Particle For Size Analysis there are two main steps to follow which are the Sieve Analysis then
followed by the Hydrometer Test.
Sieve Analysis:
For the Sieve Analysis we start out by taking our soil and examining the physical
qualities of it seen by the eye.
We then obtained 700.5g of the soil and placed it in a metal bowl.
After this we prepared our set of sieves and pan by brushing of any leftover
particles from any prior testing and made sure we had all of the sieves.
We then weighed each sieve including the pan and recorded the mass for each and
made sure to stack all of the sieves in the correct particle size order with the pan
on the bottom.
We then took our 700.5g of soil, poured it into our sieves including the pan and
placed it into the shaker to shake for exactly 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes we took the sieves including the pan apart with their contained
soil, weighed each of them and recorded the masses again.
We then compared these new weights to the original weights without soil and
calculated the percent difference in the weights to see if the difference was more
than 2% which would mean we had to reweigh all of the sieves and this did not
apply to our sample.
All of the soil that remained in the pan was kept for the Hydrometer Test.
We then used our results to create a graph of percent finer by weight vs. opening
size.
Hydrometer Test:
We then took 50.1g of soil that remained in the pan and put it into a mixing cup.
We then took 125ml of dispersing agent and poured it into our mixing cup.
We then took this mixture of soil and dispersing agent and mixed it for 60
seconds.
We then had to pour this mixture into a graduated cylinder removing any leftover
mixture by rinsing the cup with distilled water and pouring that also into the
graduated cylinder.
We then took the graduated cylinder with the mixture in it and filled it up with
distilled water until it hit the 1000 ml mark.
We then took the graduated cylinder with a plastic glove over it and mixed it by
rotating it upside-down over and over for 1 minute.
After mixing we started a stop watch and took hydrometer readings at time
intervals of 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 60 seconds, 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 15
minutes, 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 24 hours and recorded all of our readings for
each time.
After the 60 second reading we cleaned hydrometer the after each consecutive
reading.
After we obtained all of our readings we calculated the percent finer based on the
total sample.
We then took this information and placed it on the graph we started after the sieve
analysis.
Table 1-2A Fly Ash 700.5g
Sieve
Sieve
Mass of
NO.
opening(mm) sieve or
pan (g)
4
10
30
60
80
140
200
pan
Time T
0sec
15 sec
30 sec
60 sec
2 min
5 min
15 min
30 min
60 min
24hrs
75mm
2mm
.6mm
250m
180m
106m
75m
-
459.94g
488.94g
629.55g
363.33g
363.79g
347.25g
331.51g
373.53g
Mass of
soil
retained
on each
sieve,
.19g
.33g
.9g
4.77g
9.39g
54.84g
127.19
503.45
Percent
of mass
retained
on each
sieve,
.03
.05
.13
.68
1.3
7.8
18.2
71.9
Cumulative Percent
percent
finer,
retained,
.03
.08
.21
.89
2.19
9.99
28.19
100.09
99.97
99.92
99.79
99.11
97.81
90.01
71.81
0
Hydrometer Percent
reading,
finer in
suspension
Corrected
Length
L(cm)
Refer to
Table 2
K
D(mm)
PT
50
48
46
42
30
18
15
13
8.1
8.4
8.8
9.4
11.4
13.3
13.8
14.2
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.07mm
.005mm
.039mm
.029mm
.02mm
.013mm
.009mm
.006mm
71.8
68.9
66.0
60.3
43.1
25.8
21.5
18.7
99.8
95.8
91.8
83.8
59.9
35.9
29.9
26
Table 1-2A Tully Silt 688g
Sieve
Sieve
Mass of
NO.
opening(mm) sieve or
pan (g)
4
Mass of
sieve or
pan and
retained
soil (g)
459.24g
489.27g
630.45g
338.10g
373.18g
402.09g
458.70g
876.93g
75mm
515.16g
Mass of
sieve or
pan and
retained
soil (g)
525.07g
Mass of
soil
retained
on each
sieve,
9.91g
Percent
of mass
retained
on each
sieve,
1.5
Cumulative Percent
percent
finer,
retained,
1.5
98.5
10
30
60
80
140
200
pan
2mm
.6mm
250m
180m
106m
75m
-
502.85g
398.15g
324.06g
352.04g
345.33g
341.81g
512.12g
403.54g
333.27g
368.68g
570.17g
641.16g
389.35
Time T
Hydromete
r reading,
Percent
finer in
suspension
0sec
15 sec
30 sec
60 sec
2 min
5 min
15 min
30 min
60 min
24hr
37.5
37
35.3
33
24
22
15.75
14
13
9.5
74.9
73.9
70.5
65.9
47.9
43.9
31.5
27.9
26
26
9.27g
5.39g
9.21g
16.59g
224.84g
299.35
104.21
Corrected
Length
L(cm)
Refer to
Table 2
10.15
10.2
10.6
10.9
12.4
12.7
13.7
14
14.2
14.8
1.4
.89
1.49
2.49
33.19
44.19
15.48
K
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
.0133
2.9
3.7
5.1
7.5
40.6
84.7
100
D(mm)
.085
.061
.044
.033
.021
.013
.009
.006
.0013
97.1
96.3
94.9
92.5
59.4
15.3
0
PT
this group
crossed
Out
Their
calculations