University of Raparin

Civil engineering department

Third stage 2019-2020
Soil Mechanic-practical

Liquid limit & plastic limit by

Fall cone method
(BS 1377 part 2)

Name: Aram Rashed

Group: A
Date of test: /11/2019
Date of submission: 16/11/2019

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Table of content:
INTRODUCTION: 3

OBJECTIVES: 3
LIQUID LIMIT TEST 4
APPARATUS: 4
PROCEDURE: 4
Calculation: 6
Graph: 7
Discussion 8
Reference: 8

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Introduction:
In the early 1990s, a Swedish scientist named Atterberg developed a method to describe
the consistency of fine-grained soils with varying moisture contents. Atterberg limits are
defined as the water corresponding to different behavior conditions of fine-grained soil
(silts and clays). The four states of consistency in Atterberg limits are liquid, plastic,
semisolid and solid. The dividing line between liquid and plastic states is the liquid limit;
the dividing line between plastic and semisolid states is the shrinkage limit. If a soil in
the liquid state is gradually dried out, it wills past through the liquid limit, plastic state,
plastic limit, semisolid state and shrinkage limit and reach the solid stage. The liquid,
plastic and shrinkage limits are therefore quantified in terms of the water content at
which a soil changes from the liquid to the plastic state. The difference between the
liquid limit and plastic limit is the plasticity index. Because the liquid limit and plastic
limit are the two most commonly used Atterberg limits, the following discussion is
limited to the test procedures and calculation for these two laboratory tests.
The liquid limit is that moisture content at which a soil changes from the liquid state to
the plastic state. It along with the plastic limit provides a means of soil classification as
well as being useful in determining other soil properties.
As explained, plastic limit is the dividing line between the plastic and semisolid states.
From a physical standpoint, it is the water content at which the soil will begin to
crumble when rolled in small threads.

Objectives:
1-to determine the plastic limit of soil.
2-to determine the liquid limit of soil.

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LIQUID LIMIT TEST

APPARATUS:

1. Cone penetrometer
2. Flat glass plate
3. Metal cups
4. Spatula
5. Containers
6. Distilled water

PROCEDURE:
1. Check the apparatus so that:
a. Mass of falling cone assembly to 0.1g.
b. Stem falls freely when released.
c. Tip of cone can be felt through gauge when brushed with finger.
2. Mix the soil (paste with the spatulas for at least 10 minutes, distilled water must be
added in successive stages to give a cone penetration of about 15mm and mix well in.
Note: Through mixing and kneading is the most important feature of the test and must
never be overlooked.
3. Press the soil paste against the side of the cup to avoid trapping air. Press more paste
well into the bottom of the cup, without an air pocket. The small spatula is convenient
for these operations. The top surface is finally smoothed off level with the rim using the
straight edge.
4. Adjust the tip of the cone with a few millimeters of the surface of the soil in the cup.
Hold the cone, press the release button and adjust the height of the cone so that the tip
just touches the soil surface.

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5. Lower the stem of the dial gauge to make contact with the top of the cone shaft.
Record the reading of the dial gauge to the nearest 0.1mm (R1). Alternatively if the
pointer is mounted on a friction sleeve, adjust the pointer to read zero.
6. Set the timer to 5 second and then press the button and release it immediately.
Automatic re-locking of the stem is indicated by a click. The apparatus must remain
steady and must not be jerked.
7. Record the dial reading to the nearest 0.1mm (R2). Record the difference between R1
and R2 as the cone penetration. If the pointer was initially set to read zero, the reading
R2 gives the cone penetration directly.
8. Lift out the cone and clean it carefully. Avoid touching the sliding stem. Add a little
more wet soil to the cup, without entrapping air, smooth off and repeat procedure (5),
(6) and (7).
9. Two consecutive penetrations should be within 0.5mm or three within 1mm.
10. Take a moisture content sample of about 10g from the area penetrated by the cone
using the tip of a small spatula. Placed in a numbered moisture content container, which
is weighed, oven dried and weighed as in the standard moisture content procedure in
experiment 1.
11. The soil remaining in the cup is remixed with the rest of the sample on the glass
plate together with a little more distilled water, until a uniform softer consistency is
obtained.
12. Penetration range of the soil sample should be within 15 – 25mm. Repeat the
procedure (3) – (10) with different volume of water to get at least 4 points evenly
spaced.
13. The moisture content of the soil from each penetration reading is calculated from
wet and dry weighing as in the moisture content test. Each cone penetration (mm) is
plotted as ordinate, against the corresponding moisture content (%) as abscissa, both to
the linear scales. The best straight line fitting these points is drawn.
14. From the graph, the moisture content corresponding to a cone penetration of 20mm
is read off to the nearest 0.1%. The result is reported to the nearest whole number as
the liquid limit (cone test).

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Calculation:
Sample calculation for A8 container.
Mass of container (M1): 26.11 g
Mass of moist soil + container (M2): 102.69 g
Mass of dry soil + container (M3): 77.35 g
Mass of water (M4): 25.34 g
Mass of dry soil (M5): 77.35-26.11 = 51.24 g
𝑀2−𝑀3 102.69−77.35
Water content (%): ∗ 100= ∗ 100 = 49.4 %
𝑀1−𝑀3 77.35−26.11

Penetration (d): 13.49 mm

Calculations are done the same way for all other trail as we written down in
the data sheet.

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Graph:
soil mechanic
100

90

80
water content (%)

70

60

50

40

30

20

10
1 10 100
penetration (mm)

PL=c (2) m
m (slop) = y2-y1/x2-x1=54-52.4/18.17-16.44 = 0.92
PL=16(2).92 =31 %
Liquid limit is 54 %
PI=LL-PL
PI =54 – 31= 23

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Discussion

We performed this test to determine the liquid limit and plastic limit that is
popular in Europe and Asia.
According to result that we obtained from the test our plasticity index is 23
that is between 20-40 .soils with the plasticity in this range has a high
plasticity.

Reference:
https://www.icevirtuallibrary.com/doi/abs/10.1680/geot.1982.32.2.111

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