Clay - Stiff or Firm??

[nbr1]

Does anyone know if the original Fig. 177, page 423 'Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice (1st Ed)' Terzaghi; use the terms 'stiff' and 'very stiff' or does it reference 'firm' and 'very firm'??

Not that it makes a huge difference; I was just curious.

 

[emmgjld]

The 2nd curves on the chart break out areas labeled:
Very Dense
Dense
Medium
Loose
The Fig. 177 is captioned 'Chart for estimating allowable soil pressure for footings on sand on the basis of results of the standard penetration test.'

 

[oldestguy]

Chart Fig 177 is for sand, not clay. Stiff, etc. applies to cohesive soil. On the subject, in the last few years somehow "medium or firm" are "old fashioned". Now it is "medium dense" in my area. Why not "medium loose" or "very medium"? Also, how's come "soil engineering" is now "geotechnical engineering", a longer fancy sounding word to mean the same. Maybe makes for longer report length to impress someone I suppose.

 

[BigH]

I'm firm in my belief that a clay soil with an undrained shear strength of 25 to 50 kPa is NOT medium stiff!