2.

8 ACTIVITY
In i953, Skempton defineci lhe actitsitv A of a clay

as

PI

-- clav fraction

(2-24)

wherc the cla1, fractrrrn rs usualiy takelt as the percentage by rveight o the
scril less than 2 pm Clays w'hich have arl activity around I (0.7-5 <. A <.
1.25) are classifret-i a:, "norrnal"; A { 0.75 rre inactil'e clays and A > l'25
are activ'e clays. Activity has been useful for certain classificaticn and
engineenng propert) correlations, especially for inactive and active cla,ys.
Also, there is fairTlgood correlation of the activii-v- and the type of cla'
rruneral (Chapter 4). Hcw'ever, the Atterberg limits alone are usually
sulficient for these purposes, and the activity provides no really nerv
information.

PROBLEMS
1..

2-t. A water content test was made on a sample of silty clay. The weight
of the wet soil plus container was l7'53 g' and the weight of the dry
soil plus .orrtuin., was I4.84 g. Weight of the empty container was
7 .84 g. Calculate the water content of the sample.
',

During a plastic limit test,ihe following data were obtained for one
of the samples:
Wet weight * container = 22.12 B
Dry weight +' container = 20'42 E
'
weight of continer - l'50 g
What is the PL of the soil?

2-3.

of fully saturated clay weighs 1350 g in its natural state

and 975 g after drying. What is the natural water content of the

sample

soil?
2-4.

For the soil sample of Probla,m 2-3, compute (a) void ratio and (b)
poroslty.

2-5.

For the soil sample of Problem 2-3, compute (a) the total or wet
density and (b) it O.y density. Give your answers in Mg/m3,
kg/^', and lbf/ft3 "

af