SOIL CLASSIFICATION

SOIL CLASSIFICATION

 Arrange various types of soils into groups according

to their engineering or various other characteristics.

 Soil possessing similar characteristics can be

placed in the same group.
 SOIL CLASSIFICATION

SOIL CLASSIFICATION BASICS

 Commonly based on grain size and soil consistency.
Several classification systems exist:
1. Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) (ASTM
D2487-11).
2. American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials (AASHTO) (ASTM D3282-09).
3. U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).
4. Burmister Soil Identification System.
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
 SOIL CLASSIFICATION
Soil Grain Sizes
 INDEX PROPERTIES
Various classification system in practice place soils in different categories
based on certain properties of soil.The tests carried out in order to classify a
soil is termed as classification tests. The numerical results
obtained from such tests are termed as Index properties of soil.

The index properties of soil can be divided into two categories:

(1) Soil grain properties,
(2) Soil aggregate properties
 INDEX PROPERTIES
Soil grain properties are those properties which are dependent
on the individual grains of the soil and are independent of the
manner of soil formation, such as, mineral composition, specific
gravity of soil solids, size and shape of the grains.
Soil aggregate properties are those properties which are
dependent on the soil mass as a whole and , thus, represent the
collective behavior of a soil. Soil aggregate properties are influenced
by soil stress history, mode of soil formation and soil structure.
INDEX PROPERTIES
SOIL TEXTURE
 GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTION
Engineering applications
- It will help us “feel” the soil texture (what the soil is) and it will also be
used for the soil classification (next topic).
- It can be used to define the grading specification of a drainage filter
(clogging).
- It can be a criterion for selecting fill materials of embankments and earth
dams, road sub-base materials, and concrete aggregates.
- It can be used to estimate the results of grouting and chemical injection,
and dynamic compaction.
- Effective Size, D10, can be correlated with the hydraulic conductivity
(describing the permeability of soils). (Hazen’s Equation).(Note: controlled
by small particles)

The grain size distribution is more important to coarse-grained soils.

 CONSISTENCY LIMITS
Consistency is a term which is used to describe the degree of
firmness of a soil in a qualitative manner by using descriptions, such
as, soft, medium, firm, stiff or hard.
It indicates the relative ease with which a soil can be deformed. It is
associated with fine grained soils, especially, clay.

The physical properties of a clay are considerable influenced by the

amount of water present.
 CONSISTENCY LIMITS
States of consistency of cohesive soil
 CONSISTENCY LIMITS
LIQUID LIMIT
It is the water content at which a soil is practically in a liquid
state, but has infinitesimal resistance against flow which can be
measured by any standardized procedure.
PLASTIC LIMIT
It is defined as the water content at which a soil would just
begin to crumble when rolled into a thread of approximately
3 mm diameter.
SHRINKAGE LIMIT
It is the maximum water content at which a decrease in
moisture content does not cause any decrease in the volume
of the soil mass. The soil is just saturated.
 CONSISTENCY LIMITS
Plasticity index PI
For describing the range of water content over which a soil was
plastic
PI = LL – PL
Liquidity index LI
For scaling the natural water content of a soil sample to the
Limits.

w is the water content

LI <0 (A), brittle fracture if sheared
0<LI<1 (B), plastic solid if sheared
LI >1 (C), viscous liquid if sheared