ISO 11277 pdf download.Soil quality – Determination of particle size distribution in mineral soil material – Method by sieving and sedimentation
1 Scope
This International Standard specifies a basic method of determining particle size distribution applicable to a wide range of mineral soil materials, including the mineral fraction of organic soils. It also offers procedures to deal with the less common soils mentioned in the introduction. This International Standard has been developed largely for use in the field of environmental science, and its use in geotechnical investigations is something on which professional advice might be required. A major objective of this International Standard is the determination of enough size fractions to enable the construction of a reliable particle size distribution curve. This International Standard does not apply to the determination of the particle size distribution of the organic components of soil, ¡.e. the more or less fragile, partially decomposed, remains of plants and animals. It should also be realized that the chemical pretreatments and mechanical handling stages in this International Standard could cause disintegration of weakly cohesive particles that, from field inspection, might be regarded as primary particles, even though such primary particles could be better described as aggregates. If such disintegration is undesirable, then this International Standard should not be used for the determination of the particle size distribution of such weakly cohesive materials.
2 Normative references
The following standards contain provisions which, through reference in this text, constitute provisions of this International Standard. At the time of publication, the editions indicated were valid. All standards are subject to revision, and parties to agreements based on this International Standard are encouraged to investigate the possibility of applying the most recent editions of the standards indicated below. Members of IEC and IS0 maintain registers of currently valid International Standards. IS0 5651 990, Test sieves – Metal wire cloth, perforated metal plate and electroformed sheet – Nominal sizes of openings. IS0 3310-1 :1990, Test sieves – Technical requirements and testing – Part 1: Test sieves of metal wire cloth. IS0 3310-2:1990, Test sieves – Technical requirements and testing – Part 2: Test sieves of perforated metal plate. IS0 3696:1987, Water for analytical laboratory use – Specification and test methods. IS0 1 1 464: 1 994, Soil quality – Pretreatment of samples for physico-chemical analyses.
3 Terminology and sywbols
3.1 Terminology Particles within particular size ranges or classes are commonly described as cobbles, gravel, coarse sand, silt, etc. The meaning of such trivial names differs between countries, and in some cases there are no exact translations of such words from one language to another; for example, the Dutch word “zavel” has no equivalent in English. The only fraction for which there appears to be common agreement is clay, which is defined as material of less than 0,002 mm equivalent spherical diameter [l, 61. Such trivial names shall not be used in describing the results of particle size determination according to this International Standard. Phrases such as “…passing a 20 mm aperture sieve …” or “…less then 0,063 mm equivalent spherical diameter …” shall be used instead. If trivial names must be used, for example to cross-reference to another (inter-)national standard, then the trivial name should be defined explicitly, so as to remove any doubt as to the meaning intended, e.g. silt (0,063 mm to 0,002 mm equivalent spherical diameter) (clause 4 and, for example, [3]). Further, it is common to use the word ‘texture’ to describe the results of particle size distribution measurements, e.g. ‘the particle size of this soil is of clay texture’. This is incorrect as the two concepts are different, and the word ‘texture’ shall not be used in the test report (clause 10) to describe the results obtained by use of this International Standard. , It is common to refer to sieves as having a particular mesh-size or mesh number. These are not the same as the sieve aperture, and the relationship between the various numbers is not immediately obvious. The use of mesh numbers as a measurement of particle size is difficult to justify, and shall not be used in reporting the results of this International Standard.