A Practical Group Symbol and Group Name Approach (PSNA) according to EN ISO 14688-2:2018

Abstract

Classification systems are crucial to the description and classification of soils, helping to facilitate soil identification, as well as the understanding, and interpretation of soil materials worldwide. In this study, EN ISO 14688-2:2018 and ASTM D2487-17e1 were employed to develop a practical soil identification approach called Practical Group Symbol and Group Name Approach (PSNA). The method presented herein is not a classification system or a standard but is rather an approach that makes EN ISO 14688-2:2018 usable in practice and enables soil particle identification in detail. The use of this practical method can eliminate any ambiguity in communicating soil characteristics. Practical flow charts were prepared for defining group names and symbols of soil particles. The method enables the classification of gravel, sand, silt, clay, and organic material. A user-friendly macro was also developed in Microsoft Excel, utilizing the integrated programming language Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to facilitate the implementation of this approach. In the present study, an Excel-based triangular diagram was developed. In addition to the triangular diagram, two charts were considered. From these contributions, the group symbol and group name of soil mixtures can be easily and practically defined.