SUMMARY

This lab is performed to determine the plastic and liquid limits of a fine grained
soil. The liquid limit (LL) is arbitrarily defined as the water content, in percent,
at which a part of soil in a standard cup and cut by a groove of standard
dimensions will flow together at the base of the groove for a distance of 10
mm when subjected to 25 drops from the cup being dropped 10 mm in a
standard liquid limit apparatus operated at a rate of two revolutions per
second. The plastic limit (PL) is the water content, in percent, at which a soil
can no longer be deformed by rolling into 3mm diameter threads without
crumbling.























INTRODUCTION

The objective of the Atterberg limits test is to obtain basic index information
about the soil used to estimate strength and settlement characteristics. It is
the primary form of classification for cohesive soils. Fine-grained soil is tested
to determine the liquid and plastic limits, which are moisture contents that
define boundaries between material consistency states. These standardized
tests produce comparable numbers used for soil identification, classification
and correlations to strength.
The liquid (LL) and plastic (PL) limits define the water content boundaries
between non-plastic, plastic and viscous fluid states. The plasticity index (PI)
defines the complete range of plastic state.








OBJECTIVE
To determine the plastic and liquid limits (Atterberg limits) of a fine grained
soil.



DESCRIPTION OF EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
Liquid Limit Test


Plastic Limit Test


PROCEDURE
LIQUID LIMIT TEST
APPARATUS
Liquid limit device
Grooving tools
Mortar and pestle
Two Spatula
Containers
Distilled water
Flat board
Oven
Balance

PROCEDURE
1. Determine the mass of each of the five moisture containers
2. Sieve through 0.425 mm B.S. sieve
3. Weigh about 250gm of the sieved sample passing through 0.425mm sieve and pour
it onto flat board
4. Mix it with the distilled water to form a uniform paste with consistency that would
require 40-50 drops of the cups to cause closer of groove to the length of 10mm
5. A portion of the paste to be placed in the cup of the Liquid limit device
6. Spread it with a few strokes of the spatula
7. Trim it to a depth of 1cm at the point of maximum thickness and return the excess of
the soil to the flat board
8. Divide the soil in the cup by a firm stroke of the grooving tool along the diameter
through the centre line of the cup.
9. Lift and drop the cup by turning the crank at a rate of two revolutions per second
until the two halves of the soil cake come into contact with each other for the length
of about 10mm
10. The number of blows required to cause a groove close for about 10mm shall be
recorded
11. Take a sample of the soil and determine it water content
12. Repeat the process from step 2 with different moisture contents for at least 4 more
times for blows between 10 and 50
13. Determine the corresponding water content at (1005) for at least 16hrs
















PLASTIC LIMIT TEST
APPARATUS
Balance
Container for moisture content
Two spatula
Flat board
Oven
Wash bottle with distilled water
Mortar and Pestle

PROCEDURE
1. Determine the mass of each of the five moisture containers
2. Sieve through 0.425 mm B.S. sieve
3. Take about 30gms of sieved sample and thoroughly mix with the distilled water to
form a paste with consistency (mix it thoroughly with distilled water on board till the
soil mass becomes plastic enough to be moulded by the fingers)
4. Allow it to season for sufficient time to allow water permeate throughout the soil
mass.
5. Take about 10gms of this plastic soil mass and roll it between fingers and flat board
with sufficient pressure to roll the mass into a thread of 3mm diameter though out
its length
6. Kneed the soil together to form a uniform mass and re-roll
7. Continue the process until the thread crumbles when the diameter is 3mm
8. Collect the crumbled thread in a container for moisture content determination at
(1005) for at least 16hrs
9. Repeat test for remaining half
10. Take average of the results calculated to the nearest whole number.




RUSULTS
Plastic limit (PL) = Average water content=

= 27.7%
Liquid Limit (LL) = 25.7% (from graph)
Plasticity Index (PI) =LL-PL = 25.727.7= -2%





CONCLUSION
From Burmister (1949) classification of the plasticity index in a qualitative
manner, the soil can be said to be Non-Plastic.
After this experiment, and after few calculations, we obtain the result as
shown above.
With these value, we obtained the group which this soil is classified






REFERENCES
Fundamental geotechnical engineering (Braja M. Das- Brooks/ Cole
Publishing).
Basic soil mechanics (Roy Whitlow)
Principle of geotechnical engineering 5
th
edition (Braja M. Das - Brooks/
Cole Publishing).
Soil Mechanics and Application to mechanization lecture Notes:
Professor Agodzo