Soils are usually classified into various types. In many cases these various types also have different mechanical properties. A simple subdivision of soils is on the basis of the grain size of the particles that constitute the soil. Coarse granular material is often denoted as gravel and finer material as sand. In order to have a uniformly applicable terminology it has been agreed internationally to consider particles larger than 2 mm, but smaller than 63 mm as gravel. Larger particles are denoted as stones.
Sand is the material consisting of particles smaller than 2 mm, but larger than 0.063 mm. Particles smaller than 0.063 mm and larger than 0.002 mm are denoted as silt. Soil consisting of even smaller particles, smaller than 0.002 mm, is denoted as clay or luthum.
Sand is the material consisting of particles smaller than 2 mm, but larger than 0.063 mm. Particles smaller than 0.063 mm and larger than 0.002 mm are denoted as silt. Soil consisting of even smaller particles, smaller than 0.002 mm, is denoted as clay or luthum.
In some countries, such as the Netherlands, the soil may also contain layers of peat, consisting of organic material such as decayed plants. Particles of peat usually are rather small, but it may also contain pieces of wood. It is then not so much the grain size that is characteristic, but rather the chemical composition, with large amounts of carbon. The amount of carbon in a soil can easily be determined by measuring how much is lost when burning the material. The mechanical behavior of the main types of soil, sand, clay and peat, is rather different. Clay usually is much less permeable for water than sand, but it usually is also much softer. Peat is usually is very light (some times hardly heavier than water), and strongly anisotropic because of the presence of fibers of organic material. Peat usually is also very compressible. Sand is rather permeable, and rather stiff, especially under a certain preloading. It is also very characteristic of granular soils such as sand and gravel, that they can not transfer tensile stresses. The particles can only transfer compressive forces, no tensile forces. Only when the particles are very small and the soil contains some water, can a tensile stress be transmitted, by capillary forces in the contact points. The grain size may be useful as a first distinguishing property of soils, but it is not very useful for the mechanical properties. The quantitative data that an engineer needs depend upon the mechanical properties such as stiffness and strength, and these must be determined from mechanical tests. Soils of the same grain size may have different mechanical properties. Sand consisting of round particles, for instance, can have a strength that is much smaller than sand consisting of particles with sharp points. Also, a soil sample consisting of a mixture of various grain sizes can have a very small permeability if the small particles just fit in the pores between the larger particles. The global character of a classification according to grain size is well illustrated by the characterization sometimes used in Germany, saying that gravel particles are smaller than a chicken’s egg and larger than the head of a match, and that sand particles are smaller than a match head, but should be visible to the naked eye.
