I\'m a bit confused about what would be a good plastic and liquid limit and plas

Question

I'm a bit confused about what would be a good plastic and liquid limit and plastic index to build on. I've read that a high PL and LL are not good for building on because you can get large changes in volume, but I thought that a high PL and LL would be good for supporting weight because it takes more mositure or water before the soil takes behaving like a plastic and liquid where it loses a lot of it strength as well as volume changes. Basically is it the difference between the LL and PL hence PI that matters instead of the size of the numbers.

Thanks in advance for any assistance you can provide, I will rate answers.

Explanation / Answer

Plasticity index The plasticity index (PI) is a measure of the plasticity of a soil. The plasticity index is the size of the range of water contents where the soil exhibits plastic properties. The PI is the difference between the liquid limit and the plastic limit (PI = LL-PL). Soils with a high PI tend to be clay, those with a lower PI tend to be silt, and those with a PI of 0 (non-plastic) tend to have little or no silt or clay. PI and their meanings 0 - Nonplastic (1-5)- Slightly plastic (5-10) - Low plasticity (10-20)- Medium plasticity (20-40)- High plasticity >40 Very high plasticity

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