2.5 Determination of various index properties ‘A. Liquid limit (W,): Generally two methods are widely adopted to determine the liquid limit. a) Casagrande Method po Austin Soom Eros < Hon + pes 2 Se La Gee Casagrande (BS) tes 92000 too SZ = Died go eake ‘Soil cake anertest Defoe tet {1 2.31 Determination of iui int: Casagrande's Method ‘Soil passing through 75 jor 200# sieve is taken in a dry state and mixed with distiled wat ‘Some prefer putting the soil mass in the water rather than pouring water into the +0! assuming that it gives better unitormity. The mixing time shall not be less than minutes nore than 10 minutes to ensure better consistencyiL The urvorm paste of the Sol is then placed in the Casagrande cup of radius of SAm, as shown in the figure below. Wi, The cup is placed on a hard rubber base, iv. The soils leveled off withthe help of spatula. \V. groove of 2mm is made in the middle ofthe placed soll with the help of grooving tool rep heme Sonate stands roe aa sol suctonee Rune be 1232 Determination of iu int Casirndes Apparatus Vi. The handle is then rotated ata rate of 2 revisee gradually. The cup rises and falls through 10mm height every revolution, vv, The rotation ofthe handle is continued until he sol paste parted at 2 mm jin a the base for length of 13 mm. vilcThe number of blows (N) required to achiove such a condition is nated along with the water content, ix, The process is repeated at least four times with a change in water content («). x. A semi- logarithmic graph is plotted between the percentage of water content along the ordinate and the number of blows along the abscissa from the measured values of w and N. ‘This gives a straight line and is known as flow curve. The slope of ths line is called the flow index (I). This flow index determines the rate at which the sol loses its shearing strength or resistance with the increase in the water content, ter coe Laud State Line orFlow index(\,) (251) 7 ay p atx.) ‘The water content coresponding to 25 nunbers of i lows is referred as the liquid limi we disturb the natural state of the Sol 10 tony 5 ‘The major drawback of this method is that Se reeled sat. Theron ive in th paste. The sol fabric and bonds wouldn't be reprehensive in ‘method may not provide the exact quid mt of he original soil inthe natural state b) Cone Penetrometer Method Dial eecord cone penetration Rateaze ston of Height agustment 148 gm cone fal aparas ig 234 Cone pentromster The apparatus consists of a vertically mounted cone with a standard weight of 148 grams. Tt truncated portion of the cone has length around 30.5 mm. The central cone angle & about30° 1° i. The soil to be tested is kept in a placed in a small cylindrical container of 50 mm diamet# and 5omm height li The cone is alowed to penetrate into the soll the penetration for 30 seconds is es 20 mm, then the wet sols removed and mixed again with water, i, The process is repeated untl he penetration is between 20-30mm. fi iv, The normal graph plot can be ploted for the water content and the penetration similar 10 _ of in Casagrande method, .‘7 otmal graph taking water content as Xaxis and penetration as V ans la plotiod vie The quid lit corresponding 1o 25 mm penetration i taken as hquid nt v J ie ee 7 ° 15 3 Cone penetration (mm) (Fg 235 Wher content vs Cone peneration B._ Plastic Limit (W) Water content at which the soi just stars to crumble when itis rolled into threads of 3mm diameter is refered as plastic limit. The soll sample (around 100gm) is mixed with water and rolled into threads of Smm diameter wth the help of palm. The water content is determined from the crumbled soi ise, by placing it into the oven at 105%C:+5°C Note that the shear strength at plastic mit is around 100 times greater than that ofthe liquid limit, a Goce Fg 236 Roling si sample iat threads —wane os eh et LE eo thie ig 2.17 tat mit determination sample crumbled Table General Atterberg limits for soils ‘Type of soi we | Me ‘Sand = | Sit (Lean or slighty plastic) | G0-40_| 20-25 | 10-15 Clay (Highly plastic or fat clays) | 40-150 | 25-50 | 15-100 Relative Consistency / Consistency Index (I) -w ye b Where, wis the natural water content Water plasticity ratio Liquidity Index (k) a (253) ¢ Where, wis the natural water content Toughness Index () Indicates the rate of detnation inthe shear strength ofthe soll wth the increase of the we content. In other words, itis the ratio of tol The plot between w, and w, is assumed to straight line in semilogarithmic scale. The shearing resistance(S) is found to be die: proportional othe numberof bows (N). So, Nees, ~(254) ~(252) Where, constant For the same soll and same slope: ~(288) (i) orm, “Hat = 446) Se Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (TEV)uaton(2.56) ete generalized fom Sia, Wy = MogiNp)+K-—~ (257) wo et Substing he values of Nand Np ram (2.54) ana (25) n (2-56) and (2.57) 80 Heals) + -(288) wp “heals, + (258) Subactng (2.59) trom (258), we gt co bot obal B- ~(260) For most ofthe clays, lis between 1 and 3. |r happens to be less than 1 then the soilis easy to crumble and transform to powder form. ‘Activity nis the rato of plasticity index (,) and percentage of clay traction (F). Aetty = (261) ‘As the clay content in the soll increases, both F and lp increase. Subsequently, the value of activity also increases. The plot of |, and F gives a stright line emanating from the origi ‘Steoper the slope ofthe tne, greater wil be the activity F {Fig 2. asic indec Cay fraction ‘Table Classification of soll based on soll consistencies, Consistency | kG) | tet) Verystit | <0 | s100 sit | 025 [oorMedium sot | 25:50 | 75:50 Soft 50-75 | 50-25 . VerySot_| 75-100 | 250 Uguidstate | >100 | <0 Table Classification of soil based on palstcities Plasticity | 16(%) Non plastic 0 Low plasticity | <7 Medium plasticity | 7-17 Highly plastic | >17 ‘Table Classification of soil based on activity Solltype | _ Activity active | <0.75 Normal_| 0.75 101.25 ‘Aclve 2125 ©. Shrinkage Limit (Ws) v Soil pat at saturation iit pe (0) «© Shrinkage state ‘410 al dry tl the sacra ast Sopa poseanneamna a 110°C tit its: ‘Weight becor ‘constant ms Int fase of sf sample 42 Soil Mechanics and Foindatoecon ee sng al sample completely fled wi water as shown i hgure (a) above. whic Sete We a the plastic state with water content (w). The foal ital volume in ths ahi, i teacher meen the weight ofthe sold partes present inthe soll sample, Aer Mt wr dace oe rkage mt stat shown in igure (In his new state, the total volume wceerease to V;. Similar, the weight ofthe water also decreases to Wand the total weigh (ofthe soil sample becomes W,. ‘The volume of the water which is lost due tothe heating is given by (Vi-Vs). ‘The weight of water that is remaining is thus given by Wa = (Wr = W)=(Y,=Ve}Yy (262) From the shrikage im, i we further heat the soil sample its volume doesnt change; the water 's gradually replaced by air. So, in the dry state on further heating Vs=V There are normally wo procedures to determine the shrinkage imi. ) The spectic gravity of soll is unknown ) The specitic gravity of soll is known Procedure (a): When the specific gravity of soll sample (G, is unknown, we proceed as follows. Shrkage b(t) =e = We) =(¥= et, fom (2.62) ~280)onfeom MGA] We have to determine the value of Vs for equation (2.63). For this we conduct mercury Volume of displaced mercury displacement method. A the shrinkage limit the volume (V,) = Volume of displaced mer amet ° Hewtine volume (Va) = “specie gravity of mercury [64-188] Case (b) When the specific gravity of the soils known, we proceed as follows; In this method, the inal wet weigh! and the inital wet volume of the sei! sample are not required forthe calculations. ‘Asin the shrinkage limit the soll is still completely saturated, we can say that; ‘Volume of voids (V,)= Volume of water (Vq)= (VV) So, W,We have, ee = Substituting in the above equation, we at -(264) & Where, eis the void rato atthe shrinkage limit states Shrinkage Ratio (SR) a Soll pat at Dry Original soil pat saturation limit phases of soil sample THis a ratio of change in the volume the dry volume to the corresponding change in te m ccontent from the inital condition to the shrinkage limit state, usually expressed in percentage Fig 2.40 Determination of shrinkage rte Differ w, 100% Vat ‘SR= 14. in ratio form, % ‘Thus, shrinkage ratio can also be defined as the mass spectic gravity of soil in "=‘Shrinkage Index () emermem Volumetric shrinkage (V, (2.88) (2.69) Linear shrinkag” 1.) inal lengihfnal length . intial length 100% — (270) Importance of Atterberg Limits iL Itis important in classtying the fine-grained soll. i. tis employed in predicting the activity of clay and frost suscepttblty ii, Itis used to control the soll which isto be used as fl Iv, The characteristics of soil at diferent states can be known, . The compressibility ofthe sols directly proportional to the liquid limit. Thus, the value of LL ‘ives general idea regarding the compressibilty of sol Vi. Consistency ofthe sols indicated with the help of quidty and consistency indices. vi, The soll with quid limit 20 is sand. vil. By increasing organic content, the plastic mit increases, but | decreases |x. At constant liquid limit, withthe increase in plasticity index, the dry strength and toughness increases but permeability decreases. x, The LL and PL increase withthe decrease in particle size. Xi, PLis a measure of the amount of clay inthe soil xi Strength of soll decreases withthe increase in plasticity index. ‘tl Shrinkage limit is helpful in estimating the water content change that may take place afar the ‘construction of foundation. Drawbacks of Atterberg Limits |. tdoesn't provide information about the fabrication between the soil particles, li doesn’ indicate anything about the residual bonds which may have been developed in the natural soil il. During the preparation of the specimen the natural properties and characteristics of the soll ae lost 26 Determination of Specifie gravity (Gs) of soll solids eee ere eee cee es rn Oa ee Density Bottle method ‘The specitic gravity of solid particles & the ratio ofthe mass density of solids to that wate. is determined in the laboratory using the relation: geeMyM, (=) (Me = Me) Where, 1M, = mass of emply bottle M, = mass of the bottle and dry soil IM, = mass of bottle, soil and water IM, = mass of bottle filled with water only. & Apparatus required: i. 50m density bottle with stopper Fig2 41, Demy Bole with stopper Ji, Oven (105 °to 110°C) iii, Constant temperature water bath (27 °C) te Voom este «vacuo “i Wl ance acre 00019 Spa Procedure: i. The density bottle is washed and dried in an oven at 105 % 9 je The ns 05°C w 100°C, Then, tise i, Thetotlee wed win oper he ners 0.009) 5 to 10 grams of the oven dried soil sam ; a . iple is taken and transferred ir ity bottle bole whee stpe ante ys i) rein the density iy Oeste’ dated waar nen u_ tn bot conaing tute fa sopper. id water is, now, placed in vacuum desicator after reno 4 Soil MechanlW. The desialor is gradually evacuated by operaing the vacuum pump. The presen operating the vacuum pump. The 7 reduced to about 20 mm of mercury. The bottle is Kept in the desiccator or atleast 1 FOU" © Lnti no further movement of ars noticed. |The vacuum is now replaces and the lids removed of the desiccator. The soil is sterad the bottle caretuly with a spatula. Before removing the spatula from the bottle, he paricles of soll adhering to it must be washed off with few drops of ai free water. The b's. he” replaced and vacuum is applied. This procedure is repeated unti no more ai is evolved for" the specimen tn case when vacuum desiccator is unavailable, the entrapped ar can also be removed BY hating the density bottle on a waterbath ora sand bath wil. The botl is now removed from the desiccator. Atsree water is added unl the boris fal Then, the stopper is inserted. bx. The bottle is immersed up-to the neck ina constant-emperature bath for approximately 1 hour, or unit has attained a constant temperature an apparent decrease in the volume of the liquid in the bottle is noticed, remove the Stopper and add more water tothe botle, and replace the stopper. Again, place the bate in the water bath. Sufcient time is provided to ensure thatthe bottle and its content atain the constant temperature, % The bottle is removed from the water bath and wiped clean and dry from outside. The capillary in the stopper is filed with few drops of cistiled water, i necessary Xi. The mass of the bottle and its contents is measured (My). The bottle is now emptied and cleaned thoroughly and again filed with distiled water. The stopper is inserted. Xii-The bottle is immersed in the constan-temperatue bath fort hour, or until ithas attained the constant temperature of the bath. I there is an apparent decrease inthe volume ofthe quid, the stopper is removed and more water is added. Again, Keep itn the water bath xiv. The bottle from the water bath is removed. Alter its wiped dry and clean, take the mass (Ma Results: Ge =m © (Me My) (My =Ma) The specific gravity should be calculated at a temperature of 27°C and reported tothe nearest 0.01 {tthe room temperature is not 27°C, the following corecton shall be applied; G'=KG-----(2.72) Wher '= Corrected speciic gravity Relative density of water at room temperature Relative density of water at 27°C Sundaiion Engineering (CTEVT) [47