CE C361 Soil Mechanics & Foundation Engineering Lecture5 Outline of the lecture5 Soil Classifications: It is the laboratorybased process

s of grouping soils with similar engineering characteristics into categories. USCS Classification: The Unified Soil Classification system, USCS, (ASTM D 2487), which is the most commonly used system in geotechnical work, is based on grain size, gradation, and plasticity. AASHTO Classification: The AASHTO system (M 145), which is commonly used for highway projects, groups soils into categories having similar load carrying capacity and service characteristics for pavement subgrade design General Requirements of a Soil Classification System Based on a scientific method Simple Permits classifications by visual and manual tests Should be acceptable to all engineers Describes certain engineering properties Why do we classify the soil? To describe various soil types encountered in the nature in a systematic way Classifying soils into groups with similar behavior, in terms of simple indices, can provide geotechnical engineers a general guidance about engineering properties of the soils through the accumulated experience Communicate Classification h between engineers Simple indices GSD, LL, PI system (Language) Estimate engineering properties Achieve engineering purposes Use the accumulated experience Classification Systems Two commonly used systems: Unified Soil Classification System (USCS). American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) System Besides we are interested to study the Indian Standard Soil Classification System (ISSCS) Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) Origin of USCS: This system was first developed by Professor A. Casagrande (1948) for the purpose of airfield construction during World WarII. Afterwards, it was

modified by Professor Casagrande, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enable the system to be applicable to dams, foundations, and other construction (Holtz and Kovacs, 1981). Four major divisions: 1. Coarsegrained 2. Finegrained 3. Organic soils 4. Peat Definition of Grain Size No specific grain size use Gravel Sand Silt and sizeAtterberg limits Boulders Cobbles Clay Coarse Fine Coarse Medium Fine 300 mm 75 mm 19 No.4 4.75 mm N 10 N 40 No.200 0.075 mm No.mm 2.0 mm No.0.425 mm 7 General Guidance 50 % Coarsegrained soils: Gravel Sand Finegrained soils: Silt Clay NO.200 0.075 mm NO. 4 4.75 mm 50% Grain size distribution Cu PL, LL Plasticity chart LL>50 LL <50 Cc Required tests: Sieve analysis Atterberg limit Symbols Soil symbols: Liquid limit symbols: G: Gravel S: Sand q y H: High LL (LL>50) L: Low LL (LL<50) M: Silt C: Clay Gradation symbols: W: Wellgraded O: Organic Pt: Peat

P: Poorlygraded E l SW W ll d d d Well graded soil Example: SW, Wellgraded sand SC, Clayey sand SM Silty sand 1 C 3 and C 6 (for gravels) 1 C 3 and C 4 c u < < < < 9 SM, sand, MH, Elastic silt (for sands) c u Plasticity Chart L H The A line generally PI separates the more claylike materials from silty materials, and the organics from the inorganics. The U line indicates the upper bound for general soils. Note: If the measured LL limits of soils are on the left of U line, they should be rechecked 10 rechecked. Procedures for Classification (USCS) Coarsegrained material Grain size distribution Finegrained material LL, PI (Santamarina et al., 2001) 11 Highly American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials system (AASHTO) Origin of AASHTO: (For road construction) The AASHTO system (M 145), which is commonly used for highway projects, groups soils into categories having similar load carrying capacity and service characteristics for pavement subgrade design This system was originally developed by Hogentogler and Terzaghi in 1929 as the Public Roads Classification System. Afterwards, there are several revisions. The present AASHTO (1978) system is primarily based on the version in 1945. Definition of Grain Size No specific grain sizeuse B ld G l S d Sil Cl

size Atterberg limits Boulders Gravel Sand SiltClay Coarse Fine 75 mm No.4 4.75 mm N 40 No.200 0.075 No.mm 0.425 mm General Guidance 8 major groups: A1~ A7 (with several subgroups) and organic soils A8 The required tests are sieve analysis and Atterberg limits. The group index, an empirical formula, is used to further evaluate soils within a group (subgroups). A1 ~ A3 A4 ~ A7 Granular Materials 35% pass No. 200 sieve Siltclay Materials 36% pass No. 200 sieve The original purpose of this classification system is used for road Using LL and PI separates silty materials from clayey materials Using LL and PI separates silty materials from clayey materials (only for A2 group) 14 g p p y construction (subgrade rating). Group Index The first term is determined by the LL [ ] 0.01(F 15)(PI 10) GI (F 35) 0.2 0.005(LL 40) 200 200 + = + For Group A26 and A27 The second term is determined by the PI GI 0.01(F 15)(PI 10) 200 = use the second term only F200: percentage passing through the sieve No.200 In general, the rating for a pavement subgrade is inversely proportional to the group index, GI. 15 Classification Das, 1998 To be continued. Classification Note: Th fi t f th l ft t fit th t td t i th Das, 1998 The first group from the left t o the test data is the correct AASHTO classification. Indian Standard Soil Classification System (ISSCS) Origin of ISSCS: The ISSCS for classification of soils for general engineering purpose, was first published in 1959 and revised in 1970. Definition of Grain Size The range of particle sizes present in soils is very wide: from boulders with dimension of over 300 mm down to clay particles

that are less than 0.002 mm. Some clays contain particles less than 0.001 mm in size which behave as colloids, i.e. do not settle in water The soil particles are grouped into boulder, cobble, gravel, sand, silt or clay based upon the grainsize Very Coarse Soil Coarse Soil Fine Soil Boulder Cobble Gravel size ( G) Sand size ( S) Silt size Clay size size size ) ) (M) y (C) Coarse Fine Coarse Medium Fine > 300 80 300 20 80 4 75 20 2 4 75 0 425 2 0 075 0 425 0 002 0 075 < 0 002 mm mm 20mm 4.75mm 4.75 mm 0.425 mm 0.075 0.425 mm 0.002 0.075 mm 0.002 mm Classification Coarse grained soil Coarsegrained soils are those for which more than 50% of the soil material by weight has particle sizes greater than 0.075 mm. They are basically divided into either gravels (G) or sands (S). According to gradation, they are further grouped as wellgraded (W) or poorly graded (P). If fine soils are present, they are grouped as containing silt fines (M) or as containing clay fines (C). For example, the combined symbol SW refers to wellgraded sand with no fines. Both the position and the shape of the grading curve for a soil can aid in establishing its identity and description. Some typical grading curves are shown. Classification Fine grained soil Finegrained soils are those for which more than 50% of the material has particle sizes less than 0.075 mm. Clay particles have a flaky shape to which water adheres, thus imparting the property of plasticity. A plasticity chart , based on the values of liquid limit (LL) and plasticity index (IP), is provided in ISSCS to aid classification. The 'A' line in this chart is expressed as IP = 0.73 (LL 20). Classification Depending on the point in the chart, fine soils are divided into

clays (C), silts (M), or organic soils (O). The organic content is expressed as a percentage of the mass of organic matter in a given mass of soil to the mass of the dry soil solids. Three divisions of plasticity are also defined as follows: Low Plasticity Intermediate Plasticity High Plasticity LL< 35% 35% < LL > 50% LL > 50% Group Symbols Classifications Coarse Grained soil GW Wellgraded GRAVEL GP Poorlygraded GRAVEL GM Silty GRAVEL SW Wellgraded SAND SP Poorlygraded SAND SM Silty SAND SC Clayey SAND Fine grained Soil ML SILT of low plasticity MI SILT of intermediate plasticity INDIAN STANDARD SOIL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM USING p y SYMBOLS MH SILT of high plasticity CL CLAY of low plasticity CI CLAY of intermediate plasticity p y CH CLAY of high plasticity OL Organic soil of low plasticity OI Organic soil of intermediate plasticity OH Organic soil of high plasticity Pt Peat Any Questions??