Study on soil gradation characteristics and continuous grading equation
The Grading of soil has a significant impact on its engineering mechanical properties.The comprehensive investigation of soil grading characteristics and the establishment of quantitative grading equations are essential for analyzing the physical and mechanical properties of soil as well as its engineering applications.By ana-lyzing the gradation characteristics of soil under various particle content distribution patterns,the fundamental form of the gradation curve of continuously graded soil was determined.Based on the Burr distribution,a continuous grading equation suitable for various types of continuously graded soil was proposed.The relationship between the characteristic parameters of the grading equation and the shape of the grading curve was quantitatively analyzed,and the wide applicability of the continuous grading equation was verified using actual engineering data.The re-search findings indicate a strong correlation between the distribution pattems of soil particle composition content and the shape of gradation curve,and there are four basic shapes for continuous gradation curve,including approxi-mately straight,bisquar,convex and inverse S-shape.The proposed continuous grading equation can accurately describe these four basic forms.The shape of the grading curve and the quality soil grading can be quantitatively de-termined by analyzing the characteristic parameters of the continuous grading equation.The continuous grading e-quation can well describe the grading characteristics of coarse-grained soil,such as natural gravel and artificial blasting rockfill,as well as fine-grained soil like natural sand,silt,and clay in the covering layer.