Soil Mechanic Laboratory. Liquid Limit and Plasticity Limit Test

ATTERBERG LIMIT TESTS
University of Raparin.
Presidency of University of Raparin.
Civil Engineering Department.
Soil mechanic laboratory.

Liquid limit and plasticity limit test.
Name: Brwa Atta Muhammed Amin.

Group: B
Stage: Third.
Date of Test :26/10/2021.
Date of submission: 2 /11/2021.
1
Contents
Introduction......................................................................................3
Purpose of liquid limit test:..............................................................3
Purpose of plasticity limit test:........................................................4
Apparatus of liquid limit test:..........................................................4
Standard code...................................................................................4
Procedure of liquid limit test...........................................................4
Procedure of plasticity limit test......................................................5
Calculation.......................................................................................6
Discussion........................................................................................8
Reference.......................................................................................10
2
Introduction:
Liquid limit: The soil has a certain amount of water in it. Liquid
limit is measured by placing a clay sample in a standard cup and
making a separation (groove) using a spatula. The cup is dropped to
the floor and doesn't break. The water content of the soil is obtained
from this soil sample. The test is performed again by adding more
water. Soils with low water content usually yield more blows and
soils with high water content usually yield less blows.
Plasticity limit: A plastic limit is determined by repeatedly

remolding a small ball of moist plastic soil and manually rolling it
out into a 1/8-inch thread. A plastic limit roller device can also be
used to perform this test. The plastic limit is the moisture level at
which the thread will crumble before it is fully rolled out.
Purpose of liquid limit test:

1-The liquid limit of soil is a property that describes the soil's ability
to retain water (or water's ability to penetrate the soil).
2- Fine grained soils are classified by the value of the liquid limit.
3- It tells us about the percentage of sand, silt, and clay in the soil on
the site.
4-The soil fluid limit can be used to predict soil compaction
properties.
5-When calculating the allowable bearing capacity and settlement of
the foundation.
6-The liquid limit value of soil is used to calculate the activity of
clays and the toughness index of soil.
3
Purpose of plasticity limit test:

which is used for differentiating consistency states of finer particles
in soil material.
Apparatus of liquid limit test:

1-balance.
2-drying oven.
3-container.
4-ground glass plate.
5-spatula.
6-sieve No.40
Standard code:
Liquid Limit & Plastic Limit by Casagrande Method (ASTM D
4318).
Procedure of liquid limit test:
1- Place 250 g of air-dried soil, passed through a 425 mm sieve,
in a steaming bowl. Add distilled water to the soil and mix it
thoroughly to make a uniform paste. The paste will have a
consistency that would require 30 to 35 drops of cup to cause
closer of standard groove for sufficient length.
2- Place a portion of the paste in the cup of Liquid Limit device
and spread it with a few strokes of spatula.
3- Trim it to a depth of 1 cm at the point of maximum thickness
and return the excess of soil to the dish.
4- Using the grooving tool, cut a groove along the center line of
the earth spot in the cup, creating a clean, sharp groove with
the correct dimensions (11 mm wide at the top, 2 mm at the
bottom, and 8 mm deep).
4
5- Lift up and drop the mug by turning the crank at a speed of two
revolutions per second until the two halves of the earthen cake
come into contact with each other just by flowing for about
13mm and note that down Number of strokes N.
6- Take a representative portion of the soil in the cup.
7- Repeat the test with different moisture contents at least four
more times, and record the readings and units for each moisture
content.
Procedure of plasticity limit test:
1-Take about 20 g of a thoroughly mixed batch of material passing
through 425 µm.
2-First, mix the soil with water in the evaporating dish to make it
easier to mold.
3-Allow the soil to season for 24 hours before pressing with your
fingers. Allow some time for the soil to soak up some water before
pressing it with your fingers.
4- Take about 8 grams of this plastic mass and roll the mass between
your fingers with sufficient pressure to roll the mass into a thread of
uniform diameter throughout its length. The average speed of a
rolling dough ball will be between 80 and 90 strokes per minute.
5- Continue rolling this metal wire to create a thread of 3mm
diameter.
6- Mix the soil together and roll it into a uniform mass.
7-Continue the process until the thread crumbles when the diameter
is 3 mm.
8-Gather the bits of the disintegrated string in a holder for dampness
assurance purposes.
9-Rehash the test to something like multiple times and take the
normal of the outcomes determined to the closest entirety number.
5
Calculation:
Liquid limit:
Mass of water= (mass of moist soil+container)- (mass of dry soil+container).
N1¿ 52.24−44.31=7.93 g
N2¿ 66.12−54.06=12.06 g
N3¿ 46.96−40.59=6.37 g
N4¿ 49.64−41.61=8.03 g
Mass of dry soil=(mass of dry soil+container)-(mass of container).
N1¿ 44.31−26.55=17,76 g
N2¿ 54.06−26.85=27.21 g
N3¿ 40.59−26.10=14.49 g
N4¿ 41.61−25.94=15.67 g
Ww
Water content¿ Ws x 100
7.93
N1¿ 17.76 x 100=44.651 %
12.06
N2¿ 27.21 x 100=44.322 %
6.37
N3¿ 14,49 x 100=43.961 %
8.03
N4¿ 15.67 x 100=51.244 %
6
Plasticity limit:
Mass of water= (mass of moist soil+container)- (mass of dry soil+container).
N5¿ 31.46−30.22=1.24 g
N6¿ 31.83−30.55=1.28 g
N7¿ 43.36−39.51=3.85 g
Mass of dry soil=(mass of dry soil+container)-(mass of container).
N5¿ 30.22−26.32=3.9 g
N6¿ 30.55−26.30=4.25 g
N7¿ 39.51−25.86=13.65 g
Ww
Water content¿ Ws x 100
1.24
N5¿ 3.9
x 100=31.795 %
1.28
N6¿ 4.25 x 100=30.12 %
3.85
N7¿ 13.65 x 100=28.205 %
31.795+ 30.12+ 28.205
Plastic limit¿ 3
=30.04 %
7
Discussion:
At the end we will say something about Liquid limit:
So finally we need to say know liquid Limit (LL) is the water content
at which soil changes from a plastic to a fluid state when the dirt
example is sufficiently liquid for a score to close when jostled in a
predetermined way. And Value of liquid limit is used to classify fine
grained soil. It gives us information regarding the state of
consistency of soil on site. Liquid limit of soil can be used to predict
the consolidation properties of soil while calculating allowable
bearing capacity & settlement of foundation .
Then about Plastic limit:
The value of the plastic limit is used to classify the fine-grained soils
and evaluating the activities of clayey soil. 2. It indicates the
toughness index of soil. ... It gives an idea regarding the consistency
of soil.
Results:
After that we did the calculation we got water content of samples and
we had number of blows that we used to find liquid limit:
N1=44.651%
N2=44.322%
N3=43.961%
N4=51.244%
Then we took water contents and number of blow in the chart and we
find liquid that equal to (43.56%).
8
Plastic limit:
So like all times we found mass of water and soil and we used to find
water content because we know to find plastic limit we need water
content that was:
N5=31.795%
N6=30.120%
N7=28.205%
Then we will take average of those percentage and we got (plastic
limit=30.04%).
Errors: if we talk about errors we had some errors that made
problem for us that we must count them and know because maybe if
we won’t say them in future we will do again and we can’t get good
data’s we need to our work:
1-when rounding liquid limit devise, we did fast and slow we didn’t
uniform so did it in different velocity makes error to reunion sample
and made effect on it.
2-cleaning liquid limit devise; if we will not do it perfectly that will
make on our sample and two different paste type will mix and maybe
don’t let sample reunion easily and we get wrong number of blows
more or less.
So know we talk about error in plastic limit: When we rolling sample
to be long and thin to arrive three millimeters in that time force of
our hand would change and that was reason to get ununiformed
shape and can’t arrive before of it, the sample would crack, so
another reasons sample would so wet and stick hand and makes to
lose some particles and can’t get that rate selected.
9
Reference:
1-https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/liquid-limit
2-https://www.globalgilson.com/blog/atterberg-limits-a-quick-
reference-guide
3-http://home.iitk.ac.in/~pkbd/Lab-LL.html
4-https://civilblog.org/2015/03/07/liquid-limit-of-soil-what-why-
how/
5-https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007%2F978-3-
319-73568-9_224#:~:text=The%20plastic%20limit%20is
%20one,finer%20particles%20in%20soil%20material.
6-https://www.iricen.gov.in/LAB/res/pdf/test-05.pdf
7-
10

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ATTERBERG LIMIT TESTS

Soil mechanic laboratory.

Name: Brwa Atta Muhammed Amin.

Plasticity limit: A plastic limit is determined by repeatedly

Purpose of liquid limit test:

Purpose of plasticity limit test:

Apparatus of liquid limit test:

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