PROPERTIES OF SOILS
1. Shape of Grains Particles coarser than 0.075 mm can be observed by naked eye to get some qualitative idea about the behaviour of soil. Coarser fraction comprising angular grains have higher bearing capacity. They can be compacted to a dense mass by vibration. 2. Size of Grains The properties of cohesionless soil depend upon the grain size distribution to a great extent whereas the properties of cohesive soil depend upon the grain size distribution to some extent. Based on the size of grain the soil is classified as shown in Table below. Determining the percentage of particles of different sizes in a soil is known as ‘grain size distribution’ or ‘mechanical analysis’ of soil. Mechanical analysis may be divided into: 1. Sieve analysis 2. Sedimentation analysis/wet mechanical analysis. Sieve Analysis It is carried out by sieving about 500 gm of dry soil sample through a set of standard gives arranged one over the other is ascending order of their sizes. The percentage of sample retaine...