Shear Strength of Soil

© 2004 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Direct shear test in sand: (a) schematic

diagram of test equipment; (b) plot of test
results to obtain the friction angle φ’

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 © 2004 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™
Variation of friction angle φ’ with void ratio for Chattachoochee River
sand (after Vesic, 1963)

Soil Sampling

σ’1

σ’3 σ’3 = K σ’1

σ’1

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 Triaxial Test Equipment

© 2004 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Sequences of stress application in

triaxial test

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 © 2004 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Plot of deviator stress vs. axial strain-drained triaxial test

Triaxial Testing
‡ Application of cell pressure (sigma 3):
„ UNCONSOLIDATED (U) –
‡ No drainage allowed
‡ e constant (fixed) if Sr =1
- CONSOLIDATED (C) –
‡ Drainage allowed when applying cell pressure
‡ e decreases due to sample consolidation.

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Triaxial Testing
‡ Application of deviatoric stress (σ1):
‡ Deviator stress = σ1 – σ3
„ Undrained (U)
‡ No drainage allowed
‡ e constant (fixed) if Sr =1
- Drained (D)
‡ Drainage allowed when applying cell deviator stress
‡ e decreases due to consolidation.
‡ Stress applied so slow no excess pwp

Triaxial Tests
‡ UU – Unconsolidated Undrained
‡ UD – Unconsolidated Drained
‡ CU - Consolidated Undrained
‡ CD - Consolidated Drained

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 Undrained Soil Strength
Parameters (Su, φ = 0)

Note: Always test soil at

void ratio on the field

Skempton’s Porewater Coefficients

Δμ
B=
Δσ 3

‡ Developed “B” for a

measure of degree
of Water saturation

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 © 2004 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Peak- and residual-strength envelopes for clay

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 Skempton’s Porewater Coefficients
‡ Developed “A” parameter for
indication of sample OCR

Δμi
A=
(σ 1 − σ 3 )i
where :
Δμi = ( μi − μ o )
μ o = initail pore pressure
μi = pore pressure at point of interest
(σ 1 − σ 3 )i = deviatoric stress at point of interest

What about negative values of Af

Soil Strength
M-C Failure Envelope

Test 1 Failure Circle

Sample will fail at intersection

τfailure (2) with envelope
τ’
τfailure (1)
Test 2 Failure Circle

c’
σ1(2)
σ3(1) σ1(1) σ1(3) σ1(Failure) σ3(2) σ1(1) σ1(2) σ1(3) σ1(Failure)

σ’n

NOTE: all stresses are effective

Each test is performed at a set void ratio

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 Drained Soil Strength Parameters (c’, φ’)

Soil Strength Envelope

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 Soil Strength

Stress Path of Sample

sinφ’ = tanα’
(σ1 - σ3)/2 = t 3

Radius of Circle α’

t
1 t = d' + S tan α'
S

d = c' cos φ'

d
tan ψ = sin φ'
s s = (σ1' + σ3')/2
Centre of Circle

Unconfined compression test in progress (courtesy of Soiltest, Inc., Lake Bluff, IL)

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 © 2004 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™
Unconfined compression test:
(a) soil specimen; (b) Mohr’s circle for the test; (c) variation of qu with
the degree of saturation

© 2004 Brooks/Cole Publishing / Thomson Learning™

Variation of friction angle φ’ with plasticity index for several clays

(after Bjerrum and Simons, 1960)

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