic state

iv. 𝐼𝐿 = 1 the soil is in very soft state

v. 𝐼𝐿 > 1 the soil is in liquid state

The Consistency Index (𝐼𝑐 ) of a soil is the ratio of liquid limit minus the natural
water content to the plasticity index;
𝒘𝑳 − 𝒘𝒏
𝑰𝒄 =
𝑰𝒑

i. 𝑰𝒄 = 𝟏 water content is at boundary between semi-solid and solid

state
ii. 𝑰𝒄 = −𝒗𝒆 soil flows and is unsuitable for foundation
iii. 𝑰𝒄 = 𝟎. 𝟓 boundary between soft and stiff plastic state, fair load-
bearing condition
The Flow Index (𝐼𝑓 ) of a soil is the slope of the flow curve obtained from liquid
limit test, expressed as difference in water content at 10 blows (𝑁1 ) and at 100
blows (𝑁2 );
𝒘𝟏 − 𝒘𝟐
𝑰𝒇 =
𝐥𝐨𝐠 𝟏𝟎 𝑵𝟐 𝑵𝟏
 Slope of flow curve distinguish between degree of cohesiveness and shear
strength of various soils.

 Two soils with same plasticity index but different liquid limits will have
different flow indexes.

 Steeper flow curve indicates soil of low shear strength.

The Toughness Index (𝐼𝑇 ) of a soil is ratio of plasticity index to the flow index;

𝑰𝒑
𝑰𝑻 =
𝑰𝒇

 Shear strength of fine-grained soil at water content close to plastic limit is

measure of its toughness.

 The toughness of two fine-grained soils with same plasticity index is

inversely proportional to flow indexes.

 Toughness index of clay is generally less than 3.

 ACTIVITY OF CLAYS

Surface area of soil particle and amount of water attracted to the soil surface is
inversely proportional to particle size.

Thus, amount of water attracted will depend considerably on the number of

clay particles present in soil.

Skempton (1953) proposed relationship between plasticity index and

percentage of particle sizes finer than 2𝜇𝑚, called Activity of Clay (A).

𝑃𝑙𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝐼𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑥
𝐴=
% 𝑏𝑦 𝑤𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑒𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 2𝜇𝑚
Activity of Clay gives qualitative measure of behavior of soil as;

i. A < 0.75 Inactive

ii. 0.75 – 1.25 Normal

iii. A > 1.25 Active