HASHMITE UNIVERSITY Civil Engineering Department Geotechnical Laboratory

Lab Number: 2 Experiment name: Atterberg Limits

Name: Deiaa al-majalee ID Number: 433150 Date: 10/11/2005 Section: 1

Objective:
In this experiment we measure water content to plastic limit and liquid limit and the Blow count N for liquid limit.

Theory:
Plastic limit: defined as the moisture content at which a thread of soil just begins to crack and a crumble when rolled to diameter of 1/8 in. Liquid limit: the moisture content at which 2mm wide groove in soil pat will close for a distance of 1/2 in when dropped 25 times in a standard brass cup. Shrinkage limit: the moisture content at which no further volume change occurs with a further reduction in moisture content.

Apparatus:
For plastic limit & liquid limit:
1. Large ground glass plat. 2. 1/8 in diameter rod. 3. Standard liquid limit device hard rubber base and feet 4. Standard grooving tool. 5. Spatula. 6. Medium-size evaporating dish. 7. Distilled water. 8. 6 moisture tins. 9. Balance sensitive to 0.01g. 10. Metal or plastic scale to 1mm div.
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Plastic bag large enough to cover the dish.

Procedure :
A.

Plastic limit : 1. Select the small pat of either "cured" or naturally wet soil about the size of large peanut weight approximately 2g, shape of soil pat into an ellipsoid. 2. place the soil pat on the ground plate and, using the fingers in a palm-down position, begin to roll the pat into a long, slender soil thread the rate of rolling should be between 80 to 90 strokes per minute , this operation must be preformed in less than 2 minute. 3. when the soil thread cracks , break, or crumbles just as it reaches a diameter 1/8 in then the moisture content is the plastic limit quickly pick up the soil thread and break it up into a clean , dry, reweighed the moisture tin . Immediately place the lid tightly on the tin. 4. If the soil thread dose not crack or crumble when it rolled to diameter 1/8 in, stop rolling break the thread into six or eight pieces reshape the soil thread into an ellipsoid and commence rolling again.

5. If the soil thread crakes and crumbles before reaching a diameter of 1/8 in the moisture is below that the plastic limit, so we must add some water then repetition the previous step. 6. if the soil should be rolled to diameter of 1/8 in without cracking or crumble before reaching to 1/8 in diameter on the next immediate trial without permitting the soil to dry beyond that which occurs from reshaping the thread into the ellipsoidal shape required to start the next trial the soil pat is taken to be plastic limit and further rolling is not required. Quickly pick up the soil thread and break it up into a clean, dry, reweighed the moisture tin. Immediately place the lid tightly on the tin. 7. Return the next day and weigh the dried soil and moisture tin to determine the moisture content. B. Liquid limit: 1. Check the liquid limit device for proper calibration. 2. Put the soil sample in the liquid limit device then use the grooving tool to make 1cm thickness. 3. By the liquid limit device drop the standard brass cup and count the drop.
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Continue dropping to penetration

closed. If the number drop between "14 to 40" then takes the value of test else repeat the test. 6. Repeating the test 4 trail. 8. Return the next day and weigh the dried soil and moisture tin to determine the moisture content.
5.

Table 1 (plastic limit):

line NO 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Trial 1 Trial 2 8B Trial 3

Moisture Tin NO 6A WT Moisture Tin (Tare Weight) 30.87 30.47 (g) WT Wet Soil + Tare (g) 34.45 32.27 WT Dry Soil + Tare (g) 33.83 31.99 WT Water (Line3-Line4) WW (g) 0.62 0.28 WT Dry Soil (Line4-Line2) WS (g) 2.96 1.52 Moisture Content (Line5/Line6) 20.9 18.4 W % %

Table 2 (liquid limit):

Line NO 1 2
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Moisture Tin NO WT Moisture Tin (Tare Weight)

Trial 1 9B 30.4

Trial 2 1A 30.6

Trial 3 2A 30.5

Trial 4 10B 30.41

(g) 3 4 5 6 7 8 WT Wet Soil + Tare (g) WT Dry Soil + Tare (g) WT Water (Line3-Line4) WW (g) WT Dry Soil (Line4-Line2) WS (g) Moisture Content (Line5/Line6) W Number of Blows, N

7 50.8 6 44.5 9 6.27 14.1 2 44.4 % 17

8 52.9 7 46.5 5 6.42 15.8 7 40.5 % 38

1 52.6 7 45.7 1 6.96 15.2 45.8 % 32

47.1 4 41.91 5.23 11.5 45.5 % 21

Calculation:
Avg plastic limit= w/Number of trials=39.3%/2=19.65% From graph we obtained Liquid limit =43.37% when N=25 blows. Plastic index= WL-WP= 43.37-19.65=23.72%. FOR TRIAL 2 Liquidity index= (Wn-WP)/ (WL-WP) = (40.5%-19.65%)/ 23.72%= 0.88 FOR TRIAL 2 Liquid limit= WN [n/25]0.121 =40.5%*[38/25]0.121 =43%. FOR TRIAL1&2 Flow index = (W2-W1)/log (N2/N1) = (40.5%-44.4%)/log (38/17) =-0.11
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Discussion & Conclusion:

In general any mass of soil consists of collection of solid particles with voids in between the soil solids are small grins of different minerals whereas the voids can be filled either with water, air, or filled partly with both water and air so the quantity of the water in the soil or the water content is make effect on behavior the soil but we needed to compare or scale this water content against some standard of engineering behavior this is what Atterberg limits do they are important limits of engineering behavior, if we know where the water content of our sample is relative to the Atterberg limits then we already know a great deal about the engineering response of our sample the Atterberg limits then
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are water content at a certain limiting or critical stages in soil behavior, they along with the natural water content are the most important items in description of fine grained soil. They are used in classification of such soils and they are useful because they correlate with the engineering properties and engineering behavior of fine grained soil. If the W<PL the behavior of soil is brittle. If the WPL the behavior of soil is plastic solid. If the W>PL the behavior of soil is liquid. PL of the soil sample = 19.65% LL of the soil sample =44.37%