Procedure of mechanical sieve analysis test:
1. Initially keep the given soil sample in rapid moisture meter for 2-3 hours to get oven dried soil. Break the visible lumps present in soil using fingers with light pressure.
2. Arrange the set of IS sieves mentioned above in the descending order with coarser sieve at top and finer sieve at bottom.
3. Take the soil sample about 500-1000 gm and put it on topmost sieve. Place lid and pan at top and bottom of IS sieve set respectively.
4. Keep this assembly on Mechanical Sieve Shaker for sieving.
Continue the shaking the sieve set for minimum10-15 minutes as recommended.
5. Take out the soil from each sieve using steel brush. Measure the weight of soil fraction retained on each sieve separately. Record the same in observation table.
6. Calculate the cumulative percentage finer using tabular format give below.
7. Draw the Particle Size Distribution Curve (PSDC) on semi logarithmic graph as particle size as abscissa (log scale) versus cumulative percentage finer as ordinate (natural scale).
8. From nature of PSDC, classify the given soil in the categories given below. Well graded soil, poorly graded soil, uniformly graded soil, fine grained soil, coarse grained soil.