Geotechnical Engineering–I [CE-221]
BSc Civil Engineering – 4th Semester
Lecture # 9
21-Feb-2017
by
Dr. Muhammad Irfan
Assistant Professor
Civil Engg. Dept. – UET Lahore
Email: [email protected]
Lecture Handouts: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!forum/geotech-i
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SOIL CONSISTENCY
• Indicates the degree of firmness of
fine-grained soil.
• Generally expressed in terms of
very soft, soft, stiff, very stiff, and
hard.
Soil behave like:
• SOLID at very low moisture
content
• LIQUID at very high moisture
content
2
ATTERBERG/CONSISTENCY
LIMITS
Shrinkage Limit Plastic Limit Liquid Limit
SL PL LL
Soil volume, v or e
Plasticity
Index
Moisture content, w (%)
Solid Semi-Solid Plastic Viscous Liquid
3
LIQUID LIMIT (LL or wLL)
Liquid Limit (LL) is defined as the moisture content at which
soil begins to behave as a liquid material and begins to
flow.
(LL of a fine-grained soil gives the moisture content at which the shear
strength of the soil is approximately 2.5kN/m2)
4
LIQUID LIMIT DETERMINATION
Casagrande
Apparatus
ASTM D-4318
5
LIQUID LIMIT DETERMINATION
A) Three-Point Method
LL is the moisture content required to close a 2-mm wide
groove in a soil pat a distance of 12.7 mm (1/2”) along the
bottom of the groove after 25 blows.
6
LIQUID LIMIT DETERMINATION
B) One-Point Method
tan
N
LL wn
25
N number of blows
wn correspond ing moisture content
tan 0.121
• Assumes a constant slope of the flow curve.
• The slope is a statistical result of 767 liquid limit tests (Norman, 1959).
Limitations:
• tan is an empirical coefficient, so it is not always 0.121.
• Good results can be obtained only for the blow number between 20 to 30.
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FLOW INDEX (IF)
w1=44
IF=28.39
w2=39
N1=20 N2=30
Flow Index • Larger the IF, smaller will
be shear strength of soil.
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PLASTIC LIMIT (PL or wPL)
Plastic Limit (PL) is defined as the moisture content at which
soil begins to behave as a plastic material.
Plasticity Index (PI or IP) = LL - PL
9
PLASTIC LIMIT DETERMINATION
ASTM D-4318
Moisture content at which the soil when rolled into threads of
3.2mm (1/8 in) in diameter, will crumble.
PL = w% at 3.2 mm (1/8 in) dia.
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SHRINKAGE LIMIT
Shrinkage Limit (SL) is defined as the moisture content at
which no further volume change occurs with further
reduction in moisture content.
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SHRINKAGE LIMIT
Assignment: Prove this relationship
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PLASTICITY/A-LINE CHART
13
PLASTICITY/A-LINE CHART
High plasticity
Low plasticity
LL=50%
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PLASTICITY/A-LINE CHART
Cohesionless
Soils
High Plasticity
Silts
Silts
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LIQUIDITY INDEX (IL)
wn PL
IL
LL PL
where,
IL= Liquidity index
wn= Natural moisture content
PL= Plastic limit moisture content
LL= Liquid limit moisture content
0<IL<1 → Soil is in plastic state
IL < 0 → Soil is in semi-plastic or solid state
IL > 1 → Soil is in liquid state (quick clays or ultra sensitive clays)
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TOUGHNESS INDEX (It)
Plasticity Index PI
It
Flow Index IF
Soil Type It
Clayey soils 0-3
Soils which are friable at plastic <1
limit (e.g. Silts)
Toughness index (It) is useful to distinguish between soils of
different physical properties.
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ACTIVITY, A
PI
A
% clay fraction smaller than 0.002mm
• Helpful to predict the dominant clay type/mineral in soil
sample.
• High activity signifies large volume change when wetted
and large shrinkage when dried.
Clay Type Activity
Inactive Clays < 0.75
Normal Clays 0.75 < A < 1.25
Active Clays > 1.25
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Practice Problem#1
The following data were recorded from a LL test on a silty
clay;
No. of blows Water content (%)
35 41.1
29 41.8
21 43.5
15 44.9
If PL=23.4%, determine LL, flow index, and the toughness
index.
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Practice Problem#1
48
47
46
45
w (%)
44
43LL=42.8%
42
41
40
1 10 N=25 100
No. of blows (N)
LL = 42.8%
PL = 23.4%
PI = 42.8-23.4
PI = 19.4%
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Practice Problem#1
48
47
46
45
w (%)
44 w1=43.5%
43
42 w2=41.7%
41
40
N1=20 N2=30
1 10 100
No. of blows (N)
w1 w2 43.5 41.7
IF It= IP/IF
N2 30
log log It=19.4/10.22
N1 20
It=1.898
IF= 10.22
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Practice Problem#2
Four different types of soil were encountered in a big project.
Their LL, PL, and natural moisture content (NMC) are given
below;
Type of Soil Liquid Limit Plastic Limit NMC (%)
(%) (%)
1 120 40 150
2 64 32 34
3 60 30 30
4 65 32 25
Determine liquidity index and comment on the state of soil in
the field.
wn PL
IL
LL PL
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Practice Problem#3
A soil specimen has liquidity index of 0.2, liquid
limit of 56% and plasticity index of 20%.
Determine the natural moisture content of this soil
specimen.
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Practice Problem#4
Liquid limit test carried out on two samples of clay resulted in
the following information.
Test # 1 2 3 4
Sample #1 w (%) 120 114 98 96
No. of blows 7 10 30 40
Sample #2 w (%) 96 74 45 30
No. of blows 9 15 32 46
PL for sample #1 is 40% and PL for sample is 32%.
Determine the flow index and toughness index for two
samples.
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REFERENCE MATERIAL
An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering (2nd Edition)
By R. D. Holtz, W. D. Kovacs and T. C. Sheahan
Chapter #2
Principles of Geotechnical Engineering – (7th Edition)
Braja M. Das
Chapter #4
Norman, L. E. J. (1959). The one-point method of determining the value of
the liquid limit of a soil. Geotechnique, 9(1), 1-8.
CONCLUDED
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