TRANSPORTATION

ENGINEERING II

GROUP INDEX METHOD

Group Index Method

• Representative
p soil samples
p are
taken, which are to be used in the
construction of pavement and then
its GI is find out.
– The following tests are required for
finding GI
• Sieve Analysis
• Liquid Limit Test
• Plastic Limit Test

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• Sieve no.200 is important for this
method. The material passing
p g
through #200 sieve is called “silt
clay”. The material retained on
sieve #200 is known as “sand”.
• After finding out the liquid limit and
plastic limit
limit, we can easily find out
Plasticity Index as
PI = LL – PL

Plastic Index Type of soil

0 to 4 Silt
4 to 7 Undefined Soil
Greater than 7 Clayey Soil
• The soil closer to clay have a
g
higher value of G.I. and that to
sand have relatively lower value of
G.I. Lower group index leads to
good soils for pavement & vise
versa.

2
• On the basis of G.I. method the soils
(sub-grades) are divided in five
groups.
G.I. Type of Soil
0 Excellent Soil
0→1 Good Soil
2→4 Fair Soil
5→9 Poor Soil
10→20 Very Poor Soil

Type of Traffic
• In G.I. method for designing of pavement,
the thickness of pavement depends upon
the G.I. and the type of traffic.
• The following are different types of traffic;

Type of Traffic Commercial Vehicles

per day
d
Light traffic volume <50
Medium traffic volume 50 to 300
Heavy traffic volume >300

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• The Group Index is calculated using
p
an empirical equation.
q
• Then using the charts, the curves
between GI and thickness of
pavements are plotted for various
types of traffic, from which one can
determine
dete e the
t e thickness
t c ess o of tthe
e
pavement.

• To find out Group Index an empirical

equation is used.
G.I. = 0.2a + 0.005 ac + 0.01bd
– a=that portion of %age of sub-grade soil passing
#200 sieve greater than 35% and not exceeding
75% expressed as a positive whole number (0→40)
– b=that portion of %age passing no 200 sieve greater
than 15% and not exceeding than 55% expressed as
a positive whole no (0→40)
– c=that portion of liquid limit greater than 40 and not
exceeding 60 expressed as a positive whole no
(0→20)
– d=That portion of numerical P.I. greater than 10 and
not exceeding 30 expressed as positive whole no
(0→20)

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5
 ASSUMPTIONS
• The curves presented are expected to
provide adequate pavement thickness for
most climatic conditions.
• The thickness recommended by this
method of design are based on the
assumption that the top six inches of the
sub-grade is compacted to at least 95
percent of standard Proctor dry unit weight
and
d th
thatt th
the sub-base
bb andd road
dbbase
materials are compacted to not less than
100 percent of the standard Proctor
values.
• Water table is maintained at least 3 to 4 ft
below the carriage way.