IIT Bombay

Concept of Soils

Classification

 Particle shape & size

 Consistency

 USCS, AASHTO & IS

© Keller
Large variety of shape and size

This section is about grouping the soils using classification systems

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Particle shape
Coarse grained soils and gravels: Bulky grains

River gravels and rounded

windblown sands
Rounded Sub-rounded
Alluvial sands sub-rounded

Angular soils tend to resist displacement and possess high shearing

strength

Sub-angular
Angular

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Fine grained soils: Flaky or Needle shaped

Flaky:
Micaceous and clayey deposits
Platelet, sub-microscopic crystals → thickness significantly less than the other two
dimensions

Needle-shaped grains
Characteristic of clays (e.g. kaolinite) - resemble needles
One dimension is fully developed and is much larger than the other two

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Particle size

ASTM American Society for Testing and Materials AASHTO American Association for State Highway and Transportation Officials
USCS Unified Soil Classification System MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Particle size distribution curves

Range of particle sizes in soils is enormous! order of 108

Soil particle diameter ~ equivalent diameter

Combined analysis is carried out

PSD of coarse-grained soils  sieve analysis

PSD of fine-grained soils  hydrometer or pipette method

Sand Gravel
Clay Silt
Fine Medium Coarse Fine Coarse
100
90

Results plotted in form of semi-log graph Percentage finer by weight 80

70
Percent of total weight of all particles smaller 60
than any given diameter is plotted on ordinate 50
using arithmetic scale 40
30
Size of all particles is plotted on abscissa using
20
logarithmic scale
10
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Particle size in mm
CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Sand Gravel
Clay Silt
Well graded: Particle from gravel to fines.
Fine Medium Coarse Fine Coarse
100
90
Gradation curve smooth and convex upwards

Percentage finer by weight

80
70
Uniformly graded: Excess or deficiency of 60
Well
50 graded
particles, or most particles about the same size 40 Uniformly
30 graded
20 Gap
Gap graded: Some missing particle sizes graded
10
0
0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Particle size in mm

D 60 (D30 )2 Uniformly and gap graded together

Cu = Cc =
D10 D10 D 60 termed as poorly-graded soils

Dn = grain diameter corresponding to n%

passing by weight

For well graded soils, 1 < Cc < 3, and Cu > 6 (for sand) and > 4 (for gravel)

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Consistency of clays & Atterberg limits

Consistency Undrained shear

strength, su kN/m2
Very soft Less than 20
Soft 20 to 40 Consistency: describes soil firmness
Firm 40 to 75 (associated with clays)
Stiff 75 to 150
Very stiff 150 to 300
Hard (or very Greater than 300
weak mudstone)

consistency of soil depends on its water content

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Atterberg: Swedish Agricultural Scientist proposed Liquid and Plastic Limits in 1911

Broad regimes of soil behaviour with changing water content

Decreasing water content

The soil remains completely
saturated up to shrinkage limit
Liquid Plastic Shrinkage
limit limit limit

Slurry No
volume
change
Soft, ductile solid Hard, brittle solid

Three limiting water contents to separate the 4 regimes of soil behaviour: LL, PL and SL

These are boundary water contents at which soil undergoes change from one state to
another → collectively called “consistency limits”

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Liquid limit is also flowing limit: determined by two methods on soils passing
0.425mm sieve :

Casagrande method : A standard-sized groove is cut in pad of soil in a standard

dish. The dish is then given series of blows to close the groove

LL is defined as water content at which 25 blows just close 1-cm segment of the
standard groove. This method tends to be rather subjective

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

BS 1377 recommends  use miniature fall cone test

Weight

Weight of cone = 80g and 30

o

o
Vertical (apex) angle = 30
LL defined as the water content at which penetration is 20mm

Thus liquid limit test is either a miniature

slope stability test or a cone penetration test

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Plastic limit (PL) test : Small pad of soil is rolled out into thin threads
using open palm of hand

Repeated rolling and remoulding action, together with heat from the hand
gradually dries out the soil, thereby reducing its water content

PL is defined as water content at which the thread just cracks up when

the diameter reduces to 3mm

Plastic limit (PL) is also the rolling-out limit

Plasticity index (PI) is numerical difference between LL and PL

PI = LL – PL

PI is range of water content over which soil exhibits plasticity

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

w − PL w − PL
LI = =
LL − PL PI

c u = 170 exp(− 4.6LI)

100x

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IIT Bombay

Other soil properties……

(1) Sensitivity
Some fine grained soils lose part of their strength upon remoulding

…due to breakdown of the original soil structure and disturbance caused to

water molecules in the absorbed layer

Ratio of undrained shear strength of undisturbed soil specimen to the

undrained shear strength of remoulded soil specimen (at unaltered
water content) is called sensitivity

Sensitivity Classification
1 to 4 Normal
4 to 8 Sensitive
8 to 15 Extra-sensitive
> 15 Quick
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IIT Bombay

(2) Thixotropy (pronounced : thiks-aa-tropy)

It is property of some clays by virtue of which they regain part of strength

lost due to remoulding  with time at constant water content

Increase in strength is attributed to tendency of clays to regain their

equilibrium with reorientation of water molecules in adsorbed layer

(3) Relative density or density index

RD (%) Classification

granular
soils e max − e o <15 Very loose
RD or I D =
e max − e min 15 to 35 Loose
35 to 65 Medium
65 to 85 Dense
> 85 Very dense
RD ↑ granular soil more dense  high strength
CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

(4) Activity
PI
Activity of soil =
% by weight finer than 2µm

Soils (that contain clays) can be grouped depending upon their activity:

Activity Classification
< 0.75 Inactive
0.75 to 1.25 Normal
> 1.25 Active

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Classification of soils
"Label" and place soil in "group" to convey the meaning

Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)

American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials System (AASHTO)

Other countries, including India, have mostly the
USCS with minor modifications
60

50
Plasticity Index, PI
40
USCS CH
30
CL OH or MH
20

A-line separates the more claylike 10

ML
materials from silty materials, and CL-ML or OL
the organics from inorganics 0 ML aj.IIT Bombay

0 20 40 60 80 100
The measured limits of soils are
usually on the right of U-line Liquid Limit, LL
CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

American Association of State Highway and

Transportation Officials System (AASHTO)

Soil classified in 8 groups: A-1 through A-7, and A-8 for peat

Group Index = 0.2a + 0.005ac + 0.01bd

a = Part of percent passing 75µm greater than 35; (whole number max. value 40)

b = Part of percent passing 75µm greater than 15; (whole number max. value 40)

c = Part of LL greater than 40; (whole number max. value 20)

d = Part of PI greater than 10; (whole number max. value 20)

AASHTO

Note:
GI rounded off to nearest whole number
Proceed from left to right in the table and select the first group that fits the data
CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Indian Standard Soil Classification System

Division of soil fraction on basis of grain size

Coarse grained soils

Fine grained soils
Gravel Sand
Boulder Cobble
Coarse Fine Coarse Medium Fine Silt & clay size

>300 300 80 20 4.75 2.0 0.425 0.075 <0.075

60

50
Classification of coarse grained soils:
Same as USCS
Plasticity Index, PI
40
CH
Classification of fine grained soils: 30
Plasticity chart different than USCS CI OH or MH
20

(chart subdivided into 3 instead of 2 10

CL
MI
subgroups) CL-ML ML or OI
0 ML or OL aj.IIT Bombay

0 20 40 60 80 100
Liquid Limit, LL

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Step-by-step procedure for ISSCS:

50% or more of the soil

retained on 75µm sieve

Coarse grained

Determine PSD

50% or more of soil by 50% or more of soil by

weight is retained on 75µm weight passes the 75µm
sieve sieve
 It is coarse grained  It is fine grained

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

50% or more of the soil

retained on 75µm sieve

Coarse grained

If 50% or more of this fraction is If 50% or more of this fraction

retained on 4.75mm sieve passes 4.75mm sieve

 Classify the soil as gravel (G)  Classify the soil as sand (S)

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

If 50% or more of this fraction is If 50% or more of this fraction

retained on 4.75mm sieve passes 4.75mm sieve

 Classify the soil as gravel (G)  Classify the soil as sand (S)

If fraction passing 75µm sieve If fraction passing 75µm

is less than 5% sieve is more than 12%

Calculate Cu and Cc from Perform LL and PL tests

PSD (fraction passing 0.425mm)

If well-graded : classify as  Use IS plasticity chart to

GW or SW determine the classification :
GM, SM, GC, SC, GM-GC or
 If poorly graded : classify
SM-SC
as GP or SP
CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

 Classify the soil as gravel (G)  Classify the soil as sand (S)

If fraction passing 75µm sieve is less than 5% If fraction passing 75µm sieve is more than 12%

Calculate Cu and Cc from PSD Perform LL and PL tests (fraction passing 0.425mm)

If well-graded : classify as GW or SW  Use IS plasticity chart to determine the classification :

GM, SM, GC, SC, GM-GC or SM-SC
 If poorly graded : classify as GP or SP

5% < If fraction passing 75µm sieve is < 12%

??
Assign dual symbol : appropriate to gradation and
plasticity (GW-GM, GW-GC, GP-GM, GP-GC, SW-SM,
SW-SC, SP-SM, SP-SC)
CE 236 Instructor: AJ
 IIT Bombay

Step-by-step procedure for ISSCS:

60 Determine PSD
50
Plasticity Index, PI

40
CH
30
CI OH or MH
50% or more of the soil by
20 weight passes the 75µm
10
CL sieve
MI
CL-ML ML
or OL
or OI  It is fine grained
0 ML aj.IIT Bombay

0 20 40 60 80 100
Liquid Limit, LL

Determine LL and PL (on fraction passing 0.425mm)

Use PI chart to classify the soil e.g. CL, CI or CH or ML, MI or MH

PI chart : can also be used for slightly organic soils

If in green zone : use dual symbols

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

If the soil has about 50% each of fine- and coarse-grained fraction

1. Determine coarse fraction : G or S

2. Determine LL and PL

3. Assign dual symbols; e.g. GM-ML, GM-MI, etc.

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

Field identification procedure :

(1) Visual examination: (coarse-grained soils)
examine for size, angularity, touch and grading

(2) Dilatancy:
Squeeze a pat of saturated sample
If water appears and disappears  fine sands and silts

(3) Toughness: (Useful for clays)

Roll a pat of sample in the palm of hand until it starts to
crumble at 3mm dia
Soils of high toughness would require high pressure to re-roll. Soils
of low toughness would be hard to re-roll without breaking them

CE 236 Instructor: AJ
IIT Bombay

(4) Dry strength: (fine grained soils)

Break a pat of air dried sample between fingers
If the sample is powdered easily  low dry strength
If it cannot be powdered  high dry strength (e.g. clays)

(5) Organic content: Fresh, wet, organic soils

 pungent odour and dark colouration

(6) Other identification tests: “Developed” by individual at site based on

experience

CE 236 Instructor: AJ