INTRODUCTION

A sieve analysis or gradation test is a practice or procedure used commonly

used in civil engineering to assess the particle size distribution (also
called gradation) of a granular material. The size distribution is often of critical
importance to the way the material performs in use. A sieve analysis can be
performed on any type of non-organic or organic granular materials including
sands, crushed rock, clays, granite, feldspars, coal, soil, a wide range of
manufactured powders, grain and seeds, down to a minimum size depending on
the exact method. Being such a simple technique of particle sizing, it is probably
the most common.

LITERATURE REVIEW

There are two soil classification systems in common use for engineering
purposes. The Unified Soil Classification System is used for virtually all
geotechnical engineering work except highway and road construction, where
the AASHTO soil classification system is used. Both systems use the results of
grain size analysis and determinations of Atterberg limits to determine soils
classification. Soil components may be described as gravel, sand, silt, or clay. A
soil comprising one or more of these components is given a descriptive name
and a designation consisting of letters or letters and numbers which depend on
the relative proportions of the components and the plasticity characteristics of
the soil.

1. MIT System of soil classification:

Clay

Clay is also known as Cohesive Soil, Frictionless Soil or Expansive Soil

Composed of very fine particles (less than 0.002 mm in size)

Flaky in shape, thus having considerable surface area

Have high inter particle attraction and thus having sufficient cohesion
 Susceptible to swelling and shrinkage, and possess low permeability

Commonly brown in colour

Silt

Silt particles rang in size from 0.002 mm to 0.06 mm

Have high capillarity and very low dry strength

Since particle size ranges in between that of clay and sand thus
possessing properties of both sand and clays i. e. it shows slight cohesion
and also friction.

The colour of silty soil is mostly brown

Sand

Sand is also known as Frictional Soil or Cohesionless Soil

Particle size ranging from 0.06 mm to 2 mm.

It may be rounded to angular in shape

Grey in colour

No plasticity

Possess high strength in confined state and has considerable frictional

resistance

Angular particles have high frictional resistance than rounded ones

It has high permeability and low capillarity

Gravel

Particle size ranges from 2 mm to 60 mm

Gravel form good foundation material

 Shows high frictional resistance

Angular particles have high frictional resistance than rounded ones

The gravels produced by crushing of rocks are angular in shape while

those taken from riverbeds are sub-rounded to rounded

2. AASHTO classifications of soils:

The AASHTO system classifies soils into seven primary groups, named A-1
through A-7, based on their relative expected quality for road
embankments, sub-grades, sub-bases, and bases. Some of the groups are in turn
divided into subgroups, such as A-1-a and A-1-b. Furthermore, a Group Index may
be calculated to quantify a soils expected performance within a group. To
determine a soils classification in the AASHTO system, one first determines the
relative proportions of gravel, coarse sand, fine sand, and silt-clay. ( Refer Figure
1)

Figure 1

Secondly, if any fines are present, Atterberg limits are determined and the
plasticity index is calculated. A soil is a granular material if less than 35% of the
soil by weight passes the No. 200 sieve (#200). Granular materials are classified
into groups A-1 through A-3. Soils having more than 35% passing the No. 200
sieve are silt-clay and fall in groups A-4 through A-7. Having the proportions of
the components and the plasticity data, one enters one of the two
alternatives AASHTO classification tables and checks from left to right until a
classification is found for which the soil meets the criteria. It should be noted
that, in this scheme, group A-3 is checked before A-2. Soils classified as A-1 are
typically well-graded mixtures of gravel, coarse sand, and fine sand. Soils in
subgroup A-1-a contain more gravel whereas those in A-1-b contain more sand.

Soils in group A-3 are typically fine sands that may contain small amounts of
non-plastic silt. Group A-2 contains a wide variety of borderline granular
materials that do not meet the criteria for groups A-1 or A-3. Soils in group A-
4 are silty soils, whereas those in group A-5 are high-plasticity elastic silt. Soils in
group A-6 are typically lean clays, and those in group A-7 are typically highly
plastic clays. Within groups containing fines, one may calculate a group index to
further evaluate relative quality and supporting value of a material as sub-grade.
The group index is calculated according to the following empirical formula:

Group index F 35 ( )0.2 0.005 LL 40 ( ) + [ ] + 0.01 F 15 ( )PI 10 ( )

In the AASHTO system:

gravel is material smaller than 75 mm (3 in.) but retained on a No. 10

sieve;

coarse sand is material passing a No 10 sieve but retained on a No. 40

sieve; and fine sand is material passing a No. 40 sieve but retained on a
No. 200 sieve.

Material passing the No. 200 sieve is silt-clay and is classified based
on Atterberg limits.

It should be noted that the division between gravel and sand is made at a
smaller size (No. 10 sieve) in the AASHTO system than in the unified
system (No. 4 sieve).

3. Unified soil classification system (USCS):

The Unified Soil Classification System is based on the airfield classification

system developed by Casa Grande during World War II. With some modification it
was jointly adopted by several U.S. government agencies in 1952. Additional
refinements were made and it is currently standardized as ASTM D 2487-93. It is
used in the U.S. and much of the world for geotechnical work other than roads
and highways. In the unified system soils are designated by a two-letter symbol:
the first identifies the primary component of the soil, and the second describes
its grain size or plasticity characteristics. For example, poorly graded sand is
designated SP and low plasticity clay is CL. Five first-letter symbols are used:

G for gravel
S for sand
M for silt
C for clay
O for organic soil

Clean sands and gravels (having less than 5% passing the No. 200 sieve) are
given a second letter P if poorly graded or W if well graded. Sands and gravels
with more than 12% by weight passing the No. 200 sieve are given a second
letter M if the fines are silty or C if fines are clayey. Sands and gravels having
between 5 and 12% are given dual classifications such as SP-SM. Silts, clays, and
organic soils are given the second letter H or L to designate high or low plasticity.
The specific rules for classification are summarized as follows and described in
detail in ASTM D 2487.

For coarse-grained soils, the proportions of sand and gravel in the coarse
fraction (not the total sample) determine the first letter of the classification
symbol. The coarse fraction is that portion of the total sample retained on a No.
200 sieve. If more than half of the coarse fraction is gravel (retained on the No. 4
sieve), the soil is gravel and the first letter symbol is G. If more than half of the
coarse fraction is sand, the soil is sand and the first letter symbol is S. For sands
and gravels the second letter of the classification is based on gradation for clean
sands and gravels and plasticity of the fines for sands and gravels with fines.

For clean sands (less than 5% passing the No. 200 sieve), the classification is
well-graded sand (SW) if C 6 and 1 Cc 3. Both of these criteria must be met
for the soil to be SW, otherwise the classification is poorly graded sand (SP).
Clean gravels (less than 5% passing the No. 200 sieve) are classified as well-
graded gravel (GW) if Cu 4 and 1 Cc 3. If both criteria are not met, the soil
is poorly graded gravel (GP). For sands and gravels where more than 12% of the
total sample passes the No. 200 sieve, the soil is a clayey sand (SC), clayey
gravel (GC), silty sand (SM), or silty gravel (GM).
METHODOLOGY

The result of mechanical analysis are generally presented by semi logarithmic

plots known as particle size distribution curves . The particle diameters are
plotted in log scale and the corresponding percent finer in arithmetic scale .

Percentage finer given in the last column can be used to plot the particle size
distribution curve with particle size as abscissa on log scale and the percentage
finer as ordinate.

Graph semi log

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

BOREHOLE BH1 BH2 BH3

DEPTH ( M ) 3.00 3.80 4.00 4.70 12.00 12.80

 % PASSING % PASSING
PARTICLES % PASSING
SIZES

20 mm 100 100 100

10 mm 100 100 100

6 mm 100 99 99

5 mm 100 98 97

3.35 mm 98 97 78

2.36 mm 96 95 52

1.70 mm 85 88 35

0.60 mm 68 67 27

0.335 mm 55 43 24

0.180 mm 47 35 22

0.063 mm 44 30 21

Cu = d60 Cc = d302

d10 d60 x d10

In this experiment, the particulate nature of soil was greatly observed. It was also
shown that certain classifications in soil can be done through sieve analysis. One
essential thing to do in this experiment is to arrange the sieves properly. The
accuracy of this experiment is very much dependent on the sieve arrangement.
The arrangement of sieves must be in decreasing mesh openings from top to
bottom. This is very useful in order to separate the particles from coarser to finer.
Lastly, It was observed that for particles having sizes larger that the sieve
opening to which it will be retained. On the other hand, those with smaller sizes
were able to pass through. This phenomenon is the basic reason on how particles
were separated.

CONCLUSIONS

For conclusion of classification of soil for engineering purposes, we oath to know

the distribution of the grain sizes in any given soil mass especially the one obtain
from the construction site or burrow pits. Particle size distribution test, also
known as sieve analysis test is a method used to determine the grain(granular)
size distribution of soil samples. Grain-size analysis is widely used in engineering
classifications of soils. The standard grain size analysis test determines the
relative proportions of different grain-sizes as they are distributed among certain
size ranges. The sieve analysis is a process where the grain size distribution of
soil is determined. This test is done by letting a sample of soil pass through a
stack of sieves of decreasing mesh opening sizes and by measuring the weight
retained on each sieves. The main concept in this process is to retain the large
particles not able to pass through the varying sieve sizes. The sieve analysis is
primarily applied to soil particles with sizes from 75mm to75microns. Sieve
analysis can be classified as dry sieving and wet sieving. Dry sieving is a sieving
process that is used for soil with negligible amount of plastic fines like gravels
and clean sands. On the other hand, wet sieving is applied to soils with
considerable plastic fines.

REFERENCE

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sieve_analysis
2. https://theconstructor.org/geotechnical/particle-size-distribution-of-soil-by-
seiving/2741/
3. https://www.google.com/#safe=strict&q=semi+log+graph+example