Lab Report #4:

ATTERBERG LIMITS:
Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, and Plasticity Index of Soils

ABSTRACT
This experiment deals with the determination of the Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, and the
Plasticity Index of a soil sample. These Limits are often referred to as the Atterberg limits.
Multipoint test method is done to determine the soil’s liquid limit. Furthermore, these limits
distinguished the boundaries of the several states of plastic soils which are dependent to the
water content of the soil. These states are: solid, semisolid, plastic, and liquid. The soil
sample will be analyzed and will be classified at the end of the experiment. The computed
values of the liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index are 54, 28, and 26, respectively.
Based on these calculated data and in accordance to the ASTM standards, the test soil sample
is determined as an example of inorganic clay that exhibits high plasticity.

Submitted by: Angel U. Gacutan

Group Mates:
Francis Bianes
Kathlyn Jane Madrid
Michelle Monelle Quilatan
Jan Kenneth Salvacion
John Carlo Villar

Date Performed: August 1, 2011

Date Submitted: August 12, 2011

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I. OBJECTIVES
This experiment is performed:
 To be able to define the Atterberg Limits for a given fine-grained soil sample − liquid
limit and plastic limit.
 To calculate the plasticity index of the soil sample based on the liquid limit and
plastic limit obtained.
 To classify the soil according to the analysis and interpretation of the data and results
of these experiment.
 To correlate these Atterberg Limits with certain engineering behaviors of soil.
 For the students to appreciate the materials utilized in the real structures and provide
knowledge on how soils are used and tested.

II. MATERIALS USED

The following are the instruments and materials utilized in this experiment:

Determination of Liquid Limit:

 Flat Graving Tool. A tool made of plastic or non-corroding metal. The design of the
tool may vary as long as the essential dimensions are maintained. The tool may, but
need not, incorporate the gauge for adjusting the height-of-drop of the liquid limit
device.
 Liquid Limit Device Cup. A mechanical device consisting of a brass cup suspended
from a carriage designed to control its drop onto the surface of a block of resilient
material that serves as the base of the device. This device may be operated by either a
hand crank or electric motor.
 Mixing and Storage Container. A porcelain, glass, or plastic dish container to mix
the soil specimen (material) and store the prepared material. During mixing and
storage, the container shall not contaminate the material in any way, and prevent
moisture loss during
 Spatula and Mixing Tools. A spatula or pill knife having a blade about 2 cm (3⁄4 in.)
wide, and about 10 to 13 cm (3 to 4 in.) long.

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Determination of Plastic Limit:
 Ground Glass Plate. A ground glass plate of sufficient size for rolling plastic limit
threads.
 Metal Rod, 3.2 mm diameter

For both the test methods:

 Digital balance. Must be sensitive to 0.001 g and a basic tolerance of ± 0.1 % of the
mass of the sample to be weighed for weighing the material.
 Drying oven. Thermostatically controlled, preferably of the forced-draft type, capable
of continuously maintaining a temperature of 110 ± 5°C (230 ± 9°F) throughout the
drying chamber.
 Mixing and Storage Container. A container to mix the soil specimen (material) and
store the prepared material. During mixing and storage, the container shall not
contaminate the material in any way, and prevent moisture loss during storage. A
porcelain, glass, or plastic dish about 11.4 cm (41⁄2 in.) in diameter and a plastic bag
large enough to enclose the dish and be folded over is adequate.
 Sieve. A 200 mm (8 in.) diameter, 4.25 mm (No. 40) sieve and having a rim at least 5
cm (2 in.) above the mesh.
 Soil Sample. Must have an initial mass ranging from 200-250 g of soil passing the
No. 40 sieve.
 Water. Either distilled or demineralized.
 Water Content and sample cups and containers. Small corrosion-resistant
containers with snug-fitting lids for water content specimens. Aluminum or stainless
steel cans 2.5 cm (1 in.) high by 5 cm (2 in.) in diameter are appropriate.

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III. METHODOLOGY
In performing this experiment, the following procedures must be followed:

Determination of the Liquid Limit

Obtain a soil Lift and drop

sample that Using spatula the cup by Repeat the Obtain a
passes through put a portion Form a turning the fist four steps, sample from
No. 40 sieve. of the mixture crank (approx. blows for the soil pat.
Mix the soil groove into 2 drops/sec)
into the cup each trial Measure its
with enough
of liquid limit the soil by until the two
should be in weight before
water until it drawing halves of the
reaches a device with a soil pat come in ranges 15-25, oven dry for
creamy peanut depth of 10 the tool. contact at a 20-30 and 25- at least 24
butter mm. distance of 13 35. hours.
consistency. mm (1/2 in).

Determination of Plastic Limit

Obtain 20g of Roll the Repeat the Go through

soil from the From this specimen rolling and steps 1 to 6 Measure the
mixture specimen, until it kneading of until you weight of
prepared. select a 1.5 reaches the the sample have the pre and
Reduce soil to a until the thread
consistency at to 2.0g diameter crumbles and obtained two post oven-
which it can be portion and almost equal the soil can no 6g of dried(24
rolled without form this to the longer be samples and hours) soil
sticking to into a ball. diameter of rolled into a water content sample
hands. the metal rod. 3.2 mm thread. values.

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IV. DATA AND RESULTS

A. EQUATIONS USED
The following formulas are used to evaluate the gathered data:

Percent Water Content. It is also called Total Evaporable Moisture Content or Surface
Moisture Content. It is equal to the difference between the mass of the moist soil sample and
its oven dried mass, with all values based on the mass of a dry sample.

(Equation 1)

Where: (mass of pan + moist soil sample) - (mass of pan)

(mass of pan + oven dried soil sample) - (mass of pan)

Plastic Limit, PL. The water content, in percent, of a soil at the boundary between the plastic
and semi-solid states. It is the average of the computed values of the water content of the soil
sample in different number of trials.
∑ ⁄ (Equation 2)

Where: ∑ summation of water content of sample tested for Plastic Limit

number of trials

Liquid Limit, LL. The water content, in percent, of a soil at the arbitrarily defined boundary
between the semiliquid and plastic states.

To be able to calculate the Liquid Limit, gathered data are plotted on a semi-logarithmic
graph. The Percent Water Content is set as the values for the ordinates; while, its equivalent
Number of Blows are the values for the abscissas.

Once the data are plotted, obtain the Trend Line (in linear function) of the plotted Liquid
Limit data series with the help of MS Excel. The Trend Line function is used to determine the
values of the Liquid Limit at 25 drops.

Trend Line Function: (Equation 3)

Where: = constants
= Liquid Limit = LL
= 25 (number of drops)

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Plasticity Index, PI. It is a numerical measure of the plasticity of a soil − the range of water
content over which a soil behaves plastically. Numerically, it is the difference between the
liquid limit and the plastic limit.
(Equation 4)

Where: Liquid Limit

Plastic Limit

B. GATHERED DATA

Table 1. Data for Liquid Limit

Mass (grams)
LIQUID
Number Pan + Soil Water
TRIAL LIMIT
of Drops Pan Content
Before Oven- (LL)
After Oven-dry
dry
1 32 8.98 61.81 45.29 45.497
2 30 9.18 47.53 34.74 50.039 54
3 20 9.23 66.10 45.12 58.456

Figure 1. Liquid Limit Determination

60.000
Trendline function:
58.456 y = -1.0031x + 78.749

55.000
Percent Water Content

53.672

50.039 50.000
Liquid Limit

45.497 45.000 Liquid Limit at 25

drops

Linear (Liquid
40.000 Limit)
100 10 1
Number of Drops

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Table 2. Gathered Data for Plastic Limit
Mass (grams)
Pan + Soil % Water PLASTIC
TRIAL
Pan Before Oven- After Oven- Content LIMIT (PL)
dry dry
1 9.48 15.48 14.19 27.389
2 8.54 14.54 13.19 29.032 28
3 9.20 15.20 13.93 26.850

Table 3. Plasticity Index

Liquid Limit Plastic Limit

PLASTICITY
INDEX
53.6715 27.7569 26

Note: Values of the liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index (in Tables 1 to 3) are
rounded off to the nearest whole number, omitting the percent designation.

C. SAMPLE COMPUTATIONS

Water Content. To determine the values for Percent Water Content, use Equation 1:
Computation for Trial 1 of Table 1 (for Liquid Limit)

Computation for Trial 1 of Table 2 (for Plastic Limit)

Liquid Limit. Based from the graph, the Trendline function is

(which is in the same form as Equation 3). Let x be equivalent to the 25 drops and y be the
value of Liquid Limit (LL) of the soil sample. Substituting, we will have:

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Plastic Limit. Using Equation 2 and based from Table 2, the plastic limit is computed as:

Plasticity Index. The difference between the computed Liquid Limit and Plastic Limit, using
Equation 4:

V. ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS

Soils can be classified according to its soil consistency. It is significant in predicting
soil performance when used as raw material in construction. With the use of a classification
system, we can classify the soil to its specific type of clay or silt by using its Atterberg Limits
− liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index. The state or consistency of fine-grained soils
(must be smaller or equal to 4.25 mm) can be described using these parameters. A gradual
increase of the water content may transform a dry soil from a solid state to a semi-solid state,
to a plastic state, and after further moisture increase, into a liquid state.

Figure 2. Atterberg Limits [1]

For both liquid limit and plastic limit test, samples were oven dried for at least 24 ± 4
hours. Masses of these specimens were obtained before and after the process of oven drying.
With these data, the researcher can now proceed to the calculation of masses and water
contents of the soil samples.

For the liquid limit test, a linear trend line was obtained from the number of blows
versus water content plot of the soil. The equation of the trend line is now used to determine
the liquid limit of the soil by computing the moisture content at which it takes 25 drops to

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cause the two halves of the soil pat come in contact. The calculated Liquid Limit of the soil
sample is 53.67 approximately.

For determining the plastic limit, it is considered to be on its plastic behavior if it can
be rolled to a firm thread like form with an estimated diameter of 3.2 mm. The rolling and
kneading of the soil sample is done manually without the help of any mechanical rolling
device. However, due to the difficulty of achieving the standard diameter thread, the sample
is considered to pass the required procedure even though it is not thin enough. This is because
the soil specimen can no longer be rolled properly and crumbles easily into pieces even
though it does not achieve the required diameter yet.

For the calculation of the plastic limit, the average of the water contents of the three
trials in Table 2 was obtained. The experiment shows a Plastic Limit value of 27.76. To
determine the validity of the computed plastic limit based from the ASTM standards, it is a
requirement that the difference between the moisture contents of the test specimens for every
trial made should not exceed 1.4%. Some of the computed absolute differences of the water
content largely exceed this parameter. Therefore, assuming the obtained plastic limit for this
sample is exact, the value might not be valid.

In addition, if the plastic limit is equal to or greater than the liquid limit, the soil is
non-plastic (NP). In this experiment, since the computed value of the plastic limit is smaller
than the liquid limit (PL < LL), we can infer that the soil sample is apparently plastic.

For further evaluation of the soil sample, plasticity index must also be determined.
Soils with high plasticity index are classified to be clay while soils with lower plasticity index
are silt. Plasticity index is then calculated from the difference of the computed values of the
plastic limit and liquid limit. To evaluate the plasticity index, the following table shows the
description of soil on different range of plasticity index:

Table 4. Description of Soil based on Plasticity Index [2]

Plasticity Index (PI) Description

0 Non-plastic
1–5 Slightly plastic
5 – 10 Low plastic
10 – 20 Medium plastic
20 – 40 High plasticity
> 40 Very high plasticity

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 The computed value of the plasticity index of the soil sample is equivalent to 25.91.
Based from the previous table, the soil sample has a high plasticity. Therefore, the test sample
is classified as clayey soil.

The soil consistency of the silt and clay soil is due to the water content it can carry.
The Atterberg limits is performed to determine the moisture content of the sample soil and to
classify it according to the AASHTO Classification Chart or USCS Classification System.
The sample soil has a liquid limit and a plasticity index of 54 and 26, respectively. By using
USCS classification, since the computed LL ≥ 50 and the value of PI is above the “A”-line
(according to the Plasticity Chart) the soil sample is classified as fat clay (CH) – basically
inorganic clay of high plasticity.

Figure 3. Plasticity Chart [3]

Possible Sources of Errors: In this test method, there are no certain constructive ways to
determine whether there are errors or inaccuracies in evaluating the gathered and computed
data. Still, the possible sources of errors are listed for further recommendation and
improvement of conducting this experiment:

 Inaccuracy of the data presented in the experiments may be accounted by noting that
the balance used in measuring the various masses needed does not readily give a
stable reading and is very sensitive even to very small movements.

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  The specimen is not representative of the soil. The liquid and plastic limits must be
determined using the same mixture of soil as that used for determination of natural
water content or for other tests.
 For the Liquid Limit Test:

 Loss of- moisture during the test maybe due to the room temperature. As well as,
water content inaccuracies due to small quantity of samples taken.
 The entire soil sample is not uniformly mixed with the amount of water
introduced.
 Bad condition of the liquid limit device. It maybe improperly constructed or
adjusted. There are possible worn parts of the device especially at point of contact
between the cup and the base, or worn tip of grooving tool.
 Improper turning of the liquid limit device. The handle maybe turned too fast or
too slow.

 For the Plastic Limit test:

 The mass of the soil portion to be rolled is just approximated to be 1-5 to 2.0 gram
and may be less or more than the standard amount.
 Incorrect final thread diameter. A length of 13 mm (1/2 in.) diameter metal rod
close at hand will help in estimating this diameter accurately.
 Stopping the rolling process too soon. If there is any doubt as to whether the
thread has crumbled sufficiently, it is better to roll the thread once more than to
stop the process too soon.

VI. CONCLUSIONS
Soil characteristics should be determined to be able to correlate with the other
engineering behavior. Fine-grained soils are tested to determine its 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. In this experiment, it presents that the test soil
sample exhibits high plasticity and with that a large range of moisture over which the soil
remains plastic.

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VII. REFERENCES
[1]
 http://civilengineeringreview.com/book/geotechnical-engineering/consistency-soil-
atterberg-limits
[2]
 Diego Inocencio T. Gillesania. “Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering”. Pages
6-7.
[3]
 Braja M. Das. “Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering 2nd Edition”. Iowa State
University Press. Pages 45-47.
 ASTM D75/75M - 09: Practice for Sampling Aggregates
 ASTM D2487–10: Standard Practice for Classification of Soils for Engineering
Purposes (Unified Soil Classification System)
 ASTM D4318–10: Standard Test Methods for Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit, and
Plasticity Index of Soils
 ASTM D4753-02: Standard Guide for Evaluating, Selecting, and Specifying Balances
and Standard Masses for Use in Soil, Rock, and Construction Materials Testing
 Braja M. Das. “Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering 1st Edition”. Iowa State
University Press. Pages 34-40.
 Giovanna Bisconntin 2007. “CVEN365 Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering
Laboratory Manual”. Texas A&M University.

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