‫بسم هللا الرحمن الرحيم‬

Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie

Faculty of Engineering and Technology

Building Engineering Department

Soil Mechanics Lab

Experiment 9 : Direct Shear test

Instructors: Eng. Waleed Zaid

Course No. : 12310349

Student name or group: Thanaa' Marabeh

Date: 1 January 2022

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  Introduction :

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  Theory:

If the previous graph appeared then it is a sand soil.

If the previous graph appeared then it is a clay soil.

 Objective:
1. Calculating the angle of friction, and cohesion.
2. to find out the maximum shear force that the soil can bear before collapsing
so it is easy to analyze the soil and know its bearing capacity.
3. calculating the stability of slopes and foundations

 Equipment used:

Direct shear device, shear box, compaction devicesample ( soil #40), cap ( or
loading pad), porous stone, solid grid plate, caliper.

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  Procedures:
1. the sample was prepared by placing the sand in the shear box .
2. The shear box was placed in the direct shear device and the fixing screws
were locked in their proper place.
3. The rigid plate was placed in the bottom of the shear strength box with
the rough side to the top.
4. After that, the sample was placed in the shear box, and another rigid plate
was placed at its top.

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 5. When the direct shear device was set properly, it was turned on.
6. The readings were taker from the dial gage in divisions
7. The data was taken from the experiment, and the relationship between the
shear stress and the normal stress was plotted in order to find the angle of
friction and the cohesion

 Result :
trail Load (kg) Gage read Normal Normal Shear Shear
reading mm stress force force stress
(Kpa) (KN) (KN) (Kpa)

1 20 2 0.02 54.5 0.1962 0.03 8.33

2 40 3 0.03 109 0.3924 0.05 13.9
3 60 4 0.04 163.5 0.5886 0.07 19.44

 Calculations:

normal force = load *9.81 /1000

shear stress = shear force / a , a = 0.0036
normal stress = normal force / a
Slope = 19.44 -8.33 / 163.5-54.5 = 0.10239
Angle = 5.8

19.44=c+163.5 * 0.102
C = 2.699

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 Discussion:

The strength of a soil depends on its resistance to shearing stresses. It is made up of

basically the Components:
1. Frictional - due to friction between individual particles.
2. Cohesive due to adhesion between the clay soil particles.

 Source of error:
1. Human errors.
2. reading the dial gage at exact time.
3. The shear test machine is not level required.

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