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CE 222
CE222
SoilPlasticity Atterberg Limits
Classificationoffinegrainedsoils
TheUnifiedSoilClassificationSystemusestheterm
finestodescribeeverythingthatpassesthrougha
No.200sieve(<0.075mm).
Noattempttodistinguishbetweensiltsandclaysin
termsofparticlessizessincethebiggestdifference
betweensiltandclayisnottheirparticlesizes,but
their physical and chemical structures
theirphysicalandchemicalstructures.
Thesoilconsistencyisusedasapracticalandan
inexpensive way to distinguish between silts and
inexpensivewaytodistinguishbetweensiltsand
clays.
Plasticity
Plasticitypropertyisimportantbecauseitdescribes
property is important because it describes
theresponseofasoiltochangeinmoisturecontent.
SoilCharacteristics
Soil Characteristics
Soils at equal LL
with increasing PI
Dry Strength
Toughness near PL
Permeability
C
Compressibility
ibilit
Rate of volume
change
Increases
Increases
Decrease
Decrease
Decrease
D
About the same
Decrease
IIncreases
Increases
-
Plasticity
WaterContentsignificantlyaffectspropertiesofSilty
andClayeysoils(unlikesandandgravel).
y y
(
g
)
Strengthdecreasesaswatercontentincreases
Soilsswellupwhenwatercontentincreases
S il
ll
h
i
Finegrainedsoilsatveryhighwatercontentpossess
propertiessimilartoliquids
ti
i il t li id
Asthewatercontentisreduced,thevolumeofthesoil
decreases and the soils become plastic
decreasesandthesoilsbecomeplastic
Ifthewatercontentisfurtherreduced,thesoilbecomes
semi solid when the volume does not change
semisolidwhenthevolumedoesnotchange
Attreberg Limits
Atterberg limitsareimportanttodescribethe
consistencyoffinegrainedsoils.
Theknowledgeofthesoilconsistencyisimportantin
definingorclassifyingasoiltypeorpredictingsoil
performancewhenusedasaconstructionmaterial.
Afinegrainedsoilusuallyexistswithitsparticles
surroundedbywater.
Theamountofwaterinthesoildeterminesitsstate
orconsistency.
Fourstatesareusedtodescribethesoilconsistency;
y
solid,semisolid,plasticandliquid.
Attreberg Limits
Volumee, v or e
Wetting
Semi
Solid
Solid
Solid
State
Plastic
Liquid
S = 100 %
vf
SL
PL
LL
PI
Drying
Water content, w %
Attreberg Limits
Increaasing wateer
ccontent
Fluid
Fl
id soil-water
il
mixture
D SSoil
Dry
il
Liquid State
Liquid
qu d Limit,, LL
Plastic State
Plastic Limit, PL
S i lid St
Semisolid
State
t
Shrinkage Limit, SL
Solid State
Atterberg Limits
ShrinkageLimit(SL) isdefinedasthemoisturecontent
atwhichnofurthervolumechangeoccurswithfurther
reductioninmoisturecontent(SLrepresentstheamount
ofwaterrequiredtofullysaturatethesoil,i.e.,S=100%).
PlasticLimit(PL) isdefinedasthemoisturecontentat
whichsoilbeginstobehaveasaplasticmaterial.
LiquidLimit(LL) isdefinedasthemoisturecontentat
whichsoilbeginstobehaveasaliquidmaterialand
g
q
beginstoflow (LLofafinegrainedsoilgivesthe
moisturecontentatwhichtheshearstrengthofthesoil
i
isapproximately2.5kN/m
i t l 2 5kN/ 2).
)
Plasticitychart
LiquidLimit(LL)
Liquidlimit(LL)isthedividinglinebetweentheliquid
andplasticstates.
p
Fluid soil-water
mixture
Liquid State
Increasing w
water
contentt
Liquid Limit, LL
Dry Soil
Plastic State
Pl ti Li
Plastic
Limit,
it PL
Semisolid State
Shrinkage Limit, SL
Solid State
10
LiquidLimit(LL)
Inthelab,theLL isdefinedasthemoisturecontent
( ) q
(%)requiredtoclosea2mmwidegrooveinasoil
g
patadistanceof0.5inalongthebottomofthe
grooveafter25blows.
Standard:ASTMD4318.
Soilsamplesize:150gpassingNo.40sieve.
Equipment: Casagrande liquidlimitdevice.
liquid limit device
Equipment:Casagrande
11
12
LiquidLimit(Procedure)
150gairdrysoilpassingNo.40sieve.
Add20%ofwater
Add 20% of water mixthoroughly.
mix thoroughly.
PlaceasmallsampleofsoilinLLdevice(deepestpartabout8
10mm).
Cutagroove(2mmatthebase).
Runthedevice,countthenumberofblows,N.
,
,
Stopwhenthegrooveinthesoilclosethroughadistanceof
0.5inch.
Takeasampleandfindthemoisturecontent.
Runthetestthreetimes[N~(1020),N~(2030)andN~(35
45)]andPlotnumberofblowsvs moisturecontentand
determinetheliquidlimit(LL)(moisturecontentat25blows)
13
LiquidLimit
14
Flow Curve
50
48
y = -7.55Ln(x) + 70.69
46.39
46
25
44
1
10
Number of drops
100
PI, %
LLvalues<16%(notrealistic)
16
Liquid
q
Limit,, %
15
PI, %
LLvalues50(high)
16
Liquid Limit, %
50
PI, %
LLvalues<50%(Low)
Liquid Limit, %
50
17
PlasticLimit
18
Themoisturecontent(%)atwhichthesoilwhenrolledinto
threadsof3.2mm(1/8in)indiameter,willcrumble.
Pl
Plasticlimitisthelowerlimitoftheplasticstageofsoil.Itis
i li i i h l
li i f h l i
f il I i
thedividinglinebetweentheplasticandsemisolidstates.
Plasticity
PlasticityIndex(PI)isthedifferencebetweentheliquidlimit
Index (PI) is the difference between the liquid limit
andplasticlimitofasoil.
Incrreasing wateer
content
Fluid soil-water
mixture
Dry Soil
Liquid State
Liquid Limit, LL
Plastic State
Plastic Limit, PL
Semisolid State
Shrinkage Limit
Limit, SL
Solid State
PlasticLimit
19
PlasticLimit(Procedure)
Take20gofsoilpassingNo.40sieveintoadish.
Addwaterandmixthoroughly.
Add water and mix thoroughly.
Prepareseveralellipsoidalshapedsoilmassesby
quizzing the soil with your hand
quizzingthesoilwithyourhand.
Putthesoilinrollingdevice,androllthesoiluntilthe
threadreaches1/8inch.
h d
h
/
h
Continuerollinguntilthethreadcrumblesinto
severalpieces.
Determine
Determinethemoisturecontentofabout6gofthe
the moisture content of about 6g of the
crumbledsoil.
20
Indices
PlasticityindexPI
Fordescribingtherangeof
watercontentoverwhicha
soilwasplastic
PI = LL PL
PI=LL
C
LiquidityindexLI
g
Forscalingthenatural
watercontentofasoil
sampletotheLimits.
w PL
w PL
=
LI =
PI
LL PL
w is the water content
Liquid State
B
Liquid Limit, LL
Plastic State
A
Plastic Limit, PL
Semisolid State
Shrinkage Limit, SL
Solid State
LI <0 (A),
(A) bbrittle
ittl ffracture
t
if sheared
h
d
0<LI<1 (B), plastic solid if sheared
LI >1 (C), viscous liquid if sheared
Plasticsoils
Plastic soils
plot above the
A-Line on a
Plasticity Chart
22
A Line
ALine
NonPlasticSoils
Non-plastic
l i or
slightly plastic
soils plot below
the A-Line on a
Plasticityy Chart
23
ALine
A
Line
ULinesignificance
24
ULine
Correct tests
never plot
above U-line
and LL values
are never < 16
A Line
ALine
16
PlasticityChart
25
PlasticityChart
Highplasticity/compressibility
Mediumplasticity/
compressibility
ibili
Lowplasticity/
compressibility
26
PlasticityChart
27
Cohesionlesssoil
Organicclays
Silt
Indices (Cont.)
Indices(Cont.)
ActivityA
(Skempton,1953)
Normalclays:0.75<A<1.25
y
Inactiveclays:A<0.75
Activeclays:A>1.25
PI
A=
% clay fraction ( weight )
clay fraction : < 0.002 mm
Purpose
Both the type and amount of clay in
soils will affect the Atterberg limits.
This index is aimed to separate them.
Highactivity
large volume change when wetted
largevolumechangewhenwetted
Largeshrinkagewhendried
Veryreactive(chemically)
Activity
29