TP – 1318 An Introduction to Laboratory Testing of Liquid and Plastic Limits of Soils for Professional Engineers

Description

The Atterberg limits are water contents which define the limits of various stages of consistency for fine-grained soils. The liquid limit (LL) and the plastic limit (PL) define the upper and lower limits, respectively, of the plastic range of a soil; the numerical difference between these two limits expresses the plasticity of a soil and is termed the plasticity index (PI). Detailed procedures for determining the liquid and plastic limits for use in classifying soils and developing correlations with engineering properties of soils are presented in this technical paper.