The British Soil Classification System for Engineering Purposes; Its Development and Relation to Other Comparable Systems

摘要

This report reviews the British Soil Classification System for Engineering Purposes - BSCS - which has been introduced in the new British Standard Code of Practice for Site Investigations, BS 5930:1981. An account is given of the development of the BSCS from the previous British system of CP 2001, the reasons for changes are explained, and comparison is made with similar systems in use in America, France, Germany, Switzerland and Japan. New features of the system are that it is metricated, its groups are fully defined, description of the grading of coarse materials is improved, fuller description is possible of coarse soils containing an appreciable proportion of fines and of fine soils containing an appreciable proportion of gravel or sand, the classification of fine soils is extended to provide for materials of very high and extremely high plasticity, the presence of organic matter can be indicated in any type of soil, and materials containing boulders and cobbles can be classified.