The direct Shear test is used to measure the shear strength properties of soil, the test is performed with

normal confinement being applied to the box prior to applying a horizontal shear displacement that causes
halves of the box to displace and shear relative to each other. In this experiment, a normal load is applied
to the specimen and the specimen is sheared across the pre-determined horizontal plane between the two
halves of the shear box then measurements of shear load, shear displacement and normal displacement
are recorded. The thinner or smaller the specimens used in shear box, the more they facilitate drainage of
pore water from a saturated sample in less time, the failure plane in the test is predetermined (horizontal),
which may not be the weakest one.