EXPERIMENT NO.

1
SIEVE ANALYSIS OF COARSE GRAIN SOIL
Object
To carry out sieve analysis of coarse grained soil and draw particles size
distribution curve.
Standard Designation:
ASTM D422-63
AASHTO T88-70
Scope
Sieve analysis is widely used in identification and classification of soil. It is also
utilized in the part of the specification of soil for airfields, roads, earth dams and other
soil embankment construction.
Apparatus
Set of ASTM sieves containing sieve # 4, 10, 20, 40, 60, 100, 200, lid and pan,
Balance sensitive to 0.1gm, Soil pulverizer, Sieve shaker, Soft brush for cleaning, oven
dried Soil sample.
Procedure
The procedure for the test is as following: a. Set the sieves in order so that sieves with largest openings are on the top and
gradually reduced size below.
b.

Take oven dried soil sample about 300 to 500gmwhich has already been
pulverized. Pour entire sample in to set of sieves.

c. Place the sieve set in the sieve shaker and shake for 5 to 10 minutes.
d. Remove the nest of sieves from the sieve shaker and obtain the mass of material
retained on each sieve carefully. Compare sum of these mass to the actual mass
taken.
Observation and Data Collection
The observations to be taken during the test are shown on data Sheet.
Sieve No/ size

Mass Retained

Cumulated mass

gm
4
10
20
40
60
100
200
Pan

(4.75mm)
(2.0 mm)
(850m)
(425m)
(250m)
(150m)
(75m)

35
47
28
172
331
562
96
46

Cumulated %

Passing %

gm
35
82
110
282
613
1175
1271
1317

2.653
6.216
8.339
21.379
46.479
89.087
96.357
99.845

Total retained mass=1317gm

Computation and interpretation
The computation to be done after the practical are as following: -

97.347
93.784
91.661
78.261
53.521
10.913
3.643
0.155

a.

Compute the percent retained (cumulative) on each sieve by dividing the mass
retained on each sieve by original sample mass.

b.

Compute the percent passing by subtracting with 100% and subtracting the
cumulative % retained for that sieve.
(1)

% Retained = (Mass of soil retained / Total Mass of sample) x100

(2)

% Passing = 100 Cumulative percent retained

Retained % of particles on Sieve # 4

=Gravel =2.653 %

Particles passing % from Sieve # 4 and retained on sieve # 200 = Sand = 7.27 %
Particles Passing from sieve # 200
c.
d.

= Fines = 3.488%

Draw grain size curve between sieve size and percent passing on semi log
paper.
Find the Dia of particles from the graph curve.

D10 (Grain
dia at 10%
passing)

D30 (Grain
dia at 30%
passing)

0.16

0.21

D60 (Grain
dia at 60%
passing)
0.38

Cu= D60/ D10

2.375

Cc =(D30)2/(D60X D10)

0.725

Cu is the coefficient of uniformity, which is a measure of the particles size range.

Cc is the coefficient of curvature, which represents the shape of the particles size
distribution curve.
For well graded gravel Cu Greater than 4 and Cc between 1 and 3
For well graded Sand Cu Greater than 6 and Cc between 1 and 3
Comments:
For well graded gravel Cu greater than 4 and Cc betweeen 1 and3\
For well graded dand Cu greater than 6 and Cc between 1 and 3
The Cc is 0.95, It shows that the gradation is straight line between D10 and D60.
Cu is 2 it shows that the soil is not bwell gradded somewhat unstable
Since major percentage which is 92.79% passes the #4 sieve and retained on
#200, this means sample is sand.
Results
Classification | Poorely-graded Sand