SoilMechanicsI

CE 222
CE222
SoilClassificationSystems

UnifiedSoilClassificationSystem(USCS)
ASTMD2487isbasedonUSCS.
USCSwasdevelopedbyCasagrande in1942forUSArmy.
USCSisthemostcommonsoilclassificationsystem
amonggeotechnicalengineers.
USCSconsidersgrainsizedistributionandplasticityof
USCS
id
i i di t ib ti
d l ti it f
fines (passingNo.40sieve).
Inthissystem,soilfallswithinoneofthreemajor
y
,
j
categories:
coarsegrainedsoils
finegrainedsoils
f
d l
highlyorganicsoils

CoarsegrainedsoilifP200<50%.
Coarse grained soil if P200 < 50%
FinegrainedsoilifP20050%.

Namingconvention

AtypicalUSCSclassificationwouldbe:

Group Symbol

Siltysandwithgravel
y
g

SM

Group Name

FinegrainedSoil
FirstLetter
M Silt
C Clay
O Organic
O

SecondLetter
L Lowplastic
H Highplastic

Example
p
ML,MH
CL,CH
OL OH
OL,OH

CoarsegrainedSoil
FirstLetter
First
Letter
S Sand
G Gravel

SecondLetter
Second
Letter
P Poorlygraded
W Wellgraded
M Silty
M
Silt
C Clayey

Example
SP,SW,SM,SC
GP,GW,GM,GC

Terminology
Clay:SoilpassingNo.200(0.075mm)sievethatexhibits
plasticity.IthasPI4andplotofPIandLLfallsonorabove
Aline.
Silt:SoilpassingaNo.200(0.075mm)sievethatisnonplastic
orveryslightlyplasticandthatexhibitslittleornostrength
li h l l i
d h
hibi li l
h
whenairdry.IthasPI<4ortheplotofPIversusLLfallsbelow
theAline.
Sand:ParticlesofrockthatwillpassNo.4(4.75mm)sieve
andretainedonNo.200(0.075mm)sieve.
Gravel:Particlesofrockthatwillpass3in.(76.2mm)sieve
andretainedonNo.4(4.75mm)sieve.

Terminology(contd.)
Organicclay:Aclaywithsufficientorganiccontentto
influencethesoilproperties.Fororganicclay,itsliquidlimit
valueafterovendryingislessthan75%ofitsliquidlimit
valuebeforeovendrying.
Organicsilt:Asiltwithsufficientorganiccontenttoinfluence
i il
il i h ffi i
i
i fl
thesoilproperties.Itsliquidlimitvalueafterovendryingis
lessthan75%ofitsliquidlimitvaluebeforeovendrying.
q
y g
Peat:Asoilcomposedofvegetabletissueinvariousstagesof
decompositionusuallywithanorganicodor,adarkbrownto
blackcolor,aspongyconsistency,andatexturerangingfrom
fibroustoamorphous.

Terminology(contd.)
W WellGraded:Goodrepresentationofallparticlesizes
fromlargesttosmallest.
P PoorlyGraded:Uniform,mostparticlesaboutthesame
size;orskip(orgap)gradation,absenceofoneormore
intermediate sizes
intermediatesizes.
Coefficientofuniformity (Cu)andCoefficientofcurvature
(Cc)aredefinedasbelow:
2
D60
D30
Cu =
, Cc =
(D60 D10 )
D10

whereD60,D30,D10 arediameterof60%,30%and10%
p
passingongradationcurve,respectively.
g g
p
y

Particlesizedefinition

Systembasedonlyonparticlessmallerthan3inches.
Bouldersare>12inch
Cobblesare3inchto12inch
GravelsarebetweenNo.4sieveand3inch
Gravels are between No 4 sieve and 3 inch
SandsarebetweenNo.200sieveandNo.4sieve
FinesaresmallerthanNo.200sieve

fines

3-in.

No. 4

No. 200
sand
.075 mm

gravel
4.75 mm

cobbles
75 mm

Organicdesignation
Aliquidlimittestisperformedon:
Onesamplethatisonlyair
One sample that is only airdried
dried.
Onanotherthatisovendriedpriortotesting.
The
Theliquidlimitvaluesarecomparedbycomputingtheratioofthe2
liq id limit al es are compared b comp ting the ratio of the 2
values.

If
Iftheratiooftheoven
the ratio of the ovendried
driedsoil
soilssLLtotheair
LL to the airdry
drysoil
soilssLL
LL
valuesis<0.75,thesoilisorganicbydefinition.
If the airdry
dryLLis50ormore,itisaHIGHliquidlimit.
LL is 50 or more, it is a HIGH liquid limit.
Iftheair
IftheairdryLLislessthan50,thesoilhasaLOWliquidlimit
value.

Additionalevaluationoforganicsoils
Ignitiontest.ASTMD2974
SSoilsampleheatedinmufflefurnacesetateither
il
l h t di
ffl f
t t ith
440oC or750oC andweightlossmeasured.
PeatClassificationD4427

D10,D30,andD60

10

Percent passing

DeterminingD10,D30,andD60

60

30
10
D10

D30

Grain Diameter

D60

Cu andCc
D60
Cu =
D10

2
D30
Cc =
(D60 D10 )

C ffi i
CoefficientofUniformity
f U if
i
HighValuesIndicateWell
G d d S il
GradedSoil

CoefficientofCurvature
ValuesBetween13
IndicateWellGradedSoil

Alsocalledcoefficientofgradation,Cz

11

Cleansandsandgravels

Perrcent passiing

CleanWellGradedSandsandGravelshavelessthan
5%finesandawiderangeofparticlesizesthatare
g
p
equallydistributed.

Wellgraded

Grain Diameter

12

Poorlygradedsandsandgravels

Peercent paassing

EitherMostly
OneSizeParticle

Orgapgraded

Poorlygraded
Gapgraded
pg

G i Diameter
Grain
i

Grain
i Diameter
i

13

Clean,well/poorlygradeddefinitions
Sands
lessthan5%fines
Cu>6
Ifthiscriteriaissatisfied
Cc=1to3
thenWELLGRADED
otherwisePOORLYGRADED

Gravels
llessthan5%fines
th 5 % fi
Cu>4
Ifthiscriteriaissatisfied
then WELL GRADED
thenWELLGRADED
Cc=1to3
Cc = 1 to 3
otherwisePOORLYGRADED

14

15

Flowchart coarseandfinegrained
MeasurepassingNo.
200sieve

50%ormore
passes
No.200sieve

Finegrained
Fine
grained
soils

Lessthan50%
passes
No.200sieve

Coarsegrained
Coarse
grained
soils

16

Flowchart organicsoils
Determine
whetherorganic
or not
ornot
Ratioofoven
drytoairdry
LLvalueis
<0.75

Ratioofoven
drytoairdry
LLvalueis
>0.75

Organicsoils

Inorganicsoils

AirdryLLis
<50

AirdryLLis
50

OL

OH

Classifyby
plottingLLand
PIonPlasticity
chart

17

Flowchart coarsegrained
Lessthan50%pass
No.200sieve

Lessthan5%pass From5%to12%
passNo.200sieve
No.200sieve

Cleancoarse
Clean
coarse
grained

Dualcoarse
Dual
coarse
grained

Morethan12%
passNo.200sieve

Dirtycoarse
Dirty
coarse
grained

18

Flowchartfinegrained

19

50%ormorepass
No.200sieve

LL50

LL<50

PI>7and
plotson
or above
orabove
Aline

4PI7
andplots
on or above
onorabove
Aline

PI<7and
plots
below
Aline

CL

CL ML
CLML

ML

PIplots
onor
above
above
Aline
CH

PIplots
below
Aline
A
line

MH

Are50%ofparticles>0.075mm?
Yes

S il i
Soiliscoarsegrained
i d

No

S il i fi
Soilisfinegrained
i d

Coarsegrainedsoil
classification

Isgravelfraction>sandfraction?
Yes

No

Soilisgravel, FirstletterisG

20

Soilissand,FirstletterisS

Isclay+siltfraction
y
>12%?

<5%?

Between5%and12%?

Yes

Plasticclayfines
Plastic
clay fines
SecondletterC

Isclayfraction>
siltfraction?

Yes

Isclayfraction>siltfraction?
Yes

Yes

No

Non plasticsiltyfines
Nonplastic
silty fines
SecondletterM

IffirstletterisG,Cu 4and1Cc 3,
then GW otherwiseGP
thenGW
otherwise GP
IffirstletterisS,Cu 6and1Cc 3,
thenSW otherwiseSP

Yes

No

IffirstletterisG
Cu 4and1Cc 3,
thenGWGC,
elseGPGC

IffirstletterisG
Cu 4and1Cc 3,
thenGWGM,
elseGPGM

IffirstletterisG
Cu 4and1Cc 3,
thenGWGC,
elseGPGC

IffirstletterisG
Cu 4and1Cc 3,
thenGWGM,
elseGPGM

21

Are50%ofparticles<0.075mm?
Yes

No

Soilisfinegrained
Is

Soiliscoarsegrained

LL(ovendried)
<0.75
0.75
LL(notdried)
(
d d)
Yes

Soilisorganic,
FirstletterisO

Fine grainedsoil
Finegrained
soil
classification

No

Isclayfraction>siltfraction?
Yes

SSoilisclay,first
il i l fi
letterisC

No

SSoilissilt,first
il i il fi
letterisM

Is LL > 50%
IsLL>50%
Yes

Plasticityishigh,
secondletterisH

No

Plasticityislow,
secondletterisL

Procedureforclassificationofsoils
Fromsieveanalysisandthegrainsizedistributioncurve
determinethepercentpassingasthefollowing:

>3inch:CobbleorBoulders
3toNo.4(76.2~4.75mm):Gravel
No.4toNo.200(4.75~0.075mm):Sand
<No.200(0.075mm):Fines

First,find%passingNo.200.If(5%)ormoreofsoilpassesNo.
200sieve,thenconductAtterberg Limitstest(LL&PL).
Ifthesoilisfine
If the soil is finegrained
grained(50%passesNo.200sieve),follow
( 50% passes No 200 sieve) follow
theguidelinesforfinegrainedsoils.
Ifthesoiliscoarsegrained(<50%passesNo.200sieve),
follow the guidelines for coarse grained soils
followtheguidelinesforcoarsegrainedsoils.
Obtainthefollowingdata:
Find%Gravel&Sand
CalculateCu&Cc
CalculateLL,PLandPI

22

Fine
Grained
Soils

FIG.1FlowchartforClassifyingFineGrainedSoil(50%orMorePassesNo.200Sieve)

23

Finegrainedorganicsoils
GroupSymbol

24

GroupName

FIG.2FlowchartforClassifyingOrganicFineGrainedSoil(50%orMorePassesNo.200Sieve)

CoarseGrainedSoils

FIG.3FlowchartforClassifyingCoarseGrainedSoils(50%orMoreRetainedonNo.200Sieve)

25

Plasticitychart

26

27

Highplasticity/compressibility

Mediumplasticity/
compressibility
ibili
Lowplasticity/
compressibility

28

Cohesionlesssoil

Organicclays

Silt

29

Example

30

Gravel
=9862
=36%

Sand
=628
=54%

Fines
=8%

SoilA:D60 =4.2mm,D30 =0.6mm,D10 =0.09mm

Cu =46.67
Cc =0.95

Example

31

LL=42
LL
= 42
PL=31
PI=4231=11

ML

Gravel=36%
Sand=54%
Fines=8%
Cu =46.7
Cc =0.95
LL=42
PL=31
PI=4231=11

32

ML

SoilAisclassifiedas[SWSM:wellgradedsandwithsiltandgravel]
FIG.3FlowchartforClassifyingCoarseGrainedSoils(50%orMoreRetainedonNo.200Sieve)

USCS Example,SoilA

SoilA
Gravel =100 80 =20%
Sand =80 52 =28%
Fines =52%>50%=>Finegrainedsoil

33

USCS Example,SoilA

34

LL=30
PI=8

CL

35

CL Sandyleanclaywithgravel
CL
Sandy lean clay with gravel
SoilA
Gravel =20%
Sand =28%
Fines =52%
Fines
= 52%

AASHTOClassification Introduction
AASTOsystemofsoilclassificationwasdevelopedin1929.
This
ThisclassificationisstandardizedbyASTMdesignationD3282
classification is standardized by ASTM designation D 3282
andAASHTOmethodM145.
Itprovidesgeneralratingofthesoilassubgrade forroad
construction.
Itconsidersgrainsizedistributionandplasticityoffines.
AASHTOsystemusesbothgrainsizedistributionand
Atterberg limitstoassignagroupclassificationandgroup
index.
index
ThegroupclassificationrangesfromA1(best)toA8(worst).
Highlyorganicsoils(muckandpeat)areplacedundergroup
i hl
i
il (
k d
)
l d d
A8.

36

Introduction(contd.)
Groupindexvaluesnear0indicategoodsoils,whilevaluesof
20ormoreindicateverypoorsoils.
SoilsclassifiedundergroupA1,A2andA3aregranular
materialsofwhich35%passthroughtheNo.200sieve.
Soilsofwhich>35%ofpassthroughtheNo.200sieveare
classifiedundergroupsA4,A5,A6andA7.theseare
mostlysiltandclaytypematerials.
tl ilt d l t
t i l

37

AASHTO&USCS

38

AASHTOClassification
Grainsize
Gravel:fractionpassing3in.(75mm)sieveandretainedonthe
N 10 (2
No.10(2mm)sieve.
) i
Sand:fractionpassingtheNo.10(2mm)sieveandretainedon
theNo.200(0.075mm)sieve.
SiltandClay:fractionpassingtheNo.200sieve.

Plasticity:Thetermisappliedwhenthefinefractionsof
th
thesoilhaveaplasticityindexof10orless.Theterm
il h
l ti it i d
f 10 l
Th t
clayeyisappliedwhenthefinefractionshaveaplasticity
indexof11ormore.
Ifcobblesorboulders(>75mm)areencountered,they
areexcludedfromtheportionofsoilsamplefromwhich
classificationismade.However,thepercentageis
l f
d
h
recorded.

39

Granularmaterials
Granularmaterials(35%oftotalsamplepassingNo.200)

Note: Toclassifyasoil,applytestdatafromlefttorightintheabove
To classify a soil apply test data from left to right in the above
table.Byprocessofelimination,thefirstgroupfromleftintowhichthe
testdatafitisthecorrectclassification.

40

Siltclaymaterials
Siltclaymaterials(>35%oftotalsamplepassingNo.200)

Note: Toclassifyasoil,applytestdatafromlefttorightintheabove
To classify a soil apply test data from left to right in the above
table.Byprocessofelimination,thefirstgroupfromleftintowhichthe
testdatafitisthecorrectclassification.

41

PlasticityChart

42

RangeofliquidlimitandplasticityindexforsoilsingroupsA2,A4,A5,A6,andA7

GroupIndex

43

Groupindex(GI)iscalculatedusingthefollowingempirical
formula:
GI = (F200 35)[0.2 + 0.005(LL 40 )] + 0.01(F200 15)(PI 10 )
PartialGIdeterminedfromLL

PartialGIdeterminedfromPI

where
F200 =percentagepassingthroughtheNo.200sieve
percentage passing through the No. 200 sieve
LL =Liquidlimit,andPI =Plasticityindex

GI istakenaszero,iftheequationyieldsnegativevalue.
is taken as zero if the equation yields negative value
CalculatedvalueofGI isroundedofftonearestwholenumber
(for example GI = 3 4 is rounded off to 3; GI = 3 5 is rounded
(forexample,GI=3.4isroundedoffto3;GI=3.5isrounded
offto4).

GroupIndex
Thereisnoupperlimitforthegroupindex.
The
ThegroupindexofsoilsbelongingtogroupsA1a,A1b,A2
group index of soils belonging to groups A1a A1b A2
4,A25,andA3isalwayszero.
WhencalculatingtheGIforsoilsthatbelongtogroupsA26
calculating the GI for soils that belong to groups A26
When
andA27,usethepartialGIforPI,orthefollowingformula:
GI = 0.01(F200 15)(PI 10 )

Ingeneral,thequalityofperformanceofsoilasasubgrade
material is inversely proportional to the GI.
materialisinverselyproportionaltotheGI.
Groupindexisshowninparenthesesafterthegroupsymbol
as A26(3),
asA
2 6(3),A
A6(12),
6(12),A
A75(17),
7 5(17),etc.
etc.

44

AASHTO Examples
P10 =80%
LL=35

P40 =52%
P200 =20%
PL=20 PI=15

Givendata
obtainedfrom
gradationcurve

Since,P200 <35%,coarsegrainedsoil
Since,P10 >50,notA1a
Since,P40 >50,notA1b
Si
Since,P
P200 >10,notA3
10
tA 3
SomustbeA2soil,useplasticitychart
A26 soil
A26soil
GI = 0.01(F200 15)(PI 10 )
GI = 0.01(20 15 )(15 10 ) = 0.25 = 0

Therefore,soilisA26(0)

Usethisformulafor
A26andA27

45

46

A26soil