2.
9 Soil Classification Systems 21
Table 2.7 AASHTO Soil Classification System
Granular materials
General classification (35% or less of total sample passing No. 200 sieve)
A-1 A-2
Group classification A-1-a A-1-b A-3 A-2-4 A-2-5 A-2-6 A-2-7
Sieve analysis (% passing)
No. 10 sieve 50 max
No. 40 sieve 30 max 50 max 51 min
No. 200 sieve 15 max 25 max 10 max 35 max 35 max 35 max 35 max
For fraction passing
No. 40 sieve
Liquid limit (LL) 40 max 41 min 40 max 41 min
Plasticity index (PI) 6 max Nonplastic 10 max 10 max 11 min 11 min
Usual type of material Stone fragments, Fine sand Silty or clayey gravel and sand
gravel, and sand
Subgrade rating Excellent to good
Silt–clay materials
General classification (More than 35% of total sample passing No. 200 sieve)
Group classification A-4 A-5 A-6 A-7
A-7-5a
A-7-6b
Sieve analysis (% passing)
No. 10 sieve
No. 40 sieve
No. 200 sieve 36 min 36 min 36 min 36 min
For fraction passing
No. 40 sieve
Liquid limit (LL) 40 max 41 min 40 max 41 min
Plasticity index (PI) 10 max 10 max 11 min 11 min
Usual types of material Mostly silty soil Mostly clayey soil
Subgrade rating Fair to poor
a
If PI # LL 2 30, the classification is A-7-5.
b
If PI . LL 2 30, the classification is A-7-6.
where
F200 5 percent passing No. 200 sieve, expressed as a whole number
LL 5 liquid limit
PI 5 plasticity index
When calculating the group index for a soil belonging to group A-2-6 or A-2-7, use
only the partial group-index equation relating to the plasticity index:
GI 5 0.01sF200 2 15d sPI 2 10d (2.34)
The group index is rounded to the nearest whole number and written next to the soil
group in parentheses; for example, we have
A-4 (5)
h
| Group index
Soil group
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. WCN 02-200-203
Copyright 2019 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).
Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.