Atterberg Limits

Equipment

Atterberg limits apparatus with cutting

tool
numbered soil moisture cans
wash bottle
metal spatula
no. 40 sieve
mixing bowls

watch glasses
paper towels
desiccator with lid
drying oven 105 oC
computer and spreadsheet software
weighing balance

Safety
Follow standard laboratory safety practices. Wear eye protection in the laboratory at
all times. Wear rubber gloves when mixing soil, making soil worms, making standards,
diluting samples and working around concentrated hazardous elemental standards and
reagents. Read the labels on all equipment, standards and reagents before using them.
Reagents
Triple-distilled water (TDW) or double-distilled water (DW) - Each laboratory usually has
water purification systems that produce DW or TDW. Check with lab supervisor on correct
DW or TDW system operation. Use water directly from systems.

Comments
Some soils may be too sandy to perform this test. These are considered non-plastic.
The liquid limit apparatus should be calibrated occasionally. The drop of the brass cup
should be 1 cm. Place the square end of the cutting tool under the portion of the cup which hits the
rubber base. Turn on the instrument. At each blow there should be only a small click as the brass cup
hits the base of the cutting tool. The adjustment is made by loosening the center thumb screw on the
top of the instrument and pushing the plate attached to the brass bowl forward or back. There is a
large thumb screw behind the plate which should be tightened up snug against the back of the plate.
Use a porcelain plate to roll soils for plastic limit, if a hard surface counter top is not
available.
Some procedures for Atterberg limits require the soils to be sieved with a number 40 sieve.
This takes out the very coarse, coarse and some medium sands. Check the state ASTM requirement
for engineering properties to see if this step should be followed.

Procedure Liquid Limit (LL)

1.

2.

3.

Mix approximately 200 grams air-dried ground soil with enough triple distilled water (TDW)
to make a stiff paste. Place a watch glass over the mixing bowl and let stand overnight. Soil
that has extremely high clay content must be mixed to a softer consistency.
After standing overnight, mix soil thoroughly with a metal spatula and smooth a dab (about
apricot size) into the bottom of the brass bowl of the apparatus. See photo below for
Atterberg device and equipment. Draw the cutting tool through the soil. The cut should be
smooth with no tears. If the soil is of proper depth, at the base of the cup the top of the
cutting tool will be level with the top of the soil.
Turn on the apparatus and count the number of blows required for the soil to flow together for
a distance of inch along bottom of groove. This should be between 12 and 38, though
numbers closer to 25 blows will be more accurate.

4.

Take a sample of the soil (a slice about inches wide from the portion which has flowed
together) and place in numbered moisture can. Weigh moist soil + can and record.

Brass bowl

Cutting tool

5.

6.

7.

Oven-dry can + soil in an oven at 105 oC overnight. Cool in a desiccator and weigh ovendried soil + can and record. Remove soil from can, clean, and weigh the can if there was not
a tare for the can before adding the moist soil.
Determine the moisture content of the soil and plot versus number of blows on calculation
sheet. Samples should be run in triplicate with varying moisture contents. To decrease the
moisture content of the soil and increase the number of blows, mix the soil with the metal
spatula and blot with paper towels. To increase the moisture and decrease the number of
blows, add small amounts of TDW and work in thoroughly. If additional water is added, the
sample should sit for hour before another determination is made.
The three points should form a straight line when plotted on semi-logarithmic paper. The %
water content at 25 blows is the liquid limit (LL). Use the worksheet provided to plot
numbers and obtain the % water content at 25 blows. Alternatively, EXCEL (or similar)
software can be used to plot the % moisture on the Y axis and the number of blows on the X
axis and display a logarithmic trendline equation. Check the boxes for displaying the
equation on the chart and display R-squared value on the chart. In EXCEL plug numbers into
the equation to get the % water at 25 blows.

Procedure Plastic Limit (PL)

8.

9.

10.

After determining the liquid limit (LL), remove a small portion of the moistened soil and roll
it into a ball about inch diameter. Work moisture out of the soil by working between your
fingers and blotting with paper towels.
Roll it out on the counter top with the palm of your hand. When the rope breaks or crumbles
at 1/8 inch diameter this is the plastic limit. Do plastic limit (PL) in duplicate and place
duplicate determinations in the same pre-weighed moisture can.
Weigh the moist soil + can and record. Oven-dry moist soil + can at 105 oC overnight. Cool
oven-dried soil + can in a desiccator and weigh. Determine the moisture content.

Procedure Plastic Index (PI)

11.

The plastic index (PI) is the moisture content at the liquid limit (LL) minus the moisture
content at the plastic limit (PL). Equation: LL PL = PI. The UI-Pedology Laboratory uses
EXCEL to perform calculations and plots. See the example below for calculations.

References
American Society for Testing and Materials. 2004. Standard tests for liquid limit, plastic limit, and
plasticity index for soils. D 4318. Annual book of ASTM standards. Construction. Section 4.
Soil and rock; dimension stone; geosynthesis. Vol. 04.08. ASTM, Philadelphia, PA.
Black, C. A. (ed.) 1965. Methods of Soil Analysis. American Society of Agronomy (ASA),
Monograph 9, Part 1, Madison, WI, p. 391.

Calculations
% moisture = (moist weight /oven-dry weight of soil) x 100
Plastic index (PI) = liquid limit (LL) plastic limit (PL)

Atterberg Limits Worksheet

The examples below illustrate how the worksheet should be filled out and which data to report for LL,
PL, and PI.

Identification: ___________________________
Sample No.
Liquid Limit
Plastic Limit
Plastic Index

Analysis by: ____________________________

Date: ___________________________________
Atterberg
ID
BH6
A4
12
62.68
54.30
8.38
33.07
21.23
39.47

BH6
C39
18
53.65
47.73
5.92
32.40
15.33
38.62

BH6
C41
30
47.77
43.38
4.39
31.77
11.61
37.81

41
B9
16
51.80
46.48
5.32
32.63
13.85
38.41

16
22
37
25

41
C47
22
51.20
46.10
5.10
32.61
13.49
37.81

38.41
37.81
36.85
37.69

40.0
39.5
y = -1.802ln(x) + 43.905
R = 0.9936

39.0

% H20

38.5
38.0

BH6

37.5

41
y = -1.859ln(x) + 43.563
R = 1

36.5
36.0
35.5
35.0
10

15

20

25

30

35

41
37.7
13.5
24.2

Plastic
Limit (PL)

41

BH6
39.47
38.62
37.81
38.19

37.0

BH6
38.2
12.0
26.2

Liquid Limit
(LL)

Sample No.
Can No.
No of blows
Wt. can + moist soil
Wt. can + dry soil
Wt. water loss
Wt. can
Wt. of OD soil
% moisture

12
18
30
25

Data Summary

40

Number of Blows

Using EXCEL (or similar) graphing software makes it easier to find

the log of the line and plug data into the equation to get the %
moisture at 25 blows.

41
B23
37
46.15
42.31
3.84
31.89
10.42
36.85

BH6
C21

41
B37

34.35
34.17
0.18
32.67
1.50
12.00

33.81
33.71
0.10
32.97
0.74
13.51

Atterberg Limits Worksheet

Identification: ___________________________
Analysis by: ____________________________
Date: ___________________________________
Atterberg
ID
Sample No.
Can No.
No of blows
Wt. can + moist soil
Wt. can + dry soil
Wt. water loss
Wt. can
Wt. of OD soil
% moisture

Data Summary
Sample No.
Liquid Limit
Plastic Limit
Plastic Index

Liquid Limit
(LL)

______
______

______
______

______

______

______

______

Plastic
Limit (PL)