Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
APPLIED SCIENCES-BASEL, cilt.13, sa.21, ss.1-24, 2023 (SCI-Expanded)
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.