Basic Soil Characteristics

Lecture No. 1

September 10, 2002

 The Nature of Soils
• Uncemented or weakly cemented mineral
particles
• Formed by the weathering of rocks
• Contain water and/or air
• Residual soil
– Products of weathering remain at their original location
• Transported soil
– Products of weathering are transported and deposited
at a different location
• Agents of transport
– Gravity, Wind, Water and Glaciers
• Particles of transported soils change size and
shape and get sorted into different size ranges.
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 Weathering Process
• Two main types
– Physical Weathering and Chemical Weathering
• Physical weathering includes
– Erosion by wind, water or glaciers
– Disintegration caused by freeze-thaw cycle
– Resultant particles have same composition as the parent
rock
• Chemical weathering includes
– Reaction of rock minerals with acidic or alkaline water
– Oxidation and reduction
– Resultant particles are different in composition than the
parent rock

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Structure of Soils – Physical Weathering
• Physical weathering
results in a single grain
structure as shown in
the figure on the right.
• Particles may be
– Angular
– Subangular
– Rounded
– Subrounded
• Particles are in direct
Single Grain Structure
contact with each other
and there is no bond or
cohesion between them.
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Shape of Particles – Physical Weathering

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Structure of Soils – Chemical Weathering
• Chemical weathering results in the
formation of clay minerals.
• Colloidal size (<0.002 mm).
• For example, clay mineral Kaolinite is
formed by the breakdown of feldspar by
water and carbon dioxide.
• Clay particles are plate-like or flaky and
their properties are influenced by surface
forces.
• Rarely, long needle-shaped particles can
also form.

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Clay Minerals – Basic Units

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 Principal Clay Minerals

Kaolinite Illite Smectite

(Montmorillonite)

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 Influence of Climate

Warm Climate Cold Climate

Kaolinite is the Illite is the

dominant clay dominant clay
mineral mineral

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 Idealized Clay Structures

Dispersed

Flocculated

Bookhouse Turbostratic

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 Grain Size Distribution (GSD)
• Sieve shaking is
used for obtaining
the grain size
distribution of
coarse-grained soils.
• Sieves are stacked
in such a way that
the sieve with
largest opening size
is at the top.
• A pan is attached at
the bottom to collect
particles smaller A Sieve Shaker
than 0.075 mm.
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 Sedimentation (Hydrometer) Test
• For grain sizes 0.075 or less,
a sedimentation or
hydrometer test is
performed.
• It is based on Stoke’s Law –
larger particles travel faster
through water and settle
first.
• A hydrometer is used to
monitor the density of soil
suspension at any given
time.
• A plot of suspension density
vs. elapsed time gives the
grain-size distribution.
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 Grain Size Distribution (GSD) Curve
100
Sieve Percent
90
Size Passing
80
(mm) (%)

Percent Passing
70
19 100
60
9.5 92.1
50
4.75 76.7
40
2 51
30
0.425 13.7
20
0.2 5 10
0.075 1.2 0
0.005 0 0.001 0.01 0.1 1 10 100
Grain Diameter (mm)
D10 D30 D60
Coefficient of Uniformity (CU) = D60/D10

Coefficient of Curvature (CZ) = (D30)2/(D60D10)

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 Characteristics of GSD Curve

• Curve A represents a poorly graded or a uniform

sand.
• Curve B, D and E represent well-graded soils.
• Curve C represents a gap-graded soil (gravel-
sized particles are missing).
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 Plasticity of Fine-grained Soils
• Plasticity
– Ability of a soil to undergo irrecoverable
deformation at constant volume without
cracking or crumbling
– Due to significant clay mineral content or
organic material
• Plasticity depends primarily on the water
content of the soil.
• Water content (w) is defined as the ratio
of the mass of water in the soil to the
mass of solid particles.

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 Consistency of Fine-grained Soils
• Depending on its water content, a soil may have
one of the following consistencies:
– Solid, Semi-solid, Plastic or Liquid
• Most natural fine-grained soils have a plastic
consistency.
• The water content at which a change in
consistency occurs varies from soil to soil and
depends on the clay minerals and their
interaction with water.
• Any decrease in the water content results in an
increase in the net attractive forces between the
particles.

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 Atterberg Limits
• Atterberg limits define the water contents at
which the soil changes its consistency (e.g. from
liquid to plastic or vice versa).
• Transition between liquid and plastic
consistencies is defined by the liquid limit (wL)

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 Atterberg Limits (continued..)
• The transition between plastic and semi-solid
consistencies is called the plastic limit (wP).
• The water content range over which a soil
remains plastic is called plasticity index (IP)
and is defined as:
IP = wL - wP

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 Atterberg Limits (continued..)
• The natural state of a fine-grained soil can be
assessed using its liquidity index (IL) defined
as:
IL = (w – wP) / (wL – wP)

IL State
≥1 Liquid
0 to 1 Plastic
<0 Semi-
solid

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 Atterberg Limits (continued..)
• The transition between the semi-solid and the
solid state occurs at the shrinkage limit (wS).
• Shrinkage limit is the water content at which the
volume of the soil reaches its lowest value as it
dries out.

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 Determination of Liquid Limit
• Liquid limit (wL) can be determined using
– Casagrande Apparatus (ASTM Standard)
– Falling Cone Apparatus (British Standard)

Casagrande Apparatus Typical Results

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 Determination of Liquid Limit

Falling Cone Apparatus

Typical Results
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 Determination of Plastic Limit
• Plastic limit (wP)
determination is
somewhat arbitrary.
• It involves rolling a
small clay sample into
threads using bare
hands.
• Water content at which
threads approximately
3 mm in diameter
Rolling Soil into Threads
begin to crumble is the
plastic limit.

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 Soil Classification Systems
• Particle sizes of a typical soil varies from over
100 mm to less than 0.001 mm.
• The Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)
proposed by the US Bureau of Reclamation is
widely used.
• Other popular systems are:
– ASTM (D422; D653) proposed by the American Society
for Testing of Materials
– AASHTO (T 88) proposed by the American Association
for State Highway and Transportation Officials
• These three systems are very similar to each
other.

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 Soil Classification based on Particle Size
Boulders Cobbles USCS
Sand
Gravel Fines (Silt, Clay)
Coarse Medium Fine

300 75 4.75 2.0 0.425 0.075

mm mm mm mm mm mm

Boulders Cobbles ASTM

Sand
Gravel Silt Clay Colloids
Coarse Medium Fine

300 75 4.75 2.0 0.425 0.075 0.005 0.001

mm mm mm mm mm mm mm mm

Boulders AASHTO
Sand
Gravel Silt Clay Colloids
Coarse Fine

75 2.0 0.425 0.075 0.005 0.001

mm mm mm mm mm mm
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 The USCS
• Unified Soil Classification System is popular
because it is neither too simplistic nor too
elaborate.
• It uses symbols for the particle size groups:
– G for Gravel; S for Sand; M for Silt and C for Clay
• These symbols are combined with other symbols
that represent the grain size distribution:
– W for well-graded and P for poorly graded
• For fine-grained soils, symbols representing the
plasticity are used:
– L for low plasticity and H for high plasticity
• For example: SP – Poorly graded sand
GW – Well graded gravel
CL – Clay of low plasticity 26
Steps in USCS – Coarse-grained Soils

Are 50% of particles > 0.075 mm?

Yes No

Soil is coarse-grained Soil is fine-grained.

Proceed to flowchart
For fine-grained soils.
Is gravel fraction > sand fraction?

Yes No

Soil is Gravel. Soil is Sand.

First letter is G First letter is S

Fines fraction

Continues on the next page…. 27

 Steps in USCS – Coarse-grained Soils
Fines fraction

> 12% < 5% Between 5 and 12 %

Is clay fraction > silt fraction? Is clay fraction > silt fraction?

Yes No

Plastic clayey fines. Plastic clayey fines. Continues on the next page…
Second letter is C Second letter is M

If the first letter is G and CU ≥ 4 and 1 ≤ CZ ≤ 3,

Second letter is W, otherwise it is P
If the first letter is S and CU ≥ 6 and 1 ≤ CZ ≤ 3,
Second letter is W, otherwise it is P
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Steps in USCS – Coarse-grained Soils
Fines fraction

Between 5 and 12 %

Is clay fraction > silt fraction?

Yes No

If the first letter is G, If the first letter is G,

CU ≥ 4 and 1 ≤ CZ ≤ 3, CU ≥ 4 and 1 ≤ CZ ≤ 3,
Classification is GW-GC, Classification is GW-GM,
otherwise it is GP-GC otherwise it is GP-GM
If the first letter is S, If the first letter is S,
CU ≥ 6 and 1 ≤ CZ ≤ 3, CU ≥ 6 and 1 ≤ CZ ≤ 3,
Classification is SW-SC, Classification is SW-SM,
otherwise it is SP-SC otherwise it is SP-SM
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 Steps in USCS – Fine-grained Soils

Are 50% of particles < 0.075 mm?

Yes No

Soil is fine-grained. Soil is coarse-grained.

Proceed to flowchart
For coarse-grained soils.
wL (oven dried)
Is < 0.75 ?
wL (natural)

Is clay fraction > silt fraction?

Soil is organic.
Yes No
First letter is O
Soil is clay. Soil is silt.
First letter is C First letter is M
Is wL > 50% ?
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Continues on the next page…
 Steps in USCS – Fine-grained Soils
Plasticity is low.
Is wL > 50% ? No Second letter is L
Soil is lean clay or silt.
Yes

Plasticity is high.
IP Low plasticity
Second letter is H
Soil is heavy clay
or elastic silt.

High plasticity

wL
USCS Plasticity Chart
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 USCS - Example
• The following results were obtained from sieve analysis and Atterberg limits of
three soils – A, B and C. Hydrometer tests were conducted on material that
passed the 200 sieve for Soil A and Soil C. The ratio of clay to silt is 4:1 for
Soil A and 1: 1.5 for Soil C. Classify each of these soils using the USCS.
Sieve Opening Mass Retained (g) Percent Passing (%)
No. (mm)
Soil A Soil B Soil C Soil A Soil B Soil C
4 4.75 0 0 0
10 2.00 20.2 48.2 15
20 0.85 25.7 19.6 98
40 0.425 40.4 60.3 90
100 0.15 18.1 37.2 182
200 0.075 27.2 22.1 109
Pan - 68.2 0 36
Liquid Limit (wL, %) 75 - 42
Plastic Limit (wP, %) 27 - 19
Plasticity Index (IP, %)

[This example will be solved in the class.]

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