Experiment No.

DESCRIPTION AND IDENTIFICATION OF SOILS

1. Objective(s):

The activity aims to:

1. Identify soil description through manual and visual procedures.
2. The activity aims to introduce the process of inspecting soil identification and description.
2. Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs):
The students shall be able to:
Understand the different characteristics of soil through conducting this experiment.
Evaluate and analyze soil initial parameters and classify them according to its descriptions.
3. Discussion:
Soil is an agglomerate of mineral and organic materials and sediments found above bedrock. Texturally, the
soil is divided into primary groups namely, Coarse Grained soils, Fine Grained soils and Highly organic soils which
is also known as peat soil. Peat soil is a problematic soil which is composed mostly of peat (a brown soil like
material consisting of decomposed vegetable matter) and consequently rich in humus and acid reaction.
In this experiment we only focus on the properties of coarse grained and fine grained soils.
The behavior of coarse grained soil is different from fine grained soil. Coarse grained soil is identified primarily
on the basis of particle size or grain size. Individual particles are visible in the naked eye. The verbal description of
this is done on the basis of its gradation, and particle shape.
Particle shapes of coarse grained soils are classified as Angular, Sub- Angular, Rounded and Sub- rounded
particles. Angular particles have sharp edges and relatively plane sides with unpolished surfaces. Sub-angular are
the particles are similar to angular particles but have round edge. Rounded particles have smoothly curved sides
and no evident edges while sub-rounded particles have nearly plane sides but have well-rounded corners and
edges.
Color and odor of the soil sample is also considered for inspecting organic soils and chemicals that might be
present on the soil. Moisture content is for identifying the capacity of soil to absorb water. Identifying cementation
on the soil to know the soils strength.
Fine grained soils are identified on the basis of its plasticity. Individual particles are not visible by naked eye. In
fine grained soil, characteristics such as dry strength, dilatancy and soil toughness were identified. The strength of
fine grained soil is identified while exposed to air temperature is gathered in dry strength, the amount of denseness
is obtained in dilatancy and strength under certain pressure in soil toughness.
It is important that engineers know how to identify and describe the subsoil condition in a given site. For
example, as soon as a ground is identified as fine or grained soil, the engineer can immediately formulate some
ideas on the nature of problems in a short time what might be encountered when a certain project was conducted
in the site and make some precautions in these problems.

Course:
Group No.:
Group Leader:
Group Members:
1.
2.
3.
4.

Experiment No.:
Section:
Date Performed:
Date Submitted:
Instructor:

6. Data and Results:

Description
Angularity
Color
Odor
Moisture content
Reaction with HCl
Cementation
Description
Dry Strength
Dilatancy
Toughness

Sample 1

Coarse grained soil

Sample 2

Sample 3

Sample 4

Sample 1

Fine grained soil

Sample 2

Sample 3

Sample 4

7. Conclusion:

8. Assessment (Rubric for Laboratory Performance):