6/16/2015

Principles of Geotechnical Engineering Braja M. Das

Chapter 4:
Plasticity and
structure of Soil

1 © 2010 Cengage Learning Engineering. All Rights Reserved.

• Plasticity:

The ability of a soil to undergo unrecoverable

deformation at a constant volume without cracking or
crumbling of the soil, due to the presences of clay
minerals or organic material.

Consistency: the physical state of a fine-grained soil at

a particular water content.

1
 6/16/2015

• At a very low moisture content, soil behaves more like

a solid.

• When the moisture content is very high, the soil and

water may flow like a liquid.

• Depending on the moisture content, the behavior of

soil can be divided into four basic states—

1. Solid 2. semisolid 3. plastic 4. liquid

Atterberg Limits
Border line water contents, separating
the different states of a fine grained
soil

water
0 Shrinkage Plastic Liquid
content
limit limit limit

brittle- semi- plastic liquid

solid solid

2
 6/16/2015

Atterberg
 Albert Atterberg was a Swedish chemist and
agricultural scientist.

 Conducted studies to identify the specific minerals that

give a clayey soil its plastic nature

 In each state the consistency and behavior of a soil is

different and thus so are its engineering properties.

 The boundary between each state can be defined based

on a change in the soil's behavior.

3
 6/16/2015

Liquid limit

 The liquid limit (LL) is

the water content where
a soil changes from
liquid to plastic behavior

 Determined using a
Casagrande cup (lab) or
cone penetrometer
(field)

4
 6/16/2015

The moisture content, in percent,

required to close a
distance of 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) along
the bottom of the groove (see Figures
4.2c and 4.2d)
after 25 blows is defined as the liquid
limit.

10

5
 6/16/2015

liquid limit (LL) is defined as:

The moisture content, in percent, required to close a

distance of 12.7 mm (0.5 in.) along the bottom of the groove
after 25 blows .

• # of blows should be within 15-35 blows

11

12

6
 6/16/2015

flow line can be written in a general form as :

the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers proposed an

empirical equation for estimating the LL:

* Note: good results for N between

(20-30) blows.

13 * Note: diff. β for diff. soil types

Fall Cone method (British Standard—BS1377).

LL= moisture content at which a standard cone of apex angle 30

and weight of 0.78 N will penetrate a distance d = 20 mm in 5
seconds when allowed to drop from a position of point contact
with the soil surface.

14

7
 6/16/2015

* Note:
A semi-logarithmic

15

Plastic limit

 The plastic limit (PL) is the water content

(w%) where soil starts to exhibit plastic
behavior.

 The moisture content in percent, at which the

soil crumbles, when rolled into threads of 4.2
mm ( in.) in diameter

8
 6/16/2015

Fall Cone method (British Standard).

PL= moisture content at which a standard cone of apex angle 30

and weight of 2.35 N will penetrate a distance d = 20 mm.

17

18

9
 6/16/2015

Shrinkage limit
 The shrinkage limit (SL) is the water
content where further loss of moisture
will not result in any more volume
reduction

 The shrinkage limit is much less

commonly used than the liquid limit
and the plastic limit.

Plasticity Index
 The PI is the difference between the liquid limit
and the plastic limit (PI = LL-PL).

 The plasticity index is important in

classifying fine-grained soils.

 Comments:
• High PI tend to be clay
• Low PI tend to be silt
• PI of 0 tend to have little or no silt or clay.

10
 6/16/2015

Plasticity Index (PI)

Range of water content over which the soil
remains plastic

21

Plasticity Index (PI)

−−> Clay soils with high SSA’s and charged particles will be
able to hold a large amount of water between grains due to their
charge field and the polar nature of water molecules.
Charged soil grains with polar water
molecules between. Clay soils with high
SSA’s and charged surfaces are able to
bind/assimilate water molecules and the
overall soil will still behave as a plastic
solid. Such soils will have high plasticity
indexes.

Soils with comparatively lower SSA’s will

not be able to bind/assimilate water
molecules and thus will have much smaller
22 PI values.

11
 6/16/2015

23

Activity
The PI of a soil is a measure of the activity A of the soil
grains.
Skempton observation:

24

12
 6/16/2015

Based on the results, Skempton defined the activity as the

slope of the line correlating PI and % finer than 2 mm.

* Note: C’ ~ 9

25

26

13
 6/16/2015

27

The activity A of a fine−grained soil can be useful in

identifying the type of clay contained in a soil.

For example:

28

14
 6/16/2015

Liquidity Index and Consistency Index

The relative consistency of a cohesive soil in the

natural state can be defined by a ratio called the
liquidity index

• Liquidity index is a measure of sensitivity…

29

Liquidity Index and Consistency Index

Consistency index (CI), may be defined as:

30

15
 6/16/2015

Plasticity Chart

31

16