USCS and the USDA Soil Classification System: Development of a Mapping Scheme

Abstract

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) soil classification system is relatively simple to apply while the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) is more complex. As a result, the USDA system, or a similar method, is more commonly used. However, unless taking direct measurements, the USCS classification is needed to determine soil strength. There is no direct relationship between these soil classification systems, and moving from one scheme to another can be tedious and is inexact. Currently, individual researchers, engineers, and soil scientists have their own mapping to move from one system to another, which can lead to confusion when sharing work with others. A consensus method for mapping from one classification scheme to another would avoid this. By analyzing the mappings from six data sets containing thousands of samples, we form such a consensus.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Mar 01, 2015
Accession Number
ADA614144

Entities

People

  • Ruben A. Garc A-gaines
  • Susan Frankenstein

Organizations

  • Engineer Research and Development Center

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Agriculture
  • Civil Engineering
  • Classification
  • Cold Regions
  • Engineering
  • Engineers
  • Environmental Protection
  • Geotechnical Engineering
  • Grain Size
  • Nato
  • Particle Size
  • Soil Classification
  • Soil Mechanics
  • Soil Science
  • Soils
  • Spreadsheet Software
  • United States

Readers

  • Geodesy
  • Industrial Economics
  • Systems Analysis and Design