EXPERIMENT NO.
1
SIEVE ANALYSIS OF COARSE GRAIN SOIL
Object
To carry out sieve analysis of coarse grained soil and draw particles size
distribution curve.
Scope
Sieve analysis is widely used in identification and classification of soil. It is also
utilized in the part of the specification of soil for airfields, roads, earth dams and other
soil embankment construction.
Apparatus
Set of ASTM sieves containing sieve # 4, 10, 20, 40, 60, 100, 200, lid and pan,
Balance sensitive to 0.1gm, Soil pulverizer, Sieve shaker, Soft brush for cleaning,
oven dried Soil sample.
Procedure
The procedure for the test is as following: -
a. Set the sieves in order so that sieves with largest openings are on the top and
gradually reduced size below.
b. Take oven dried soil sample about 300 to 500gmwhich has already been
pulverized. Pour entire sample in to set of sieves.
c. Place the sieve set in the sieve shaker and shake for 5 to 10 minutes.
d. Remove the nest of sieves from the sieve shaker and obtain the mass of
material retained on each sieve carefully. Compare sum of these mass to the
actual mass taken.
Observation and Data Collection
The observations to be taken during the test are shown on data Sheet.
Sieve No/ size Mass Retained Cumulated Cumulated % Passing %
gm mass gm
4 (4.75mm)
10 (2.0 mm)
20 (850m)
40 (425m)
60 (250m)
100 (150m)
200 (75m)
Pan
Total retained mass=
Computation and interpretation
The computation to be done after the practical are as following: -
a. Compute the percent retained (cumulative) on each sieve by dividing the mass
retained on each sieve by original sample mass.
b. Compute the percent passing by subtracting with 100% and subtracting the
cumulative % retained for that sieve.
(1) % Retained = (Mass of soil retained / Total Mass of sample) x100
(2) % Passing = 100 – Cumulative percent retained
Retained % of particles on Sieve # 4 =Gravel =________ %
Particles passing % from Sieve # 4 & retained on sieve # 200 = Sand =________ %
Particles Passing from sieve # 200 = Fines =________ %
c. Draw grain size curve (Free hand) between sieve size and percent passing on
semi log paper.
d. Find the Dia of particles from the graph curve.
D10 (Grain D30 (Grain D60 (Grain dia Cu= D60/ D10 Cc =(D30)2/(D60X D10)
dia at 10% dia at 30% at 60%
passing) passing) passing)
Cu is the coefficient of uniformity, which is a measure of the particles size range.
Cc is the coefficient of curvature, which represents the shape of the particles size
distribution curve.
For well graded gravel Cu Greater than 4 and Cc between 1 and 3
For well graded Sand Cu Greater than 6 and Cc between 1 and 3
Sieve No/ size Mass Retained Cumulated Cumulated % Passing %
gm mass gm
4 (4.75mm) 61 61 27.5 72.5
10 (2.0 mm) 51 112 50.5 49.5
20 (850m) 39 151 68.0 32.0
40 (425m) 28 179 80.6 19.4
60 (250m) 18 197 88.7 11.3
100 (150m) 10 207 93.2 6.8
200 (75m) 9 216 97.3 2.7
Pan 6 222 100 0.0
Total retained mass= 222 gm
Max Particle Size Approximate mass of soil Sample
Inch (mm) gm
3/8 ( 9.5) 500
¾ ( 19.0) 1000
1 ( 25.4) 2000
1-1/2 (38.1 ) 3000
2 ( 50.8) 4000
3 ( 76.2) 5000
ASTM D-422
