CE Review (Week 7)

Consistency Limits
Liquid limit (LL) – is defined as the arbitrary limit of water content at which the soil is just
about to pass from the plastic state into the liquid state. It is the minimum moisture
content at which the soil tends to flow as a liquid.
Plastic limit (PL) – is defined as the arbitrary limit of water content at which the soil tends
to pass from the plastic state to the semi-solid state of consistency. It is the minimum
moisture content at which the change in shape of the soil is accompanied by visible
cracks.
Shrinkage limit (SL) – is defined as the arbitrary limit of water content at which the soil
tends to pass from the semi-solid state to the solid state. It is that water content at which
soil remains constant in volume regardless of further drying.
𝑚1 − 𝑚2 𝑉1 − 𝑉2
𝑆𝐿 = − 𝜌𝑤
𝑚2 𝑚2
Shrinkage Limit Test
Shrinkage ratio (SR) – it is the ratio of the volume change of soil as a percentage of
the dry volume to the corresponding change in moisture content.
𝑚2
𝑆𝑅 =
𝑉2 𝜌𝑤

1
𝐺𝑠 =
1 𝑆𝐿
−
𝑆𝑅 100
Soil Indices
Plasticity index (PI) – is the range of water content within which the soil exhibits
plastic properties.
Shrinkage index (SI) – is defined as the range of water content within which a soil is
in a semisolid state of consistency.
Consistency index (CI) – defined as the ratio of the difference between liquid limit
and the natural water content to the plasticity index.
Liquidity index (LI) – is the ratio of the difference between the natural water content
and the plastic limit to the plasticity index.
Flow index (FI) – is defined as the slope of the flow line.
Soil Indices
𝑃𝐼 = 𝐿𝐿 − 𝑃𝐿

𝑆𝐼 = 𝑃𝐿 − 𝑆𝐿

𝐿𝐿 − 𝑤
𝐶𝐼 =
𝑃𝐿

𝑤 − 𝑃𝐿
𝐿𝐼 =
𝑃𝐼

𝑤1 − 𝑤2 𝑤1 − 𝑤2
𝐹𝐼 = =
𝑁2 log 𝑁2 − log 𝑁1
log
𝑁1
Soil Compaction
𝛾𝑑(𝑓𝑖𝑒𝑙𝑑) 𝑅𝑜
𝑅 % = × 100% =
𝛾𝑑(𝑚𝑎𝑥−𝑙𝑎𝑏) 1 − 𝐷𝑟 (1 − 𝑅𝑜 )

𝛾𝑑(𝑚𝑖𝑛)
𝑅𝑜 =
𝛾𝑑(𝑚𝑎𝑥)

3 1 1
𝑆𝑁 = 1.7 + +
(𝐷50 )2 (𝐷20 )2 (𝐷10 )2