The objective of the wet sieve test is to obtain basic index information about the soil, that can be used to estimate strength and permeability.  It is the primary form of classification for granular soils.

Granular soil is washed to remove fines, then dried and processed through sieves to determine grain size distribution.  Fines removed through washing are discarded, though in other cases may be retained and processed through a hydrometer test.

Soil grain sizes are typically divided between larger and finer than #200.  The finer material in many cases sticks to the larger particles, so washing is required to remove as much as possible.

Error considerations

• Weighing inaccuracies - small samples and scale precision.
• Relative cleanliness of smaller sieves.
• Material lost or gained from during shaking and subsequent weighing of fractions.