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A Study on Correlation Between Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit and Consolidation Properties of Soils

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Abstract

Adequate and reliable data on soil compressibility are often not available either due to time constraint or heterogeneity of soil deposits or non availability of undisturbed soil samples. This paper suggests a correlation between compressibility characteristic and liquid limit and plastic limit of soil that may be adopted under such circumstances. The proposed method is based on a pressure—void ratio equation derived in case of reconstituted saturated fine-grained soils making use of the experimentally verified fact that the major principal (vertical) effective consolidation stresses at liquid limit and plastic limit are around 6.3 and 630 kN/m2 respectively. The experimental verification has been made in three different ways using three different soil state parameters. In the process it has also been shown that the compression index is an exclusive function of plasticity index and specific gravity of soil.

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Abbreviations

C c :

Compression index of soil

e :

Void ratio

e L :

Void ratio at liquid limit

e P :

Void ratio at plastic limit

G s :

Specific gravity of soil

I v :

Void index

IvL(ave) :

Average void index at liquid limit

Ivp(ave) :

Average void index at plastic limit

P :

Consolidation pressure

P L :

Consolidation pressure at liquid limit

P P :

Consolidation pressure at plastic limit

P.I. :

Plasticity index of the soil

w L :

Liquid limit

w P :

Plastic limit; and

L.I. :

Liquidity index of soil

w N :

Natural water content

References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Civil Engineering Department, Assam Engineering College, Guwahati, 781013, Assam, India

    Binu Sharma & Padma K. Bora

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  1. Binu Sharma
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  2. Padma K. Bora
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Correspondence to Binu Sharma.

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Sharma, B., Bora, P.K. A Study on Correlation Between Liquid Limit, Plastic Limit and Consolidation Properties of Soils. Indian Geotech J 45, 225–230 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-014-0128-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40098-014-0128-0

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