Liquid limit

The liquid limit (LL) is conceptually defined as the water content at which the behavior of a clayey
soil changes from plastic to liquid. However, the transition from plastic to liquid behavior is gradual
over a range of water contents, and the shear strength of the soil is not actually zero at the liquid
limit. The precise definition of the liquid limit is based on standard test procedures described below.

The original liquid limit test of Atterberg's involved mixing a pat of clay in a round-bottomed porcelain
bowl of 10–12 cm diameter. A groove was cut through the pat of clay with a spatula, and the bowl
was then struck many times against the palm of one hand. Casagrande subsequently standardized
the apparatus and the procedures to make the measurement more repeatable. Soil is placed into the
metal cup portion of the device and a groove is made down its center with a standardized tool of
13.5 millimetres (0.53 in) width. The cup is repeatedly dropped 10 mm onto a hard rubber base at a
rate of 120 blows per minute, during which the groove closes up gradually as a result of the impact.
The number of blows for the groove to close is recorded. The moisture content at which it takes 25
drops of the cup to cause the groove to close over a distance of 13.5 millimetres (0.53 in) is defined
as the liquid limit. The test is normally run at several moisture contents, and the moisture content
which requires 25 blows to close the groove is interpolated from the test results. The Liquid Limit test
is defined by ASTM standard test method D 4318.[3] The test method also allows running the test at
one moisture content where 20 to 30 blows are required to close the groove; then a correction factor
is applied to obtain the liquid limit from the moisture content.[4]

Another method for measuring the liquid limit is the fall cone test, also called the cone penetrometer
test. It is based on the measurement of penetration into the soil of a standardized cone of specific
mass. Although the Casagrande test is widely used across North America, the fall cone test is much
more prevalent in Europe due to being less dependent on the operator in determining the Liquid
Limit.[5]

Plastic limit[edit]
The plastic limit (PL) is determined by rolling out a thread of the fine portion of a soil on a flat, non-
porous surface. The procedure is defined in ASTM Standard D 4318. If the soil is at a moisture
content where its behavior is plastic, this thread will retain its shape down to a very narrow diameter.
The sample can then be remoulded and the test repeated. As the moisture content falls due to
evaporation, the thread will begin to break apart at larger diameters. The plastic limit is defined as
the moisture content where the thread breaks apart at a diameter of 3.2 mm (about 1/8 inch). A soil
is considered non-plastic if a thread cannot be rolled out down to 3.2 mm at any moisture.
Plasticity index[edit]
The plasticity index (PI) is a measure of the plasticity of a soil. The plasticity index is the size of the
range of water contents where the soil exhibits plastic properties. The PI is the difference between
the liquid limit and the plastic limit (PI = LL-PL). Soils with a high PI tend to be clay, those with a
lower PI tend to be silt, and those with a PI of 0 (non-plastic) tend to have little or no silt or clay.

PI and their meanings[6]

 (0-3)- Nonplastic
 (3-15) - Slightly plastic
 (15-30) - Medium plastic
 >30 - Highly plastic
Liquidity index[edit]
The liquidity index (LI) is used for scaling the natural water content of a soil sample to the limits. It
can be calculated as a ratio of difference between natural water content, plastic limit, and liquid limit:
LI=(W-PL)/(LL-PL) where W is the natural water content
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atterberg_limits

Liquid Limit and Plastic Limit Tests

TABLE OF
CONTENTS__________________________________________________

PAGE
 INTRODUCTION 2

OBJECTIVE 2

APPARATUS

 LIQUID LIMIT TEST 3

 PLASTIC LIMIT TEST 5

PROCEDURES

 LIQUID LIMIT TEST 3

 PLASTIC LIMIT TEST 5

CALCULATION 7

RESULTS 8

CONCLUSION 9

REFERENCES 9
 LIQUID AND PLASTIC LIMITS TEST

INTRODUCTION

Consistency of Soil – Atterberg Limits

In the early 1990s, a Swedish scientist named Atterberg developed a method to describe the
consistency of fine-grained soils with varying moisture contents. Atterberg limits are defined as the
water corresponding to different behaviour conditions of fine-grained soil (silts and clays). The four
states of consistency in Atterberg limits are liquid, plastic, semisolid and solid. The dividing line
between liquid and plastic states is the liquid limit; the dividing line between plastic and semisolid
states is the shrinkage limit. If a soil in the liquid state is gradually dried out, it wills past through the
liquid limit, plastic state, plastic limit, semisolid state and shrinkage limit and reach the solid stage. The
liquid, plastic and shrinkage limits are therefore quantified in terms of the water content at which a soil
changes from the liquid to the plastic state. The difference between the liquid limit and plastic limit is
the plasticity index. Because the liquid limit and plastic limit are the two most commonly used Atterberg
limits, the following discussion is limited to the test procedures and calculation for these two laboratory
tests.

The liquid limit is that moisture content at which a soil changes from the liquid state to the
plastic state. It along with the plastic limit provides a means of soil classification as well as being useful
in determining other soil properties.

As explained, plastic limit is the dividing line between the plastic and semisolid states. From a
physical standpoint, it is the water content at which the soil will begin to crumble when rolled in small
threads.

OBJECTIVE

1. To determine the liquid limit of a soil.

2. To determine the liquid limit of a soil.

 LIQUID LIMIT TEST

APPARATUS

1. Cone penetrometer

2. Flat glass plate

3. Metal cups

4. Spatula

5. Containers

6. Distilled water

PROCEDURE

Fall-cone Method

1. Check the apparatus so that :

a. Mass of falling cone assembly to 0.1g.

b. Stem falls freely when released.

c. Tip of cone can be felt through gauge when brushed with finger.

2. Mix the soil (paste with the spatulas for at least 10 minutes, distilled water must be added in
successive stages to give a cone penetration of about 15mm and mix well in.

Note : Through mixing and kneading is the most important feature of the test and must never be
overlooked.
3. Press the soil paste against the side of the cup to avoid trapping air. Press more paste well into the
bottom of the cup, without an air pocket. The small spatula is convenient for these operations. The top
surface is finally smoothed off level with the rim using the straight edge.

4. Adjust the tip of the cone with a few millimetres of the surface of the soil in the cup. Hold the cone,
press the release button and adjust the height of the cone so that the tip just touches the soil surface.

5. Lower the stem of the dial gauge to make contact with the top of the cone shaft. Record the reading
of the dial gauge to the nearest 0.1mm (R1). Alternatively if the pointer is mounted on a friction sleeve,
adjust the pointer to read zero.

6. Set the timer to 5 second and then press the button and release it immediately. Automatic re-locking
of the stem is indicated by a click. The apparatus must remain steady and must not be jerked.

7. Record the dial reading to the nearest 0.1mm (R2). Record the difference between R1 and R2 as the
cone penetration. If the pointer was initially set to read zero, the reading R2 gives the cone penetration
directly.

8. Lift out the cone and clean it carefully. Avoid touching the sliding stem. Add a little more wet soil to
the cup, without entrapping air, smooth off and repeat procedure (5), (6) and (7).

9. Two consecutive penetrations should be within 0.5mm or three within 1mm.

10. Take a moisture content sample of about 10g from the area penetrated by the cone using the tip of a
small spatula. Placed in a numbered moisture content container, which is weighed, oven dried and
weighed as in the standard moisture content procedure in experiment 1.

11. The soil remaining in the cup is remixed with the rest of the sample on the glass plate together with a
little more distilled water, until a uniform softer consistency is obtained.

12. Penetration range of the soil sample should be within 15 – 25mm. Repeat the procedure (3) – (10)
with different volume of water to get at least 4 points evenly spaced.

13. The moisture content of the soil from each penetration reading is calculated from wet and dry weighing
as in the moisture content test. Each cone penetration (mm) is plotted as ordinate, against the
corresponding moisture content (%) as abscissa, both to the linear scales. The best straight line fitting
these points is drawn.

14. From the graph, the moisture content corresponding to a cone penetration of 20mm is read off to the
nearest 0.1%. The result is reported to the nearest whole number as the liquid limit (cone test).
 PLASTIC LIMIT TEST

APPARATUS

1. Glass plate

2. A separate glass plate for rolling of threads

3. Spatulas

4. Moisture content apparatus

PROCEDURE

1. Take about 20g of the prepaid soil paste and spread it on glass mixing plate so that it can partially
dry. Mix occasionally to avoid local drying out.

2. When the soil is plastic enough, it is well kneaded and then shaped into a ball. Mould the ball between
the fingers and roll between the palms of the hands so that the warmth of he hands slowly dries it.

3. When slight cracks begin to appear on the surface, divide the ball into two portions each of about 10g.
Further divide each into four equal parts, but keep each set of four parts together.

4. One of the parts is kneaded by the fingers to equalize the distribution of moisture and then formed
into a thread about 6mm diameter, using the first finger and thumb of each hand.

5. Roll the thread between the fingers of the one hand and the surface of the glass plate by uniform
pressure. The pressure should reduce the diameter of the thread from 6mm to about 3mm after
between five and ten back-and-forth movements of the hand.

Note : It is important to maintain a uniform rolling pressure throughout; do not reduce pressure as the
thread approaches 3mm diameters.
6. Dry the soil further by moulding between the fingers again, not by continued rolling which gives a dried
crust. From it into a thread and roll out again as before, repeat this procedure until the thread crumbles
when it has been rolled to 3mm diameter.

7. Crumbling of the thread include falling apart in small pieces; breaking into a number of short pieces
tapered towards the ends; longitudinal splitting from the ends towards the middle and then falling apart.

Note : Crumbling must be the result of the decreasing moisture content only, and not due to mechanical
breakdown caused by excessive pressure or oblique rolling or detachment of an excessive length
beyond the width of the hand.

8. As soon as the crumbling stage is reached, gather the crumbled threads and place them into a
weighed moisture content container. Replace the lid immediately.

9. Repeat procedure (4) – (8) for other pieces of soil and place in the same container. Weigh the
container and soil as soon as possible, dry in the oven overnight, cool and weigh dry, as in the standard
moisture content procedure.

10. Repeat procedure (4) – (9) on the other set of four portions of the soil, using a second moisture content
container.

11. Calculate the moisture content of the soil in each of the two containers. Take the average of the two
results. If they differ by more than 0.5% moisture content, the test should be repeated.

12. The average moisture content referred to above is expressed to the nearest whole number and
reported as plastic limit (w1) of the soil. The method of the preparation of the soil is reported and so is
the percentage of material passing the 425µm sieve if it was sieved. The result is usually reported on
the same sheet as the liquid limit test.

13. The difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit is calculated to give the plasticity index
( I p ) of the soil :

Ip=WL–WP

The value is also reported to the nearest whole number. If it is possible to perform the plastic limit test,
the soil is reported as non-plastic (NP). This also applies if the plastic limit is equal to or greater than
the liquid limit : the latter can occur in same soils with a high mica content (Tubey and Webster,
1978).
http://civilengineeringlaboratory.blogspot.com/2012/02/liquid-limit-and-plastic-limit-tests.html

To Determine Liquid Limit of Soil & Plastic Limit of Soil

Apparatus

Liquid Limit Device ‑ a mechanical device consisting of a brass cup suspended from a carriage designed
to control its drop onto a hard rubber base. The device may be operated by either a hand crank or
electric motor.

Cup ‑ brass with mass (including cup hanger) of 185 to 215 g.

Cam ‑ designed to raise the cup smoothly and continuously to its maximum height, over a distance of at
least 180o of cam rotation, without developing an upward or downward velocity of the cup when the
cam follower leaves the cam.

Flat Grooving Tool ‑ a tool made of plastic or non‑corroding metal having specified dimensions.

Gage ‑ A metal gage block for adjusting the height of the drop of the cup to 10 mm.

Ground Glass Plate ‑ used for rolling plastic limit threads.

Related Pages

Significance and Use

This testing method is used as an integral part of several engineering classifications systems to
characterize the fine‑grained fractions of soils and to specify the fine‑grained fraction of construction
materials. 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.

Scope
This test method covers the determination of the liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index of soils.
The liquid and plastic limits of soils are often referred the as the Atterberg limits.

Procedure for Liquid Limit Test

See Also: Definition of Liquid

Limit | Background of Liquid
Limit Test.

1. Place a portion of the

prepared sample in the
cup of the liquid limit
device at the point
where the cup rests on
the base and spread it
so that it is 10mm deep
at its deepest point.
Form a horizontal
surface over the soil.
Take care to eliminate
air bubbles from the soil
specimen. Keep the
unused portion of the
specimen in the storage
container.

2. Form a groove 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. When forming the groove, hold the tip of the
grooving tool against the surface of the cup and keep the tool perpendicular to the surface of
the cup.

3. Lift and drop the cup at a rate of 2 drops per second. Continue cranking until the two halves of
the soil specimen meet each other at the bottom of the groove. The two halves must meet
along a distance of 13mm (1/2 in).

4. Record the number of drops required to close the groove.

5. Remove a slice of soil and determine its water content, w.

6. Repeat steps 1 through 5 with a sample of soil at a slightly higher or lower water content.
Whether water should be added or removed depends on the number of blows required to close
the grove in the previous sample.

Note: The liquid limit is the water content at which it will takes 25 blows to close the groove over a
distance of 13 mm. Run at least five tests increasing the water content each time. As the water content
increases it will take less blows to close the groove.

Observations & Calculations:

 Sample number 01 02 03

Container number 24 21 25

Number of Blows 17 25 34

Mass of empty container (M1), gm 44.9 46 44.6

Mass of container + wet soil (M2), gm 78.3 81.3 76.8

Mass of container + dry soil ( m3), gm 70 75.30 74.10

Water content= w = (M2 - m3/ m3 - M1) x 100, % 33.07 20.30 10.00

Standard Values for Liquid Limit Test

Liquid Limit, LL

Plot the relationship between the water content, w, and the corresponding number of drops, N, of the
cup on a semi-logarithmic graph with water content as the ordinates and arithmetical scale, and the
number of drops on the abscissas on a logarithmic scale. Draw the best fit straight line through the five
or more plotted points. Take the water content corresponding to the intersection of the line with the 25
drop abscissa as the liquid limit, LL, of the soil.

Graph

Following is the
graph of relation
between water
content and number
of blows

Precautions

 After
performing
each test the
cup and
grooving tool
must be
cleaned.

 The number
of blows should be just enough to close the groove.

 The number of blows should be between 10 and 40.

Applications

 The value of liquid limit helps in classification of fine grain soil.

 The values of liquid limit are required to calculate flow index, toughness index etc.

Limitations of Liquid Limit Test

Procedure for Determination of the Plastic Limit

See Also: Definition of Plastic Limit

1. From the 20g sample select a 1.5 to 2 g specimen for testing.

2. Roll the test specimen between the palm or fingers on the ground glass plate to from a thread of
uniform diameter.

3. Continue rolling the thread until it reaches a uniform diameter of 3.2mm or 1/8 in.

4. When the thread becomes a diameter of 1/8 in. reform it into a ball.

5. Knead the soil for a few minutes to reduce its water content slightly.

6. Repeat steps 2 to 5 until the thread crumbles when it reaches a uniform diameter of 1/8 in.

7. When the soil reaches the point where it will crumble, and when the thread is a uniform
diameter of 1/8", it is at its plastic limit. Determine the water content of the soil.

Note: Repeat this procedure three times to compute an average plastic limit for the sample.

Calculations

Plastic Limit, PL

Compute the average of the water contents obtained from the three plastic limit tests. The plastic limit,
PL, is the average of the three water contents.

Plasticity Index

Calculate the plasticity index as follows: PI = LL - PL where:

LL = liquid limit, and PL = plastic limit.

Precautions

 The apparatus required for the experiment should be clean.

 All the readings should be noted carefully.

 Practical applications

 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.
Observations and calculations:

Number of container 24 25

Weight of empty container(M1) gm 45.7 44.5

Weight of container + wet soil (M2) gm 50.6 49.5

Weight of container + dry soil ( m3) gm 48 46

Water content = (M2- m3/ m3-M1)100 % 1.13 1.17

Average plastic limit = (1.13 + 1.7)/2 =1.15%