Soil Mechanics

UE-305

Critical Thinking Problem for Instructional Plan No. III

Submitted to: Sir Sadaqatullah Khan

Group No: 12
ROLL NOs:

UE-01
UE-11
UE-20
UE-37
UE-77

Task: Groups of students from UE-305 class collected soil-aggregate samples from the chosen
location for laboratory testing and following experiment are performed and reported.

a) Perform sieve analysis and report particle size distribution curve

Brief Introduction
In practice sieves of different opening sizes are stacked, with the largest opening size at the top
and a pan at the bottom. Soil is poured in at the top, and soil particles pass downward through
the sieves until they are retained on a particular sieve. The stack of sieves is mechanically
agitated during this procedure. At the end of procedure, the soil particles retained on each
sieve can be weighed and the results presented graphically in the form of a grain size
distribution curve. This is normally a semi log plot with grain size (diameter) along the abscissa
on a logarithmic scale and percentage passing that grain size along the ordinate on arithmetic
scale

Result of the above mentioned test were obtained and found to be

Sieve
No.
4
10
20
40
80
100
200

Sieve
Openings
(mm)
4.75
2
0.85
0.425
0.25
0.106
0.075

Weight
Retained
120
194
308
260
104
8
6

% of Weight
Cumulative % Percentage
Retained
Retained
Passing
12.0
12.0
88.0
19.4
31.4
68.6
30.8
62.2
37.8
26.0
88.2
11.8
10.4
98.6
1.4
0.8
99.4
0.6
0.6
100.0
0.0

Corresponding particle size distribution curve or gradation curve

Particle Size Distribution Curve

100.0
90.0
80.0

% Passing

70.0
60.0
50.0
40.0
30.0
20.0
10.0
0.0

100

10

0.1

0.01

0.001

Sieve Openings (mm)

b) Identify the coarser and finer soil percentages

Brief Introduction
The percentages of gravels and silt, and clay-size particles present in a soil can be obtained from
the particle-sized distribution curve (note that to determine the gravels and, silt, and clay-size
particles the Unified Soil Classification System has been used-Table 2.3)

Size (mm)
76.2
4.75
0.075
0

% Finer
100 88
0
0

Type Of Soil
12 Gravel
88 Sand
0 Silt And Clay

Part (C): Find the liquid limit and plastic limit and relevant index properties
Atterberg limits:
A Swedish soil scientist, Atterberg, engaged in ceramics and agriculture work proposed (1911)
several states of soil consistency. These limits of soil consistency are based on water content
and are:
Liquid Limit:
The water content above, which the soil behaves as a viscous liquid (a soil water mixture with
no measurable shear strength) is called liquid limit. In soils engineering the liquid limit rather
arbitrary is defined as the water content at which 25 blows of the liquid limit machine closes a
standard groove cut in the soil pat for a distance of 12.7 cm.
Plastic limit.
The water content below, which the soil no longer behaves as a plastic material is called plastic
limit. It is the moisture content in percent at which the soil changes from a plastic to a semisolid
state.

Shrinkage limit.
The minimum water content below, which the loss of moisture will occur without further
decrease in volume of soil sample, is called the shrinkage limit. It is the moisture content at which
the soil changes from a semisolid to a solid state. At this stage further loss of moisture occurs
without decrease of volume of the soil.
Typical values for the Atterberg limits for soils are shown in Table 4.5

Soil Sample:
Soil Sample used for the Liquid limit and Plastic limit test is purely a clay soil and is obtained
from local place (Sindhi hotel, Nagan, Karachi)
Brief Introduction about Practical:
Two tests were carried out to determine the consistency of soil.
Test No.1 Liquid Limit: Liquid limit test was carried out by using Casagrande Cup Method ASTM
D4318
a) Determination of Liquid Limit of Soil Sample (Source of Sample = Sindhi Hotel)
Can No.

Mass of the
Can, M1 (g)

1B

4.7

Mass of the
Can + wet Soil,
M2 (g)
27.32

Mass of the
Can + Soil
(M3)
22.1

Moisture
Content, (%)

Number Of
Blows N

30

31

51B

4.61

27.88

22.43

30.58

21

44B

4.7

20

16.26

32.35

17

Formula Used For Calculating Moisture Content

= Wwater/Wsoil
= (M2-M3)/(M3-M1)
Graph:

Result: Liquid limit of the given cohesive soil sample is found to be 31%

Test No.2 Plastic limit : The plastic limit is determined by rolling a small clay sample into threads

and finding the water content at which threads approximately 3 mm in diameter will just start
to crumble.
b) Determination of Plastic Limit of Soil Sample (Source of Sample = Sindhi Hotel)
Can No.
50A

Mass of the
Can, M1 (g)
9.12

Mass of the
Can + wet Soil,
M2 (g)
13.25

Mass of the
Can + Soil
(M3)
12.66

PL= (M2-M3)/(M3-M1)
(%)
16.67

Result: Plastic limit of the given cohesive soil sample is found to be 16.67

Relevant index properties

Plasticity Index = Liquid Limit Plastic Limit
= 31-16.67
= 14.33%

Result
The Soil sample consist of predominantly Silt Material