FACULTY : CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT : WATER RESOURCES AND
ENVIRONMENT
TITTLE OF EXPERIMENT :
TOTAL SOLID DETERMINATION

PAGE NO
EDITION
REVISION NO
EFFECTIVE
DATE
AMENDMENT
DATE

1/8
MA1
03
01/12/2007
20/11/2007

1.0
OBJECTIVE
The sieve analysis determines the grain size distribution curve of soil sample by passing them through a
stack of sieves of decreasing mesh opening sizes and by measuring the measuring the weight retained on
each sieve. The sieve analysis is generally applied to the soil fraction larger than 75m.

2.0

LEARNING OUTCOME

At the end of this experiment, students are able to :

2.1 understanding the methods used to determine the size of soil particles in the laboratory
2.2 carry out the calculation processes used in particle size determine;
2.3 understand the method used to determine the consistency properties of fine grained soils in the
laboratory.
2.4 carry out the calculation and plotting processes used in consistency limit methods of
classification;
2.5 appreciate the way in which particle size and consistency properties are used to classify and
predict the probable behavior of soils and also to indicate the type of tests needed to assess
their engineering characteristic.

3.0

THEORY

( BS 1377 : Part 2: 1990: 9.3 ), sieving can be performed in either wet or dry conditions. Dry sieving is used
only for soil with a negligible amount of plastic fines such as gravels and clean sands, where as wet sieving
is applied to soils with plastic fines. According to the British Standard, dry sieving procedure. This means that
it is applicable only to clean granular materials, which usually implies clean sandy or gravelly soils that is,
soils containing negligible amount of particles of silt or clay size. Normally the wet-sieving procedure should
be followed for all soils. If particles of medium gravel size or larger are present in significant amounts, the
initial size of the sample required may be much that riffling is necessary at some stage to reduce the sample
to a manageable size for fine sieving.

FACULTY : CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT : WATER RESOURCES AND
ENVIRONMENT
TITTLE OF EXPERIMENT :
TOTAL SOLID DETERMINATION

PAGE NO

2/8

EDITION
REVISION
NO
EFFECTIV
E DATE
AMENDM
ENT DATE

MA1
03
01/12/2007
20/11/2007

BS 1377 : 1990, allows either wet or dry sieving to be used, but the wet method is preferred. After oven dry,
the test sample mass is determine before being separated into two parts, the first comprises that retained on
a 20mm sieve and the second that passing 20mm. that greater than 20mm is dry sieves, while that smaller is
wet sieve prior to being-sieved dry. The sieves used are generally chosen from the range ( in mm) of 75, 63,
50, 37.5, 28, 20, 14, 10, 63.5, 3.35, 2, 1.18, 0.6, 0.425, 0.3, 0.212, 0.15 and 0.063 . The mass retained on
each sieve is recorded, from which the percentage of the sample passing each sieve can be calculated.
Material passing the 63 micron (0.063mm) sieve is retained for a fine particles analysis, if the amount justifies
the further test. The combined results of the coarse and fine analyses are plotted on a semi-logarithmic graph
of the form show in figure 1.0, to give the particle size distribution curve.

FACULTY : CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT : WATER RESOURCES
AND ENVIRONMENT
TITTLE OF EXPERIMENT :
TOTAL SOLID DETERMINATION
1.0
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
2.0
1.
2.

PAGE NO

3/8

EDITION
REVISION NO
EFFECTIVE DATE

MA1
03
01/12/2007

AMENDMENT DATE

20/11/2007

TEST EQUIPMENT
Series of standard sieves with opening ranging from 7.5cm to 75m including a cover plate and bottom
pan.
Test sieve having the following aperture size 10mm, 6mm, 1mm, 0.6mm, 0.3mm, 0.15mm, 0.063mm.
Mechanical sieve shaker
Balance sensitive 0.5 g
Soft wire brush
PROCEDURES
Oven dry the sample, allow it to cool and measure is weight.
Select a stack of sieves suitable to the soil being tested. A stack of six or seven sieves is generally
sufficient for most soil and applications. The top sieves soil should have and opening is at the top and the
smallest is at the bottom.

Figure 1: The stack of sieves used which is already in order of it size.

3. Attach a pan at the bottom of the sieve stack. Pour the sample on the top sieve. Add the cover
plate to avoid dust and loss of particles while shaking.

Figure 2: The sample of soil used is pour into the sieves.

4.

Place the stack of sieves in the mechanical shaker and shake for about 10 min or until additional
shaking does not produce appreciable change in the amount of materials retained in each sieve.

Figure 3 : The sieves is place in mechanical shaker

5

Remove the stack of sieves from shaker. Beginning with the top sieve, transfer its contents to a
piece of the paper or a larger recipient. Carefully empty the sieve without losing any material, and
use a brush to remove grains stuck in its mesh opening. Measure the weight of soil retained in each
sieve and notes the corresponding sieve mesh opening and number.
Repeat step 5 for each sieve. As a preliminary check, the weight retained on all the sieves and the
bottom pan are added, and their sum is compared to the initial sample weight. Both weight should be
within about 1% if the difference is greater than 1% too much material was lost and weighing and or
sieves should be repeated.

FACULTY : CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT : WATER RESOURCES
AND ENVIRONMENT
TITTLE OF EXPERIMENT :

PAGE NO

5/8

TOTAL SOLID DETERMINATION

AMENDMENT DATE

EDITION
REVISION NO
EFFECTIVE DATE

MA1
03
01/12/2007
20/11/2007

6.0 DATA ANALYSIS

Location :
Soil description :
Sample type :
Operator :

Loc. No :
Sample No :
Depth of sample :
Date started :

Sieve no.

Mass

Mass

Percentage

Cummulative

Size (mm)

Retain (g)

Passing (g)

Retain (%)

Percentage passing (%)

5.000

52

484

9.72

90.3

2.000

145

391

27.10

63.2

1.180

154

382

28.79

34.4

0.600

125

411

23.36

11.0

0.425

22

0.514

4.11

6.92

0.300

10

526

1.87

5.1

0.212

531

0.934

4.1

0.150

533

0.56

3.56

0.063

12

524

2.24

1.3

Pan

520

1.31

Total

535

% passing

= 100 - % Retained

Mass of dry sample = 536 g

Plot particles size distribution chart.
Cu = d 60 d 10
2

= 3.45

Cu = d 30 d 60d10 = 1.16

100

FACULTY : CIVIL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

ENGINEERING
DEPARTMENT : WATER RESOURCES
AND ENVIRONMENT
TITTLE OF EXPERIMENT :

PAGE NO

TOTAL SOLID DETERMINATION

AMENDMENT DATE

EDITION
REVISION NO
EFFECTIVE DATE

6/8
MA1
03
01/12/2007
20/11/2007

7.0 QUESTIONS
1. What is the purpose of grain size analysis ?
The distribution of different grain sizes affects the engineering properties of soil. Grain size analysis
provides the grain size distribution, and it is required in classifying the soil.The specific more specifis
purpose are :
1. To determine the grain size distribution of soil sample containing appreciable amount of fines.
2. To draw a grain size distribution curve
2. Under what conditions should you use wet sieving instead of dry sieving ?
When dry sieving cannot produce an adequate degree of separation between the individual fractions and even
sieving aids cannot improve the quality..
3. What is the smallest and largest mesh opening used in practice for determining grain size
distribution ?
The most common are the US Standard Sieve Mesh #, opening in millimeters (micrometers), opening
in inches, and Phi Scale. In this experiment, the largest is 5.00 mm and the smallest is 0.063 mm.
.
4. Is it possible to carry out a sieve analysis on a sample of clay?
Yes, because Sieve analysis can be carried out on all types of organic and non-organic granular
materials such as sands, clays, coals, crushed rock, granite, soil, as well as many different
manufactured powders, seeds and grain.

5. Classify the type of soil that you use in the laboratory according to BS 5930
The primary classification of natural soil can be done by wet sieving procedure on a 63 m sieve if
more than 35% of the material is passing it is a fine grained soil and if it is less than 35% of sample
then it is course grained soil.