DETERMINATION OF

GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION

EXPERIMENT NO 5
SOIL MECHANICS LABORATORY
CE PC 594
 DIFFERENT TYPES OF SOIL

 Particle size means diameter of particle (d)

 Soil may consists of clay, silt, sand, gravel, cobble
and boulder
 Particle size above than 75µ will be coarse grained
soil and particle size below 75µ will be fine grained
soil
 CLASSIFICATION OF SOIL BASED
ON PARTICLE SIZE

80 mm 75 µ

4.75 mm 2µ
300 mm

Boulder Cobble Gravel Sand Silt Clay

Coarse Grained Soil Fine Grained Soil

Note:- µ =
CLASSIFICATION OF SOIL BASED
ON PARTICLE SIZE

80 mm 4.75 mm 425 µ
2 mm 75 µ
20 mm

Fine Coarse Medium Fine

Coarse
Gravel Sand Sand Sand
Gravel
IMPORTANCE OF PARTICLE SIZE
DISTRIBUTION

Particle size distribution will help you to evaluate

1. Type of soil
2. Gradation of soil
GRADATION OF SOIL

There are four types of gradation of soil

1. Well graded soil
2. Poorly graded soil
3. Uniformly Graded soil
4. Gap Graded soil
 GRADATION OF SOIL
1. Well graded soil-
 If the soil have good representation of all sizes of particle , it is called as well graded
soil.

2. Poorly graded soil-

 If the soil have excess of some sizes of particle and deficiency of another size of
particle, it is called as poorly graded soil.
3. Uniformly Graded soil-
 If the soil have only one size of particle , it is called as uniformly graded soil.
4. Gap Graded soil-
 If certain size of particle are missing from the soil, it is termed as gap graded
soil.
 PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION
CURVE
IMPORTANT POINTS:
1) The result of particle size analysis is represented in a form of a
curve termed as particle size distribution curve
2) In which percentage finer (N) is expressed on Y axis and
corresponding size of particle (d in mm) is expressed on X axis on
log scale.
3) This particle size distribution curve helps in analyzing type of soil
and gradation of soil.
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION
CURVE
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION CURVE

A
E D
B
C
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION CURVE
 Following points can be concluded from the particle size distribution curves
are-
1. CURVE A – Well graded soil
2. CURVE B- Poorly graded soil or Well graded sand
3. CURVE C- Poorly graded soil or Well graded gravel
4. CURVE D- Gap graded soil
5. CURVE E- Uniformly graded soil
6. Position of curve indicates type of soil
7. Shape of curve indicated gradation of soil
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION CURVE

30

10

D10 D30 D60

PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION CURVE
 IMPORTANT:-
1. For coarse grain soil (sand and gravel only) certain size of particle D 10, D30, D60
have higher significance than other size of particle.
2. As they helps in representing the characteristics of particle size distribution
curve in terms of a parameters known as shape factors.
3. D10 is called effective size of particle

4. D10 means size of sieve in mm from which 10% are finer or 10% of particles are
finer than D mm sieve size.
 IMPORTANT TERMS RELATED TO
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION CURVE
1. Coefficient of Uniformity (Cu)

It represents the particle size range of distribution curve along with gradation of
soil.
NOTE:
i. Cu1, for uniformly graded soil

ii. Cu>6, for well graded sand

iii. Cu>4, for well graded gravel.

 IMPORTANT TERMS RELATED TO
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION CURVE
2. Coefficient of Curvature (Cc)

It represents the shape of particle size distribution curve.

NOTE:
i. If CC is lies in between 1 to 3 - Well graded

ii. If CC<1 and CC>3 – Poorly graded

iii. A soil will be well graded sand when Cu > 6 and 1< CC <3

iv. A soil will be well graded gravel when Cu > 4 and 1< CC <3
 IMPORTANT TERMS RELATED TO
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION CURVE
3. PERCENTAGE FINENESS
Percentage of particles passing through 75µ sieve, are termed as percentage
fineness
NOTE:
 Based on percentage fineness coarse grain soil can be classified
 If % fineness <5%, then GW, GP, SW & SP can be found.
 If % fineness >12%, then GM, GC, GM-GC, SM, SC & SM-SC can be found
from plasticity chart.
 If % fineness in between 5% to 12%, then Gravel and sand can be classified both
using gradation and plasticity chart.
 CLASSIFICATION OF COARSE
GRAINED SOIL
NOTATION: SC- Clayey Sand
GW- Well graded Gravel SM-SC- Sand with same clay and silt
GP- Poorly grade Gravel
SW- Well graded Sand
SP- Poorly graded sand
GM- Silty gravel
GC- Clayey gravel
GM-GC- Gravel with same silt and clay
CLASSIFICATION OF FINE
GRAINED SOIL
 CLASSIFICATION OF FINE
GRAINED SOIL
NOTATION:
CH- High compressible Clay (Above A line and wL>60%)

CI- Intermediate compressible Clay (Above A line and 30%<wL<60%)

CL- Low compressible Clay (Above A line and wL<30%)

MH- High compressible Silt (Below A line and wL>60%)

MI- Intermediate compressible Silt (Below A line and 30%<wL<60%)

ML- Low compressible Silt (Below A line and wL<30%)

O – Organic
TESTS REQUIRED FOR PARTICLE
SIZE DISTRIBUTION
1. SIEVE ANALYSIS (For coarse Grained soil)
i. Gravel sieving
ii. Sand Sieving
a) Dry sieving
b) Wet sieving
2. SEDIMENTATION ANALYSIS (For fine grained soil)
i. Pipette method
ii. Hydrometer method
 SIEVE
1. The sieves are designated as either by its size (mm or µ)
or by its number.
2. According to IS: 460-1962, sieves should be designated
by its square openings.
3. Sieve number represents the number of square openings
per inch length.
4. EX:- IS SIEVE NO. 10- there is 10 square openings in 1
inch length of sieve, hence greater the sieve number,
smaller will be sieve openings.
 GRAVEL SIEVEING
 Gravel sieving is done for the soil fraction having size
greater than 4.75 mm or the soil which retained over
4.75 mm sieve.

Apparatus required:
1. IS SIEVE (300 mm, 80 mm, 40 mm, 20 mm, 10 mm,
4.75 mm)
2. Sieve shaker
3. Balance of 0.1 g sensitivity, along with weights and
weight box
4. Brush
 SAND SIEVEING
 Sand sieving is done for the soil which passes through
4.75 mm sieve but retained over 75 µ sieve.

Apparatus required:
1. IS SIEVE (2.36 mm, 1.18 mm, 600 micron, 425 micron,
300 micron, 150 micron, and 75 micron)
2. Sieve shaker
3. Balance of 0.1 g sensitivity, along with weights and
weight box
4. Brush
 SIEVE ANALYSIS
PROCEDURE:
1. Weight accurately about 200gms of oven dried soil sample.
i. If the soil has a large fraction greater than 4.75mm size, then greater quantity of
soil, that is, about 5.0 Kg should be taken.
ii. For soil containing some particle greater than 4.75 mm size, the weight of the soil
sample should be taken as 0.5 Kg to 1.0 Kg.
2. Clean the sieves and pan with brush and weigh them up to 0.1 gm accuracy M1.
3. Arrange the first set sieves of size 300 mm, 80mm, 40mm, 20mm, 10mm, 4.75 mm
and the second set sieves of sizes 2.36 mm, 1.18 mm, 600 micron, 425 micron, 150
micron, 75 micron and pan in a order from top to bottom.
 SIEVE ANALYSIS
PROCEDURE:
4. Keep the required quantity of soil sample on the top sieve and shake it with
mechanical sieve shaker for about 5 to 10 minutes. Care should be taken to tightly fit
the lid cover on the top sieve.
5. After shaking the soil on the sieve shaker, weigh the each sieve with the soil retained
over it (M2).
6. Weight of the soil retained over it will be (Weight of retained soil + Weight of sieve) –
Weight of empty sieve i.e. M2-M1
 Wt of soil
SIEVE SIZE Wt of sieve Wt of soil+ Percentage wt % finer
retained % Cumulative
in mm (M1) in gm. sieve (M2) in retained (e) (N) (g) =
(M2-M1) in gm. wt retained (f)
(a) (b) gm. (c) 100 – (f)
(d)
80 884 891.5 7.5 1.36 1.36 98.64
40 845.5 856 10.5 1.91 3.27 96.73
20 824 839 15 2.72 5.99 94.01
10 794.5 811.5 17 3.09 9.08 90.92
4.75 765.5 786.5 21 3.82 12.9 87.1
2.36 738.5 764.5 26 4.73 17.63 82.37
1.18 672 716.5 44.5 8.09 25.72 74.28
0.6 602.5 649 46.5 8.45 34.17 65.83
0.425 572 684 112 20.36 54.53 45.47
0.3 554.5 701.5 147 26.73 81.26 18.74
0.15 523.5 585.5 62 11.27 92.53 7.47
0.075 509.5 530.5 21 3.82 96.35 3.65
pan 485 505 20 3.64 99.99 0.01
Total 550
 SAND SIEVEING

 Dry sieve is performed for cohesion less soils if percentage

fineness are less than 5%.
 Wet sieve analysis is carried out if percentage fineness are more
than 5% and of cohesive nature.
 WET SIEVEING

 If silt and clay is present in the sand then wet sieving is adopted in
which sand are washed so that fine particles are removed.
 In wet sieving for washing of silt and clay 2 gm sodium hexa-
metaphosphate is used in 1 liter of pure water.
 Sodium hexa-metaphosphate work as deflocculating agent.
 Procedure is same as coarse sieving.
 PRECAUTIONS

 During shaking the lid on the topmost sieve should be kept tight to
prevent escape of soils.
 While drying the soil, the temperature of the oven should not be
more than 105° C because higher temperature may cause some
permanent change in the 75 fraction.
THANK
YOU