Cassagrande method

Indicator tests: Atterberg limit; plastic index; linear shrinkage; liquid limit
Soil can act is a plastic solid or behave as a viscous liquid depending on its moisture content.
The Casagrande liquid limit device is used to model the actions of a soil by determining the
number of blows it takes a soil to flow together like a liquid.

Objective: To understand the behaviour of soil with respect to its moisture content by
determining the plastic limit, linear shrinkage and liquid limit.

Standard used:
Procedure: The soil sample is prepared to obtain material only passing through the 0.425
mm sieve. The preparation of the material is done by dry and wet sieving the sample to
separate it as required. In some cases, fine soils form clumps which need to be broken down
using a mortar and pestle.
The sample is mixed with water in a bowl using a spatula to ensure adequate mixing. The
addition of moisture is intuitive as the moisture content is determined later. The liquid limit
device is calibrated to make sure each blow rises to the s

tandardised height. The wet soil is placed on the liquid limit device with a smooth surface
made onto using the spatula. A grooving tool is used to make a groove in the sample, the
sample is subjected to the blows which are carefully counted until the gap made from the
groove comes together by a centimetre. Three ranges of taps must be used 15-22, 22-28 and
28-35. The middle range of taps has the sample used to measure the linear shrinkage by
adding the sample to a trough, oven drying it and then measuring how much it shrinks in
length. The last range of taps is used for the plastic limit test. This includes rolling the wet
soil until it forms a 3mm diameter rod. The rods are then placed in the bottles to dry in the
oven to test for the moisture content.
The moisture content is measured by measuring the mass of an evaporation dish such as a
glass bottle, the wet sample is taken from the liquid limit device at the spot in the groove
where the sample met. The mass of the wet soil and evaporation dish is measured and the
sample is placed in an oven. The sample is left to dry at 100 ˚C and the mass of the dry soil
and dish is measured. Simple arithmetic demonstrated in the table blow will give the mass
of water and thus the moisture content of the sample.
Sample Calculations:

Liquid Limit Plastic Limit

No. of blows 16 25 32
Tin. No A B C D E
Mass of tin + wet soil a 78 81 98 86 84
Mass of tin + dry soil b 67 70 81 72 66
Mass of tin c 64 68 77 66 58
Mass of moisture (d=a- 11 11 17 14 18
b)
Mass of dry soil (e=b-c) 3 2 4 6 8
Moisture content (d/e) 3.66 5.50 4.25 2.33 2.25

Linear Shrinkage
Shrinkage length (mm) = 2mm s ×0.67=2∗0.67=1.34