Classification of Soils

Instructor
Dr. Saima Riaz
Assistant Professor
Department of Geological Engineering
UET Lahore, Pakistan.

Dated: February 24, 2016

Introduction
 Soil classification is the arrangement of soils into different groups
such that the soils in a particular group have similar behaviour.
 Soils, in general, may be classified as cohesionless and cohesive
or as coarse-grained and fine-grained.
 These terms, however, are too general and include a wide range of
engineering properties. Hence, additional means of categorization
are necessary to make the terms more meaningful in engineering
practice. These terms are compiled to form soil classification
systems.
Soil Classification – The need
 Natural soil deposits are never homogeneous in character; wide variations
in properties and behaviour are commonly observed. Deposits that exhibit
similar average properties, in general, may be grouped together, as a class.
 Through classification of soils one can obtain an appropriate, but fairly
accurate, idea of the average properties of the soil group or a soil type,
which is of great convenience in any routine type of soil engineering
project.
 From engineering point of view, classification may be made based on the
suitability of a soil for use as a foundation material or as a construction
material.
 A soil is classified according to index properties, such as particle size and
plasticity characteristics. A classification system thus provides a common
language between engineers dealing with soils.
Purpose
Requirements for a Soil Classification
System:
 For a soil classification system to be useful to the geotechnical
engineers, it should have the following basic requirements:
i) It should have a limited number of groups
ii) It should be based on the engineering properties, which are most
relevant for the purpose for which the classification has been made.
iii) It should be simple and should use the terms, which are easily
understood.
 Any soil classification must provide us with information about the
probable engineering behaviour of a soil. Most of the classification
systems developed satisfying the above requirements.
Soil Classification Systems
 Several classification systems were evolved by different organizations
having a specific purpose as the object. A. Casagrande (1948) describes the
systems developed and used in highway engineering, airfield construction
etc. The two classification systems, which are adopted by the US
engineering agencies and the State Departments, are the Unified Soil
Classification System(USCS) and the American Association of State
Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) system.
 For general engineering purposes, soils may be classified by the following
systems
1. Particle size classification 2. Textural classification
3. Unified Soil Classification
4. Highway Research Board (HRB) classification /AASHTO Soil
Classification
1. Particle Size Classification
 The size of individual particles has an important influence on the
behaviour of soils. It is a general practice to classify the soils into four
broad groups, namely, gravel, sand, silt size and clay size.
 While classifying the fine-grained soils on the basis of particle
size, it is a good practice to write silt size and clay size and not just
silt and clay. In general usage, the term silt and clay are used to
denote the soils that exhibit plasticity and cohesion over a wide range
of water content. The soil with clay-size particles may not exhibit the
properties associated with clays. For eg. Rockflour has the particles
of the size of the clay particles, but does not possess plasticity. It is
classified as clay-size and not just clay in the particle size classification
systems.
1. Particle Size Classification
 Classification based on particle size is of immense value in the case of
coarse-grained soils rather than fine-grained soils because the
behaviour of such soils depends mainly on the particle size, whereas
fine-grained soils depend on the plasticity characteristics. Some of
the classification systems based on particle size alone are:
i) U.S. Bureau of Soil and Public Road Administration (PRA) System
Classification
ii) International soil classification
iii) M.I.T System
(i) U.S. Bureau of Soils Classification
 This is one of the earliest classification systems developed in 1895 by
the U.S. Bureau of soils.
(ii) International Classification System
 This system was proposed for general use at the international Soils
Congress held at Washington in 1927. This was known as the Swedish
Classification system before it was adopted as International system.
In this system, an additional term Mo (Majla) has been used for soil
particles in the size range between sand and silt
(iii) MIT System
 Prof. G. Gilboy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in U.S.A
developed MIT system of classification of soils.
In this system, the soil is divided into four groups:
(a) Gravel, particle size greater than 2 mm
(b) Sand, particle size between 0.06 mm to 2 mm
(c) Silt size, particle size between 0.002 mm to 0.06 mm
(d) Clay size, particle size smaller than 0.002 mm (2 μm)
2. Textural Classification
 The visual appearance of a soil is called its texture. The texture
depends upon the particle size, shape of particles and gradation of
particles and gradation of particles. The textural classification
incorporates only the particle size. Here, the term texture is used to
express the percentage of the three constituents of soils, namely,
sand, silt and clay.
 According to the textural classification system, the percentages of
sand (size 0.05 to 2.0 mm), silt (size 0.005 to 0.05 mm) and clay
(size less tan 0.005 mm) are plotted along the three sides of an
equilateral triangle. The equilateral triangle is divided into 10 zones,
each zone gives a type of soil. The soil can be classified by
determining the zone in which it lies. A key is given that indicates the
directions in which the lines are to be drawn to locate the point.
 2. Textural Classification
 For e.g. If a soil contains 30 % sand, 20
% silt and 50 % clay, it is shown by
point P in the figure. The point falls in
the zone labelled clay. Therefore, the
soil is classified as clay.
 The textural classification system is
useful for classifying soils consisting of
different constituents. The system
assumes that the soil does not contain 30% sand
particles larger than 2-mmsize. 30% silt
Soil Type
However, if the soil contains a certain
40% clay Clay
percentage of soil particles larger than 2
mm, a correction is required.
 Unified Soil Classification System (Contd.)

50% 50 %

Coarse-grained soils: Fine-grained soils:

Gravel (G) Sand (S) Silt (M) Clay (C)
NO.200
0.075 mm
NO. 4
Based on wL and IP
4.75 mm
(Plasticity Chart)
Well or Poor Graded
based on Cu and Cc wL >50
wL <50
For G, use W if Cu > 4 and 1<Cc <3
For S, use W if Cu > 6 and 1<Cc <3
 Classification Groups

•The soil is classified into 15 groups.

•Each group is designated a symbol consisting of two
capital letters.
•The first letter is based on main soil type.
•The second letter is based on gradation and plasticity .
 Classification Group Symbols
Main Soil Classification Group
Prefix Subgroup Suffix
Type symbols

Well-graded W GW
Poorly-graded P GP
Gravel G
Silty M GM
Clayey C GC

Well-graded W SW
Poorly-graded P SP
Sand S
Silty M SM
Clayey C SC

LL < 50% L ML
Silt M
LL > 50% H MH
LL < 50% L CL
Clay C
LL > 50% H CH
LL < 50% L OL
Organic O
LL > 50% H OH
Peat Pt Pt
 Group Symbols and Group Names
Group Symbol Typical Name
GW Well-graded gravels
GP Poorly-graded gravels
GM Silty gravels
GC Clayey gravels
SW Well-graded sands
SP Poorly-graded sands
SM Silty sands
SC Clayey sands
 Group Symbols and Group Names

Group Symbol Typical Name

CL Inorganic clays of low plasticity
ML Inorganic silts with slight plasticity
OL Organic soil of low plasticity
CH Inorganic clays of high plasticity
MH Inorganic silts with high plasticity
OH Organic soil of high plasticity
Pt Peat
 Plasticity Chart
L H

PI
• The A-line generally
separates the more
claylike materials from
silty materials, and the
organics from the
inorganics.
• The U-line indicates the
upper bound for general
soils.
LL

(Holtz and Kovacs, 1981)

 Plasticity Chart

Silt (M)
Clay (C)
Organic (O)

Below A-line, use M (Silt) or High Plasticity use H - wL >50

O (Organic)
Above A-line, use C - Clay Low Plasticity use L - wL <50
 Plasticity Chart

“The soil’s liquid limit (wL) after oven drying is less than 75 % of its liquid limit before oven
drying.” If the above statement is true, then it is Organic Soil (OL or OH). Otherwise, it is
Inorganic Soil (ML or MH)
 Plasticity Chart

When IP and wL are in the hatched portion of the plasticity chart, the soil is given dual
symbol (CL-ML).
Soil possessing properties of more than one group are termed as boundary soil and
designated by dual group symbol.
Procedures for Classification

Coarse-grained
material
Grain size
distribution

Fine-grained
material
LL, PI

Highly
 Passing No.200 sieve 30 % LL= 33
Example Passing No.4 sieve 70 % PI= 12

Passing No.200 sieve 30 %

Passing No.4 sieve 70 %

LL= 33
PI= 12
PI= 0.73(LL-20), A-line
PI=0.73(33-20)=9.49
SC
(15% gravel)
Clayey sand with Highly
gravel
AASHTO Soil Classification System
 8 major groups: A1~ A7 (with several subgroups) and organic soils A8
 The required tests are sieve analysis and Atterberg limits.
 The group index, an empirical formula, is used to further evaluate soils within a group
(subgroups).

A1 ~ A3 A4 ~ A7

Granular Materials Silt-clay Materials

 35% pass No. 200 sieve  36% pass No. 200 sieve

Using LL and PI separates silty materials Using LL and PI separates silty materials
from clayey materials (only for A2 group) from clayey materials

The original purpose of this classification system is used for road

construction (subgrade rating).
Note:
The first group from the left to fit the test data is the correct AASHTO classification.
 HRB Classification Procedure

Proceed from left to right on the chart.

Correct group will be found by process of elimination.
The first group from left into which the test data will fit will be the correct
classification.
Group Index should be rounded off to nearest integer and placed in parenthesis,
such as, A-2-2 (6).
Example
Passing No.200 86% GI  (F200  35)0.2  0.005(LL  40)
LL=70, PI=32  0.01(F200  15)(PI  10)
LL-30=40 > PI=32 A-7-5(33)
 33.47  33 Round off
 Example

56% passes 75 micron sieve.

 Plastic Limit (wP) =23%
Liquid Limit (wL)=36%

Plasticity Index (IP) = 36-23=13%

 Example
Passing 75 micron>35% IP < 40% wL>10%

wL=36%
IP =13%

A-6
 Example
Group Index Calculation 56% passes 75 micron sieve.
 Plastic Limit (wP) =23%
Liquid Limit (wL)=36%
Plasticity Index (IP) =13%

a= 56-35=21 c=0
b=56-15=41, Take 40 d=13-10=3
GI=5.4=5 A-6 (5)
Thank You