Definition of Atterberg limit
civil engineering
: a measure of a soil sample's capacity for containing water used to determine the soil's structural characteristics
—usually plural
- … direct soil sampling provides the best information in terms of soil type and Atterberg limits (a series of thresholds observed when the water content of a soil is steadily changed) …
- —Roger Surdahl et al., Public Roads, May–June 2009
Note:
The Atterberg limits indicate the transition points where a soil’s physical behavior changes. The limits most commonly studied are the Plastic Limit, which identifies how much water a given soil can hold before it changes consistency between crumbly and plastic, and the Liquid Limit, where the soil changes consistency between plastic and liquid.
