UNIFIED SOIL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

UNIFIED SOIL CLASSIFICATION AND SYMBOL CHART

COARSE-GRAINED SOILS G W G P Well-graded gravels, gravelsand mixtures, little or no fines Poorly-graded gravels, gravelsand mixtures, little or no fines (more than 50% of material is larger than No. 200 sieve size.) Clean Gravels (Less than 5% fines) GW GP

D
10

LABORATORY CLASSIFICA

C =
u

D60 greater than 4; C =

c

Not meeting all gradatio for GW Abov Atterberg limits GM 4 an below "A" line case Atterberg limits dual GC above "A" line C D60 greater than 4 u= between 1 and 3 D SW
10

SP

Not meeting all gradatio

for GW Atterberg limits SM below "A" line

SC Atterberg limits above "A" with greaterline than 7 P.I.

Limit zone and requ symb

xD 10 60

GRAV ELS More than 50% of coarse fraction larger than No. 4 sieve size

Gravels with fines (More than 12% fines)

G M G C S W S P Silty gravels, gravel-sand-silt mixtures Clayey gravels, gravel-sandclay mixtures

Well-graded sands, gravelly sands, little or no fines Poorly graded sands, gravelly sands, little or no fines

Clean Sands (Less than 5% fines) SA ND S 50% or more of coarse fraction smaller than No. 4 sieve size

S M S C

Silty sands, sand-silt mixtures Clayey sands, sand-clay mixtures

Sands with fines (More than 12% fines)

FINE-GRAINED SOILS (50% or more of material is smaller than No. 200 sieve size.) Inorganic silts and very fine sands, rock
SILTS

Determine percentages of sand and gravel from grain-size curve. Depending on percentage of fines (fraction smaller than No. 200 sieve size), coarse-grained soils are classified as follows: Less than 5 percent GW, GP, SW, SP More than 12 percent GM, GC, SM, SC 5 to 12 percent Borderline cases requiring dual symbols PLASTICITY CHART

AN D CL AY S
Liquid limit less

ML

CL

than

flour, silty of clayey fine sands or clayey silts with slight plasticity Inorganic clays of low to medium plasticity, gravelly clays, sandy clays, silty clays, lean clays

50%

S I L

TS

OL

MH

Organic silts and organic silty clays of

60

PLASTI CITY A N D CL AY S Liquid limit 5 0 % or great er

HIGHLY

IND EX (PI) (%) low

CH

plasticity Inorganic silts, micaceous or diatomaceous fine sandy or silty soils, elastic silts 40
50

CH
A LINE:

Inorganic clays of high claysplasticity, fat Organic clays of medium to high plasticity, organic silts

30 20 10 C L + M L
0

CL ML &O L

PI = 0.73(LL20) MH&OH

OH

0 30

10 40

20 50

60 90

70 100

80

PT ORGANIC SOILS

Peat and other highly organic soils

LIQUID LIMIT (LL) (%)