Atterberge Limit |1

UNIVERSITY OF
TECHNOLOGY, JAMAICA
Faculty of Engineering & Computing

Laboratory Report
Title: Determination of Liquid and Plastic Limit of Soil
Experiment No: 1
Institution Affiliation: University of Technology, Jamaica
Course: Mechanics of Soils (CVE2004)
Group: Thursday 8-11am
Lecturers Name: Mr. Damian Cummings
Name: Adien Greenaway

1301255

Oshane Thompson

1301421

Qwaid Gregory

1206029

Ruthven Wilson

1205365

Date of Submission: 4/2/2016

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Title: Determination of Liquid and Plastic Limit of Soil

Aim: To characterize the fine-grained fractions of soils and to specify the fine-grained fraction
of construction materials.

Theory: The liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index of soils are also used extensively,
either individually or together, with other soil properties to correlate with engineering behavior
such as compressibility, permeability, compactibility, shrink-swell and shear strength.
The transition state from the liquid state to a plastic state is called the liquid limit, wl. At this
stage all soils possess a certain small shear strength. This arbitrarily chosen shear strength is
probably the smallest value that is feasible to measure in a standardized procedure. The transition
from the plastic state to the semisolid state is termed the plastic limit, wp.

Figure 1. Diagram showing Liquid and Plastic Limit.

Apparatus:
1. Liquid Limit Device
2. Cup
3. Cam
4. Flat Grooving Tool
5. Gage
6. Ground Glass Plate

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Diagram of Apparatus:
Plastic Limit Apparatus

Liquid Limit Apparatus

Procedure for Liquid Limit Test:

1) A portion of the prepared sample was placed in the cup of the liquid limit device at the
point where the cup rests on the base and it was spread so that it is 10mm deep at its
deepest point.
2) A groove was formed in the soil by drawing the grooving tool, beveled edge forward,
through the soil from the top of the cup to the bottom of the cup.
3) The cup was dropped at a rate of 2 drops per second. It was dropped until the two halves
of the soil specimen meet each other at the bottom of the groove.
4) The number of drops required to close the groove was recorded.
5) A slice of soil was removed and its water content was determined by placing it into an
oven for 24 hours.
6) Steps 1 through 5 was repeated with a sample of soil at a slightly higher or lower water
content.

Observations & Calculations:

Table Showing Result for Liquid Limit

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Test No.
Number of Blows
Weight of Container, W0 (g)
Weight of Container + Wet Soil, W1 (g)
Weight of Container + Oven Dry Soil, W2 (g)
Weight of Water, W1 W2 (g)
Weight of Oven-Dry Soil, W2 W0 (g)
Water Content, W = (W1 W2 ) X 100
(W2 W0 )

1
14
31.33
50.42
43.25
7.170
11.92
60.15%

2
19
31.56
50.60
43.48
7.120
11.92
59.73%

3
29
31.40
66.48
54.09
12.39
22.69
54.61%

4
34
31.44
56.93
48.10
8.830
16.66
53.00%

Liquid Limit Graph

60.15

59.73

56.66

56.66
54.61
53

53

Therefore, according to the graph the liquid limit which is taken at 25 drops is 56.66%.

Procedure for Plastic Limit Test:

1) The test specimen was rolled between the palm or fingers on the ground glass plate to
form a thread of uniform diameter.
2) The thread was rolled until it reached a uniform diameter of 3.2mm or 1/8 in.
3) The thread was reformed into a ball after a diameter of 1/8 in. was reached.

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4) The soil was kneaded for a few minutes to reduce its water content slightly.
5) Steps 2 to 5 was repeated until the thread crumbles when it reaches a uniform diameter of
1/8 in.
6) The water content of the soil was determined when the soil reached a uniform diameter of
1/8", which is the plastic limit.

Observations & Calculations:

Table Showing Results for Plastic Limit
Weight of Container, W0 (g)
Weight of Container + Wet Soil, W1 (g)
Weight of Container + Oven Dry Soil, W2 (g)
Weight of Water, W1 W2 (g)
Weight of Oven-Dry Soil, W2 W0 (g)
Water Content, W = (W1 W2 ) X 100
(W2 W0 )

31.47
41.34
39.80
1.54
8.33
18.5%

Plastic Limit , WP

18.5%

Plasticity Index (IP) = Liquid Limit (WL) Plastic Limit (WP)

= 56.66% 18.5 % = 38.2%

Discussion and Analysis:

The value of liquid limit and plastic limit are used to classify fine grained soil. The values of
liquid limit and plastic limits are used to calculate flow index, toughness index and plasticity
index of the soil. Shrinkage of soil is the water content at which further loss of water from the
soil mass will not cause any reduction in the volume of the soil.
The Plasticity index is the difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit. There are
different degrees of plasticity from non-plastic to very high plasticity. Flow index of soil is the
slope of the flow curve. Flow curve consists of two parameters, one is the water content and the

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other is the number of blows. Toughness index is the ratio of the plasticity index to the flow
index.

Precautions:
1) After performing each test the cup and grooving tool must be cleaned.
2) The number of blows should be just enough to close the groove.
3) The number of blows should be between 10 and 40.
4) The apparatus required for the experiment should be clean.
5) All the readings should be noted carefully.

Conclusion:
The liquid limit and plastic limit of a soil sample was determined using the water content
method. The liquid limit was 56.66%, the plastic limit was 18.5%, and the plasticity index was
38.2%.

References
B.M. Das & K. Sobhan. (8th edition). Principles of Geotechnical Engineering.
B.M. Das. (3rd edition). Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering.
E.S.A. Khan. Department of Civil Engineering, University of Engineering and Technology,
Peshawar. Soil Classification. Retrieved from:
http://www.academia.edu/8218361/soil_classification