Classification of Soil

1. Textural classification is based on the particle-size distribution of the

percent of sand, silt, and clay-size fractions present in a given soil.
Texture of soil refers to its surface appearance. Soil texture is influenced
by the size of the individual particles present in it.

U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)

USDA system
○ Sand size: 2.0 to 0.05 mm in diameter
○ Silt size: 0.05 to 0.002 mm in diameter
○ Clay size: smaller than 0.002 mm in diameter
Note:
The chart is based on only the fraction of soil that passes through the
No. 10 sieve. Hence, if the particle-size distribution of a soil is such that a
certain percentage of the soil particles is larger than 2 mm in diameter, a
correction will be necessary.

Example
If the particle size distribution of soil A shows 30% sand, 40% silt, and 30%
clay-size particles, what is textural classification of soil? clay loam

Example
If the particle size distribution of soil B has a particle-size distribution of
20% gravel, 10% sand, 30% silt, and 40% clay, what is textural classification
of soil? Gravelly Clay

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 2. The other major category is based on the engineering behavior of soil and
takes into consideration the particle-size distribution and the plasticity (i.e.,
liquid limit and plasticity index). Under this category, there are two major
classification
systems in extensive use now:
a. The AASHTO classification system, and
b. The Unified classification system.

AASHTO Classification System

Classification is based on the following criteria:
1. Grain size
a. Gravel: fraction passing the 75 mm (3 in. opening) sieve and retained on
the No. 10 (2 mm opening) US sieve
b. Sand: fraction passing the No. 10 (2 mm opening) US sieve and retained
on the No. 200 (0.075 mm opening) US sieve
c. Silt and clay: fraction passing the No. 200 US sieve
2. Plasticity: The term silty is applied when the fine fractions of the soil have a
plasticity index of 10 or less. The term clayey is applied when the fine
fractions have a plasticity index of 11 or more.
3. If cobbles and boulders [size larger than 75 mm (3 in.)] are encountered,
they are excluded from the portion of the soil sample from which
classification is made. However, the percentage of such material is recorded.

• To classify a soil, apply test data from left to right.

• The first group from the left into which the test data fit is the correct
classification

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Example

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Unified Soil Classification System

This system classifies soils into two broad categories:

○ Coarse-grained soils that are gravelly and sandy in nature with less than
50% passing through the No. 200 sieve
 The prefix G is used for gravel/gravelly soil and S for sand/sandy soil
○ Fine-grained soils have 50% or more passing through the No. 200 sieve
 The prefix M is used for inorganic silt, C for inorganic clay, O for
organic silts and clays, and Pt for peat, muck, and other highly
organic soils

For proper classification according to this system, some or all of the

following information must be known:
○ Percent of gravel
○ Percent of sand
○ Percent of silt and clay
○ Uniformity Coefficient
○ Liquid limit and Plasticity index
Unified Soil Classification System (Based on Material Passing 76.2-mm Sieve)

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Soils are further classified by the following prefixes:
○ W for well-graded
○ P for poorly-graded
○ L for low plasticity (liquid limit less than 50)
○ H for high plasticity (liquid limit more than 50)

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