Sand replacement method for determination of shrinkage limit of fine-grained soils

Abstract

Mercury is one of the many hazardous substances that has been recognized and banned by many natural codes of practice and governments. Because many laboratory works in research and practice require the use of mercury, safe alternative materials and procedures are being researched. One of the Atterberg limits dealing with volume stability of soils in the field is the shrinkage limit. The conventional method followed by many national codes of practice involves the use of mercury to measure the volume of dry soil pat. This paper proposes sand replacement method to determine the shrinkage limit of soils in the laboratory. This method uses sand of uniform gradation to determine the volume of dry soil pat. The proposed method is simple, safe, free from the limitations of the conventional mercury and wax methods, and eco-friendly. The shrinkage limit values obtained from the proposed sand replacement method compare very well with those from the mercury displacement method.