Republic of the Philippines

Southern Leyte State University

Main Campus, Sogod, Southern Leyte, Philippines

Laboratory Exercise No. 5

DETERMINATION OF LIQUID LIMIT,

PLASTIC LIMIT AND PLASTICITY INDEX

Submitted to:

DR. ANACLETA L. DAGAAS

Assistant Professor 3

Submitted by:

Alex P. Tajora
Student
 Republic of the Philippines
Southern Leyte State University
Main Campus, Sogod, Southern Leyte, Philippines

Name : Alex P. Tajora Date Performed: August 29, 2017

Course &Year: BSCE 4A Date Submitted: August 31, 2017
Group # : 2

Laboratory Exercise No. 5

DETERMINATION OF LIQUID LIMIT, PLASTIC LIMIT AND

PLASTICITY INDEX
Objective/s:
 To determine the liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index.
 To know the underlying principles in determining the liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity
index.

Apparatus/Tool:
1. Liquid limit set 4. Dry cans
a. Liquid limit device 5. Oven
b. Grooving tool 6. Desiccator
c. Mixing dish 7. Balance
2. Pasic limit set 8. Distilled Water
a. Glass plate
3. Spatula
Procedures:

I. Liquid Limit Determination

1. Place the sample on the mixing dish and add to it 15-20 ml of distilled water, then stir
the sample, knead and chop with a spatula. Additional (1-3ml) water is added and the
same procedure is undertaken.
2. Place the sample on the liquid limit device to a depth of 10mm at the point of
maximum thickness. Make a grove at the middle of the sample with the use of a
grooving tool, allowing a maximum of 6 strokes for it.
3. Turn the crank at a rate of two revolutions/second until the two sides of sample come
in contact along a distance of ½ inch. Record the number of revolution and take a
sample for water content determination. A minimum of 10 revolutions must be made
before sample comes in contact by ½ inch.
4. Repeat the same operation for samples with more than 25 revolutions. This done by
adding soil to the sample.
5. Plot the flow curve and determine the liquid limit.
 II. Plastic Limit Determination
1. Place an air dried sample in a mixing dish thoroughly mix with distilled water until
the mass becomes plastic enough to be easily shaped into a ball. Take a portion of a
sample (8 grams) and use it for the test.
2. Form sample into an ellipsoidal shapes mass. Roll this mass between fingers in a
piece of glass. The pressure should be sufficient to roll the mass into a thread of
uniform diameter through its length. The rate of rolling shall be between 80-90
strokes per min.
3. When the diameter of the thread becomes 3.2 mm (1/8 in.) break the thread into 8
pieces and squeeze it between the thumbs and fingers of both hands into a uniform
mass roughly ellipsoidal in shape and re-roll it. Continue this alternate rolling to a
thread 3.2 mm (1/8 in.) in diameter, gathering together, kneading and re-rolling until
the thread crumbles under the pressure required for rolling and soil can no longer be
re-rolled into a thread.
4. Determine the water content of the sample.

III. Plasticity Index Determination

1. Prepare a sample and place it in a thin cup with the top at level with the rim of the tin
cup.
2. Place it under an 80 gram cone penetrometer with the tip of the penetrometer tangent
to the rim of the tin cup.
3. Release the penetrometer and determine the depth of its penetration on the sample in
millimeter, the value of penetration must be less than 20 mm.
4. Determine the water content of the sample.
5. Repeat the procedure (1-3) using a wet sample and see to it that the penetration value
is greater than 20 mm for this test.
6. Repeat procedure 1-3 using a 240 gram cone penetrometer on a wet sample and see to
it that a penetration exceeding 20 mm is obtained.

Data Sheet:

SAMPLE NUMBER WEIGHT OF SAMPLE DRY WEIGHT OF SAMPLE

1 0.7 0.6
2 0.8 0.5
3 0.6 0.5
4 0.9 0.7
5 0.6 0.4
6 0.8 0.5
7 0.9 0.2
8 0.8 0.5
9 0.8 0.6
10 0.8 0.4
Calculation:
I. For Liquid Limit Determination
A liquid limit test conducted on a soil sample in the cup device gave the following
results.

No. of Blows 15 21 29 37 43
Water Content (%) 75 63.2 47.2 36.5 30

Determine the liquid limit of the sample.

II. Plastic Limit Determination:

III. Plasticity Index Determination:

Computation Sheet:

Liquid Limit Determination

80
75
70
63.2
60
Water Conrtent (%)

LL = 56 %

50
47.2
40
36.5
Liquid State Line or Flow Line
30 30

20

10

0
15 21 29 37 43
Number of Blows, N-Logarithmic Scale

Discussion:
The liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index of soils are used extensively, either
individually or together, with other soil properties to correlate with engineering behavior such as
compressibility, permeability, compatibility, shrink swell and shear strength.
Drawing:
Conclusion:
Thus, the laboratory exercise aims the student to have knowledge on the determination of
liquid limit, plastic limit and plasticity index. The laboratory exercise pertains to unleash the students
understanding on the underlying principles of computing or determining the liquid limit, plastic limit
and plasticity index. Furthermore the knowledge sustain must be life-long to used it as an asset in
pursuing the future endeavor as future civil engineer.