SoilMechanicsI

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

Soils at equal PI with

increasing LL

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

Water content (%)

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