AASHTO Soil Classification System
When you dig down into the ground, you might find different types of dirt or soil. The AASHTO soil classification system helps people understand and organize these different types of dirt based on their characteristics.
There are three main types of soil: coarse-grained, fine-grained, and organic. Coarse-grained soil is made up of bigger particles like sand and gravel, while fine-grained soil is made up of smaller particles like clay and silt. Organic soil, as you might guess, is made up of decayed plants and animals.
Within these main types, there are further divisions based on a soil's properties. These properties include things like the size of the particles, how tightly they are packed together, how much water the soil can hold, and how strong the soil is.
So, the AASHTO soil classification system takes all of these properties into account and assigns each type of soil a code that tells us what it's made of and what its properties are. This code is made up of a letter or two that tells us the main type of soil (C for coarse-grained, M for organic, etc.), followed by a number that gives us more specific information about the properties of the soil.
Why is all of this important? Well, engineers and builders need to know what kind of soil they're working with in order to make sure that structures like buildings and roads will be strong and stable. The AASHTO soil classification system helps them do just that.
There are three main types of soil: coarse-grained, fine-grained, and organic. Coarse-grained soil is made up of bigger particles like sand and gravel, while fine-grained soil is made up of smaller particles like clay and silt. Organic soil, as you might guess, is made up of decayed plants and animals.
Within these main types, there are further divisions based on a soil's properties. These properties include things like the size of the particles, how tightly they are packed together, how much water the soil can hold, and how strong the soil is.
So, the AASHTO soil classification system takes all of these properties into account and assigns each type of soil a code that tells us what it's made of and what its properties are. This code is made up of a letter or two that tells us the main type of soil (C for coarse-grained, M for organic, etc.), followed by a number that gives us more specific information about the properties of the soil.
Why is all of this important? Well, engineers and builders need to know what kind of soil they're working with in order to make sure that structures like buildings and roads will be strong and stable. The AASHTO soil classification system helps them do just that.