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Engineering Classification of Soils PDF
Engineering Classification of Soils PDF
Engineering Classification of Soils PDF
Soils
I. Overview
A. Two Systems of Classification
1. Pedological Classifications
(soil weathering, texture, chemistry,
profile thickness, etc.)
2. Engineering Classifications
– soil texture
– degree of plasticity (Atterberg Limits)
Soil Texture Wentworth
Scale
Remove
Cobbles and
Boulders from
Analysis (>75mm)
“Gravel”
75-2 mm
“Sand”
2-0.075 mm
animation
C. Liquid Limit
D. Plastic Limit
•Water content at which the soil is a plastic
•Less water content than liquid limit
•Wide range of shear strengths at plastic limit
•Defined as the moisture content % at which the
soil begins to crumble when rolled into 1/8”
diameter threads
animation
C. Liquid Limit
D. Plastic Limit
PI Degree of Plasticity
0 Nonplastic
1-5 Slightly plastic
D. Plastic Limit
5-10 Low plasticity
10-20 Medium plasticity
20-40 High plasticity
40+ Very high plasticity
(from Burmister, 1949)
E. Plasticity Index (PI)
• Difference between Liquid Limit and Plastic Limit
• Important measure of plastic behavior
Procedure for AASHTO
Classification
(American Association of State
Highway and Transportation
Officials)
#200
#40
Procedure for AASHTO
Classification
• Determine the percentage of soil passing
the #200 sieve
• Determine the subgroups
– For fine-grained soils (silt & clay), determine
the liquid limit and plasticity index
– Determine soil group or subgroup from Table
9.2
AASHTO Classification for Soils
• Determine the Group Index (usually
reflects the relative strength of the
material, where low values have the
greatest shear strength)
• Determine the group index
• Determine the group index
fine
{e.g.: A-7-5(9)}
Example Problem
A-7-6(10)
II. Unified System
A. Overview
A. Arthur Casagrande (USAF) proposed for
the construction of Airfields
B. Basis
-Over half of material retained on #200
sieve, use textural characteristics
-Over half of material passes the #200 sieve,
use plasticity-compressibility characteristics
II. Unified System
B. The classification scheme
II. Unified System
C. The procedure
1. Determine the percent passing through
the #200 sieve (boundary between sand
and silt/clay).
1. If less than 50% passes, then it is a coarse
grained soil (gravel and sand)
2. If greater than 50% passes, then it is a fine
grained soil (silt and clay)
Uniformity Coefficient
= D60/D10,
where we use the
% finer by weight
(% passing through)
for the values
“clayey materials”
“silty materials”
HOMEWORK:
Classify the following soils by both the AASHTO and Unified Systems,
and give the group index for the AASHTO system.
Sieve
Analysis
-- % finer
than
Soil Plastic
Sample #10 #40 #200 Liquid Lmt Lmt
A 95 79 53 36 21
B 100 95 78 65 26
C 100 80 62 35 20
D 90 55 45 28 20
E 90 71 60 40 26
Alternate method for classifying soils using
Unified Method…..(bonus information!)
For fine grained soils:
Where R = ‘retained’
F = ‘falling through’
For fine grained soils:
For fine grained soils:
• For coarse-grained soils: