A H M 531 Shrinkage Limits By: Mu'men Al-Otoom

Reg.No:0002804 .
Title Of Project :consitency limit.(shrinkage
limit).
Group.No: S2 .
Date-Day: 18/10/2001 Sunday.

‫ﻣﺆﻣﻦ ﺗﻮﻓﻴﻖ اﺣﻤﺪ اﻟﻌﺘﻮم‬ 1 ATOOMUS

The Civil Engineering Center 1 Visit www.AHM531.com for more lecture notes and E-books!
A H M 531 Shrinkage Limits By: Mu'men Al-Otoom

 Objective:
U

How can we find srinkage limit (SL).

Find the propertes of any soil with there
srinkage limit.
Know the important of w% to Ciassifid soil.

Theory:
U

Atterber rule. ( SL is happened when

moisture content is variation but volume is
constant).
Definition:
U

This experment used to determine the propertes

of soil by it is moisturecontent & constant
volumewhich is call srinkage limit.
So that, now we should compute srinkage
limit(SL)from relations :

volume
of soil

Wi-Wf

SL=Wf W% =Wi

SL = Wi- ΔW%
ΔW% =( ΔV. ‫ צ‬w / Ws ). R R

SL= Wi – ( ΔV. ‫ צ‬w / Ws ). R R

ΔV=V°-Vf .
B B B B

‫ﻣﺆﻣﻦ ﺗﻮﻓﻴﻖ اﺣﻤﺪ اﻟﻌﺘﻮم‬ 2 ATOOMUS

The Civil Engineering Center 2 Visit www.AHM531.com for more lecture notes and E-books!
A H M 531 Shrinkage Limits By: Mu'men Al-Otoom

There are new subject is linear srinkage limit which

equals ( ΔL/L° )= ( L°- Lf ) / L°.
B B B B B B B B B

BAll this sympole we can replace it by magnitude from

B

laboratory experiment. B

Uses:
U

It is used to find propertes of soil so that help us

to take statement. (when the wide of (SL) is
increasing ,the soil comes to suitable).
It is used to classifid the soils.
Sample Identification:
• In this experment we need amount of wet clay .
• evaporating dish.
• Amount of (Hg). Mercury.
Equipment:

1) Porcelain evaporating dish.

2) Spatula.
3) Oven.
4) Baqlance sensitive up to 0.01g.

5) Plastic squeeze bottle with water.

6) Ground glass plate.
7) Steel straight edge.
8) Mercury.
10)Watch glass.
Procedure& Calculation::
note:
1. should be W% > LL to remove voids.
2. should be drying the piece of soil on steps to don’t
damaege.
3. you should be used grace to easy of soil move (don’t
sticky on dish).
A) SL:
Mixed wet soil by Spatula to become
cohesive.
‫ﻣﺆﻣﻦ ﺗﻮﻓﻴﻖ اﺣﻤﺪ اﻟﻌﺘﻮم‬ 3 ATOOMUS

The Civil Engineering Center 3 Visit www.AHM531.com for more lecture notes and E-books!
A H M 531 Shrinkage Limits By: Mu'men Al-Otoom

Weight the evaporating dish.W1 B B

Put amount of wet soil on ( evaporating

dish) by Spatula .
Weight it to find W2 (evaporating dish B B

+wet soil) by Baqlance sensitive.

Evaporated it by oven.
When it dry find W3 (evaporating dish + B B

dry soil).
After that find (Wi) =
(W2 - W3/W3 - W1)x100
B B B B B B B B

To find W% = ( ΔV. ‫ צ‬w / Ws ). R R

Ws= W3 - W1 B B B B

ΔV= V° -Vf . B B B B

V° (volume of wet soil) ( we can find it

B B

with using mercury. Put mercory on the

evaporating dish then put Ground glass
plate on it to remove increasing mercory
then take there weight W4.next find W4 B B B B

(mercory)
V° = (W4 - W1) / (denisty of mercory).
B B B B B B

Vf ( volume of dry soil) (we can find it

B B

from mercory too. Then put the piece of dry soil

on the evaporating mercory dish & use the
Ground glass plate to remove increasing
mercory. Now weight the lost mercory with
evaporating dish (W5). B B

(W4)-(W5) = weight of dry soil. B B B B B B

B Vf =((W4)-(W5)) /(denisty of mercory).

B B B B B B B

B) (SL)linear:
Take (L° ) of mold.Then Put amount of wet soil
B B

on ( evaporating dish) by Spatula .

Evaporated it on the oven.
Take the avarege of Lf .(take to measurement B B

from frony & back site).

‫ﻣﺆﻣﻦ ﺗﻮﻓﻴﻖ اﺣﻤﺪ اﻟﻌﺘﻮم‬ 4 ATOOMUS

The Civil Engineering Center 4 Visit www.AHM531.com for more lecture notes and E-books!
A H M 531 Shrinkage Limits By: Mu'men Al-Otoom

Result & analysis:

RealCalculation:
A) (SL):
W1 : Weight the evaporating dish.=31.93g
B B

W2 : weight of (evaporating dish +wet

B B

soil)=60.16g.
W3 : weight of (evaporating dish + dry
B B

soil)=50.274g.
W4 : weight of mercory & evaporating
B B

dish=262.81g.
W5 : weight of the lost mercory with
B B B B

evaporating dish= 117.227g. B B

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
B B

Wi(%) = (W2 - W3/W3 - W1)x100= B B B B B B B B B

((60.16 – 50.274)/(18.344))x100 = 53.9g.

B

V° = (W4 -W1)/ (denisty of mercory) =

B B B B B B

( 262.81-31.93)/(13.6)=16.98 .
Vf =((W4)-(W5)) /(denisty of mercory) =
B B B B B B

(262.81 – 117.227)/(13.6) =10.71 .

ΔV= V° -Vf = 16.98 – 10.71= 6.27 . B B B B

Ws= W3 - W1 = 50.274 – 31.93 =18.344g. B B B B

W% = ( ΔV. ‫ צ‬w / Ws ) R R

= (6.27x1) / (18.344)=34.2
SL = Wi- ΔW% = 53.9 - 34.2 = 19.7

W3 B B W2 B W2 -W3
B B B B B

B) (SL) linear:
Linear (SL)=( ΔL/L° )= ( L° - Lf ) / L° B B B B B B B B B B

B L° = 14cm( standerd)
B B B

Lf = ( Lf1+Lf2 ) /2 = ( 11.9+12) / 2=11.95cm.

B B B B B B

Linear (SL) = ( 14 – 11.95 ) / (14) = 0.146.

‫ﻣﺆﻣﻦ ﺗﻮﻓﻴﻖ اﺣﻤﺪ اﻟﻌﺘﻮم‬ 5 ATOOMUS

The Civil Engineering Center 5 Visit www.AHM531.com for more lecture notes and E-books!
A H M 531 Shrinkage Limits By: Mu'men Al-Otoom

Discussion & Conclusion:

General Discuss the result:

Water as acomponent of a soil plays an important role in

molding its phesical behaviore. Properties of fine-grained
soils specially, are effected by the amount of moisture
present im them.a given clay suspension can pass from a
liquid state to that of aplastic material & to a semi-solid
state as the amount of moisture content in it is reduced.
Through a series of tests proposed by atterberg in 1911, it
has been possiable to demarcate the boundaries of the
liquid, plastic & semi-solid states of the solids. The
demarcation is in the form of numerical limits on the
moisture contents present in the soil in each state when
remolded. These numerical limits are not the same for all
the soils but vary from soil to soil depending upon their
physicakl properties, in the remoulded state. So,
determination of these numerical limits on moisture
contents furnishes datd to predict the physical behaviour
of a soil & hence these limits are important index
properties of a soil.
After the name of a tterberg who proposed these limits,
they are called atterberg limits ( these limits are also called
consistancy limits) of the soil, since they convey the same
meaning as the words very soft , soft , mediun soft & hard
used to describe the consistancy of soils.
Now, at the moisture contents , where the volume doesn’t
change on further reduction of water of the system, the
soil soil is said to have reached the srinkage limit. So as
adefintion, srinkage limit may be defined as the
percentage moisture content below which the volume of
the soil doesn’t change, when the soil-water system is
further dried. At this moisture content, the soil is assumed
to have changed from semi-solid to a solid state.

‫ﻣﺆﻣﻦ ﺗﻮﻓﻴﻖ اﺣﻤﺪ اﻟﻌﺘﻮم‬ 6 ATOOMUS

The Civil Engineering Center 6 Visit www.AHM531.com for more lecture notes and E-books!
A H M 531 Shrinkage Limits By: Mu'men Al-Otoom

Errors :
• error in weighting (mercory , evaporating dish
& -wet or dry- soil ).
• error in drying when the organic object is fire.
• Error when you don’t use grace on dish.
• Error when we dry the amount of soil quickly.

‫ﻣﺆﻣﻦ ﺗﻮﻓﻴﻖ اﺣﻤﺪ اﻟﻌﺘﻮم‬ 7 ATOOMUS

The Civil Engineering Center 7 Visit www.AHM531.com for more lecture notes and E-books!