University of New Hampshire

Department of Civil Engineering

CIE 665
Soil Mechanics
Laboratory No. 6
DIRECT SHEAR TESTING

General
Mohr presented a theory for rupture in materials as a function of both normal and shearing
stresses. Failure occurs at a critical combination of these two stresses, but not from the
maximum normal or shear stress alone. The failure envelope described by Coulomb uses an
approximate linear function of the normal stress.
f =c+ tan
Where

c = cohesion
= angle of internal friction
= normal stress on the failure plane
f = shear strength
In saturated soil, the total normal stress at any point is the sum of the effective stress and
the pore water pressure. The effective stress is carried by the soil solids. Therefore, the MohrCoulomb failure criterion can be expressed in terms of effective stress.
f =c '+ 'tan '
Where c and are based on effective stresses.
The direct shear and test is a common method to measure shear strength. For the direct shear
test, the equipment consists of a metal shear box in which the soil specimen is placed. The box is
split horizontally into halves. A normal force is applied to the top of the specimen, and the shear
force is applied by moving one-half of the shear box horizontally while the other remains
stationary. This causes failure in the soil specimen. From the data, a Mohr-Coulomb failure
envelope can be derived.
Process
Preparatory Work:
1. Assemble the shear box by placing the bottom plate (ensuring the
grooves are perpendicular to the shear movement) inside the shear
box and securing the two halves with the plastic shear pins. Weigh the
shear box. Measure the diameter and height of the shear box up to the
small holes on the sides of the box.
2. Pour sand into the shear box, filling up to the small holes on the sides
of the shear box. Ensure the sand is relatively level in the box. For a
loose sample, pour sand into box through funnel. For a dense sample,
place material in three compacted layers. Compaction can be
achieved through vibration. Weigh the shear box + sand to find weight
of sand.
3. Place the sample into the Shear Trac machine, being sure that it rests into the groves on
the base, and it also is locked into the load cell at the front of the shear box. Tighten the

two bolts at the rear of the shear box to ensure that there will be no movement of the
bottom half of the box during testing. See Figure 1.

Figure 1: Shear box placement information.

4. Both the vertical and horizontal tracks need to be initialized to ensure a there is enough
stroke to complete the test. To initialize, on the key pad of the shear trac, press 2.
Position 3. Initialize Enter to start. This will be done using both the horizontal and
vertical key pads.
5. Place the loading plate onto the sample, with the grooves lying parallel to the bottom
plate grooves. Be sure to place the metal ball on top of the loading plate of the sample,
this will sit under the loading cell. Make sure leveling pins are slightly tight.
6. Bring the crossbar with the vertical load cell over the sample. Use a level to ensure that
the crossbar is level before testing. Lock the crossbar in place using the large black
plastic nuts. Bring the vertical displacement LVDT over the crossbar landing on the bolt
of the load cell in the center of the crossbar. It is essential that there is enough stroke to
measure the displacement, to do so, start the LVDT about halfway down. See Figure 2.

Figure 2: Shear Trac setup.

7. The horizontal load cell needs to be adjusted before testing. On the horizontal keypad
press 1. Monitor 1. System. The two black nuts need to be tight to hold the horizontal

load cell. Adjusting both nuts, the force reading on the horizontal keypad display should
read 0.00 (or close to).
Starting the Test:
1. On the desktop is the Shear Trac II icon, double click. A blank shear test appears, but for
ease, there are templates that have all specifications filled out. Go to File Load
Shear Backup Files directshear_2013_template.dat. Under the project tab, fill in the
information about the sample.
2. The next tab is the Specimen tab, where the shape of the shear box is picked, and the
diameter and height are entered. The specific gravity is also entered. An estimation is
often used (use G = 2.65).
3. The water content tab is not used for dry sand samples. The Read Table tab tells the
computer when to record the data. Currently it is set to every thirty seconds. By
inserting a time pattern, the computer knows automatically that the pattern is repeated.
Therefore, it is not necessary to continue the pattern of time collection.
4. The Test Parameters Tab tells the computer what to run first. The Start Phase is
Consolidation. This means that the machine will vertically consolidate the sample to a
set normal force. The Shear Phase Type is a Direct Shear Test. The residual shear can
also be measured but is not for this lab.
5. The Consolidation Table tab tells the Shear Trac to what normal force the consolidation is
taken to. For the purpose of this lab, three normal forces are used which allows for the
construction of three Mohrs circles to determine the effective friction angle. The normal
stresses used are 15, 25, and 35 psi. For the first sample, this tab should read 15 under
the stress, for the second sample it should read 25, and for the third it reads 35. The
maximum duration is 3 minutes, meaning that the consolidation will take no longer than
three minutes. The minimum duration is 2 minutes.
6. The Shear Table tab tells the Shear Trac how to apply the loading pattern by defining the
maximum displacement, maximum force, and the read table. The current strain rate is set
to 0.04in/min.
7. Go to Run Start. It will ask you to Save As. DO NOT SAVE OVER THE
TEMPLATE!! It will then ask you to Position Platen. This means that you are to lower
the vertical load cell close to the metal ball on top of the loading plate of the specimen.
This is done by pressing on the Vertical keypad 2. Position 2. Lower Enter to start
the movement. When the load cell is close to the metal ball, but not yet touching it, press
Enter again to stop the movement. On the computer screen, press Yes when this is
completed. Press OK when ready. The consolidation of the sample is now started.
8. Once the sample has been consolidated to the desired point, the computer will prompt
you to remove the plastic shear pins. Take these out, and now the top half of the box
must be lifted up slightly. This is done by turning the four black knobs of a turn. This
lifts the top half of the shear box up slightly so the measurement of shear resistance is of
the sand only, and not the metal surface.
9. Hit OK on the computer after the shear pins are removed. The Shear Trac now engages
the shearing of the sand sample. The test is a strain-controlled test, where a constant rate
of shear displacement is applied.
10. While the test is being conducted, the load and displacement graphs can be seen on the
computer by going to View Channel, and then selecting the desired graph.
11. Once the shear force has failed the soil, the test is complete. The horizontal force can be
monitored by the Horizontal Keypad pressing 1. Monitor 1. System. Once there is a
decrease in the horizontal force, the test can also be aborted (Run Abort).
12. To review the data, on the computer, go to File Load, and then select the test. Go to
Report Graph or Table, and this will show you the data and graphs for both the
consolidation and shearing of the sample. To save the data, copy the Table under the

Report drop down menu, and save it in a Notepad file. Microsoft Office is not installed
on this computer. Using a pen drive, save the file and import it to excel.
Report
Aside from the standard laboratory writeup, please include the following:

1 plot of the shear stress versus the shear displacement with three lines corresponding to
the three tests for the loose sand with the peak shear strength labeled
1 plot of the shear stress versus the shear displacement with three lines corresponding to
the three tests for the dense sand with the peak shear strength labeled
1 plot of the vertical displacement versus the shear displacement with three lines
corresponding to the three tests for the loose sand
1 plot of the vertical displacement versus the shear displacement with three lines
corresponding to the three tests for the dense sand
2 plots of the effective normal stress versus the shear stress (1 for each test), with the
Mohrs failure envelope drawn for each test, with cohesion and effective friction angle
labeled

References
1. ASTM D3080 Standard Test Method for Direct Shear Test of Soils Under Consolidated
Drained Conditions
2. Geotechnical Engineering: Principles and Practices by Donald P. Coduto, Prentice Hall,
1999.