Pavement Materials

Professor Nikhil Saboo

Department of Civil Engineering
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee
Lecture 01
Introduction to Soil as a Highway Material
Hello friends, welcome to the course on pavement materials. Today is the first class and we
are going to talk about the importance of the subject, the need for studying pavement
materials, and we will also talk about some of the important points that we have to
remember, while we are characterizing pavement materials in the laboratory.

Today, we will also touch upon the topic of soil, which is the first pavement material we are
going to learn in this particular lecture module. This course in general is meant to expose you
to various fundamental concepts related to the use and application of different pavement
materials that we use in pavement construction. I hope that this course on pavement
materials will be useful to all of you, especially those who are learning this particular subject
from the perspective of their course curriculum.
(Refer Slide Time: 01:23)

Before I begin, I would like to inform that various text information graphs and images that
have been used to make this lecture and other lectures as well in this particular course have
been taken from different textbooks, journal articles, reports, and general public domain
search and I greatly acknowledge them.
Now, since this is the first lecture and we are just going to start talking about various aspects
of pavement materials, I would like to take this opportunity also to thank my teachers, my
colleagues from different institute's and also my students. In general, various discussions with
them have greatly enriched my knowledge in the area of pavement materials, and also this
process is continuing with time.

I also would like to thank various other lectures on pavement materials that are available in
public domain for example, already there is an NPTEL lecture by Professor K.S. Reddy from IIT
Kharagpur. And I feel that you know, these lectures are very useful and my lecture or this
particular subject, which we are going to learn is just an addition to the existing knowledge in
the area of pavement materials. So, what are we going to learn in this particular module?
(Refer Slide Time: 02:53)

We will talk about the need and concepts related to pavement material characterization. So,
this is just an introduction to the subject. We will also talk about the introduction to soil as a
pavement material as I mentioned soil is the first pavement material we are going to learn
about in this lecture.

We will also further talk about the importance of particle size distribution for soils, we will
learn about various consistency limits for example, liquid limit, plastic limit and the use of
plasticity index. We will also talk about briefly different classification systems for soil and we
will spend some time to discuss about the classification system we use in India.

We will further explore the various strength properties of soil that are required to study
pavement as a system. We will talk about the expansive soils which are very critical soils and
we will further talk about the various ways to stabilize some of these soils which in general
cannot be used directly in pavement construction. So, today we will start discussing about
these two topics first is the need and concepts related to pavement material characterization
and then introduction to soil as a pavement material. So, let us begin by understanding the
term pavement material.
(Refer Slide Time: 04:16)

So, when you see the term pavement material, we have a predominant term here is
pavement. So, we are learning about materials that are used in pavement. So, just to begin
just to have a feel about this subject, let us try to see the two basic pavements that are
typically used in construction. So, we have a flexible pavement here and we have a rigid
pavement here. So, these are the general terminologies.

So, as you can see some of the differences you can make out from these two pictures are that
the flexible pavement appears to be darker in color in comparison to the concrete pavement.
So, sometimes flexible pavement is also called as a blacktop pavement. Then you can see in
concrete pavement, some joints are visible very distinct joints and the presence of these joints
you will also feel once you are riding on the surface of the concrete pavement whereas, the
flexible pavement you do not see any such joints present in the surface.

Well, there are other differences between flexible pavement and rigid pavement which does
not fall under the scope of the present lecture or present topic we are talking about. So, I just
wanted to place this picture so that we can identify that these are two distinct type of
pavement. So, if we are interested to know, our interest in this subject is to know the
materials which are used to build up these pavements.

So, it is not only the surface of the pavement rather it is the entire cross section of the
pavement we are interested in because there are several different materials used in different
layers. So, if I just cut open this to pavements, so, how will this pavement look like?
(Refer Slide Time: 05:57)

So, this will be a typical you know cross sectional structure, which you know we can assume
for these two types of pavement. So, let me just you know very briefly explain about these
cross sectional elements or the layers. So, when you see a flexible pavement, let us say the
pavement is constructed an embankment. So, you will have an embankment here.

Subgrade sometimes is considered as a part of an embankment or it is an improved layer,

which can be made up of similar material we use an embankment or some time we have to
borrow this material from some other location if the existing material is not suitable for
construction. So, we have a subgrade again made up of natural soil or improved soil.

Then we have granular sub base and granular base. So, these are granular materials made up
of different sizes of aggregates. All these layers from below to top that we are seeing here,
they all have different functions and that is why they are placed separately as a separate
structure individual structure. Above the granular base typically in a flexible pavement we
apply a spray application which is called as prime coat.

Above that we have bituminous layers, which can be composed of two or three different
layers in general if it is a two layer bituminous system, then the bottom part is called as the
bituminous binder course, over that we put another spray application tack coat, so we put a
tack coat and then we put a bituminous wearing course.

On the other hand, if you see the cross sectional element of a concrete pavement, again the
lower part remains the same that is we have embankment and we have subgrade above which
we are going to construct other layers. Typically, in concrete pavement, the need of other
layers are not specifically so important, because the concrete slab itself has the ability to take
off most of the load that is going to come on the surface.

However, because of other criterias for example, erosion of layer below or permeability
requirement, other layers are also used in the construction of concrete pavement. For
example, we have a granular sub base here above which we put a stabilized layer typically
which is DLC or Dry Lean Concrete, then we put a polythene sheet to eliminate the friction
between the two layers and then we have the PQC or the Pavement Quality Concrete placed
at the top.

Now, if you see the materials that are used to make up all these layers. So, let us see the
materials that are typically used in the common part in both the pavement that we have
embankment, subgrade and then we have granular layers. So up to the granular layers, we
have either the natural soil that are typically used in embankment and subgrade.

And then we have granular materials that are used for construction of granular sub base and
as well as granular base, the bituminous layers on the other hand is basically a mixture, so
this is a mixture of aggregates and bitumen. And then we heat the aggregates and bitumen
together we prepare the mix and this mix is further laid for the construction of the surface
layer in a flexible pavement system.

Then we have in the concrete pavement we have DLC and PQC both are made up of
cementitious material, in DLC the amount of cement is considerably less in comparison to
PQC but we can try to imagine both this material as a concrete mixture, so we have cement,
water, aggregate, sand and other ingredients that are mixed together and then that are laid
and then these layers are compacted.

So, before I begin to further slides and because we are able to see most of the materials here
and we have talked about it. Let us try to see these materials with our eyes. So, here I have
today with me because we are also going to talk about soil. So, I have different types of soil.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:09)

You can see that I have this packet is a type of soil, it is more of clay in nature not very much
recommended for the construction of foundation in pavements, but this is a type of soil.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:20)

This is again another type of soil a little darker in color in comparison to the previous packet
which I just showed you.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:32)
We also have aggregates here as I mentioned that this is used for the construction of granular
layer this is used for the production of bituminous mixtures, concrete mixtures and so on. So,
these are some aggregates in my hand, though these are single sized aggregates, which I am
showing you presently, but in practice in a particular layer, the aggregates can be present in
various different sizes depending on the target gradation, we are going to talk about these
aspects as we move forward.
(Refer Slide Time: 10:55)

Then we have a packet of cement. So, you can see that this is cement that is used for the
production of a concrete mixture or a dry lean concrete mixture.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:03)
We also have bitumen. So, this is mostly I mean now, it is more of semi solid in nature, because
the temperature of the room is around 25 to 26 degrees Celsius, but if you heat it, this will
become fluid and if you cool it down, it will become solid in nature. So, this is more of a
viscoelastic material. And we will be discussing about this material in detail in our lecture
series.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:34)

Then we have a bituminous mixture here. So, this mixture is something which you can see in
the picture here. So, this is the bituminous mixture composed of aggregates of different sizes
and bitumen mixed together and we also have some quantity of air voids within the volume.
(Refer Slide Time: 11:54)
This is a cylindrical sample of a concrete mix; we also prepare cubicle samples. So, I have one
cubicle sample with me.
(Refer Slide Time: 12:02)

So, this is a cubicle sample you can see for a concrete mix.
(Refer Slide Time: 12:12)
The DLC is also made up of concrete cement based materials, but the quantity of cement is
less, this was a DLC which I just showed you. So, these are some of the materials, however,
there are various other materials and my intention was to just to familiarize you with a visual
idea of these materials.
(Refer Slide Time: 12:28)

So, some of the basic materials that are used in construction, it includes soil, it includes
bituminous binders, aggregates, cement, and there are various other materials, but these are
some of the very primary materials that are used in construction. For example, soil is used in
the construction in earthwork, in subgrade, in embankment.

Aggregates are used in different layers of the pavement in different form, they can be from
natural sources, they can be from artificial sources. For example, we can have industrial slag
that can be used as the replacement of the conventional aggregates, Under the bituminous
binders also we have certain categories such as we have normal bitumen or viscosity graded
bitumen, we have emulsions, we have cutbacks, we have modified binders.

When you talk about cement we have just discussed that this can be used for the production
of dry lean concrete for the production of pavement quality concrete and so on. We also have
other materials, for example geosynthetics under which we have several products like geocell,
geomembranes that have been used in various pavement constructions, we have various
other stabilizing agents that can be used for stabilization of soil we have various chemical
agents that can be used for modification of primary materials.

So, in pavements, presently the state of the art is that various different materials are being
used are being developed and in the future these numbers are going to increase in a huge
range.
(Refer Slide Time: 14:07)

Now, coming to the need of studying pavement material or characterizing pavement

materials. So, the question is, why are we interested to know about the properties of various
pavement materials and why there is a need to characterize these materials before we can
use it in the pavement construction.

So, there are various reasons which can be identified that indicates about the need of studying
pavement materials. One is to select appropriate material for construction. So, this is like a
pass-fail criteria. So, since for example, we can have aggregates from different sources, these
aggregates from different sources, different types can have various mechanical strength,
various different properties.
Now, for a specific construction, I want that my pavement should be able to resist the load
which is going to come. But if the strength of the material is very low such that it is not able
to take up the desired load, my purpose of constructing a pavement fails. Therefore, it is
important to me as an engineer, that before doing/going for the construction, I have to test
the appropriateness of these materials for the desired purpose for which the construction is
being done.

We also need to study the material to obtain inputs for pavement analysis and design. For
example, let us say if we are talking about flexible pavement design. In the flexible pavement
design, we use resilient modulus as one of the properties for different layers, so that means
that I have to have the value of resilient modulus of these layers, in order to design the
pavement, in order to analyze the pavement, in order to find the thicknesses of different
layers for a given project, where we have some specific amount of traffic, for which I am
designing the pavement, where I have a specific number of years for which I am designing the
pavement and so on.

So, for pavement analysis and design also we need to test these materials and obtain the
inputs that are required during pavement analysis and then design. Then we also need to
study this material to understand the behavior of the materials in one hand and also in
combination with other materials because my pavement is actually a system, even one layer,
let us say if you are talking about a concrete mixture, if you are talking about a bituminous
mixture that is a system.

When I say system, it is a composite of different materials. So, sometimes I am also interested
to know about the properties of this composite, correlating it with the properties of the
individual components with which it is made. So, this is also one of the reasons that I want to
study the behavior of individual materials. The study of materials is also required to develop
classification and grading systems.

For example, in case of bitumen, we have VG 10, viscosity grading system VG 10, VG 30, VG
40 and so on. Similarly, if you talk about bitumen emulsions, we have different grades,
depending on the setting time of the emulsion we have rapid setting emulsion we have slow
setting emulsions. So, in order to classify or grade the individual materials under different
categories, we need to test this material we need to study the properties or certain different
properties of these materials.

Further, the study of materials is also required to get inputs for pavement evaluation. Now,
let us say you already have a constructed pavement, let us say that after you have constructed
the pavement for 20 years and after 5 years you visit the pavement and you want to know
what is the remaining life in that pavement. So, how will you know the remaining life?

One way is to cut open the pavement get the materials from the pavement tested in the
laboratory. Try to see that what is the present property and then the property we use during
pavement design. We will use a back calculation process to see that what is the remaining life
of the pavement using the same pavement design procedure we adopted while designing the
pavement.

Another method is to go for non destructive testing which is the most common way of
analyzing the pavement presently, we will take deflection sensors, we will give some load to
the pavement we will measure the deflection bowl, we will get the response and this response
we will analyze using some available methodologies, using some available theories to back
calculate the properties of the existing pavement and these properties will again be put in the
pavement design process to calculate the remaining life of the pavement.

So, study of these material is also required for pavement evaluation. Now, we have identified
various important reasons, there can be other reasons also in the list, but these are some of
the important reasons for which we need to study the behavior of these pavement materials.
Now, the question is once we know that there is a need, then how are we going to study these
properties or the desirable properties.

The most common way to do it is to do a laboratory evaluation. You have the material with
you, you have some list of tests available, some list of tests developed as per specification.
We will subject the material to those testing, we will get the results and then we will be able
to characterize this material. So, one way is to do laboratory evaluation.

We can also do field evaluation as I just mentioned that if we are interested to know the
material properties of some existing pavement system, then we can do some non destructive
testing using the results of the non destructive testing we can back calculate the material
properties. If we are not in a position to do both this type of evaluation, then we can also use
existing theories or correlations to predict the properties.

When I say existing theories it means, let us say you are interested to know the resilient
modulus of a bituminous mixture. Now, to know the resilient modulus of the bituminous
mixture you have to subject the mix to a specific testing procedure in an equipment which
itself is very costly, the operation of which is very complicated. Therefore, and but somehow
you want to know the property.
So, what you will do? We will search for alternate methods, maybe I will do some simple
testing on the bituminous mixture using a method which is available with me and then I will
try to see if there is a correlation between this test which the simple test, which I am going to
do, and the resilient modulus, which I desire to find out or I desire to evaluate. So, using the
existing correlations and theories we can also predict various material properties.

It is very important for us that, before we adopt any testing procedure to characterize the
material, we should be very confident about the robustness of that particular equipment, so
that the property which I am getting from subjecting the material to that particular testing
should be able to guide us to use that material for this specific project. When I say specific
project, try to imagine it in this way, that there can be the same material can be used in
various different projects.

And various different projects have their own objectives, have their own requirements.
Maybe you are using one type, in one project, you are using this material in a location which
is subjected to let us say very high temperature, the temperature of the environment is very
high. The same material you are using in some other location, where the temperature of the
location is very low.

Now, if the response of this material is temperature dependent, then the material will behave
differently in both the locations subjected to same loading conditions. Therefore, in the
laboratory, I cannot use a single test to characterize this material for both the locations, which
means, the experimentation itself which I am choosing should be project specific.

Now, this is very important, but not necessarily it is always considered as per the available
specification, but we have to think about it, we need to ask questions regarding the existing
specifications regarding the existing methodologies, and we have to see or we have to explore
that, which are those tests methods, which are really useful to understand the behavior of
the material for the purpose for which I am using it.
(Refer Slide Time: 23:21)
So, some of the critical parameters which I have to consider before doing the experimentation
is load, load is one of the very important parameter. So, I have to understand that the material
which I am going to use will be subjected to or the material which I am going to use in the
pavement system. So, that pavement system will be subjected to which type of load.

Will it be subjected to stationary load? Will it be subjected to moving load? What will be the
magnitude of the load? Will the load subject very or will the load impose very high stresses
on the pavement layers and the materials? Will the load be not very high? Will it be light? And
accordingly in the laboratory I have to see the response. Say the load is moving, and the
material which I am going to use is very susceptible to change in frequency or the frequency
of the loading or the magnitude of the load, let us say.

And I am using a stationary test to get some material property. So, this material property
which I get using the stationary load, may not tell me the or may not tell me about the exact
response or exact way this material is going to behave when it is actually used in the field. So,
if there is a moving load and when material is susceptible or the response of the material is
dependent on the frequency of loading, then it is better to test the material using similar level
of frequency at which we are anticipating you know the material will be subjected to in the
field.

Similarly, the magnitude of the load, if the load is going to be very heavy, I should be able to
apply higher stresses in the laboratory to see how the material will respond to that particular
magnitude of stress. Then, when we talk about load, we also have to see the application
mode, are we studying the tensile property of the material, are we studying the compressive
property of the material, are we studying the material under shear?
So, all these different modes of loading will change the response, some material are very good
in compression, but very weak in tension, some materials have high shear strength, but may
have lower compressive strength or lower tensile strength. So, we have to understand that
this material or this mixture, which I am going to use for pavement construction, what mode
of loading will that be subjected to in the actual field condition.

If I know that the critical load to which it will be subjected is shear. Then I have to test, I have
to find out the property or the response of the material in the laboratory using a shear load.
If the critical load which will be applied which will lead to the failure of the specimen is a
compressive load, I need to test the material in the compressive mode. So, accordingly we
have to think and we have to adopt those testing which will give me realistic property of the
material corresponding to the project at which I am targeting.

We also have to look at the climatic conditions, climatic conditions mainly include the
influence of temperature, for example, bituminous material, they are viscoelastic in nature.
So, as I just mentioned that if you heat bitumen, it will become fluid, if you reduce the
temperature it will solidify, it will behave as elastic material. So, we have to see that the
material or for example, if we take the example of bitumen, we have to see what is the range
of temperature at which it will be exposed in my project.

And accordingly I have to know the response of the material under that varying degree of
temperature in the laboratory. And then once I have the response of the material, and I am
confident that this material will behave desirably then I will be able to use it in pavement
construction. We also have to see the effect of rainfall or moisture you can say. For example,
you take soil, we will discuss that the properties of soil is highly dependent on the change in
moisture content.

So, there is one particular moisture content at which the soil has the highest density that is
the optimum moisture content, but maybe during monsoons my soil or the subgrade gets
saturated and the moisture content changes, which means my pavement will become weak.
So, I have to see that what is the moisture content at which I should expose my soil for testing
in the laboratory.

And the same response which I get should be used during the pavement design. If we have a
location where we are anticipating that the moisture level is not going to change, then using
a very high moisture content or subjected or subjecting our sample to a higher degree of
moisture may not be correct, because that will not lead to an economical design.
If I know that the material is not subjected to change in moisture content, then I should use
the corresponding desirable property and we did not see the behavior of the material under
worst conditions. So, you have we have to decide again all these parameters based on the
specific project and the location. Then we also have to see whether we are using the materials
in the location where there are cycles of wetting and drying, where there can be chemical
action, where there can be cycles of freezing and point.

And accordingly I should also test the material in the laboratory because the response the
behavior of the entire pavement structure can change depending on these parameters and
these criterias. So, the material properties to be considered should be relevant to the design
approach adopted as I mentioned. For example, in the design approach, if flexural strength is
an input I should do the flexural strength testing, if resilient modulus is an input I should be
able to find out the resilient modulus.

So, depending on the pavement design, I should take the appropriate test. For example, in US
when doing the pavement design they take the dynamic modulus of the bituminous layer as
an input while in India we use resilient modulus. So, why should I do a dynamic modulus test
in the laboratory when resilient modulus is an input in the pavement design?

So, this is what I am trying to explain that the material properties to be considered should be
relevant to the design approach adopted and these properties of course, should also reflect
the pavement performance. When I say the performance of the pavement structure, I am
mostly indicating about the critical failure mode, the type of distresses which is occurring. If
it is a flexible pavement if you have fatigue cracking I should know that what are the
parameters or what are the properties of different layers that can be related to this fatigue
cracking and accordingly those parameters I should be testing in the laboratory instead of you
doing N number of tests, which gives me no idea about the occurrence of fatigue cracking in
the laboratory. So, our target properties should also be chosen such that these properties are
related to the critical distresses that occur in the field.
(Refer Slide Time: 30:44)
As I have been mentioning continuously that we have to measure the response considering
the field loading conditions. And the responses can be seen in various different ways. For
example, I can plot a stress strain relationship while doing the testing of the material. So that
will, for example, if I am looking at the elastic modulus, then the stress strain property will
give me the modulus.

Now, this can be linear sometimes it can be nonlinear or depending on the type of material
we are talking about. We are also have to see time and temperature dependency specifically
for those materials whose response change considerably with changing the time of loading or
the temperature of loading.

When I say time of loading, here I am indicating the movement of the vehicles or speed of
different vehicles. So, in fact in a pavement structure, you see that when a load moves, there
is a deflection bowl which is created, there is a stress bowl which is created and then materials
in different layers are subjected to different loading times. So, if this is the length of tire
imprint at the surface, then this material here is subjected to a loading period of L, if L is the
tire imprint.

While material in this particular location is subjected to a time period of L’, if this is L’. Material
placed here is subjected to a time period of L’’. So, you see, as you move down the duration
of loading, it increases, but the magnitude of load will decrease, because the highest
magnitude will be at the surface and then the magnitude will decrease as we go beneath.

So, when I am testing this material to get the response of this material, then the question is,
in the laboratory, if I am doing a testing in which I can vary the magnitude of the load as well
as the loading period, what loading period I should use, what magnitude of load I should use,
and this magnitude of load and the magnitude of loading period should replicate the standard
conditions in the field, so tell me about the behavior of the material when it is placed in the
field.

Similarly, when I am testing a material here, I have to give a smaller loading time because the
loading time is small here in the field, but the magnitude of the load is high. So, I have to
select the stress levels, the strain levels, the loading period when I am testing material from
this location accordingly and similarly for different layers.

Talking about temperature dependency, I have to see that how the property of the material
changes with temperature, let us say I am talking about the bituminous mix, I might be
interested that how the resilient modulus changes with temperature. And then there is a
particular standard temperature at which I am doing the pavement design.

So, I am more interested to find out the resilient modulus at that particular temperature, but
if I am targeting for the properties at a range of temperature, I also have to see the
temperature susceptibility of that particular mixture. For example, granular materials, the
properties are not very sensitive to the change in temperature. So, I might not be very
interested to see the variation in properties by doing the test at different temperatures in the
laboratory, I will do the test only at a standard temperature. And that should be sufficient to
tell me about the properties. But for soils for example, the temperature may not be an
important parameter, moisture content is an important parameter. So, I am interested to see
the behavior of the soil at different moisture content.
The same is not true when I am talking about a bituminous moisture, I am not going to vary
the moisture content to see how the material responds because that is a dense mix, the
properties of the material does not considerably change with changing levels of moisture. So,
these important points we have to remember while we are thinking about characterizing the
pavement material in the laboratory.

So, finally, we can say that the test conditions for pavement material evaluation should be
selected considering the magnitude, time, frequency and nature of the load, we should know
the temperature to which the material is subjected in the field and accordingly the
temperature should be selected. We have to select the moisture levels depending on the
rainfall in that area, depending on the water table in that area.

We also have to select the degree of compaction depending on the field density conditions
we are anticipating. So, all these factors have to be considered while doing the laboratory
evaluation because the results of laboratory evaluation is going to influence finally my
pavement design. And once the pavement design is done, then we have to be very confident
that this pavement design which I have done for targeting for a specific design period should
perform as I am anticipating it to perform because this requires a lot of effort in the
laboratory, a lot of testing, a lot of use of materials. So, we have to think about optimizing the
time optimizing the use of machines to characterize the samples in the laboratory. So, with
this background on understanding the importance and need of studying pavement materials,
let us start discussing about the first pavement material in our list and that is soil.

We will start by understanding soil more as a pavement material, because soil mechanics
anyways is a very vast subject and we are not going to discuss in detail about all the concepts
related to the soil from the perspective of soil mechanics, rather, we will focus our discussion
on understanding the soil on understanding the properties of the soil from the perspective of
using it as a pavement material.
(Refer Slide Time: 36:58)
So, soil can be defined as a natural material over which the pavement is constructed. So, this
is the simple definition of soil considering that we are going to use it in pavement
construction. So, if you see the definition given in CEN EN ISO 14688. The definition states
that soil is an assemblage of mineral particles. Now, these are some critical words which tells
us, which gives us much indication about the properties of soil.

So, it is an assemblage of mineral particles and or or organic matter in the form of deposit but
sometimes of organic origin which can be separated by gentle mechanical means and which
includes valuable amount of water and air and sometimes other gases. So, this is a definition
placed by this particular specification. And it tells us that soil basically consists of minerals, it
can consist of organic matter.
Mostly it appears as a bulk but it can be separated by using, by through mechanical means,
by subjecting the sample to mechanical forces. And soil in general it contains certain amount
of water as well as air, if you see the volume of the soil. In addition to the natural soil, it can
also consist of replaced manmade materials. For example, we can have crushed aggregates
crushed rock, we can have industrial slags, we can have use of flashes, etc. So, the soil which
I am going to use as a foundation layer in the pavement, so this is what I am referring to here.

It is primarily formed by disintegration of rocks or decomposition of vegetation. So, the

existing rock which is there at the surface, it can decompose over a period of time let us say
this is the existing rock. So, the top layer will decompose over a period of time, this
decomposition can be due to weathering action can be due to movement of water can be due
to chemical action and so on and for a considerable period of time.

So, this top layer it becomes weak, it changes its mineral composition, it changes its physical
nature and it gets converted to a new material, which we are denoting as soil. So, it can be
formed by disintegration of rocks or decomposition of vegetation also. The existing
vegetation can decompose and it can take the form of soil and these are like organic soils.

Now, if you talk about the categories of soil. So, these are a few categories, which can be
listed, so we have residual soils, as I mentioned, these are from the disintegration of the
parent material, which is just located below and it is weak in nature in comparison to the
parent material. It is generally inorganic in nature, because it is coming from the rock as the
parent material.

Then we have sedimentary deposits, which can be in the form of suspended materials from
lakes, rivers and oceans. For example, you have alluvial soils, you have marine soil, so alluvial
soils are better in comparison to marine soils if you see them as a construction material, we
have Aeolian soils which comes to movement or winds. So, these are material transported
eroded and deposited by winds. For example, we have sand dunes, we have calcitic silt.

So, these materials usually for example, sand dunes, they do not have any cohesive properties
though they have high angle of internal friction, but the cohesive properties between
individual particle is negligible. So, again you have to see that how these properties are going
to influence your structure if you use it as a foundation material. We also have glacial soils
that come from the Ice Age. Now, these are kilometers of layers of several particles like
cobbles, like gravels, like boulders, and these are typically seen in the northern hemisphere.
So, I think we have spent some time today discussing about different aspects and we have
also started discussing about the soil as a pavement material. So, let us stop here and in the
next class, we will continue our discussion of understanding the soil as a pavement material
and further we will try to explore more properties that are important from the perspective of
use of soil in pavement structure. Thank you.