Soil mechanics laboratory

Experiment name: liquid limit

Experiment number: 5

Dr. Bassem Khalil

Student name: Ahmad Awwad

Day: Wednesday
Date: 13/3/2019
:Introduction

One of the most important quantities that affect the

engineering properties of the soil is Atterberg limits . Atterberg
limits can be defined as ( The water content levels at which the soil
changes from one state to another ) .
Atterberg limits consist of three main limits which is the liquid
limit , plastic limit , and shrinkage limit . In this experiment we will
illustrate the liquid limit , and the methods used to obtain its value
. for a given soil
Liquid limit is defined as ( The water content at which the soil
will pass from the plastic state to the liquid state or The water
content at which the soil will flow under its own weight force , and
. close a groove of 0.5 inch in width )

:The purpose of the experiment

: The main goals of this experiment is to

. Calculate the liquid limit ( LL ) for a given soil samples -1

. ) Theoretically and laboratory (
. Calculate the flow index ( FI ) for the given soil samples -2
. Identifying the dominate clay minerals that is in the soil -3
 : The equipments is used

Balance -1
Drying oven -2
Spatula -3
Casagrande liquid limit device -4
Grooving tool -5
Plastic squeeze bottle -6
Moisture cans -7
Evaporating pans -8

:Procedure

Determine the mass of the empty , completely dry moisture cans -1

. ( M1 )
Put exactly 250 g of air-dry soil , passed throw No. 40 sieve into -2
an evaporating dish , And add distilled water from the plastic
squeeze bottle and mix the soil to the form of a uniform paste
. ( add a small amount of water )
Place a portion of the paste in the brass cup of the liquid limit -3
device . Using the spatula smooth the surface of the soil in the cup
. such that the maximum depth of the soil is 8 mm
Using the grooving tool , cut a groovealong the centerline of the -4
.soil pat in the cup
Turn the crank of the liquid limit device at the rate of about 2 -5
revolutions per second, by this the liquid limit cup will rise and drop
. through a vertical distance of 10 mm once or each revolution
The soil from the two sides of the cup will begin to flow toward -6
the center . Count thenumber of blows ( N ) for the groove in the
. soil to close through a distance of 0.5 inch
Collect a moisture sample from the soil in the cup in a moisture -7
. can and determine the mass of the can plus the moist soil ( M 2 )
Clean the brass cup and Add more distilled water to the soil in -8
. evaporating dish , and mix the soil again to form a uniform paste
Repeat the steps from 3 to 8 , until you collect a sufficient -9
. number of samples with a wide range of water content
Put the moisture cans that contain the wet soil samples in the -10
. ventilated oven for 24 hour at a temperature of 110 ºC + 5
Determine the mass of the cans plus the completely dry soil -11
. ( M3 )
. Calculate the water content for each sample -12
 :Empirical relationships

Water content .1

M2 – M 3
% W % = ------------------ * 100
M3 – M 1

. ) % ( W % : Water content
. M1 : Mass of empty , dry moisture cans ( g )
. M2 : Mass of moisture can plus the wet soil ( g )
. M3 : Mass of moisture can plus the dry soil ( g )

Liquid limit ( Theoretical approximation ) .3

LL % = wN ( % ) * ( N / 25 )0.121

. ) % ( LL : Liquid limit
. ) % ( WN : Water content at N number of blows
.N : Number of blows
 : Experimentally data and Calculations

.Can No 1 2 3
Range of N 35 – 25 25 – 20 20 – 15
Mass of Can , M1 ( g ) 34.8 36.5 37.1
Mass of can plus wet soil , 90.4 93.1 95.1
M2 ( g )
Mass of can plus dry soil , M3 74.3 76.5 78
(g)
Water content 40.76% % 41.5 % 41.8
Number of blows ( N ) 33 24 18
Theoretical approximation of 42.15 41.29 40.17
%LL

LL(avg)=41.2%
… From graph 5.1 *
The liquid limit of the soil equals the water content at 25 blows
. % which equals 41.417
06

05

04

03

02

01

0
61 81 02 22 42 62 82 03 23 43

:Conclusions

Comparing the calculated liquid limit value 41.417 % with table .1

6.3 ; we concluded that the dominate clay mineral in the soil sample
. “ is ”Kaolinite
Comparing the calculated liquid limit value from graph 5.1 , with .2
the calculated value of the liquid limit from the approximate
relationship ; we find that the difference between the two values
. equals 0.27 % ; which is very small

Since the liquid limit equals 41.417 % ; This means that this soil .3
will pass from the plastic State to the liquid state if it absorbed a
. mass of water equals one third of the dry mass of the soil

The soil is considered to be partially good , because it needs a .4

. high amount of water to pass to the liquid state