From Jar to Report: Automating Soil Texture Testing Without the Chaos

In geotechnical and site-development work, soil texture testing is one of those tasks that seems simple on paper but often becomes messy in real life.

The jar test itself is straightforward:

soil,
water,
dispersant,
time.

The problem is everything around the test.

After running dozens of jar tests in both field and office environments, I realized that the real challenge wasn’t the science — it was organization, consistency, and documentation.

That’s why I built Soil Texture — Jobs Log.

The Real-World Problem

In day-to-day practice, soil texture testing usually involves:

Multiple samples settling at the same time
Different calculation methods used in the same workday
Handwritten notes on scraps of paper
Manual calculations or Excel spreadsheets
Re-entering the same data again when preparing a report

Sooner or later, someone asks:

“Which jar was Sample B-3 at 6 feet again?”

And now time is lost.

A Simple Structural Idea: Jobs and Samples

The first key decision was to separate work into Jobs and Samples.

Job

A Job represents one test session with shared conditions:

company and project information
boring or test pit ID
test date and tester
groundwater observations
one selected calculation method

Samples

Each Job contains multiple Samples:

each with its own depth
raw measurements
calculated percentages
USDA Texture Class
Hydrologic Soil Group

This alone removes most of the confusion.

Support for Real, Practical Methods

The program supports three commonly used field and lab-style methods.

1) ONE_JAR

All fractions are measured in a single jar:

Sand @ 30 seconds
Sand + Silt @ 30 minutes
Total final sediment

Percentages are calculated automatically:

Sand% = Sand / Total

Silt% = (Sand+Silt − Sand) / Total

Clay% = (Total − Sand+Silt) / Total

2) DECANT_3JAR

Physical separation into multiple jars:

sand
silt
clay

The software:

validates input logic
prevents impossible values
calculates percentages automatically

3) TOTAL_REMAINDER

A fast method when clay is not allowed to fully settle:

Total initial suspension (typically 15 units)
Sand and Silt are measured
Clay is calculated as the remainder

Clay becomes read-only, eliminating common field errors.

Quiet but Strict Error Control

One design goal was:

The software should never get in the way — but it must catch mistakes.

As a result:

impossible combinations are flagged
sums exceeding totals are rejected
invalid date formats are blocked
required fields must be filled before saving

No pop-up overload.
Just clear, professional feedback.

USDA Texture Triangle — With or Without Images

The USDA texture triangle is fully integrated.

The program can:

use a provided Soil.jpg image as a background, or
generate the triangle automatically:

triangle geometry
class zones (grid-based logic)
plotted sample points
numbered markers suitable for black-and-white printing

This ensures:

no dependency on Excel
no manual plotting
perfect consistency with calculations

Clean, Editable Word Reports

Reports are generated in .docx format so they can be:

edited
combined with other reports
formatted to company standards

Each report includes:

project header
sample results table
soil texture triangle with numbered samples
legend

Importantly, the report does not describe the test procedure — only the results, which is exactly what reviewers expect.

Field Cards: Small Tools That Make a Big Difference

To support field work, the workflow includes:

A7 mini sample cards (one per jar)
Hydrologic Soil Group field reference cards
simple, pencil-friendly layouts

This allows:

clean data capture in the field
easy transfer into the software
fewer transcription errors

Who This Tool Is For

This program is not a laboratory LIMS system.

It is built for:

civil and geotechnical engineers
environmental consultants
site planners
stormwater and septic designers
small to mid-size offices that value clarity, speed, and reliability

Final Thoughts

This software doesn’t replace engineering judgment.

What it does is:

remove repetitive work
reduce human error
standardize calculations
make reporting painless

If you run jar tests regularly and have ever thought
“there has to be a cleaner way to do this” —
this tool was built for exactly that moment.

If you’d like, the next article could cover:

common jar test mistakes
choosing the right method
how reviewers interpret soil texture data
or real-world field examples

Download Version 1

📌 What’s New in Version 2.1

Version 2.1 significantly expands the original functionality of Soil Test Logger and improves its suitability for real-world geotechnical and civil engineering workflows.

Key improvements include:

Support for multiple wells within a single job
Introduction of well sections (boring log–style diagrams)
Per-well elevation and groundwater tracking
Improved data model with backward compatibility
Enhanced table editing and input control
Extended Word report with well sections and diagrams

Download Version 2.1

If you would like to support the author, you can do so here:

https://ko-fi.com/anton57101

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