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:
- Take soil sample of 20 gram from the thoroughly mixed portion of material passing through 425-micron sieve.
- 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.
- Form a ball with about 8 gm of this plastic soil mass.
- 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. - Form the ball from these 3 mm diameter threads.
- Repeat the process of alternate kneading and rolling until the thread crumbles and it can no longer be rolled into a thread.
- 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 |