EXPERIMENT 6: GRAIN SIZE ANALYSIS – MECHANICAL METHOD

DISCUSSION:

The students were able to demonstrate the procedure for mechanical grain-size analysis of soil
and display the resulting data using the principles and formulas supplied in this experiment. Before
pouring the sample into the container, weigh all of the sieves and the container to calculate their weight. It
is necessary that the sieve be properly positioned from largest to smallest diameter and that the pan is
always placed at the bottom. The sieve numbering system is as follows: 1 ½”, 1”, ¾”, ½”, ⅜”, #4, #10,
#20, #40, #60, #100, #200, and Pan. The sieves weigh from 356.3 and 522.8 grams.

After weighing the sieves, a soil sample of 2007.7 g is collected and poured into the sieves, which
are arranged in decreasing size order from top to bottom, and manually sieved for 8 minutes. After
manually sieving, the sieves from #4 to #200" were placed in the mechanical sieve shaker for 5 minutes.
The sieves were then weighed with the weight of soil still remaining in each sieve. And finally, a 50g soil
sample passed through a no. 200 filter was placed in a beaker for experiment 7.

CONCLUSION:

The purpose of this experiment was to determine the percentage of grain sizes contained in the
soil. As a result, the students performed mechanical or sieve analysis to identify the coarse and fine
particle distribution. Correctly sieving the soil sample would yield more accurate findings and provide the
necessary data. As a result, the pupils learnt that careful measurement is required to arrive at the correct
value. Furthermore, the students' future professions as engineers will benefit from this experiment, as it
may be part of their duties in the future because particular grain sizes are required in the Civil
Engineering industry to obtain the quality required for building.