Atterberg Limits

Abstract

Atterberg limits are water contents at which significant changes occur in the engineering behavior of silts and clays. Important Atterberg limits include liquid limit, plastic limit, and plasticity index. Atterberg limits are used for classification of fine-grained soils and show significant correlations with many other properties of these soils. A comparison of Atterberg limits of a fine-grained soil with its natural water content, referred to as the liquidity index, indicates whether the soil would behave as a brittle material, as a plastic material, or as viscous liquid, when sheared.