CE 402 - Soil Mechanics
By: Hekmatullah Habibi
BSCE. KU & MSCE KFUPM
Chapter 5 - Classification of Soil
Contents
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Textural Classification
5.3 Classification by Engineering Behavior
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
5.5 Unified Soil Classification System
5.6 Comparison between the AASHTO and Unified Systems
5.1 Introduction
• Classification is a common language to concisely express the
general characteristics of soils.
Soil Classification Systems
In general, there are two major categories into which the
classification systems can be grouped:
1- textural classification: is based on the particle-size
distribution of the percent of sand, silt, and clay-size fractions
present in a given soil
2- Engineering behavior Classification:
Particle-size distribution and the plasticity are used.
a. The AASHTO classification system, and
b. The Unified classification system.
5.2 Textural Classification
• Texture of soil refers to its surface appearance.
• Gravel, sand, silt, and clay
• In the textural classification system, the soils are named after
their principal components, such as sandy clay, silty clay, and
so forth.
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
5.3 Classification by Engineering Behavior
• Soils engineer must consider plasticity, which results from
the presence of clay minerals, to interpret soil characteristics
properly.
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
• The term silty is applied when the fine fractions of the soil
have a plasticity index of 10 or less.
• The term clayey is applied when the fine fractions have a
plasticity index of 11 or more.
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
• If cobbles and boulders (size larger than 75 mm) are
encountered, they are excluded from the portion of the soil
sample from which classification is made. However, the
percentage of such material is recorded.
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
• To classify a soil according to Table 5.1, one must apply the
test data from left to right. By process of elimination, the first
group from the left into which the test data fit is the correct
classification.
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
• Group Index (GI): In general, the quality of performance of a
soil as a subgrade material is inversely proportional to the
group index.
AASHTO Classification System
Group Index (GI):
“The quality of
performance of a soil as
subgrade material is
inversely proportional to
GI.”
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
Example
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
5.4 AASHTO Classification System
Class Example
5.5 Unified Soil Classification System
• This system classifies soils into two broad categories:
• Coarse-grained soils that are gravelly and sandy in nature
with less than 50% passing through the No. 200 sieve.
• The group symbols start with a prefix of G or S.
• G stands for gravel or gravelly soil, and S for sand or sandy
soil.
5.5 Unified Soil Classification System
• Fine-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 silt, C for inorganic clay, or O for
organic silts and clays.
5.5 Unified Soil Classification System
5.5 Unified Soil Classification System
5.5 Unified Soil Classification System
<30% plus No. 200 = Retain No. 200<30%
Example 5.4
The results of the particle-size analysis of a soil are as follows:
• Percent passing through the No. 10 sieve 100
• Percent passing through the No. 40 sieve 80
• Percent passing through the No. 200 sieve 58
• The liquid limit and plasticity index of the minus No. 40 fraction of
the soil are 30 and 10, respectively.
Classify the soil by the Unified classification system.
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Example 5.5
For a given soil, the following are known:
– Percentage passing through No. 4 sieve 70
– Percentage passing through No. 200 sieve 30
– Liquid limit 33
– Plastic limit 12
Classify the soil using the Unified Soil Classification System. Give the
group symbol and the group name.
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5.6 Comparison between the AASHTO
and Unified Systems
Home work #4
• Problem 5.1
• Problem 5.4
• Problem 5.C.1
Questions!!!
