Classification Of Soil

Gurdarshan Singh
Roll no 1307
Geotechnical Engineering

1.Purpose
Main soils are ;clay, silt, sand, gravels and
boulders etc.
Above type seldom exits separately in the
nature.
Natural soil deposits comprise mixture of
above type in varies proportions.
Soil classification mean to arrange in soil of
groups and label them based on their
properties and behavior.
Soil classification has been developed by
different organizations .

Basis of soil classification

Classification is based on the following physical properties
Grain Size Distribution(GSD)
Liquid Limit (LL)
Plasticity Index (PI)
Classification gives some idea about the general behavior
of soil .

However to predict true behavior additional information

based on geotechnical properties are yet required

. Classifying soil into groups with similar behavior into the term
of Simple indices can provide geotechnical a general guidance
about engineering properties of the soil through the
accumulated of experiences .

Simple index

GSD, LL, PL

Communicate
between
Engineers
Classification
system
( Language )
Use the
accumulated
experience

Estimate
Engineering
Properties

Achieve
Engineering
Purposes

Soil Classification System

Classification system developed by different organization
1 Unified Soil Classification System (USCS).
2 AASHTO ( American Association Of State Highway and
Transportation official ) soil classification .
3 Indian Standard Classification System (ISCS)

1. Unified Soil Classification

System(USCS)

The Unified Soil Classification System (USC) was first

developed by casagrande in 1948.
It is modified by the Bureau of Reclamation and the crops of
Engineers of the Unified State of America.
The system has also been adopted by American Society of
Testing Material (ASTM).
The System is the most popular system for use in all types of
engineering problems involving soils .

There are four major divisions of unified soil classification system

(USCS)

(1) Coarse Grained

(2) Fine-Grained
(3) Organic Soils
(4) Peat

Definition of Grain Size

No specific grain
size-use
Atterberg limits
Gravel
Boulders

Silt and

Sand

Cobbles

Clay
Coarse

300 mm

Fine

75 mm
19 mm

Coarse

Medium

Fine

No.4

No.200

4.75 mm

0.075
mm

No.10

No.40

2.0 mm

0.425 mm

General Guidance
50 %
Coarse-grained soils:

Fine-grained soils:

Gravel

Silt

50%

Sand

NO. 4
4.75 mm

Clay

NO.200
0.075
mm

Grain size distribution

PL, LL

Cu

Plasticity chart

LL>50 LL
<50

Cc

Required tests: Sieve analysis

Atterberg limit
9

Dry Clay

Silt

Medium Coarse Sand Fine Gravel Medium Gravel

Sieve Analysis

Plastic Limit Device

Liquid Limit (LL) Test

Atterberg Limits
(Standard tests methods
for Liquid Limit, Plastic
Limit and Plastic Index of
properties)

Plastic Limit (PL)

Symbols

12

Plasticity Chart
L

The A-line generally

separates the more
claylike
materials
from silty materials,
and the organics
from the inorganics.

PI

The U-line indicates

the upper bound for
general soils.

LL

Note: If the measured

limits of soils are on
the left of U-line,
they should be
rechecked.
14

Procedures for Classification

Coarse-grained
material
Grain size
distribution

Fine-grained
material
LL, PI

Highly
15

Organic Soils
Highly organic soils- Peat (Group symbol PT)
A sample composed primarily of vegetable tissue in various stages of
decomposition and has a fibrous to amorphous texture, a darkbrown to black color, and an organic odor should be designated as a
highly organic soil and shall be classified as peat, PT.

Organic clay or silt( group symbol OL or OH):

The soils liquid limit (LL) after oven drying is less than 75 % of its
liquid limit before oven drying. If the above statement is true, then
the first symbol is O.
The second symbol is obtained by locating the values of PI and LL
(not oven dried) in the plasticity chart.

16

Borderline Cases (Dual Symbols)

For the following three conditions, a dual symbol should be used.
Coarse-grained soils with 5% - 12% fine.
About 7 % fines can change the hydraulic conductivity of the
coarse-grained media by orders of magnitude.
The first symbol indicates whether the coarse fraction is well or
poorly graded. The second symbol describe the contained fines. For
example: SP-SM, poorly graded sand with silt.
Fine-grained soils with limits within the shaded zone. (PI between 4
and 7 and LL between about 12 and 25).
It is hard to distinguish between the silty and more claylike
materials.
CL-ML: Silty clay, SC-SM: Silty, clayed sand.
Soil contain similar fines and coarse-grained fractions.
possible dual symbols GM-ML
17

Borderline Cases (Summary)

18

2. American Association Of State

Highway And Transportation
Official System
This system was originally developed by Hogentogler and
Terzaghi in 1929 as the public roads classification system .
They particle size analysis and the plasticity characteristics
are required to classify a soil .

The classification system is a complete system which classifies

both the coarse grained and fine grained soils.

The system is based on the following three soil properties:

1.Particle-size distribution .
2.Liquid Limit .

3.Plasticity Index .

Key Elements:
1.Grain Size:
Gravel: Fraction passing 75mm sieve and retained on #10 (2mm)
US sieve
Sand: Fraction passing #10 sieve and retained #200 sieve
Silt and Clay: Fraction passing #200 sieve
2.Plasticity:
Term silty is applied when fine fractions have a PI< 10
Term clayey is applied when fine fractions have PI> 11
3.Groups:
Soilsareclassifiedintoeightgroups,A-1throughA-8.
ThemajorgroupsA-1,A-2,andA-3representthecoarsegrainedsoils.
TheA-4,A-5,A-6,andA-7representfinegrainedsoils.
TheA-8areidentifiedbyvisualinspection.

The ranges of the LL and PI for groups A-2,A-4,A-5,A-6andA-7:

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

Granular Materials
35% pass No. 200 sieve
Using LL and PI separates silty
materials from clayey materials
(only for A2 group)

A4 ~ A7

Silt-clay Materials
36% pass No. 200 sieve

Using LL and PI separates silty

materials from clayey materials

The original purpose of this classification system is used for road

construction (sub grade rating).

Group Index
The first term is determined by the LL

GI (F200 35)0.2 0.005(LL 40)

0.01(F200 15)(PI 10)
For Group A-2-6 and A-2-7

The second term is determined by

the PI

GI 0.01(F200 15 )( PI 10 )

use the second term

only

F200: percentage passing through the No.200 sieve

In general, the rating for a pavement sub grade is

inversely proportional to the group index, GI.
24

It may be noted that:

The higher the value of GI the weaker will be the soil and
vice versa. Thus, quality of performance of a soils a sub grade
material is inversely proportional to GI.
A soil having GI of zero is considered as the best.
If the equation gives negative value for GI, consider it zero.
Always round off the G I to nearest whole number.
GI=0 for soils of groups A-1- a, A-1-b ,A-2- 4, A-2-5, and A-3.
For groups A-2-6 and A-2-7 use partial GI for PI only:

 Classification of

Highway Subgrade Materials :

 Classification of Highway Sub grade Materials :

Indian Standard Classification System

(ISC)
Indian standard classification (ISC) system adopted by bureau
of Indian standards is in many respects similar to the Unified
Soil Classification (UCS) system.
There is one basic difference in the classification of fine
grained soils .
The fine grained soils in ISC system are subdivided into three
categories of low, medium and high compressibility instead of
two categories of low and high compressibility in USC system .

 Soils are divided into three broad divisions :

1. Coarse grained soils, when 50% or more of the total material
by weight is retained on 75 micron IS sieve .
2. Fine grained soils, when more than 50% of the total material
passes 75 micron IS sieve .
3. If the soil is highly organic and contains a large percentage of
organic matter and particles of decomposed vegetation, it is
kept in a separate category marked as peat (Pt).

Basic Soil Components in ISC System

1. Coarse grained soils Coarse grained soils are sub divided
onto gravel and sand. The soil is termed gravel(G) when
than 50% of coarse fraction (plus 75) is retained on 4.75
mm IS sieve , and termed sand (S) more than 50% of the
coarse fraction is smaller than 4.75 mm IS sieve.
2. Fine grained soils the fine grained soils are further divided
into three subdivisions, depending upon the values of the
liquid limit:
a) Silts and clays of low compressibility these soils have a
liquid limit less than 35.
b) Silts and clays of medium compressibility these soils have a
liquid limit greater than 50.
c) Silts and clays of high compressibility- these soils have a
liquid limit greater than 50.

Basics Soil Components ISC System

Reminder
0.075 mm(75m) separates coarse and fine grained soils .
Uniformly graded soils are poorly graded .
Grain size distributions are mainly for coarse grained soils;
Atterberg limits are for fines.
Clay particles are negatively charged flakes with a high surface
area and are smaller than 2m in size; they are plastic and
sticky (cohesive). Silts are non plastic (PI=0)
A fine grained soil is classified as clay or silt based on
Atterberg limits not on relative proportions .
The first thing one should know when classifying a soil is the
% of fines.
In AASHTO, the general rating as a subgrade decreases from
left to right, A-1 being the best and A-8 being the worst.

References
Soil Mechanics And Foundation Engineering ( DR. K.R. Arora).
Geotechnical Engineering ( N Sivakugan / Braja M. Das).
Soil Mechanics and Foundations ( Dr B C Punmia and Ashok
Kumar Jain)