CONSISTENCY TEST

The term consistency of soil may be defined as ” the resistance to deformation or firmness
of fine-grained soils.”This term is specifically use for fine grained soils.

Consistency Limits (Atterberg limits) :

Consistency Limits may be defined as ” The moisture contents of a soil at the points where it
passes from one stage to the next are called consistency limits or Atterberg limits.”

LIQUID LIMIT

The boundary of water content between liquid limit and plastic state is called liquid limit.

 Take representative soil sample of approximately 120gms passing through 425 micron IS
sieve and mix thoroughly with distilled water in the evaporating dish to a uniform paste.
 The paste shall have a consistency that will require 30 to 35 drops of the cup to cause the
required closure of the standard groove.
 Leave the soil paste to stand for 24 hours to ensure uniform distribution of moisture
through out the soil mass.
 Remix the soil thoroughly before the test.
 Place a portion of the paste in the cup above the spot where the cup rests on the base,
squeeze down and spread in to position with a few strokes of the spatula as possible and
at the same time trim to a depth of 1cm at the point of maximum thickness.
 Make a clean, sharp groove by a grooving tool along the diameter through the centerline
of the cam follower.
 Drop the cup from a height of 10 + 0.25 mm by turning the crank at the rate of two-
revolutions/ sec, until the two halves of the soil cake come in contact with the bottom of
the groove along the distance of about 12mm.
 Record the number of drops required to cause the groove close for the length of 12mm.
 Collect a representative slice of sample of soil approximately the width of spatula,
extending from about edge to edge of the soil cake at right angle to the groove in to an air
tight container and keep in the oven for 24hrs,maintained at a temperature of 1050 to
1100 C and express its moisture content as the percentage of the oven dried weight.
  Transfer the remaining soil in the cup to the evaporating dish and clean the cup and the
grooving tool thoroughly.
 Repeat the operation specified above for at least three more additional trials (minimum
of four in all) with soil collected in evaporating dish to which sufficient water has been
added to bring the soil to more fluid condition.

PLASTIC LIMIT

If the water content is further reduced to the clay sample changes from plastic state to semi-solid
state it is called as plastic limit.

i. Take about 20 gm of soil passing 425 micron IS sieve in a glass plate.

ii. Add small quantity of water in the soil and mix it thoroughly. Leave the soil for some
time to mature,
 iii. Make small balls of the soils and roll it on the glass plate with fingers,

iv. Continue rolling till the thread reaches the diameter of 3 mm.

v. Knead the soil thread and roll it again into a thread.

vi. Continue the process until the thread just crumbles at 3 mm diameter.

vii. Collect the crumbled soil thread in the aluminium container and determine its water
content.

viii. Repeat the test at least twice again. The average of the three tests will be the plastic limit
of the soil.

SHRINKAGE LIMIT

When the water content of soil mass is decrease the volume of soil mass does not decrease any
further but remains same. The sample changes from the semi-solid to solid state. The boundary
water content is called shrinkage limit.

1. 100 gm. of soil sample from a thoroughly mixed portion of the material passing through 425
micron IS sieve is taken.
2. About 30 gm. of above soil sample is placed in the evaporating dish and thoroughly mixed
with distilled water to make a paste.
3. The weight of the clean empty shrinkage dish is determined and recorded.
4. The dish is filled in three layers by placing approximately 1/3rd of the amount of wet soil
with the help of spatula.
5. Then the dish with wet soil is weighed and recorded immediately.
6. The wet soil cake is air dried until the colour of the pat turns from dark to light. Then it is
oven dried at a temperature of 1050 C to 1100 C for 12 to 16 hours. The weight of the dish
with dry sample is determined and recorded. Then the weight of oven dry soil pat
is calculated (W0).
7. The shrinkage dish is placed in the evaporating dish and the dish is filled with mercury, till
it overflows slightly. Then it is be pressed with plain glass plate firmly on its top to remove
excess mercury. The mercury from the shrinkage dish is poured into a measuring jar and the
volume of the shrinkage dish is calculated. This volume is recorded as the volume of the wet
soil pat (V).
8. A glass cup is placed in a suitable large container and the glass cup removed by covering the
cup with glass plate with prongs and pressing it. The outside of the glass cup is wiped to
remove the adhering mercury. Then it is placed in the evaporating dish which is clean and
empty.
9. Then the oven dried soil pat is placed on the surface of the mercury in the cup and pressed
by means of the glass plate with prongs, the displaced mercury being collected in the
evaporating dish.
10. The mercury so displaced by the dry soil pat is weighed and its volume (Vo) is calculated by
dividing this weight by unit weight of mercury.

WATER RETENTION TEST

 Form a ball of fine soil, 2 or 3cm in diameter,

 Moisten the ball so that it sticks together but does not stick to the fingers,
 Slightly flatten the ball and hold it in the palm of the extended hand,
 Vigorously tap the ball with the other hand so that the water is brought to the
surface. The ball will appear smooth, shiny or greasy,
 Press the ball flat between thumb and index finger,
 Observe the number of taps required for a reaction as well as the consisteny of the
soil.
 DIRECT SHEAR TEST

Preparation of the Soil Specimen:

The soil specimen can be transferred into the shear box from the undisturbed soil sampler with
the help of a specimen ring, which has inner dimensions same as those of the shear box. The soil
specimen may also be transferred from the compacted soil sample of a compaction mold in the
same manner, if the test is to be performed on a remolded sample.

Assembly of the Apparatus:

The two halves of the shear box are held together by the locking pins. The base plate of the shear
box is placed at the bottom and a porous stone and a lower grid plate are placed over the base
plate, as shown in Fig. 13.8. The soil specimen from the specimen ring is carefully transferred
into the shear box onto the lower grid plate. The upper grid plate is placed over the soil
specimen. The grid plates should be placed in such a manner that the serrations of the grid plates
are normal to the direction of the shear load.

The top porous stone is placed over the upper grid plate and a pressure pad is placed on the
porous stone. A pressure ball is placed in the central recess of the pressure pad. The pressure pad
ensures uniform distribution of the normal stress over the entire area of the specimen and the
pressure ball ensures axial application of the normal load.
Solid grid plates are used for conducting undrained test and no porous discs are used. For drained
tests, perforated grid plates and porous discs are used.

Test Procedure for Conducting Direct Shear Test:

Direct shear test is conducted in the following steps:
1. The shear box is placed in a large container and is tightly held in position at the bottom in the
container. The container is supported over rollers to facilitate lateral movement of lower-half of
the shear box when shear force is applied to the lower shear box through a geared jack. The
complete equipment of the direct shear test is shown in Fig. 13.9.

2. A normal load is applied through a loading yoke, placed over the pressure ball on the pressure
pad. The required normal stress of 0.5 kgf/cm2 (or 50 kN/m2) is applied. The shear deformation
dial gauge is placed in position. For drained tests, the soil specimen is allowed to consolidate
under normal load.
3. The locking pins are removed and the upper box is slightly raised using spacing screws and
then the shear load is applied to the lower-half of the box through a geared jack such that the
lower-half moves at a constant rate of strain. The proving ring dial gauge readings are taken at
regular intervals of deformation dial gauge readings.

4. The test is continued till the shear load reaches a maximum value and then decreases.

5. The shear load is then released, and the proving ring and deformation dial gauges as well as
the shear box are dismantled.
6. The test is repeated with three normal stresses of 100,200, and 400 kN/m2.
Determination of Shear Parameters:
Shear stress at failure, corresponding to each normal stress, is computed from –

The area of the specimen resisting the shear force gradually decreases due to shear deformation.
To calculate the shear stress at any deformation, the corrected area (Ac), computed from
Eq.(13.8),is to be used.
Ac = l × lc = l × (l – δl) …(13.8)
where Ac is the corrected cross-sectional area in cm2 and δI the shear deformation in cm.
A graph is plotted between the normal stress on the x-axis and the shear stress on the y-axis, as
shown in Fig. 13.10 that gives the Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope. The slope of the Mohr-
Coulomb failure envelope is taken as the angle of shearing resistance (ɸ) and the y-intercept of
the envelope is the cohesion (c). The shear stress-shear strain relation for dense sand and loose
sand is shown in Fig. 13.11. The volume change during shear is shown in Fig. 13.12 as a
function of shear strain.
Merits of Direct Shear Test:
i. The test is simple and convenient. The preparation of soil specimen for the test is easy.

ii. Undrained tests can be conducted with shear box very rapidly. Drained tests on cohesionless
soils can also be completed in a very short time compared to that in other type of shear tests.
Thus, shear box test is very advantageous where time is at premium.

iii. The test does not need skilled person and even a novice can quickly learn to conduct the test
with little training.
iv. The equipment used for the test is simple and less costly.

Demerits of Direct Shear Test:

i. The failure plane in the test is predetermined (horizontal), which may not be the weakest one.
This results in over-estimation of shear strength of the soil, which is unsafe.

ii. The stress distribution is not uniform over the failure plane. The stresses are more at the edges
and less at the center. This leads to errors in the estimation of shear parameters.

iii. Failure is progressive and shear strength of the soil is mobilized gradually.

iv. The metallic side walls of the shear box provide a lateral restraint that causes an apparent
increase in the shear strength of the soil. As the side walls do not exist in the field, the test does
not replicate the in situ conditions properly and it leads to inaccurate and over-estimation of the
shear strength of the soil.

v. There is no provision for monitoring or control of drainage in the soil sample at any stage of
the test. Drained tests can be, therefore, conducted only on highly permeable soils.

vi. Measurement of pore water pressure cannot be done in the test and hence only total stress
shear parameters can be obtained in undrained tests in the shear box test.

vii. The stress conditions are known only at the time of failure. Prior to failure, the stresses are
indeterminate and Mohr’s circles cannot be drawn.

In spite of the above serious limitations, the direct shear test is more popular than other types of
shear tests and is more frequently used than the others on all types of soils. This is only because
of the very simple test procedure and very short time needed for the test.