SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS Vol. 47, No. 5, 887896, Oct.

2007
Japanese Geotechnical Society

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE ATTERBERG

LIMITS AND CLAY CONTENT

ENNIO POLIDORIi)

ABSTRACT
This study investigates the liquid limit (Casagrande's method) and plastic limit (rolling and thread method) of six in-
organic soils and their respective mixtures with ne silica sand. It was observed that the liquid limit and plastic limit
values of the mixtures tested, except those with a low clay percentage, are linked to the respective clay size contents by
a linear relationship. The Atterberg limits were subsequently recalculated using the equations of the regression lines of
the mixtures governed by linear law with the clay percentages. The plotting of the plastic limit as a function of the liq-
uid limit of these data made it possible to determine the relationship among the liquid limit, the plastic limit and clay
fraction valid for inorganic soils that contain platey clay minerals and for clay size contents that are not too low.
Hence, on the basis of the interdependence among the parameters considered (WL, Wp, Ip, CF, A), for a given inorgan-
ic soil, knowing only two of three parameters (WL, Wp, CF ) that are measurable using standard tests, the values of
other three parameters can be obtained.

Key words: Atterberg limits, clay, laboratory tests, plasticity, soil classication (IGC: D1/D3)

kedly, while the liquid limit of the clay mineral kaolinite

INTRODUCTION is not inuenced (Di Maio and Fenelli, 1994). Hence, for
If a clayey soil is mixed with ever increasing amounts of a given soil, the values of the Atterberg limits, which are
water it becomes softer and softer and a point will be the result of the combination of all the factors, provide
reached at which the soil ceases to behave as a plastic insight into that soil's plasticity characteristics for every
material and becomes essentially a viscous uid. Atter- possible combination of the factors that inuence the
berg (1911) suggested a method for dening this change, plasticity of a soil.
and the water content of the soil at this point is its liquid There are few studies in literature on the Atterberg
limit, WL. Likewise, Atterberg dened the change from a limits of soils as a function of their clay size contents and
plastic to a semi-solid state, and the water content of the the results of these studies are not always in agreement.
soil at this point is its plastic limit, Wp. The methods to These studies have focused primarily on the liquid limit
determine the liquid and plastic limits, later developed by of clay minerals mixed with silica sand (Seed et al., 1964a,
Casagrande (1932, 1958), are considered standard inter- 1964b; Sivapullaiah and Sridharan, 1985; Tan et al.,
national tests. These limits and the numerical dierence 1994; Nagaraj et al., 1995; Kumar and Muir Wood,
between them, the plasticity index, Ip, are very useful to 1999). Seed et al. (1964b) in a study on the Atterberg
characterize, classify and predict ne soils engineering be- limits of the clay minerals kaolinite, illite and montmoril-
haviour. lonite and their respective mixtures with sand, concluded
The Atterberg limits of a soil depend on its composi- that, for clay percentages which are not too low, the liq-
tion (quantity and type of clay minerals) and so-called dy- uid and plastic limits are both linked by a linear relation-
namic factors (Veniale, 1983) such as, pH, temperature, ship to their clay size contents. The respective regression
cation exchange capacity, type and quantity of cations in lines pass through the origin of the axes. Nevertheless, the
the solution, etc., which vary in space and time for natur- plastic limit values reported by Seed et al. (1964b) of the
al soils. An example of dynamic variables can be found in montmorillonite-sand mixtures are less than those of
the continuous alteration of the environment by human kaolinite-sand mixtures with the same clay percentages.
activities, such as the impact of acid rain and chemical Conversely, White (1949) in his study of the Atterberg
products used in agriculture. Dynamic factors can have a limits of the most common clay minerals concluded that
strong eect on the liquid limit value, though such eects the plastic limit of montmorillonite(illite)kaolinite.
may vary according to the type of clay minerals. For ex- The same conclusion was traced later by Mitchell (1993).
ample, as the concentration of salts increases, the liquid Several attempts to link plasticity index with liquid
limit of the clay mineral montmorillonite decreases mar- limit, mostly through the empirical correlations, ignoring
i)
Institute of Applied Geology, University of Urbino `Carlo Bo' `Sogesta' Scientic Campus, Italy (ennio.polidoriuniurb.it).
The manuscript for this paper was received for review on December 11, 2006; approved on May 29, 2007.
Written discussions on this paper should be submitted before May 1, 2008 to the Japanese Geotechnical Society, 4-38-2, Sengoku, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo 112-0011, Japan. Upon request the closing date may be extended one month.

887
888 POLIDORI

the content of non-clay particles (2 mm) are reported in fraction, CF (2 mm) in each soil was lowered in succes-
literature (Casagrande, 1948; Seed et al., 1964b; Nagaraj sive steps by adding sand to obtain changes of 10z
and Jayadeva, 1983; Sivapullaiah and Sridharan, 1985; weigth of CF up to a minimum of 10z (for bentonite
Panadian and Nagaraj, 1990). ``c''). The silica sample used in the mixtures is composed
This study, based on compositional factors (amount of 85z ne sand.
and type of clay minerals), investigates how the liquid The geotechnical characterization was performed ac-
limit and the plastic limit vary as a function of clay size cording to international ASTM standards (D 422 and D
contents in inorganic soils with platey clay minerals. On 4318). First the grain size distribution was determined
the basis of the average values (using equations of the and then the liquid limit (Casagrande's method) and the
regression lines) of the experimental data collected a plastic limit (rolling thread method) of the soils and mix-
relationship between the Atterberg limits and the clay
fractions is then investigated. Since the non-platey clay
minerals such as halloysite, allophane, attapulgite have
characteristics very dierent from that of platey clay
minerals (e.g., high plastic limit, low index plasticity)
(Mitchell, 1993), they are excluded from the present
research as organic soils are.

GEOTECHNICAL AND MINERALOGICAL

CHARACTERIZATION
Experiments were carried out on six inorganic soils and
on their respective mixtures with ne silica sand. Three of
the soils were composed of bentonite, one was composed
of kaolinite (commercially available), another was com-
posed of 1:1 mixture of kaolinite- bentonite whereas the Fig. 1. Liquid limit, W L and plastic limit, W p as function of clay frac-
last soil was a natural soil belonging to the Formation of tion CF (2 mm) of soils and their respective mixtures with ne sili-
Varicoloured Clays (upper Cretaceous-lower Eocene) ca sand. 1kaolinite-sand mixtures; 2, 5 and 6bentonite ``a'',
Central Italy. Their characteristics are summarized in ``b'' and ``c''-sand mixtures, respectively; 3(1:1) kaolinite-ben-
tonite ``c''-sand mixtures; 4varicoloured clays-sand mixtures
Tables 1 and 2. In the soil-sand mixtures (Fig. 1) the clay

Table 1. Index properties of inorganic soils used in present study

Soil Soil type Sand Silt Clay WL Wp Ip A r

1 kaolinite 8 92 62 36 26 0.28 2.64

2 bentonite ``a'' 5 20 75 153 36 117 1.55 2.76
3 (1:1) soils 16 mixture 19 81 170 38 132 1.63 2.69
4 varicoloured clays 14 86 193 41 152 1.77 2.79
5 bentonite ``b'' 3 27 70 260 39 221 3.16 2.75
6 bentonite ``c'' 30 70 343 42 301 4.30 2.75

cm3. Aactivity.
Sand, silt, clay, W L, W p and Ip are in z. r (density) is in g W

Table 2. Mineralogical composition of inorganic soils used in present study

Soil Soil type Fraction size C D Mineralogy

1 kaolinite z 2 mm Kaolinite (97z) with a good degree of crystallinity and illite (3z)
z 2 mm Aggregations of kaolinite crystals.
2 bentonite ``a'' z 2 mm Montmorillonite (100z) with good degree of crystallinity.
z 2 mm 3 Quartz and calcium carbonate.
4 varicoloured clays z 2 mm In order of respective quantities: vermiculite with low degree of
crystallinity, interbedded illite-vermiculite, kaolinite and traces of
illite. Presence of quartz.
z 2 mm 3 Quartz and calcium carbonate.
5 bentonite ``b'' z 2 mm 4 Montmorillonite (96z) with good degree of crystallinity and
dolomite.
z 2 mm 2 Quartz and calcium carbonate.
6 bentonite ``c'' z 2 mm 8 Montmorillonite with low degree of crystallinity, interbedded illite-
montmorillonite. Presence of dolomite and amorphous ferrous
hydroxides.
z 2 mm 2 14 Dolomite, quartz and calcium carbonate.

C (calcium carbonate) and D (dolomite) are in z

 ATTERBERG LIMITS AND CLAY CONTENT
tures with sands. Some standards, in addition to
Casagrande's method, have included the fall-cone
method. Both methods have advantages and disavan-
tages. For example, (with reference to this study) the cone
penetration method is not suitable for very expansive
soils (Wasti and Bezirci, 1986).
Grain size distribution of the silica sample and the soils
was obtained using the sieve and hydrometer methods,
respectively. The percentage of clay in the mixture was
determined as the percentage by weight of particles ner
than 2 mm in the commercial clay and the natural soil
added to the ne silica sand.
The liquid limit of the samples was determined to es-
tablish a minimum of four points in order to plot the ow
line. The plastic limit was determined by the average of
four or more water contents. This procedure was applied
to each soil and later to the mixtures with silica sand.
Since the thread-rolling method is considered operator-
dependent ( see below), the plastic limit tests were repeat-
ed, and the average of the values was considered in order
to improve the alignment of the points of the mixtures
plotted on the graph.
The mixtures were prepared by mixing the above-men-
tioned dry components followed by, adding deionized
water. Since the mixtures are composed of percentages in
weight of the respective components, the samples were
placed in an oven at 609C to eliminate humidity absorbed
from the atmosphere before being mixed. The silica silt
(87z silt and 13z2 mm) used in some mixtures (with
soils no. 1, 3 and 6) did not yield dierent values of the
Atterberg limits than those obtained by adding ne silica
sand.
The qualitative and semiquantitative mineralogical
analyses (Table 2) were performed using the XRD analy-
sis with a Philips PW 2273 W 20 diractometer, CuKa radi-
ation, Ni lter with a scanning velocity of 0.0392u W s. The
clay fraction (2 mm) was analyzed on samples that were
air dried and treated with glycol-ethylene.
EXPERIMENTAL DATA AND DISCUSSION
Liquid Limit
Figure 1 shows the liquid limit and the plastic limit as a
function of the clay size contents of the soils and the mix-
tures tested. The values of the liquid limit of the mixtures
of each soil with sand, except those with a low clay frac-
tion, lie more or less linearly with the clay percentage.
The best average linear relationship was found to pass
through the origin, in agreement with Seed et al. (1964b),
Nagaraj et al. (1995) and Kumar and Muir Wood (1999).
The respective equations are shown in Fig. 1.
Hence, the liquid limit equation valid for inorganic
soils containing platey clay minerals (with CFCm, de-
ned below) is:
WLk1CF (1)
where the WL-slope k1 depends on the factors that in-
uence the plasticity of a soil (such as type of clay miner-
al, type of adsorbed cation, pH, degree of crystallinity,
889
etc.). The combination of these factors provides a very
wide range of slope values (from 0.67 to 4.86 in Fig. 1),
where the minimum and maximum values belong to
kaolinite and montmorillonite in monovalent ionic form,
respectively. WL and CF are dened in percentages.
In a saturated soil also composed of non-clay particles,
assuming that all of the water is associated with the clay
phase (Seed et al., 1964b; Mitchell, 1993), the constant
volume of the non-clay fraction and the volume of the
clay-water system, which varies as a function of water
contents, can be distinguished. From experimental data
collected, in agreement with Seed et al. (1964b), the linear
relation (WL, CF ) is respected until the volume of the
clay-water system is greater than the volume of the void
of the non-clay fraction in the mixtures, or in other
words, until the non-clay particles are still not in contact
with one another.
The volume of voids in the non-clay fraction is:
(x W
rs)es (2)
in which x is the mass of the non-clay fraction; rsden-
sity of the soil particles in the non-clay fraction; esvoid
ratio in the non-clay fraction.
The volume of clay-water mixture at its WL, is:
rc)[(WLc y W
(yW r w]
100) W (3)
in which y is the dry-mass of the clay particles required
(when mixed with the water) just to ll the voids in the
non-clay fraction; rc is the density of the solid particles in
the clay fraction; rw is the density of the water (1); WLc
is the liquid limit of the clay particles y (CF100z).
This will just ll the voids in the non-clay fraction
when:
rc)[(WLc y W
(yW r w] ( x W
100) W rs)es (4)
Solving Eq. (4) for y (and neglecting rw), will be:
y(x es) W rcWLc W
[ rs(1 W 100] (5)
the percentage of dry clay (Cm) which, when mixed with
the water at its WL, will ll the voids in the granular
phase, is:
Cm [ y W
(xy)]100 (6)
Since the values of rs and rc generally dier slightly, the
value of Cm mainly depends on the void ratio (es) of the
non-clay fraction and the liquid limit slope (k1) of the
soil.
An inorganic soil with a water content equal to its liq-
uid limit, (mainly as a function of its CF and es) could be
found in one of the following two physical states:
(a) soils in which all the round particles are scattered
in the clay-water system (CFCm);
(b) soils in which all or a part of the round particles
are in contact with one another (CF or slightly
Cm).
The soils found in condition (a) should have a liquid
limit directly proportional to their clay fractions, as
shown in Eq. (1). In condition (b), the greater resistance
of the soil (placed in the cup apparatus) to deformation,
890
produced by contact of the non-clay particles, allows this
soil to retain a larger amount of water and as a conse-
quence the values of the liquid limit will be greater than
the values predicted by Eq. (1). In fact, the slurrie soils
with low clay size content tend to slide rather than ow as
plastic material when placed in the cup. On the basis of
the data of the tested mixtures, it was observed that the
relative increase of the liquid limit values passing from
physical state (a) to physical state (b) occurs gradually,
with initial values of CFCm (probably for the geometri-
cal proximity of the round particles and W or the contact of
some particles). For the sake of clarity, these values (not
proportional with CF) are here dened as ``anomalous''
(Fig. 1) and they are not included in the elaboration of the
data. The present study is based (on physical state (a)) on
the values of the Atterberg limits governed by linear law
with clay size contents. This condition is also important
in order to look for relationships between the Atterberg
limits and the intrinsic geotechnical properties of the
soils. Casagrande (1932) reported that the physical sig-
nicance of the liquid limit of a non-plastic soil is fun-
damentally dierent from that of a plastic soil. The
author believes that Casagrande's consideration for non-
plastic soils can also be extended to ``anomalous'' values
of the Atterberg limits. In fact, as these values increase
(in a relative sense), so do the values of the residual fric-
tion angle because both mainly depend on the character-
istics of the granular phase.
The values of Cm for the soils plotted in Fig. 2 are
overestimated because the calculation of es was only
based on the added sand (the components 2 mm found
in the soils were not taken into consideration). The equa-
tion in Fig. 2 (for the average values of assumed es, rs and
rc), permits to obtain the Cm value as a function of the
water content (or vice versa) to have the same volume that
is when the clay water system will ll the voids in the
granular phase and the round particles will be in contact
with one another. It is graphically shown by the marked
line and it was obtained by inserting the selected values
Fig. 2. Relationship between water content, W and amount of clay,
Cm needed to ll the voids in a granular soil. esvoid ratio of the
granular phase. rs, rcdensity of round particles and clay size par-
ticles, respectively. 1, 4 and 6liquid limit regression lines of soil-
sand mixtures, see Fig. 1
POLIDORI
into the equation (CF W rc)(W W rw)[(100CF ) W rs] es
(that is equivalent to Eq. (4), setting WWLc y W 100). The
determination of es of the fraction 2 mm of a soil is
cumbersome and time consuming. Nevertheless, on the
basis of the data collected in this study and insights into
clayey soils reported in Mitchell (1993), the liquid limit
should be determined in the soil fraction with a clay frac-
tion greater than 2025z so that the relationship WL-CF
is governed by a linear law also for soils that contain less
expansive clay minerals (kaolinite) and with high values
of es.
Plastic Limit
The data of the plastic limit (Figs. 1 and 3) show less
linearity and relatively little variation (especially accord-
ing to the type of clay minerals) in comparison with the
data of the liquid limit. Note how small the range of the
plastic limit values is compared with that of the liquid
limit values. Except for the mixtures with low clay frac-
tion ( see ``anomalous'' values Fig. 3), the best link be-
tween the plastic limit and the clay percentages is a linear
relationship. The regression lines of the plotted mixtures
intersect the Wp axis randomly between 8.4z and 11.9z.
The equations shown in Fig. 3 refer to the average value
of the intercept, Wp10z. Hence, the general equation
is:
Wp(k2 CF )10 (7)
where the Wp-slope k2 depends on the type of clay miner-
als (chemical state enclosed) contained into the soil (as oc-
cur, in a very amplied way, for k1 to WL).
To understand the reasons for the non-zero intercept
value in Eq. (7) further investigations are necessary.
Atterberg limits (for the mixtures with CF ranging 10
z) were subsequently recalculated using the equations
(from Figs. 1 and 3) of the regression lines of the mixtures
governed by linear law with the clay size contents in order
to obtain a better correlation. These data, Wp against WL
are plotted in Fig. 4. The dashed lines of regression dene
the variation of the plastic limit as a function of the liquid
limit in mixtures with the same percentage of clay. These
lines are parallel (slope0.04) and if they are extended,
Fig. 3. Plastic limit, Wp as function of clay fraction CF (2 mm),
taken from Fig. 1. 16soil types, see Fig. 1
 ATTERBERG LIMITS AND CLAY CONTENT
Fig. 4. Relationship among plastic limit, Wp, liquid limit, WL and clay
fraction, CF based on recalculated data. The regression lines dene
variation of Wp as function of W L in mixtures with same clay frac-
tion. 16soil types, see Fig. 1
Fig. 5. Measured plasticity index, Ip (``anomalous'' values excluded)
as function of clay fraction CF (2 mm). 16soil types, see Fig. 1
they pass through the axis of the ordinate at the value
(q0.26CF10), which is a function of the clay percen-
tage. The relationship among WL, Wp and CF obtained
allows the calculation of the plastic limit of an inorganic
soil with platey clay minerals when the liquid limit value
and the percentage of clay of the tested sample (linearly
proportional to one another) are known, precisely:
Wp0.04 WL(0.26 CF10) (8)
It can be concluded that the plastic limit has little in-
uence on the plasticity of soils with high contents of very
expansive clay minerals, whereas it is important in soils
with clay minerals that are not very expansive and its im-
portance increases as the clay size contents in the soils
decreases.
Plasticity Index
For common inorganic soils the plasticity index, de-
ned by the numerical dierence between WL and Wp
values (Fig. 5), can be obtained directly (without per-
forming the test for Wp) if the values of the liquid limit
and the clay fraction are known and are linearly propor-
tional to one another, precisely:
891
Fig. 6. Activity against clay fraction, CF (2 mm) of soils and mix-
tures tested. 16soil types, see Fig. 1
Fig. 7. Activity calculated with Eq. (11) as function of clay fraction,
CF (2 mm). 16soil types, see Fig. 1
Ip0.96 WL(0.26 CF10) (9)
Hence, for a given inorganic soil (with platey clay miner-
als) known WL and CF values, the WL and Ip values for
any other CF can be estimated using Eqs. (1) and (9), re-
spectively. On the other hand, if the values of the Atter-
berg limits are known, it is possible to calculate the clay
fraction:
CF[(0.96 WLIp )10] W
0.26 or
CF[(Wp0.04 WL)10] W
0.26 (10)
This CF value should be (about) equal to the clay percen-
tage of grain size distribution of the soil (or soil fraction)
used to the Atterberg limits test.
Activity
Of particular interest in any evaluation of Atterberg
limits is the relationship between plasticity index and clay
fraction because this has been used as the basis (Skem-
pton, 1953) for dening the activity, A of clayey soils,
892 POLIDORI

represented by a straight line passing through the origin

( A Ip W
CF ). The regression lines that represent the activ-
ity of soils tested (Fig. 5) have non-zero intercept values
(Ip10, intercept average value). Hence, the activity of
a clayey soil can be redened as follows:
A[0.96 WL(0.26 CF10)] W
CF (11)
Figures 6 and 7 show how the activity (measured and
calculated) varies as a function of the clay fraction for the
investigated soils. It can be observed that for a given soil,
the activity against CF is not constant as suggested by the
relationship proposed by Skempton (1953) (and in Fig. 6,
the activity values should not decrease with an increase of
clay size content in the mixtures). The activity (Fig. 7)
should reach its maximum value when CF100z; it Fig. 8. Liquid limit, WL and plastic limit, W p against clay fraction CF
drops slightly and almost linearly with high clay contents, (2 mm) of bentonite-sand mixtures. Data from Lupini et al.
whereas there is a marked decrease in activity in the mix- (1981). W p calculated with Eq. (8) also shown
tures with low clay percentages. In this case, the dashed
lines are theoretical, because the Atterberg limits (for
CF20z and 30z for kaolinite) are not linearly propor-
tional to their respective clay size contents.
In routine assessments of soil properties, it is usually
assumed that the fraction 2 mm (equivalent diameter)
termed clay fraction, is composed entirely of clay miner-
als. In practice, a part of the fraction 2 mm can be com-
posed of round particles (with dierent behaviour from
clay minerals). Because the eect of the round particles
2 mm is incorporated in the WL value, any possible
dierence between the real and conventional contents of
the clay minerals would produce an error for the calculat-
ed values (Wp, Ip and A). On the other hand, this also oc-
curs when the activity is calculated with Skempton's
relationship.
Fig. 9. Liquid limit, WL and plastic limit, W p against clay fraction CF
(2 mm) of illite, bentonite and their mixtures. Data from Seed et
COMPARISON BETWEEN DATA MEASURED AND al. (1964a). Wp calculated with Eq. (8) also shown
DATA CALCULATED WITH THE PROPOSED
INTERRELATIONSHIP
In Fig. 8 the plotted data of the bentonite-sand mix- its percentage. The pointed out interaction is attributable
tures (from Table 5) conrm the linear variation of WL to the salt contained into the illite that, when mixed with
with CF and the non-zero intercept value for Wp regres- the bentonite, prevented full expansion of the bentonite
sion line (excluding the mixture with the lowest bentonite in the presence of water.
content). On the contrary, a mixture of two or more soils In conclusion, the eect of the physical-chemical inter-
with water (even if it is deionized) constitutes a system, action is contained in the Atterberg limits values of the
the properties of which depend on the composite eects mixtures. The relative parameters (WL, Wp, Ip, A and
of their physical-chemical interaction. A mixture of two CF ) are linked in accordance to the proposed quantita-
or more soils may therefore yield a soil with plasticity tive relationship. In addition, diluting each mixture with
characteristics that are not linearly proportional to the non-clay particles (2425 mm) shows the linear relation-
clay contents of the soils that make it up. For example, ship between Atterberg limits and its clay fraction.
Fig. 9 shows the data (WL, Wp against CF ) of the clay When a soil's clay content is very low, such as the case
minerals illite (with CF35z), bentonite (with CF95 of the inorganic soils (Lupini et al., 1981; Sridharan and
z) and their mixtures (Seed et al., 1964a). Here it can be Nagaraj, 2000) shown in Table 3, the Atterberg limits are
observed (from the degree of curvature of the lines on not linearly proportional to the respective clay fractions
which the data lie) that there is a high level of physical- (the behaviour of these soils will not be dominated by the
chemical interaction among the minerals for the liquid clay phase) and clearly the proposed equations cannot be
limit and almost negligible interaction for the plastic applied.
limit, considering its link with the liquid limit (0.04 WL). In a previous paper the writer proposed a new plasticity
The straight dashed line shows the expected liquid limit chart (Polidori, 2003) to classify the soils (or their frac-
values if each clay mineral contributed in proportion to tion) 425 mm using the well note Atterberg limits. On
 ATTERBERG LIMITS AND CLAY CONTENT
Table 3. Index properties from literature
CF WL Wp A
13 38 21 1.31 B
9.5 48 35.6 1.30 K
11.5 58.7 45.2 1.17 K
5 39 29.5 1.90 1
17.5 56.4 38.1 1.04 1
Bbentonite; Kkaolinite; Iillite; CF, W L and Wp are in z
Fig. 10. Plasticity chart (after Polidori, 2003). C-line and 0.5C-line
correspond to 100% CF and 50% CF (2 mm), respectively. CL,
CHclay zone (CF50%) with low and high plasticity respec-
tively. ML, MHsilt zone (2425 mm50%) with low and high
plasticity respectively. OL, OHorganic soils with low and high
plasticity respectively. Low plasticity (L) and high plasticity (H)
based on ASTM standard (D 2487). NPCsoils with non-platey
clay minerals
the chart shown in Fig. 10, all the Ip-WL values of the in-
organic soils containing platey clay minerals and
CF100z should lie above the C-line and the distance of
the points from the C-line should be inversely propor-
tional to clay percentage of the respective soils. The 0.5C-
line allows us to distinguish the points that fall below the
line, clays (C), from the points lying above the line in the
silt zone (M). In turn, the silt and clay zones can be sub-
divided in groups with low (L) or high (H) plasticity, ac-
cording to the ASTM standard (D 2487) when the liquid
limit value is less than or greater than 50z, respectively.
In the original paper it has been demonstrated that the silt
zone is found above the clay zone.
The residual inorganic soils (NPC) composed of non-
platey clay minerals (allophane, halloysite, attapulgite)
should lie below the C-line because their characteristics
(high plastic limit, low plasticity index) are very dierent
from those of platey clay minerals for which the plasticity
chart was developed. The soils (NPC) that contain both
platey and non-platey clay minerals as well as the organic
soils (O) can lie above or below the C-line according to
characteristics of the soil constituents. Clearly, for these
soils the proposed quantitative relationship is not valid.
The original plasticity chart was calibrated using also
some of the experimental data shown in this paper and
available in Polidori (2003). Hence, the proposed inter-
893
Fig. 11. Location on plasticity chart ( see Fig. 10) of 125 soil samples
from literature (Seed et al., 1964a; Lupini et al., 1981; Skempton,
1985; Wasti and Bezirci, 1986; Burland, 1990; Di Maio and Fenelli,
1994): a) Ip measured against WL. Casagrande's A-line also shown
and b) Ip calculated with Eq. (9) against W L
relationship between the Atterberg limits and clay frac-
tion is in agreement with the Polidori's plasticity chart
and has lead to little improvements in that chart (Fig 10).
The main are: a) the (absolute) intercept value of the C-
line equation decreases by one unit and b) the 0.5C-line
and the C-line are extended to the WL axis, to fully deline-
ate the clay zone where the inorganic soils with platey clay
minerals should lie.
The plotting of the following data on the plasticity
chart (without distinction between low and high plastici-
ty) is a simple and better method for data comparison.
Figure 11(a-b) shows the data of the plasticity index
(measured and calculated) as a function of the liquid limit
of 125 natural and articial soils taken from literature
(except the soils with CF25z and the residual soils). In
Fig. 11(a) the A-line (Casagrande, 1948) has also been in-
cluded in order to show where the same soils would lie on
Casagrande's plasticity chart, since the respective posi-
tions of the silt and clay zones are reversed on the two
charts. All plotted soils (except 3 soils) lie above the
A-line in the clay zone (according to Casagrande) regard-
less of their clay size contents. In Fig. 11(a), all plotted
points should lie above the C-line and the distance of the
points from the C-line (that correspond to CF100z)
should be inversely proportional to clay fractions of the
respective soils (425 mm), such as shown in Fig. 11(b)
894 POLIDORI

(obviously if the organic substance and non-platey clay
minerals are absent in the soils).
In Fig. 12, the measured and calculated values of the
plasticity index for the soils plotted on Fig. 11 are com-
pared and the following considerations can be made.
In agreement with this study, from Figs. 12 and 13 it
can be inferred that the measured Ip (and Wp) against
CF have non-zero intercept values. The plotted data
(Fig. 13) do not lie according to the hypothetical U-line
and the hypothetical 0.5C-line shown. In addition, the
0.5C-line is the line that best separates the soils with
CF50z from soils with CF50z.
For 60z of the soils (75 of the 125 soils plotted) the
average value of the dierence between both the Ip
values (measured and calculated) is 1.3 units (ranging
3 units).
For 90z of the soils (112 of the 125 plotted) the
average value of this dierence is 2.5 units (ranging6
units).
In the remaining 13 samples this discrepancy is often
very marked (for 5 soils ranging from 10 to 17
units).
The above mentioned dierences (expressed in units)
between the measured and calculated values of Ip (or Wp),

Fig. 13. Particular from Fig. 11(a). Dashed lines 1 (Ip0.96 W L) and 2
(Ip0.96 WL18) show expected hypothetical U-line and 0.5C-line
Fig. 12. Comparison between measured and calculated plasticity in- respectively, if Ip (and W p) against CF was found (equally linearly
dex of samples plotted in Fig. 11 proportional) to pass through the origin

Table 4. Index properties of inorganic soils from literature. (c)calculated values (of W p, Ip and A with Eqs. (8), (9) and (11) respectively)

W p-Wp(c)
Soil CF WL Wp Wp(c) Ip Ip(c) A A(c)
or Ip(c)-Ip

1 100 348 43.9 49.9 6 304.1 298.1 3.04 2.98 B

2* 100 330.6 55.2 49.2 6 275.4 281.4 2.75 2.81 B
3* 88 526 38 53.9 15.9 488 472.1 5.54 5.36 B
4* 88 184 48 40.2 7.8 136 143.8 1.54 1.63 B
5* 56 234.4 18.5 33.9 15.4 215.9 200.5 3.75 3.58 B
6 51.5 73.5 35.6 26.3 9.3 37.9 47.2 0.74 0.92 B
7 50 75 42.5 26 16.5 32.5 49 0.65 0.98 B
8 39 124.2 23.2 25.1 1.9 101 99.1 2.59 2.54 B
9 37 84 42 23 19 42 61 1.13 1.65 B
10 37 84 49 23 26 35 61 0.95 1.65 B
11* 100 57.5 37.8 38.3 0.5 19.7 19.2 0.20 0.19 K
12 100 45 29 37.8 8.8 16 7.2 0.16 0.07 K
13* 48 45 34.8 24.3 10.5 10.2 20.7 0.21 0.43 K
14 36 46.8 29.4 21.2 8.2 17.4 25.6 0.48 0.71 K
15 35 48 21.3 21 0.3 26.7 27 0.76 0.77 K
16 100 80 30 39.2 9.2 50 40.8 0.50 0.41 I
17 88 73 44 35.8 8.2 29 37.2 0.33 0.42 I
18 88 288 44 44.4 0.4 244 243.6 2.77 2.77
19* 86 350 35 46.4 11.4 315 303.6 3.66 3.53
20* 84 362 29 46.3 17.3 333 315.7 3.96 3.76
21 84 184 55 39.2 15.8 129 144.8 1.54 1.72
22 43 128 27 26.3 0.7 101 101.7 2.35 2.36
23 42 214.5 20.9 29.5 8.6 193.6 185 4.61 4.40
24* 41 80 32 23.9 8.1 48 56.1 1.17 1.37
25 40 198 25.4 28.3 2.9 172.6 169.7 4.31 4.24
26* 37 88 38 23.1 14.9 50 64.9 1.35 1.75
*Data from Fig. 11(a). Bbentonite; Kkaolinite; Iillite; CF, WL and W p are in z
 ATTERBERG LIMITS AND CLAY CONTENT 895

Table 5. Index properties from Lupini et al. (1981). (c)calculated values (of Wp, Ip and A with Eqs. (8), (9) and (11) respectively)

Bentonite Sand CF WL Wp W p(c) Ip Ip(c) A A(c)

15 85 13 38 21 17 1.31
30 70 26 56 20 19 36 37 1.38 1.42
45 55 40 80 23 23 57 57 1.42 1.42
60 40 53 114 28 28 86 86 1.62 1.62
75 25 66 140 36 33 104 107 1.58 1.62
100 88 184 48 40 136 144 1.54 1.63

CFz2 mm. Bentonite, sand, W L, W p and Ip are in z

even if they are marked, have little inuence on the plas-
ticity value of the expansive soils with high clay fraction.
However, they can be important for classifying the soils
because they can lie in a zone that does not correspond to
their clay content or out of the zone (above the U-line or
below the C-line, see Fig. 11(a)).
In order to understand the causes of the above-men-
tioned discrepancy, the values of the index properties
(Table 4) of inorganic soils with CF34z (Seed et al.,
1964a; Sides and Barden, 1971; Lupini et al., 1981;
Sivapullaiah and Sridharan, 1985; Mesri and Cepeda
Diaz, 1986; Wasti and Bezirci, 1986; Rao et al., 1989; Di
Maio and Fenelli, 1994; Sridharan et al., 1986; Sridharan
and Prakash, 1998; Sridharan and Nagaraj, 2000) were
expressly chosen so that they can be compared with each
other. The samples are ordered according to the clay
mineral that they contain (when specied) and their CF
(from highest to lowest). The measured plastic limit
values of these soils, in relation to the values of WL and
CF, are dicult to understand (or better yet, incompre-
hensible) because they do not follow the same rule. This is
also shown by a comparison with the respective values of
the plastic limit calculated on the basis of the proposed
interrelationship.
If both the clay contents are equal (of the entire soil
and the soil used for the Atterberg limits test) and organic
substances and non-platey clay minerals are absent, any
possible dierence among the values (Wp, Ip and A) ob-
tained from the tests and the calculated values may be
mainly attributable to the poor precision of the standard
method for determining the plastic limit. The thread-roll-
ing method is simple, but it has long been criticised since
it is considered highly operator-dependent. For example,
Whyte (1982) reported that the plastic limit of a soil de-
termined in dierent laboratories ranged from 19z to 39
z with an average plastic limit of 23z. Another example
concerns the results of a reproducibility test (Focardi,
1999) on a sample of Pliocenic Clays (Central Italy) tested
in 35 geotechnical laboratories. It is composed of clay
minerals, in order of decreasing quantities: illite, chlorite
and kaolinite and non-clay minerals: quartz, calcite and
plagioclase. This soil is characterized by the following
average values: CF48.2z and WL50z. The plastic
limit values ranged from 20z to 31z (average value Wp
24.7z, calculated value with Eq. (8) Wp24.5z). Fi-
nally, in order to obtain the interrelationship among the
parameters proposed in this paper, (as reported above) it
was useful to repeat the plastic limit tests (and the average
of the values was considered in order to improve the
alignment of the points plotted on the graph) and it was
essential that the average values of Wp and WL against CF
were used.
It should be noted that the linear variation of the Atter-
berg limits as a function of CF is already routinely ap-
plied for determining activity of a soil (Skempton, 1953).
In fact, the activity is based on the linear variation of Ip
(and thus of WL and Wp) as a function of CF. Hence, the
measured activity values of the bentonite-sand mixtures
reported in Table 5 should not decresase with an increase
of bentonite content in the mixtures. For example, for the
mixture with CF88z, the Wp value is high compared
with the other mixtures (see Fig. 8) and the other soils
(soil no. 4 in Table 4) and consequently the Ip value is low
and lies below the C-line (see Fig. 11(a)).
CONCLUSIONS
This study permits to advance the following conclu-
sions which should be valid for all inorganic soils with
platey clay minerals and for clay percentages that are not
too low, that is when the volume of the water-clay system
becomes greater than the voids of the non-clay fraction in
the soils.
The liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, activity
and clay fraction of the soil (425 mm) used to assess
the Atterberg limits are interdependent parameters.
The Atterberg limits (WL, Wp and Ip ) are linearly
proportional to CF and only WL-CF regression line
have zero intercept value.
The values of two of the three parameters (WL, Wp,
CF) that are measurable using standard tests, suces
to obtain the values of other three parameters of the
tested soil (425 mm). At this purpose two ways can be
followed:
a) knowing the Atterberg limits values of a soil, the
CF and A values of the tested soil can be calculated
(or graphically estimated plotting Atterberg limits
values on the plasticity chart) or,
b) knowing only WL and CF (linearly proportional)
of the soil tested, the Wp, Ip and A values (and for
any other CF) can be calculated.
The latter method seems to be more appropriate. Sec-
ondly, it is useful to know the grain-size distribution and
the possible percentage of soil retained by the No. 40 (425
896 POLIDORI
mm) sieve that is excluded from Atterberg limits charac-
terization. Nevertheless, the second method presents a
disadvantage because the standard test to obtain the
grain-size distribution of a soil (hydrometer method) is
more laborious than the standard test for determining the
plastic limit.
When linearly proportional to clay size contents, the
Atterberg limits are important in characterizing and
classifying ne soils and to obtain correlations with the
intrinsic mechanical properties of the soils, because
they show the soil's behaviour dominated by the clay
phase.
In a ne-grained soil (425 mm) containing non-clay
particles in contact with one another due to low CF in
the soil-water system, the Atterberg limits-if deter-
minable-against clay fraction are not governed by
linear law and the soil's behaviour should be dominat-
ed by the granular phase characteristics.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
The author wishes to thank Prof. R. Franchi who per-
formed the x-ray diraction analysis. The author also
wishes to thank the following organizations: Imerys
Minerals Ltd for providing kaolinite and Laviosa Chimi-
ca Mineraria-Livorno for providing bentonite ''a'' and
bentonite ''b''.
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