Liquid and Plastic Limit Report
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ScribdTranslationsLiquid and Plastic Limit Report
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ScribdTranslationsLIMIT LIQUID AND PLASTIC REPORT
I.- PRESENTATION
This report deals with the Liquid Limit and Plastic Limit tests carried out.
in the laboratory using a representative soil sample, presenting the
procedures carried out and the results obtained.
II.- INTRODUCTION
There are soils that, when remolded, changing their water content if necessary,
They adopt a characteristic consistency, which has been called Plastic since ancient times.
These soils have been called clays, originally, by the men dedicated to
ceramics; the word passed to Soil Mechanics, in more recent times with identical
meaning. At that moment, plasticity became an engineering property of interest.
strict scientist.
When Plasticity became a fundamental index property, starting from the
use that Terzaghi and Casagrande made of it, the determination of the limits of
Plasticity has become a routine test in all laboratories.
Since the Atterberg methods were revealed to be ambiguous, Terzaghi suggested the task to Casagrande.
to develop a testing method for the determination of the Liquid Limit by standardizing
all its stages, so that different operators in different laboratories would obtain the
same values. As a result of such research, the technique based on the use of the
Casagrande spoon.
III.- THEORETICAL FOUNDATION
a) Liquid Limit.- It is the moisture content below which the soil behaves
as plastic material. At this level of moisture content, the soil is at its peak.
to change its behavior to that of a viscous fluid.
This value is determined using the Casagrande spoon, which consists of a cup of
bronze and a hard rubber base. A soil paste is placed in the cup, and a
groove in the center of the dough with a standard groover and the brass cup is dropped
on the base from a height of approximately 1 cm. by a cam operated by
a crank. The water content, in percentage required to close a distance of
12.7 mm along the bottom of the groove at 25 strikes is defined as the Limit.
Liquid, in practice this value is found by graphing the number of strokes (scale
logarithmic) versus The moisture content (metric scale) and determining the Curve
of Fluency.
Casagrande concluded that each strike on a standard device for liquid limit
corresponds to a shear resistance of the soil of approximately 1 gr/cm2. For
consequently, the liquid limit of a fine-grained soil gives the water content for the
The shear strength of the soil is approximately 25 g/cm.2.
Plastic Limit.- It is the moisture content below which the soil can be considered
soil as a non-plastic material.
This value is obtained by knowing the water content, in percentage, with which the soil,
being hand-rolled into small rolls of approximately 3 mm in diameter on a
Glass plate or another material that makes it lose moisture, crumbles.
IV.- OBJECTIVES
- Know the procedure by which the Liquid Limit and the Plastic Limit are obtained
from a ground.
- Know what the Liquid Limit and Plastic Limit represent for the soil.
V.- PRELIMINARY INFORMATION
A representative soil sample was extracted from a quarry located in the populated center.
from Salcedo in an area called Ministerio in an amount of approximately 5 Kg., of the
which separated a portion by quartering of approximately 321 g. to carry out the
tests of Liquid and Plastic Limit.
VI.- EQUIPMENT AND MATERIALS
a) For the essay of Liquid Limit.
Sieve No. 40 and pot.
Casagrande spoon.
Casagrande Ruler.
Precision Scale.
Rubber Comb.
Tray and porcelain container.
Samples to determine moisture content.
Oven at constant temperature.
Spatula.
Flannel cloth.
b) For the Plastic Limit test.
Sieve No. 40 and pot.
Frosted glass.
Precision scale.
Rubber comb.
Plate and porcelain container.
Taras for moisture content.
Oven at constant temperature.
Spatula.
VII.- EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURE
a) For the essay on Liquid Limit.
The sample was spread out on a small sack and was then crushed with the sledgehammer.
rubber for breaking up lumps.
2. The sample was sifted through mesh number 40 until a
representative sample of approximately 112 g.
3. The sample was placed in a porcelain container and was moistened with water.
approximately 1 hour.
4. The Casagrande spoon was calibrated to 1 cm. With the help of the grooving tool
Casagrande.
5. A portion of the pasta was placed on the spoon with the help of a spatula to a
thickness of approximately 1 cm.
6. Using the groover, a groove was cut in the center of the floor slab with
constant speed keeping the slotter stuck to the surface of the spoon
arranged in a normal way.
7. The cup was activated using the crank at a rate of 2 hits per second counting.
the number of blows until the bottom of the slope joined at a width of ½
approximately inch.
A sample of the joint was taken and placed in a tare, after which it was weighed.
using a scale.
9. The remaining sample from the cup was cleaned with the help of a spatula and a cloth.
t-shirt
10. The steps from 5 to 9 were repeated until 4 samples were obtained, 2 before 25 strikes and
2 later.
11. The taras with the samples were placed on a tray and taken to the oven for 24
approximately hours, after which the samples were weighed using a
scale, to calculate the moisture content of each one.
b) For the Plastic Limit test.
A small amount of the remaining soil paste obtained from step 1 was taken.
to 3 in the essay of Liquid Limit.
A sphere was manually formed and pressed against the frosted glass.
rotating it with the palm of the hand to form a cylinder until it reached
Approximately 3mm in diameter and showing cracks on the surface.
3. The cracked sample was placed in a tare and weighed using a
scale.
4. Steps 1 to 3 were repeated until 3 samples were obtained.
5. The tare weights with the samples were placed in a tray and taken to the oven for 24 hours.
approximately hours, after which the samples were weighed using a
scale, to calculate the moisture content of each one.
VIII.- RECORD OF DATA AND RESULTS
a) For the essay on Liquid Limit.
Essay No. 1 2 3 4
Number of Hits 10 20 28 30
Tare Weight (gr.) 10:30 14.01 13.77 13.51
Tare Weight + Wet Sample (g) 26.17 25.90 26.57 28.33
Wet Sample Weight (g.) 15.87 11.89 12.80 14.82
Tare Weight + Dry Sample (g.) 20.85 21.97 22.34 23.55
Dry Sample Weight (g.) 10:55 7.96 8.57 10.04
Weight of Water (g.) 5.32 3.93 4.23 4.78
Moisture Content % 50.43% 49.37% 49.36 % 47.61 %
The Liquid Limit is:
48.41
b) For the Plastic Limit test.
Essay No. 1 2 3
Tare Weight (g) 15.42 17.18 12.95
Tare Weight + Wet Sample (g) 18.78 20.43 15.95
Wet Sample Weight (g) 3.36 3.25 3
Tare Weight + Dry Sample (g.) June 18 19.73 15.29
Dry Sample Weight (g.) 2.64 2.55 2.34
Water Weight (g) 0.72 0.7 0.66
Moisture Content % 27.27% 27.45% 28.21%
Average Moisture Content 27.64%
Plastic Limit (LL) 27.64
IX.- DATA INTERPRETATION
The results of point number 3 in the Liquid Limit test vary greatly.
from the moment of plotting the Flow Curve.
The soil sample has a Liquid Limit of 48.41.
The soil sample has a Plastic Limit of 27.64.
The Plasticity Index of the soil sample is: PI = 48.41 - 27.64 = 20.7
X.- CONCLUSIONS
The moisture content below which this soil behaves as material.
plastic is 48.41%, meaning the soil is about to change its behavior to that of a
viscous fluid.
The moisture content below which this soil can be considered as
the plastic material is 27.64 %.
XI.- RECOMMENDATIONS
To determine the Liquid Limit, more tests should be conducted for greater accuracy.
XII.- BIBLIOGRAPHY
Soil Mechanics
Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering
