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Plastic Limit of Soil


The minimum water content at which soil is in the plastic stage is called plastic limit water content. If a soil sample has water content equals to its plastic limit then it will crumble when rolled into a 3 mm diameter thread. The method to find the plastic limit of soil is based on IS 2720 Part 5.

Procedure:


  1. Take soil sample of 20 gram from the thoroughly mixed portion of material passing through 425-micron sieve.
  2. Mix the soil sample with distilled water thoroughly in an evaporating dish on the glass plate (20 X 15 cm) till the soil mass become plastic enough to be easily moulded with fingers.
  3. Form a ball with about 8 gm of this plastic soil mass.
  4. Roll this ball between fingers and the glass plate with sufficient pressure to roll the mass into a thread of uniform diameter throughout its length.
    Rolling shall be done till the threads of 3 mm diameter.
  5. Form the ball from these 3 mm diameter threads.
  6. Repeat the process of alternate kneading and rolling until the thread crumbles and it can no longer be rolled into a thread.
  7. Collect the crumbled pieces of soil in an airtight container for its water content determination.

The plastic limit shall be determined for at least 3 portions of the soil passing 425 microns IS sieve and the average of these 3 will be the plastic limit of the soil.

Plasticity Index


Plasticity index is the difference of liquid limit and plastic limit.

{I}_{P}={W}_{L}-{W}_{P}


This property is due to the presence of clay minerals.

Atterberg Limits for soils
Soil Type {W}_{L} {W}_{P} {I}_{P}
 Sand  non-plastic
 Silt 30-40 20-25 10-15
 Clay 40-50 25-50 15-100

Consistency of Soil
{I}_{P} Consistency
0  Non Plastic
<7  Low Plastic
7-17  Medium Plastic
>17  Highly PLastic


Consistency Index or Relative Consistency


{{I}_{C}}=\frac{{{W}_{L}}-w}{{{I}_{P}}}


Liquidity Index


{{I}_{L}}=\frac{w-{{W}_{P}}}{{{I}_{P}}}



Consistency of Soil on the basis of {I}_{C} and {I}_{L}
{I}_{C} {I}_{L} Consistency
>1 <0  Very Stiff
1-0.75 0-0.25  Stiff
 0.75-0.5 0.25-0.5  Medium Stiff
0.5-0.25  0.5-0.75  Soft
0.25-0 0.75-1  Very Soft
<0 >1  Liquid State