Types of Soils Based on Particle Size

Various
Gravel size Classification
Agencies
 ASTM
Sand size
 AASHTO
Soil
 USCS
Silt size
 MIT/ BSI
Clay size  USDA

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 Various Classification Agencies

 ASTM : American Society for Testing and Materials

 AASHTO : American Association of State Highway and
Transportation Officials
 USCS : Unified Soil Classification System
 MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 BSI : British Standards Institution
 USDA : United States Department of Agriculture

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Types of Soil Based on Particle Size

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United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Classification

 Gravel : > 2.0 mm

 Sand : 0.05 mm to 2.0 mm
 Silt : 0.002 mm to 0.05 mm
 Clay: < 0.002 mm

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Set of Sieves

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 Sieve Designation : Smaller Sieves
 Smaller sieves are numbered according to the
number of openings per inch.
 No. 4 sieve has 4 openings per linear inch; So,
there are 16 openings per square inch area of
the sieve.
 No. 10 Sieve has 10 openings per linear inch;
So, there are 100 openings per square inch area
of the sieve.
 Clear opening of No. 4 sieve is 4.75 mm
 Clear opening of No. 10 sieve is 2.0 mm
 Clear opening of No. 200 sieve is 0.075 mm
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 Sieve Designation : Larger Sieves

Sieves larger
than the No. 4
are designated
by the size of the
actual openings
in the sieve.

Clear opening of
¾ inch sieve is
19 mm.

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 U.S. Standard Sieve Sizes
______________________
Sieve No. Opening (mm)
__________________________
4 4.75
8 2.36
10 2.00
16 1.18
20 0.850
30 0.600
40 0.425
50 0.300
100 0.150
200 0.075 8
_________________________
 Types of Soil Based on Particle Size
Name Size Limits Familiar Example
(in)/ sieve (mm)
Boulder > 12 > 300 Larger than a Basketball
Cobbles 12 – 3 300 – 75 Grapefruit
Coarse gravel 3–¾ 75 – 19 or Lemon

Fine gravel ¾ –# 4 19 – 4.75 Grape or Pea

Coarse sand #4–#10 4.75 – 2.00 Rocksalt
Medium sand #10 – #40 2.00 – 0.425 Sugar or Table Salt
Fine sand* #40 – #200 0.425 – 0.075 Powdered Sugar
Fines < #200 < 0.075 –
* Particles finer than fine sand cannot be recoznized with the naked eye at a distance
of 8 inch (20 cm).

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 Field Identification of Soil
ASTM D2488 : Description and Identification of
Soils (Visual-Manual Procedure)

Field Identification Tests

Colour
Highly organic soils have dark brown to black colour.
Inorganic soil is usually grey colour.

Odour of Smell
Bad smell or odour of organic soil.

Appearance
Coarse grained soil particles are large enough to be
visible to the naked eye.

Feel
May be tested for feel by placing it in between the
teeth. Gritty feeling for sandy soil..
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 Field Identification of Soil

Field Identification Tests

Dry Strength
The reaction of this test may be described as
none, very low, low, medium, high and very high.
Plasticity or Toughness
The conditions may be described as weak and
friable, medium and tough.
Dilatancy or Shaking
The reaction is rapid, slow or none.

Dispersion
Sands settle in 30-60 sec., materials of silt size
settle in 15-60 min, clay settle in  60 min.
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 Dry Strength Test
In dry strength test, a small briquette of the soil is
moulded and allowed to dry in the air. It is then
broken and a fragment of approximately 3 mm in size
is pressed between thumb and fore finger.

The effort required to break the fragment estimates

the strength of the soil. The reaction of this test may
be described as none, very low, low, medium, high
and very high.

A clay fragment can be broken only with great effort;

silt on the other hand requires very small or low
effort. The other reactions are used to describe the
proportion of silt and clay present in the soil mass.
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 Plasticity or Toughness Test
Plasticity is the characteristics of clay soilssoils.. This property is
activated in soil in presence of a certain quantity of water, due to
which soil can be deformed and remoulded without
disintegration..
disintegration
If a sample of moist soil can be manipulated between the palms of
the hands and fingers and rolled out into a long thread,
undoubtedly it contains a significant amount of clay. clay. As moisture
is lost during continued manipulation, the soil approaches a non- non-
plastic (NP) condition and becomes crumbly
crumbly..
Just before the crumbly state is reached, highly plastic clay can be
rolled into a long thread, with a diameter of approximately 3 mm,
which has sufficient strength to support its own weight weight.. A silt, on
the other hand, can seldom be rolled into a thread with a diameter
as small as 3 mm without severe cracking, and is completely
lacking in tensile strength unless small amount of clay are present
present..
This test measures the toughness or the consistency of the soil
near the crumbling stage (plastic limit).limit). The conditions may be
described as weak and friable, medium and tough
tough.. 13
 Dilatancy or Shaking Test
Dilatancy or shaking test may also be used to
differentiate between silt and clay
clay..
In dilatancy test, a small amount of soil is mixed with
water to a very soft consistency in the palm of the
hand.. The back of the hand is then slightly tapped.
hand tapped. If
the soil is silty water rises quickly to its surface and
gives it a shiny or glistering appearance
appearance.. Then if the
soil pat is deformed, either by squeezing or by
stretching, the water flows back into it and leaves the
surface with a dull appearance
appearance..
Usually, the greater is the proportion of clay in the
sample the slower the reaction to the test.
test. The reaction is
described as rapid, slow or none
none..
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 Dispersion Test

Dispersion test is useful for distinguishing between

silt and clay, and for making a rough estimate of the
relative amounts of sand, silt and clay in a material
material..
In dispersion test, a small quantity of soil is dispersed
with water in a glass cylinder or test tube and then
allowed to settle.
settle.
The coarser particle fall out first and the finest
particles remain in suspension the longest.
longest. Generally,
sands settle in 30 to 60 sec.
sec., materials of silt size settle
in 15 to 60 min min.. Whereas clay size remain in
suspension for at least several hours and usually for
several days unless the particles of clay combine in groups
or flocs
flocs..
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Identification of Fine Grained Soil Fractions from Manual Tests

Soil Type Dry Strength Dilatancy Plasticity Dispersion

Sandy None to very Weak to
Rapid 30 sec to 60 min
Silt low friable
Weak to
Silt Very low to low Rapid 15 min to 60 min
friable
Clayey Rapid to 15 min to several
Low to medium Medium
silt slow hours
Sandy Slow to 30 sec to several
Low to high Medium
clay none hours
Slow to 15 min to several
Silty clay Medium to high Medium
none hours
High to very Several hours to
Clay None Tough
high days
Organic Weak to 15 min to several
Low to medium Slow
silt friable hours
Organic Medium to very Several hours to
None Tough
clay high days

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Classification Based on Cohesive Properties

Soil
Cohesionless soil: Gravel, Sand,
Non-plastic silt.
Cohesionless means the soil has no shear
strength if no frictional properties.

Cohesive soil: Clay, Plastic silt.

Cohesive soil contains clay minerals and
possesses plasticity.

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 Soil Structure and Fabric

Soil structure may be defined as the geometric and

skeletal arrangement of the particles and inter-particle
forces that may act on them. Soil structure includes
gradation, arrangement of particles, void ratio,
bonding agents, and associated electrical forces.

Soil fabric is a term used to describe the structure of

clays and denotes the geometric arrangement of the
mineral particles in a clay mass as observed by optical
and electron microscope. The geometric arrangement
includes particle spacing and pore size distribution.
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 Fabric of Soil

The term fabric is used to define the

arrangement of the particles

Micro-fabric
The term micro fabric refers to those
particle arrangements that require
an optical microscope for their study.
Macro-fabric
Macro fabric refers to features such
as stratification, fissures and voids
that can be observed by naked eye.
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 Primary Structure and Secondary Structure

Primary structure of Various discontinuities may

soil refers to the develop subsequent to
arrangement of grains deposition or formation of
and this arrangement is soil. These discontinuities
generally developed constitute the secondary
during the process of structure of soil deposit.
sedimentation or They correspond to systems
weathering of rock. of joints in sedimentary
rocks.

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 Primary Structure of Soil

• Single grain structure

• Honeycomb structure
• Flocculated structure
• Dispersed structure
• Domains; Clusters; Packets or Peds

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 Primary Soil Structure: Cohesionless Soil

Single Grain (Loose) Single Grain (Dense)

(a)

Honeycomb
(b)
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 Single Grained Structure
Single grained structure is primary structure of a
coarse grained soil. In single grained structure, each
particle touches several of its surrounding ones in
such a way that the soil particles are in stable
positions even if there are no forces of adhesion at
the point of contact between the grains.
The arrangement may be very loose (void ratio, e =
0.91) or very dense (e = 0.35). The properties of the
aggregate of particles are markedly influenced by
the state of compactness (i.e., looseness or
denseness).
The dense configuration occurs in deposits built in
active water environment. Loose deposits are typically
formed in quiet water.

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 Honeycomb Structure
Very fine sand and silt may develop honeycomb
configuration of very open structure.
If the gravitational forces during deposition of these
materials are not sufficient to overcome inter particle
attractive forces honeycomb structure results. The term
metastable is sometimes used to describe this condition
because of its inherent sensitivity to even the most minor
disturbance. Soil deposits of this nature often appear to be
firm and strong but become wet and unworkable as the
excavation process breaks down the primary structure.
Soils exhibiting honeycomb structure have large void ratios,
and they can resist ordinary static load. However, under a
heavy load or when
hen subjected to shock loading (earthquake),
the structure breaks down which results in a large amount of
settlement..
settlement
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Soil Structure: Cohesive Soil

(a) Dispersed

(b) Flocculated

(c) Packet or Ped

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 Dispersed Structure and Flocculated Structure
In dispersed structure, the In flocculated structure, the
edges, corners and faces of the edge or corner of one clay
clay platelets have like platelet tends to be attracted to
electrostatic surface charges. So, the flat face of another. The
the particles repel one another particles develop a loose (high
and occupy nearly parallel void ratio) but fairly stable
positions. Clay soil particles structure that can be
deposited as sediment in fresh maintained as long as the
water constitute dispersed electrical charges on the edges
structure. Even though the of the platelets remain
dispersed structure may be opposite in sign as those on the
quite loose at the time of faces. The degree of looseness
sedimentation, pressure can depends on the nature and
force adjacent platelets into a amount of electrolytes present
dense state more readily than if during sedimentation. Clay
they possessed flocculated deposits formed in the sea
structure. have flocculated structure.

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 Domains, Clusters, Packets or Peds
 Domains:
Domains: Aggregated or flocculated
submicroscopic units of clay particles
particles..
 Clusters
Clusters:: Domains group to form clusters.
clusters.
Domains can be seen under light
microscope..
microscope
 Peds
Peds:: Clusters group to form peds
peds.. Peds
can be seen without microscope.
microscope. Peds may
exist in randomly arranged configuration.
configuration.
Packets or peds are made up of highly
oriented individual particles.
particles.
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 Secondary Structures : Cracks, Joints,
Slickenslides and Concretions
Cracks and joints are formed as a result of
desiccation sometime after the deposition of the
material..
material
Slickenslides are polished surfaces in stiff clays that
have experienced differential movement or
expansion..
expansion
Concretions are accumulations of carbonates or iron
compounds..
compounds
 All these features disrupt the continuity of the soil
mass and may impart to it properties significantly
different from those of intact samples taken from the
deposit..
deposit
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 Particle Shape of Soil

The particle shape can generally be divided

into three major categories:
Bulky
Bulky particles are mostly formed by mechanical
weathering. The shapes of the particles are
angular, subangular, subrounded and rounded..

Flaky
Flaky particles have very low sphericity, usually
0.01 or less. These particles are predominantly
clay minerals.
Needle Shape
Needle shaped particles are much less common.
Coral deposits and attapulgate clays are the
examples of needle shaped particles.
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 Particle Shape of Soil

The coarse grained soil is usually bulky

and in shape its behaviour is greatly
influenced by the shape of the particles.

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 Angularity of Bulky Particles

Angular: Particles have sharp edges and

Angular:
relatively plane sides with unpolished
surfaces..
surfaces
Subangular:: Paricles are similar to angular
Subangular
description but have rounded edges
edges..
Subrounded:: Particles have nearly plane
Subrounded
sides but have well
well--rounded corners and
edges..
edges
Rounded:: Particles have smoothly curved
Rounded
sides and no edges.
edges.
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Shape of Gravels, Cobbles and Boulders

L = Length; W = Width; T = Thickness

Flat Particles : W/T > 3
Elongated Particles : L/W > 3
Flat and Elongated Particles : W/T > 3 and L/W > 3
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 Particle Shape of Soil

The angularity of a bulky particle, A is defined as:

Average radius of corners and edges
A
Radius of the max imum inscribed sphere

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 Particle Shape

The roundness or sphericity of a particle is defined

as the ratio of minimum radius of the particle edges
to the inscribed radius of the entire particle:

6V
Equivalent diameter of the particle, De  3

V = Volume of the particle

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