Direct Shear Test

PURPOSE

To determine the angle of shearing resistance of a coarse-gained soil.

EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

1 Direct shear machine and accessories.(Figure 1)

SOIL

Uniform medium sand.

DISCUSSION

This test is usually carried out on dry granular soils. For soils passing the 5 mm
opening sieve, a 60 mm by 60 mm shear box has been found to give fairly
consistent results. For soils retained on 5 mm opening sieve a larger shear box is
recommended.

PROCEDURE

Field Work

1. Obtain and record the test data, where applicable, as indicated in Table 1.

2. Select a suitable rate of strain such that failure will occur within approximately 10
minutes (the suitable rate should be in the range of 0.5-2 mm/min.)

3. With the shear box assembled and in place in the machine, place the soil in the box.

4. Apply the desired normal load.

5. Bring the horizontal loading ram into contact with the shear box.

6. Remove the alignment pins which connect the upper and lower part of
the shear box.

7. Separate the two parts of the shear box by advancing the spacing setscrews
in the upper half of the shear box. The separation should be slightly larger than the
largest soil grains in the sample.

1
 Direct Shear Test Form 7.2

8. Read or zero the dial gauges to measure horizontal movement, vertical

movement and horizontal load.

9. Apply horizontal displacement and read the dial gauges at pre-selected values of
horizontal movement. Continue to take readings and record in Table 2 until the load
dial gauge remains constant for at least six successive values of begins to
decrease.

10. Dismantle the shear box, remove the soil, re-assemble the shear box and replace the
soil.

11. Repeat the test, steps 3 to 10 inclusive, at least two more times, using higher
normal stress each time. The normal stress increment commonly use is 50 kPa.

12. Complete the calculations as indicated in. Table 2.

13. Plots graphs of horizontal shearing stress against horizontal movement for each
normal stress. From these graphs select the peak and residual shearing stresses and
plot these in a Mohr stress diagram.

14. From the Mohr stress diagram, select the value of the angle of shearing resistance
of the soil for peak stress and for residual stress.

15. Plot graphs of vertical movement versus horizontal movement for each
value of normal stress.

2
Figure 1. Direct Shear Box and Accessories