Atterberg Limits of of of of

Atterberg Limits Atterberg, a Swedish scientist, considered the consistency of soils in 1911, and proposed a series of tests for defining the properties of cohesive soils. These tests indicate the range of the plastic state (plasticity is defined as the property of cohesive soils which possess the ability to undergo changes of shape without rupture) and other states. He showed that if the water content of a thick suspension of clay is gradually reduced, the clay water mixture undergoes changes from a liquid state through a plastic state and finally into a solid state. The different states through which the soil sample passes with the decrease in the moisture content are depicted in Fig. 3.9. The water contents corresponding to the transition from one state to another are termed as Atterberg Limits and the tests required to determine the limits are the Atterberg Limit Tests. The testing procedures of Atterberg were subsequently improved by A. Casagrande (1932).