Soil Mechanics Laboratory at Home Series

EXPERIMENT 1: VISUAL-MANUAL IDENTIFICATION OF SOIL

(This procedure is a SOIL LABORATORY AT HOME TECHNIQUE that can be applied in the field when
no apparatus is available. This is personally developed by Engr. Renato S. David, holder of a Master
of Science in Geotechnical Engineering degree, and one of his method in assuming the Soil Bearing
Capacity of the site before a structure is erected).

It is recommended by several books, including the National Structural Code of the

Philippines (NSCP), that upon identifying a soil, its Soil Bearing Capacity can be assumed or
approximated and the safe allowable SBC are tabulated in TABLES. The table below was condensed
from the CHAPTER 3 of NSCP 2015.

Another table is as follows with its source;

kPa

576
288

240

144
96
 Please take note of the differeces in the assumption of the two codes. This is due to the
Factor of safety used. NCSP usually uses 5 as a factor of safety while CABO, an international code,
uses 3.

I dentifying a soil,therefore, is tantamount to identifying its safe SBC.

EXPERIMENT PROCEDURE:

1. Identify a site where the soil is to be taken. Take a picture to be included in the report. The
site sometimes gives you a general idea what type of soil is to be expected. Soil with much
vegetation are usually silt or clay while sand and gravel prohibits the growth of plants.
2. Get a handful of soil sample with a trowel or a shovel. Again, take a picture of the soil on
the trowel or shovel. By looking at the soil, we will have a general idea on the soil
composition. Take note of the colour. In the Philippines, sand is usually gray in colour, silt is
usually black, and clay is shade of yellow and red.
3. Put the sample on your hand and squeeze repeatedly to determine if it adhere to your
hand or not then roll on both hands to feel its general texture and grain size. The presence
of silt makes the soil forms in a ball while clay make it stick to your palm. Sand does not do
any of these. Gravel is simple to identify as it is big in size. Do not forget to take a picture of
the result of these actions.

Make a report by presenting the pictures and your observation of the procedure performed
above. Most importantly, make an assumption of the soil classification by identifying its second
name and first name (i.e. silty sand, sandy silt, silty clay, sandy gravel).

REMEMBER:

Gravel is a soil with diameter of ¼”to 3 inches (Larger than 2.0mm but smaller than 3 inches)

Sand is a soil that is slightly smaller than ¼”or passing sieve no. 4 but retained on sieve no. 200
(diameter of 0.005 to 2.0mm).

Silt is a soil passing sieve no. 200 but retained sieve no. 375 (0.002 t0 0.005mm)

Clay is passing sieve no. 375 ( smaller than 0.002mm)

When you take a soil sample, it has the 4 types (Gravel, sand, silt, clay). The FIRST NAME of a soil
is the most dominant soil diameter (i.e. SILT) and the second name is the second dominant diameter
(Clayey). In this case, the soil classification is CLAYEY SILT.

MAKE YOUR MOVE. IDENTIFY YOUR FIRST SOIL DISCOVERY.

RUBRIC

criteria Maximum points Minimum points No score TOTAL

Procedure 50 30 10 50
compliance The students The students skip The students do
followed the at least one steps not understand
instruction of the procedure the procedure
religiously
Documentation 30 15 5 30
of the work Documentation There is a doubt No
clearly shows the on the documentation
process of the documentation was submitted
activity including submitted
the identification
of the performer
of the work.
Derivation of 20 10 5 20
conclusion Conclusion is Conclusion is Did not derive
own words and ordinary which any conclusion
obviously an idea was derive from
came about due the experiment
to experiment text.
results
100%