2012 Taylor & Francis

Soil classication systems (USCS)

The terms and letters used in the USCS system are detailed in Table 1.4 (alternative). The boundary
between coarse and fne soils is taken to be 50% fnes (i.e. particles smaller than 0.075 mm, No. 200
sieve). The liquid and plastic limits are used to classify fne-grained soils, employing the plasticity chart
shown in Figure 1.12 (alternative). The axes of the plasticity chart are plasticity index and liquid limit;
therefore, the plasticity characteristics of a particular soil can be represented by a point on the chart.
Classifcation letters are allotted to the soil according to the zone within which the point lies. The chart is
divided into two ranges of liquid limit, low (L) and high (H). The A-line may be mathematically repre-
sented by Equation 1.5:
Ip = 0.73(w
L
20)
SILT (M) plots below the A-line and CLAY (C) above the A-line on the plasticity chart, i.e. silts
exhibit plastic properties over a lower range of water content than clays having the same liquid limit.
The letter denoting the dominant size fraction is placed frst in the group symbol. Organic silts and
clays (with a low to moderate organic content) have their own group symbol (O), as shown in Table 1.4
(alternative). Highly organic soils (e.g. peat) are defned by PT. A group symbol may consist of two or
more letters, for example:
SW well-graded SAND
CL Inorganic CLAY of low plasticity
Coarse-grained soils with fnes between 5% and 12% must be classifed using dual symbols (i.e.
describing both the grading of the coarse fraction (W or P) and the type of fnes (M or C). Similarly,
fne-grained soils which plot in the shaded zone in Figure 1.12 (alternative) are described using dual
symbols (CL + ML).
Table 1.4 Descriptive terms for soil classication (BS 5930)
Main terms Qualifying terms
GRAVEL G Well graded W
SAND S Poorly graded P
Uniform Pu
Gap graded Pg
FINE SOIL, FINES F Of low plasticity (w
L
< 35) L
SILT (M-SOIL) M Of intermediate plasticity (w
L
3550) I
CLAY C Of high plasticity (w
L
5070) H
Of very high plasticity (w
L
7090) V
Of extremely high plasticity (w
L
> 90) E
Of upper plasticity range (w
L
> 35) U
PEAT Pt Organic (may be a sufx to any group) O
Soil classication
2 2012 Taylor & Francis
Figure 1.12 Plasticity chart: British system (BS 13772: 1990).
Liquid limit
0
0
6
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
10 20
CL + ML
ML & OL
MH & OH
CH
Clays
CL
P
l
a
s
t
i
c
i
t
y

i
n
d
e
x
Silts & organic soils
Plasticity increasing
A
-
l
i
n
e
30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 110 120
7
4