SIEVE ANALYSIS

•WET SIEVE

•DRY SIEVE

•HYDROMETER TEST
LABORATORY TESTING
Classification of Soil

BASIS OF SOIL CLASSIFICATION

 Geological origin
 Mineral content
 Grain size
 Plasticity
 Strength characteristics

This chapter will focus on the classification

based on grain size and plasticity.
LABORATORY TESTING
Soil Classification System

SOIL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM

Two types of soil classification system accepted

world wide are the British Soil Classification
System (BSCS) and the Unified Soil
Classification system (USCS)

However, for the purpose of thorough

understanding of the topics, most discussion
will be focused on the BSCS
LABORATORY TESTING
Particle Size Distribution Test

Sieve Analysis Test

Discussion of the test will focus on :
 Apparatus
 Procedures of sieving
 Data processing
 Plotting of graph
 Analysis of test results
LABORATORY TESTING
Sieving Apparatus

Particle size
distribution apparatus
SOIL CLASSIFICATION
Sieving Apparatus
Particle size distribution
accessories

Riffle box
LABORATORY TESTING
Procedures of Sieving
i) Wet sieving
 Wet sieving is carried out to remove fine-grained particles and
to determine the combined clay/silt fraction percentage given in
BS 1377: 1990: Part 2: Test 9.2.
 A sub sample is first oven dried and sieved to
separate the coarsest particle (>20 mm).
 The sub sample is then immersed in water containing
dispersing agent of sodium hexametaphosphate of about 2
g/litre solution and is allowed to stand before being washed
away in a 63 mm mesh sieve.
 The retained fraction is again oven dried and
passed into a nest of sieves.
 The cumulative percentage passing is calculated and the
combined clay/silt fraction is determined from the weight
difference expressed as a percentage of the total sub sample
from hydrometer test.
 The coarsest fraction (>20 mm) is sieved and the
result is combined to complete the grading curve.
LABORATORY TESTING
Procedures of Sieving
ii) Dry sieving
 Dry sieving is carried out on
particles more than 0.063 mm to
determine the coarse material in
the sub sample in accordance to
BS 1377: 1990: Part 2: Test 9.3.
 The sub sample is first oven
dried and placed on the nest of
sieves.
 The nest is then agitated on the
shaker shown and the weight
retained in each sieve is
determined.
 The cumulative percentage
passing is calculated to plot the
grading curve. BS Test Sieve
LABORATORY TESTING
Tabulation of Test Data

TABLE OF
CALCULATION
for a typical
three stage
sieving
 SOIL CLASSIFICATION
Plotting of Graph

PSD Graph

Geotechnicques I (KJC412) /Soil Mechanics (ECG413) ARM - July 2006

LABORATORY TESTING
Analysis of Test Results
100

Grading Curve
Percentage Finer

60

30

10

0
d10 d30 d60

Particle Size (mm)

SOIL CLASSIFICATION
Analysis of Test Results
Grading Characteristics
Based on the plot, the following characteristics
are determined in order to classify the soil :-
 Effective size = D10
D60
 Uniformity Coefficient, Cu 
D10
 Coefficient of Gradation, Cc 
D30 2
D10 x D60

(C u < 3 is uniformly graded whereas Cu > 3 is well graded)

 Percentage Composition
SOIL CLASSIFICATION
Analysis of Test Results

Determination
of the grading
characteristics
of the sample
LABORATORY TESTING
Fine Grain Analysis
Grading of Fine Soil

Hydrometer Test (Sedimentation Test)

 Hydrometer test is based on the
principles of sedimentation of soil
grained in water.
 This is based on Stoke’s law which
expressed that:

s -w 2
 D Hydrometer
18 test bulb
where
v is the velocity
γs is the unit weight of soil particles,
γw is the unit weight of water,
η is the viscosity of water, and
D is the diameter of soil particles.
LABORATORY TESTING
Hydrometer Test
Hydrometer Test (Sedimentation Test) – cont…
 In the laboratory, hydrometer test is conducted on a
sedimentation cylinder of 1000 ml using 50 g of
oven dried sub sample in accordance to BS 1377:
1990: Part 2: Test 9.5.
 A dispersing agent normally a mixture of 33 g of
sodium hexametaphosphate combined with 7 g of
sodium carbonate is mixed with water of 1000 ml
and allowed to stand for 24 hrs.
 The sub sample is then mixed with the dispersing agent
at 500 ml and distilled water is added to a volume
of 1000 ml.
 The hydrometer bulb shown is then placed in the soil
suspension at a time, t and measurements are taken.
 Examples of Grading Curve
PARTICLE SIZE DISTRIBUTION

PS4
Job No. Project BH/Pit no. Date
Site Client Sample no. Tested by Beta Copy
Test method Soil Descrip. Depth (m) Checked by

0.063

0.212

0.425
GRADING

37.5
0.15

1.18

3.35
British Standard Sieves, (mm)

0.3

0.6

6.3

10

14

20

28

50
63
75
CHARACTERISTICS

5
100
% Gravel 0.00
90 % Sand 0.00
% Silt 100.00
80
F % Clay 0.00

70 D90 (mm)
B
Percentage Passing, (%)

D85 (mm)
60
D A D60 (mm)

50 D50 (mm)

E D30 (mm)
40 C
D15 (mm)

30 D10 (mm)

Cu
20
Cg

10 Soil Classification

0
0.001 0.002 0.006 0.01 0.02 0.06 0.1 0.2 0.6 1 2 6 10 20 60 100
particle diameter, (mm)
Remarks :

Cobbles
fine medium coarse fine medium coarse fine medium coarse
CLAY
SILT SAND GRAVEL
© BBB2000
LABORATORY TESTING
Grading According to BSCS
A) described to be well-graded sandy GRAVEL (GW) with the
percentage of GRAVEL at 79 % is predominantly
represented and sand is more than 15 %
B) described to be gap-graded silty gravelly SAND (SPM) with
the percentage of SAND is predominant at 60 % with silt at
10 % and gravel at 30 %
C) described as uniform medium SAND (SPu) as the
percentage of SAND that lies in the medium range is 75%
D) described as uniform silty fine SAND (SPM) with the
percentage of SAND lies in the fine range of 85 % and silt
is encountered at 15 %
E) described to be sandy SILT (MS) as SILT is predominant at
60 % with sand encountered at 30 %
F) described to be CLAY (C) as the clay percentage is
dominant at 55 %
LABORATORY TESTING
Grading According to USCS
A) described to be well-graded GRAVEL with sand (GW) with
the percentage of GRAVEL at 79 % is predominantly
represented and the percentage of SAND is more than 15 %
B) described to be silty SAND with gravel (SM) with the
percentage of SAND is predominant at 60 % with gravel is
more than 15 % and silt at 10 %
C) described as poorly-graded SAND (SP) as the percentage
of SAND lies in the medium range is 75 %
D) described as poorly-graded SAND with silt (SP-SM) with the
percentage of SAND lies in the fine range of 85 % and silt is
at 15 %
E) described to be sandy SILT (ML) as SILT is predominant at
60 % with sand encountered at 30 %
F) described to be silty CLAY (CL-ML) as the clay percentage
is dominant at 55 % and silt is at 45 %
LABORATORY TESTING
Plasticity Classification

Classification of Fine Soil

In the case of fine soils, it is the shape rather than
the size of particles that has the greater influence on
the engineering properties.

Since plasticity of fine soils has an important

effect on such engineering properties as shear
strength and compressibility, plastic consistency
is used as a basis for their classification.
The consistency of a soil is its physical state
characteristics at a given water content. Four
consistency states may be defined.