Soil Plasticity and Indices

By:

Dr. Amizatulhani Abdullah

Faculty of Civil Engineering Technology
amizatulhani@ump.edu.my
Course Synopsis
01 Three phase soil diagram and soil’s basic properties

02 Introduction to soil plasticity and indices

TOPIC
OUTLINE 03
Laboratory test to determine the Atterberg limit
value
Course Learning Outcomes
At the end of the module, students should be able to:

• Use science and mathematical knowledge to

determine soil’s basic properties and the
classification.
Lesson Outcomes
At the end of this notes, students should be able to:

• Identify the consistency of the soil and the method to

obtain the soil consistency limit.
• Identify the common indices to classify soil and also the
structure of the soil (coarse grained and fine grained).
Introduction to soil plasticity

Imagine that you have a handful of dry soil.

What happen to the soil if you poured water
into it?

How will you pour it? Only a little amount at

a time or large amount of water at once?
• the soil will experience a state transition
(initially as a solid and end as a liquid).
• the soil will also experience changes in volume.
• along the state transition, the soil will cross
certain limits.
• these limits are called as the Atterberg limit.
Atterberg limit
• Consists of four different states of consistencies (degree of firmness)
• Solid
• Semisolid
• Plastic
• Liquid
• Each time the soil passes from one state to another state, it will pass
through certain limit
• Shrinkage limit
• Plastic limit
• Liquid limit
Fluid soil-water mixture

Liquid State
Increasing water Liquid Limit, LL
content Plastic State
Plastic Limit, PL
Semisolid State
Shrinkage Limit, SL
Solid State
Dry Soil
*** The presence of water in fine-grained soils can significantly affect associated engineering behavior, so we need a
reference index to clarify the effects.
Soil index
• Plasticity index (PI)
• Purpose to describe the range of water content over which a soil
was plastic
• Plasticity index = Liquid limit – Plastic limit
Plastic index Description
0 Nonplastic
1–5 Slightly plastic
5 – 10 Low plasticity
10 – 20 Medium plasticity
20 – 40 High plasticity
 40 Very high plasticity
• Liquidity index (LI)
• Purpose to scale the natural water content of a soil sample to the
limits
• It can be calculated by using the following equation
𝑤−𝑃𝐿 𝑤 −𝑃𝐿
𝐿𝐼 = =
𝐿𝐿−𝑃𝐿 𝑃𝐼

LI < 0 , brittle fracture if sheared

0 < LI <1 , plastic solid if sheared
LI >1 , viscous liquid if sheared
Fluid soil-water mixture

LI  1 Liquid State
Increasing water
LI = 1 Liquid Limit, LL
0  LI  1
content
Plastic State
LI = 0 Plastic Limit, PL
Semisolid State
LI  0 Shrinkage Limit, SL
Solid State
Dry Soil
 %

Variation of stress-strain curve in response to the water content in soil.

• Sensitivity (St)
• the reduction in unconfined compression strength of clay soils due to
remolding although no changes in the moisture content
Clay
• Only measured in clay soil. particle
• can be estimated by using the following equation w > LL
Unconfined shear strength (undisturbed) Water
St =
Unconfined shear strength (disturbed)
• may range from 1 to 8 or might be reached as high as 80 (flocculent marine
clay deposits).
• Activity (A)
• Both of the type and the amount of clay in soil will affect the Atterberg limit
values. This index is function to separate them.
• Only measured in clay soil.
• Can be estimated by using the following equation
Plasticity index *** Clay fraction is define as the
A= particle which is smaller than 0.002 mm
% of clay fraction (weight)

• Normal clays: 0.75<A<1.25

• Inactive clays: A<0.75
• Active clays: A> 1.25
• High activity:
• Large volume change when wetted
• Large shrinkage when dried
• Very reactive (chemically)
THANK YOU