RIZAL TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING, ARCHITECTURE AND TECHNOLOGY

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

CLASSIFICATION OF SOIL

I. Textural Classification (USDA)

In a general sense, texture of soil refers to its surface appearance. Soil texture is iinfluenced by the size of the individual particles
present in it. Soils are divided into gravel, sand, silt, and clay categories on the basis of particle size. In most cases, natural soils are
mixtures of particles from several size groups. In the textural classification system, the soils are named after their principal
components, such as sandy clay, silty clay, and so forth. A number of textural classification systems were developed in the past by
different organizations to serve their needs, and several o off those are in use today. The USDA triangular textural Classification Chart
shows the textural classification systems developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This classification method is
based on the particle-size
size limits as described under the USDA system
Sand size - 2.00 to 0.05mm in diameter
Silt size - 0.05 to 0.002mm in diameter
Clay size - smaller than 0.002mm in diameter

USDA Triangular Textural Classification Chart

II. Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)

The original
riginal form of this system was proposed by Casagrande in 1942 for use in the airfield construction works
undertaken by the Army Corps of Engineers during World War II. In cooperation with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation,
Reclamat
this system was revised in 1952. At present, it is used widely by engineers (ASTM Test Designation D-2487).
D

This system classifies soils into two broad categories:

1. Coarse-grained
grained soils that is gravelly and sandy in nature with less than 50% passing through the No. 200 sieve.
The group symbols
mbols start with a prefix of G or S. G stands for gravel or gravelly soil, and S for sand or sandy soil.

2. Fine-grained
grained soils are with 50% or more passing through the No. 200 sieve. The group symbols start with
prefixes of M, which stands for inorganic sil
silt,
t, C for inorganic clay, or O for organic silts and clays. The symbol
Pt is used for peat, muck, and other highly organic soils.

Other symbols used for the classification are:

• W—well graded
• P—poorly graded
• L—low
low plasticity (liquid limit less than 50
50)
• H—high
high plasticity (liquid limit more than 50)

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 Flow Chart for Classification of Coarse-Grained soils (<50% passing No. 200 sieve) (USCS)

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 Flow Chart for Classification of Coarse-Grained soils (>or=50% passing No. 200 sieve) (USCS)

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 Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)

III. Particale – Size Distribution Curve (Sieve Analysis)

Seive analysis consists of shaking the soil sample through a set of sieves that have progressively smaller openings.
These are generally 200mm in diameter.

To conduct a sieve analysis:

1. The soil is first oven dried
2. All lumps must be broken into small particles
3. The soil is the shaken through a stackof sieves with openings of decreasing size from top to bottom
4. A pan is placed below the stack to collect the smalle
smallest
st particle size

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  Example of a calculation procedure of a sieve analysis
Mass Cumulative mass
Sieve Percent passing
Diameter (mm) Retained retained above
No. (Percent finer)
(grams) each sieve
4 4.76 5 5 99.37%
8 2.38 45 50 93.71%
10 2.00 65 115 85.53%
20 0.84 92 207 73.96%
40 0.42 152 359 54.84%
60 0.25 115 474 40.38%
80 0.180 212 686 13.71%
100 0.149 63 749 5.79%
200 0.074 32 781 1.76%
Pan 14 795 0.00%
TOTAL 795

= #

−
=

A. Effective Size, D10

 This parameter is the diameter in the curve corresponding to 10% finer. The effective size of a granular soil is a good
measure to estimate the hydraulic conductivity and drainage through soil.
 Take note that it is in logaritgmic distribution/interpolation

In the given example above D10=0.17mm (found between 13.71% finer and 40.38% with particle size of 0.18mm
and 0.25mm respectively)

B. Uniformity Coefficient, Cu

C. Coefficient of Gradation or Coefficient of Curvature, Cc

( )
=
×

D. Sorting Coefficient, So

Particle distribution graph

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  The particle size distributio curve shows not only the rangle of particle sizes present in the soil but also the type of
distribution of various size particles
a. Poorly Graded soil – is one where most of the soil grains are the same size
b. Well Graded soil – is one in which the particle sizes are distributed over a wide range. A well graded soil has Cu greater
tha about 4 for gravels and 6 for sands, and Cc between 1 and 3 for gravels and sands.
c. Gap Graded soil – is characterized by two or more humps in the grading curve

 Average grain size of the soil is D50

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 IV. AASHTO Classification System

The AASHTO system of soil classification was developed in 1929 as the Public Road Administration classification system.
It has undergone several revisions, with the present version proposed by the Committee on Classification of Materials
for Subgrades and Granular Type Roads of the Highway Research Board in 1945 (ASTM designation D-3282; AASHTO
method M145).

According to this system, soil is classified into seven major groups: A-1 through A-7.
To evaluate the quality of a soil as a highway subgrade material, one must also incorporate a number called group
index with the groups and subgroups of the soil. This index is written in parentheses after the group or subgroup
designation, ex A-7-5(35)

=( − )[ . + . ( − )] + . ( − )( − )

F200 – Precentage passing No.200 sieve

LL – Liquid Limit
PI – Plasticity Index

TAKE NOTE: in Group Index

 If the calculated GI is negative, it is taken as 0

 GI is rounded off to the nearest whole number
 There is no upper limit for GI
 The GI of soils belonging to groups A-1-a, A-1-b, A-2-4 A-2-5 and A3 is always zero
 When calculating the GI for soils that belong to groups A-2-6 and A-2-7, use the partial GI

= . ( − )( − )

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Sample Problems

1. The results of the sieve analysis is shown below:

a. What percentage of soil is retained in #200 sieve?
b. What is the effective grain size of the soil in mm?
c. Determine the uniformity coefficient
Ans. a) 95.62%; b) 0.149mm; c) 1.68

Mass
Sieve
Diameter (mm) Retained
No.
(grams)
4 4.76 25
8 2.38 80
10 2.00 110
20 0.84 160
40 0.42 180
60 0.25 220
80 0.180 380
100 0.149 590
200 0.074 110
Pan 85

Solution
Mass Cumulative mass
Sieve Percent passing (Percent
Diameter (mm) Retained retained above each
No. finer)
(grams) sieve
4 4.76 25
8 2.38 80
10 2.00 110
20 0.84 160
40 0.42 180
60 0.25 220
80 0.180 380
100 0.149 590
200 0.074 110
Pan 85
TOTAL

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 2. A soil has the following particle size distribution:
Gravel – 20%
Sand – 10%
Silt – 30%
Clay – 40%
Classify the soil according to USDA textural classification system
Ans. Clay soil

Solution

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 3. Classify the following soils by the AASHTO classification system
Description Soil A Soil B Soil C
Percent finer than no. 10 83 100 48
Percent finer than no. 40 48 92 28
Percent finer than no. 200 20 86 6
Liquid Limit 20 70
Plasticity Index 5 32 Non plastic
Ans. Soil A) A-1-b(0); Soil B) A-7-5(33); Soil C) A-1-a(0)

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 4. The table below shows the laboratory results of the sieve analysis of a sample. Plot the grain size curve of the soil in particle
distribution graph. The soil has LL=35% and PI=26% classify the soil according to:
a. USCS
b. USDA
c. AASHTO
Ans. a) Fine grained CL; b) Sandy Loam; c) A-6-11

Mass
Size (mm) Retained
(grams)
0.25 18.96
0.149 33.18
0.074 45.03
0.052 54.51
0.02 42.66
0.01 11.85
0.004 4.74
0.001 4.74
Pan 21.33

Solution
Mass Cumulative mass
Percent passing (Percent
Size (mm) Retained retained above each
finer)
(grams) sieve
0.25 18.96
0.149 33.18
0.074 45.03
0.052 54.51
0.02 42.66
0.01 11.85

0.004 4.74

0.001 4.74
Pan 21.33

TOTAL 237

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 a.

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 b.

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 c.

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