Transportation Engineering III
TEN301T
Classification Systems
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Classification systems
• Required to enable systematic and uniform
identification of materials
• Communication of properties between users
• Various systems exist
• Developed to cater for the specific requirements
of a specific region or country
• important - which system standard for region
• Correct designation – a1a ≠ A-1-a etc
• AASHTO
• Unified
• TRH14
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AASHTO
• American Association for State Highway and Transportation Officials
(AASHTO)
• Systematic grouping of various soils in accordance with their
suitability for use in highway subgrades and embankment
construction
• Classifies soils into seven groups based on particle-size distribution,
liquid limit and plasticity index
• Subgroups
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AASHTO
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Material
P0.075<35% Gravelly soils Silty, clayey soils P0.075=35%
P0.075<25% P0.075<35%
Silt Clay
P0.425=50% P0.425>50% Silt Clay
PI=10 PI>10
PI=10 PI>10
Silt Clay
P0.075=15% P0.075=25% P0.075=10% LL=40 LL>40 LL=40 LL>40 LL=40 LL>40
P0.425=30% P0.425=50% Non-plastic
P2.00=50% PI=6
PI=6
PI=LL-30 PI>LL-30
LL=40 LL>40
or or
PL=30 PL<30
A-1-a A-1-b A-3 A-2-4 A-2-5 A-2-6 A-2-7 A-4 A-5 A-6 A-7-5 A-7-6
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Group Description of Classification Group
A-1a Includes materials consisting predominantly of stone fragments or gravel
Includes materials consisting predominantly of coarse sand, either with or without a well-graded
A-1b
soil binder
Fine beach sand or fine desert loess sand without silty or clay fines or with a very small amount
A-3
of non-plastic silt
A-2-4 & Include various granular materials containing 35% or less passing the 0.075 mm sieve and with
A-2-5 a minus 0.425 mm having the characteristics of the A-4 and A-5 groups
A-2-6 & Includes materials similar to that described under subgrades A-2-4 and A-2-5, except that a fine
A-2-7 portion contains plastic clay having the characteristics of the A-6 or A-7 group
A-4 Non-plastic or moderately plastic silty soils
A-5 Similar to group A-4, except that it is usually of diatomaceous or micaceous character
A-6 Plastic clay having 75% or more passing the 0.075 mm sieve
A-7-5 Includes materials with moderate plasticity indices in relation to liquid limit
A-7-6 Includes materials with high plasticity indices in relation to liquid limit
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Unified
• Divides soils into two main groups
• coarse grained
• fine grained
• Coarse-grained designation
• soils > 50 % (by weight) retained by the 0.075 mm sieve
• G-prefix assigned > 50 % of particles retained by the 4.76 mm sieve
• S-prefix > 50 % pass through the 4.76 mm sieve
• suffix defines gradation of the soil
• W – well graded
• P – poorly graded
• M – containing silt
• C – containing clay
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Unified
• Fine-grained designation
• soils > 50 % pass 0.075 mm sieve
• divided into
• silts (M)
• clays (C)
• organic silts or clays
• suffix indicate
• low plasticity L – liquid limit < 50 %
• high plasticity H – liquid limit > 75 %
• Fine-grained soils classified according to plasticity index and liquid limit values
• A-line separates inorganic clays from silts and organic soils
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Unified: Gravel
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Unified: Sand
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Unified: Silt and Clay
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Major Divisions Group symbols Typical names
Well-graded gravels and gravel-sand mixtures,
GW
little or no fines
Clean gravels
Gravels Poorly-graded gravels and gravel-sand mixtures,
(50% or more of GP
little or no fines
coarse fraction
retained on GM Silty gravels, gravel-sand-silt mixtures
4.76 mm sieve)
Coarse-grained Gravels with fines
soils GC Clayey gravels, gravel-sand-clay mixtures
(>50% retained on
0.075 mm
sieve) Well-graded sands and gravely sands, little or no
SW
fines
Sands Clean sands
(>50% of coarse Poorly-graded sands and gravely sands, little or no
SP
fraction passes fines
4.76 mm sieve) SM Silty sands, sand-silt mixtures
Sands with fines
SC Clayey sands, sand-clay mixtures
Inorganic silts, very fine sands, rock flour, silt or
ML
clayey fine sands
Silts and clays Inorganic clays of low to medium plasticity, gravely
CL
(Liquid limit 50% or less) clays, sandy clays, silty clays, lean clays
Fine-grained soils
(50% or more OL Organic silts and organic silty clays of low plasticity
passes
0.075 mm Inorganic silts, micaceous or diatomaceous fine
sieve) MH
sands or silts, elastic silts
Silts and clays
(Liquid limit > 50%) CH Inorganic clays of high plasticity, fat clays
OH Organic clays of medium to high plasticity
12 Highly organic soils PT Peat, muck and other highly organic soils
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Ternary diagram
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TRH14
• Technical Recommendations for Highways (TRH) (Appendix C)
• Developed in South Africa - SA materials
• Recommended standards for road construction materials which cover
the following categories
• Surfacings and overlays
• Material for pavement structures
• Cement concrete
• Gravel wearing courses
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TRH 14
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TRH 14
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CODE MATERIAL DESCRIPTION
AG Asphalt surfacing – Gap-graded
AC Asphalt surfacing – Continuously graded
AS Asphalt surfacing – Semi-gap-graded
AO Asphalt surfacing – Open graded
S1 Surface treatment – single seal
Surfacings and overlays
S2 Surface treatment – Multiple seal
S3 Sand seal
S4 Cape seal
S5 Slurry – fine grading
S6 Slurry – coarse grading
G1 Graded crushed stone
G2 Graded crushed stone
G3 Graded crushed stone
G4 Natural gravel
G5 Natural gravel
G6 Natural gravel
Layered material - untreated
G7 Gravel-soil
G8 Gravel-soil
G9 Gravel-soil
G10 Gravel-soil
WM Waterbound Macadam
DR Dump Rock
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CODE MATERIAL DESCRIPTION
C1 Cemented crushed stone or gravel
C2 Cemented crushed stone or gravel
C3 Cemented natural gravel
C4 Cemented natural gravel
BC Bitumen hot-mix, continuously graded
BS Bitumen hot-mix, semi-gap-graded
Layered material - treated
TC Tar hot-mix, continuously graded
TS Tar hot-mix, semi-gap-graded
BT1 Bituminous treated crushed stone
BT2 Bituminous treated natural gravel
BT3 Bituminous treated cohesionless sand
PM Penetration Macadam
PCC Portland Cement Concrete Concrete paving layer
GWC Gravel wearing course Gravel wearing course
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LAYER MATERIAL CODES (See Table 6)
AG, AC, AS, AO (In combination with AG, AC or AS
Surfacing
S1, S2, S3, S4, PCC
G1, G2, G3, G4, WM1, WM2
Base C1, C2, C3, C4
BC, BS, TC, TS, BT1, BT2, BT3, PM
G5, G6
Subbase C1, C2, C3, C4
BT3
Selected layer G6, G7, G8, G9
Subgrade G8, G9, G10
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Typical properties
• Seal stone / aggregate
• Grading
• Crushing strength
• Flakiness index
• Polished Stone Value (PSV)
• Fines
• Stone-bitumen adhesion
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Typical properties
• Asphalt
• Gap-graded (AG)
• Continuously graded (AC)
• Semi-gap graded (AS)
• Open graded (AO)
• Aggregate properties
• Filler properties
• Asphalt mixture properties
• Design criteria
• Field compaction
• Resistance to water
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Seal Asphalt
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Multiple Seals
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Typical properties
• Pavement structure material
• Untreated material
• Graded crushed stone (G1 to G3)
• Natural gravels (G4 to G6)
• Gravel-soil (G7 to G10)
• Waterbound-Macadam (WM)
• Dumprock (DR)
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Graded Crushed Stone Natural Gravel
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Typical properties
• Pavement structure material
• Properties
• Grading
• Atterberg limits
• Crushing strength
• Flakiness index (some)
• Bearing strength and swell (CBR)
• Group Index
• Field compaction
• Deleterious materials
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Typical properties
• Pavement structure material
• Treated materials
• Cemented crushed stone or gravel (C1 and C2)
• Cemented natural gravel (C3 and C4)
• Bitumen hot-mix (BC and BS)
• Tar hot-mix (TC and TS)
• Bituminous treated crushed stone (BT1)
• Bituminous treated natural gravel (BT2)
• Bituminous treated cohesionless sand (BT3)
• Foamed asphalt, emulsion treated gravel – new classification –
not in current TRH14
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Typical properties
• Pavement structure material
• Properties
• Grading
• Crushing strength
• Flakiness index (some)
• Sand equivalent (some)
• Atterberg limits (some)
• Design strength
• Field compaction
• Stability requirements (some)
• Bituminous binder grade
• Durability – cemented material
• Deleterious materials
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Concrete materials
• UTCRCP (Ultra Thin Continuously Reinforced Concrete Pavement
• JCP (Joint Concrete Pavement)
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To know
• Different systems
• Basis for classification
• How to classify a material
• TRH14 basic designations and properties required
• Different materials in one class
• One material in different classes
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