Soil Classification Methods

Anybody has good/clear source for Soil Classification methods (especially USDA)?

CERM & All in one both have this topic discussed with charts etc but it is not that clear for non geotech person like me.

Will appreciate if you can help me understand it.

The two soil classifications you will run into are the Unified Soil Classification System and the AASHTO Soil Classification System. Both charts are set up to be used like a flow chart. You'll need to be careful when using the AASHTO chart not to confuse PI with PL. PI = LL-PL

Did you have specific questions about the charts that we can help you with?

schok108 said:

Anybody has good/clear source for Soil Classification methods (especially USDA)?CERM & All in one both have this topic discussed with charts etc but it is not that clear for non geotech person like me.

Will appreciate if you can help me understand it.

Click to expand...

CERM and All in One are the only sources I studied from.

ptatohed said:

schok108 said:

Anybody has good/clear source for Soil Classification methods (especially USDA)?CERM & All in one both have this topic discussed with charts etc but it is not that clear for non geotech person like me.

Will appreciate if you can help me understand it.

Click to expand...

CERM and All in One are the only sources I studied from.

Click to expand...

go for All in One

I think AASTHO and USCIS are the only common classifications, I found this from Wikipedia

schok108 said:

Anybody has good/clear source for Soil Classification methods (especially USDA)?CERM & All in one both have this topic discussed with charts etc but it is not that clear for non geotech person like me.

Will appreciate if you can help me understand it.

Click to expand...

In solutions part of the NCEES 2008 sample exam for morning question #106 is a pretty good chart for USCS classification.

While surfing the web I found an extremely useful engineering resource(especially for civil engineers)

It has a few very good articles on different soil classification systems as well.Here is the link

Soil Classification

This is all you need for USDA soil classification. Exam will give you sieve analysis and you have to plot it on the graph.