Short Note on Soil Consistency

SOIL CONSISTENCY

The property of soil which is evident by its resistance to flow is called soil consistency.

Consistency helps to understand the degree of cohesion between various soil particles. A fine grained soil thus remain normally in any one of the flowing states:

1) Liquid state

2) Plastic state

3) Semi-soil state

4) Solid state Atterberg limits or consistency limits Atterberg limits are very useful civil engineering purposes. Brief details of these consistency limits as under:

1) Liquid limits(L.L): The minimum moisture content at which the soil remains in liquid state, possessing a very little shear strength against flowing is called liquid limit. Liquid limit can also be defined as the minimum water content at which a pat of soil cut by a groove of standard dimensions, will close for a distance of about 12 mm at the bottom of the groove under an impact of 25 blows in standard liquid limit apparatus.

2) Plastic limit (P.L.): Is defined as the minimum water content at which the soil can be rolled into a thred approximately 3 mm in diameter without breaking.

3) Shrinkage limit (S.L.): is define as the water content blow which further reduction in water content by evaporation does not cause a reduction in volume of the soil mass. The above limits are shown as in figure.

MOISTURE CONTENT %