- Mr.

Carlos Chávez Castro

-Mr. Fernando Encizo Ruiz Conejo
Profesionals Lab. Technician

Adress: Av. Parque de las leyendas N°210 San Miguel - Lima - Lima

Phone: (01) 768-527

Whatsapp: 988-468-427/900-103-104

Facebook: @Lab. Geocontrol

Liquid Limit Determination,
Casablanca Method

2
PURPOSE OF THE METHOD

• It is used to determine the water content at which the soil attains a muddy
consistency capable of flowing under low stress.
1
• The liquid limit is defined as the humidity of a soil, placed in a standard
bucket, when a furrow opened with a standard groover is closed by the
effect of hitting the bucket on a rigid base, by letting it fall from a certain
2 height.

• The test is used to characterize materials to be used in esplanades and also

for fine fractions of granular materials.
3
CASABLANCA TOOLS

Laboratory Equipment:

Evaporing Dish

Graduated Cylinder
PRACTICAL REALIZATION

A) By drying and Shredding-. It is applied in soils where it is not possible to

manually identify the particles

A) Applying the procedure indicated in the standard, a quantity of 150 to 200 g

of material is obtained, which passes through the 400 µm sieve. .

B) It is mixed with the necessary amount of water, according

to the criteria indicated in the standard.

C) It is reposed left in a humid chamber for 2 hours.

…PRACTICAL REALIZATION
…PRACTICAL REALIZATION

B) Natural Soils -. Direct route.

Pre-drying is not
It is applied in done, since in 200 g are taken
homogeneous fine- organic and and kneaded, They are left in a
grained soils, in inorganic soils applying the The necessary humid chamber
which the natural with a high silt or recommendations water is added. from one day to
humidity allows it clay content, it can given in the the next.
to be kneaded. cause variations in standard.
the liquid limit.
COLOCATION THE SAMPLE IN THE BUCKET

Applying the procedure indicated in the standard, a portion of the mixed soil is placed in the
spoon; at the point of greatest height it must have a thickness of 10 mm .
Then a groove is made with the groover; the indicated procedure must be followed.
SAMPLE TEST

1 • Blows are applied until the groove walls meet at the

bottom over a length of 13 mm.

2
• If the number of blows is between 15 and 35, a sample of
10 to 15 g of soil is taken, close to the walls of the furrow
where it was closed, including the contact zone.

3
• The test is repeated until obtaining a determination
between 15 and 25 hits and another between 25 and 35,
for which the water content must be modified; samples
should be taken for moisture
 CALCULATIONS AND RESULTS

Calculations and Results For each case, the number of blows and soil moisture
are determined.

With the information on the number of blows and the humidity, following the
procedure indicated in the standard, the humidity corresponding to 25 blows is
determined; this humidity is called the Liquid Limit.

The Liquid Limit, (LL) together with the Plastic Limit, (PL) allow to calculate
the Plasticity Index, (PI), of a soil:
[ LL – PL = PI ]

To calculate the liquid limit, a line similar to the one in the figure on the next
page