Class 1: top soil, Class 2: fluid material, Class 3: easy diggable material – Liebherr Face shovel User Manual
Page 27: Class 4: medium diggable material, Class 5: tough to penetrate material, Class 7: tough to penetrate rock

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Class 1: Top soil
Top soil is the most upper layer of the ground, which contains besides in-
organic matters, e.g. gravel-, sand-, silt- and clay mixes as well as humus
and organic organisms.
Class 2: Fluid material
Material of fluid or mushy composition from which water is not easily drained.
Class 3: Easy diggable material
Non-cohesive to semi-cohesive sand, gravel and sand-gravel mixture with
up to 15 weight-% addition of silt and clay (grain size less than 0.06 mm)
and with maximum of 30 weight-% of rocks of larger than 63 mm grain
size up to 0.01 m
3
volume. Organic material with low water content (e.g.
compacted peat).
Class 4: Medium diggable material
Mixture of sand, gravel, silt and clay with a share of more than 15 weight-%,
grain sizes smaller than 0.06 mm. Cohesive material of light to medium
malleability, which are soft to semi-firm depending on the water content
and with no more than 30 weight-% of rocks larger than 63 mm grain size
up to 0.01 m
3
volume.
Class 5: Tough to penetrate material
Material accord. to class 3 an 4, but with more than 30 weight-% of rocks
larger than 63 mm grain size up to 0.01 m
3
volume. Non-cohesive and
cohesive material with no more than 30 weight-% rocks larger than 0.01 m
3
volume. Particularly plastic clay, soft to medium hard depending on the
water content.
Class 6: Easy to penetrate rock
and comparable material
Rock, which has an internal, mineral bund cohesion, but severely frac-
tured, brittle, crumbly, slated, soft or weathered as well as comparably
compact or solidified non-cohesive and cohesive material with more than
30 weight-% rocks of more than 0.01 m
3
to 0.10 m
3
volume.
Class 7: Tough to penetrate rock
Rock, which has an internal, mineral bund cohesion and high structural
density and is only slightly fractured or weathered. Highly compact, un-
weathered clay slate, sedimentary rock layers, slag heaps at iron and steel
works and similar. Rocks of larger than 0.10 m
3
volume.
(accord. to DIN 18300)
Basis of calculation
Each material, extracted from its natural position
whether by blasting or other means, grows in volume.
This increase in volume is measured in % or is given
as a ratio.
Swelling (%) =
(
-1
)
X 100%
Swell factor =
volume after breaking
grown volume
100%
100% + swelling