Noncohesive Soils

Synonyms

Cohesionless soils; Granular soils

Definition

Noncohesive soils are mineral soils that exhibit granular characteristics in which the grains remain separate from each other and do not form clods or hold together in aggregates of particles. Noncohesive soils also may be called cohesionless soils or granular soils. They tend to transmit water readily (relatively high hydraulic conductivity or permeability) and exhibit shear strength that has only a friction component with zero cohesion intercept. In the soil classification system used by soil scientists, noncohesive soils include sand, loamy sand, and possibly sandy loam if the silt-sized particles are nonplastic or nonsticky. In the soil classification system used by engineers (ASTM 2011), soils are classified initially by the amount of the soil mass that passes through a standard #200 sieve (200 openings per inch or 200 openings per 25.4 mm) with 0.075-mm openings (ASTM 2009); particles that are retained on a #200 sieve are...