Soil Consistency

- provides a means of describing the degree and kind

of cohesion and adhesion between the soil particles as
related to the resistance of the soil to deform or
rupture.
- defined as the relative ease with which a soil can be
deformed using the terms of soft, firm, or hard.

Soil Behave Like:

SOLID at very low moisture content
LIQUID at very high moisture content
• Cohesion is the attraction of one water molecule to
another resulting from hydrogen bonding (water-water
bond).

• Adhesion is similar to cohesion except with adhesion

involves the attraction of a water molecule to a non-water
molecule (water-solid bond).
Dry Consistency
Dry and Moist Consistency
 Atterberg Limits
- Liquid Limit (LL)
- Plastic Limit (PL)
- Plasticity Index (PI)
- Shrinkage Limit (SL)
- Liquidity Index (LI)
- Shrinkage Ratio (SR)
 Soil Consistency - Atterberg Limits

Depending on Moisture Content soil can be divided

into:

- 1. Solid
Shrinkage Limit (SL)
Moisture Content (w)

2. Semi-Solid
LI = 0
Plastic Limit (PL)
Liquidity Plasticity Index
3. Plastic
Index (LI) (PI) = PL - LL
Liquid Limit (LL)
LI = 1
+ 4. Liquid
Liquid Limit

Liquid Limit (LL) is defined as the moisture

content at which soil begins to behave as a liquid
material and begins to flow

(Liquid limit of a fine-grained soil gives the moisture

content at which the shear strength of the soil is
approximately 2.5kN/m2)
 Liquid Limit - Measurement

First Method

Casagrande
Apparatus

ASTM D-4318
Liquid Limit - Measurement

Liquid Limit (LL) at N = 25

Liquid Limit – Flow Index

w1=44

w2=39

Group Work
Calculate Flow Index
N1=20 N2=30

Flow Index
Liquid Limit - Measurement

Second Method

Fall Cone Method BS1377

Liquid Limit - Measurement

Liquid Limit (LL) at d = 20 mm

Plastic Limit - Definition

defined as the moisture content at which soil

begins to behave as a plastic material

The moisture content (%) at which the soil

when rolled into threads of 3.2mm (1/8 in) in
diameter, will crumble.
 Plastic Limit - Measurement

First Method

ASTM D-4318

PL = w% at d 3.2 mm (1/8 in.)

Plastic Limit - Measurement

Second Method

Fall Cone
Method BS1377

Plastic Limit (PL) at d = 20 mm

Plasticity Index - Definition

Plasticity Index is the difference between the

liquid limit and plastic limit of a soil.

PI = LL – PL
Plasticity Index - Definition

PI (%) = 4.12 IF (%)

PI (%) = 0.74 IFC (%)

PI
Toughness Index =I
F
Shrinkage Limit

- is defined as the moisture content at which

no further volume change occurs with
further reduction in moisture content.
(SL represents the amount of water required to
fully saturate the soil (100% saturation))
Shrinkage Limit - Definition

The moisture content, in percent, at which the

volume of the soil mass ceases to change
Shrinkage Limit - Definition
Shrinkage Limit - Measurement
 Soil Consistency - Atterberg Limits

Depending on Moisture Content soil can be divided

into:

- 1. Solid
Shrinkage Limit (SL)
Moisture Content (w)

2. Semi-Solid
LI = 0
Plastic Limit (PL)
Liquidity Plasticity Index
3. Plastic
Index (LI) (PI) = PL - LL
Liquid Limit (LL)
LI = 1
+ 4. Liquid
Liquidity Index - Definition
Plasticity Chart - Definition

• Casagrande (1932) studied the relationship of

the plasticity index to the liquid limit of a wide
variety of natural soils.

• He proposed a plasticity chart

Organic
Inorganic

Silt
Clay
Plasticity Chart
 Shrinkage Ratio
ratio of the volume change of soil as a percentage of
the dry volume to the corresponding change in
moisture content
∆𝑉 ∆𝑉
𝑉𝑓 𝑉𝑓 𝑀2
𝑆𝑅 = = =
∆𝑀 ∆𝑉𝜌𝑤 𝑉𝑓 𝜌𝑤
𝑀2 𝑀2

1
𝐺𝑆 =
1 𝑆𝐿
−
𝑆𝑅 100
Example 1
A silty clay has a plastic limit of 25 and a plasticity index of 30. If the clay
has a liquidity index of 0.20. Compute the degree of saturation if the
specific gravity of the clay is 2.70 and a void ratio of 0.92. Ans. 90.98%

Example 2
The following are the results of a shrinkage limit test:
Initial volume of soil in a saturated state = 24.6 cm^3
Final volume of soil in a dry state = 15.9 cm^3
Initial mass in a saturated state = 44 g
Final mass in a dry state = 30.1 g
Specific gravity = 2.70
Determine the shrinkage limit and shrinkage ratio of the soil.
Ans. 17.28%
Example 3
From the result of the liquid limit and plastic limit test as given in the
tabulated results, determine the ff:
(a) Plasticity index, PI
(b) Flow index using the flow curve chart
(c) Toughness index