7 Shear Strength of Soils $$$ S 10.1 Introduction One of the most important considerations in the design and construction on earth and earth supporting structures is the stability of soil mass. The bearing capacity of soil, stability of soils and earth pressure against retaining structure directly depends upon the ‘shear strength’ of soil Due to external loadings or internal stress changes may fail by shear. So it is very important to examine the mechanism of shear failure and the factors affecting the same. 10.2 Concept of Stress * Stress an internal force acting per unit area of a surface, It is a tensor quantity, It has two components: one that acts normal to the sectional plane and other that acts along the plane. The normal component is called direct stress and the component which acts along the plane is called tangential stress. This tangential stress is responsible for the shearing of the material hence referred as ‘shearing stress’ 10.3 Shear Strength of Soil ‘Shear strength is the resistance offered by soll against shear deformation, its value is equal othe shear stress on critical plane (plane A-A). The critical plane is that plane on which Resultant stress has maximum angle of obliquity with the normal 7 } of that plane. oe " = Minor principal stress ° 0 where, o, = Majorprincipal stress Y 1, = Angle of critical plane or failure plane with the ¢ major principal plane. NZ | * Onthe plane of @, (critical plane), ois most inclined ie., | B= Bra for frictional soils B.,., ~ internal frictional angle * of soil (0) ‘ ; | © When angle Bismaximum, then the shear stress on plane ‘A-Awill be equal to the shear strenath of soil Fia. 10.4103.1 Mechanism of Shear Re sh Jon is surface Fs nol Kove sistance Yeo of salle he property ofthe soil that crate POr under any loscing satustien thal ts Asoll may derived ite shy (i) Fictional Res Thesaln wh # Produoing shearing TING clreneth from the: fallaaney pararnesn tance {i)_ Interlocking of particies, (ii), Cohesion and adhe Dn of molecules The granular soils (tke Sand) dorived ther shearing strength frorn friction (Bath siding and rolling) and interlocking. Fine grained Is derived thew strength from {nction and cohe Hon. Highly plastic clay i.e., pure Ys. however only have ‘cohesion’ as ther squrce of shear steength 10.3.2 Stress at a Point—Mohr Circle of Stress © Inastre ed soll Mass, shear failure Gan occur along any plane, * Atany stressed point, there exists three mutually per Stresses acting, These are known as principal planes. The norrnal stresses that act on these planes are called principal stresses: the largest of these is called the major principal stress (a,), the smallest 's called the minor principal stress (a) and the third one is called the intermediate principal stress (0,). The corresponding planes are respectively designated as the major, minor and intermediate Principal planes. However, the critical stress conditions occurs only at a, and a, ;pendicular planes on which there are no shearing * Ina two dimensional stress system, the major and minor principal planes occur on horizontal and vertical directions as shown in figure * If, and 6, are known it can be shown that on any plane AB inclined at angle @ to the direction of major principal plane, the norrnal stress « and the shear stress t are given by: o= (Set +(° Jeosze “i 2 (' } sin 2 li) Mohr demonstrated that these equations tend themselves to graphical representation. It can be shown that “the locus of stress coordinates (6, t) for all planes through a point is a circle, calied, the “Mohr circle of Stress” Major principal ‘ plane [oyCoulomb's Equation and Moht-Coulomb’s Criterion: * Coulomb observed that one component of the shearing strength i ho called intrinsic cohesion (or apparent cohesion) is constant for a given soil and is independent of applied stress. The other component. namely the frictional resistance, varies directly as the magnitude of the normal stress on the plane of rupture. Coulomb equation is written as, ef y= ctotand where t, = shear strength of soil = apparent cohesion Fig. 10.5 Graphical Representation of Coulomb equation s = Normal stress on plane of rupture 6 = Angle of internal friction * Mohr-coulomb failure criteria can be expressed in the form of ty = C+ Gytano * Also, angle of failure can be expressed in the term of angle of shearing resistance 6 04% 45+ 5 6, Do >) * According to Mohr-coulomb theory, failure will lake place ata plane which has t,< Trax You £7 ° © and¢are referred as the shear strength parameters of the soil. But Cand 6 are not Keune inherent properties of the soil. There are, infect, related to the type of test and the conaition under which these are measured, Relationship between C and principal stresses at failure: * Mohr coulomb failure criteria can be expressed in terms Of the relationship between the principal stresses 0,,and o,, ip between the princip:wre pics 2 Fig. 10.6 sing = 2. _6D (Gy - 65) /2 FC CO+OF (6, +0y)/2+ ccotd (64-0) = (6,,+.6,)sin + 2cc0s or Rearranging, or, or, l+sing cosh owe oo( Ste «2 in } eee} e2e 1+sing ind oy = oy? 45°+2) +2ctan (45% Terzaghi Modification: The original form of Coulomb's equation was in terms of total normal stress. After terzaghi establishment of effective stress principle, it was found that th 's depends on effective parameters not on total parameters. fe shear strength of soil The shear strenath of the soilis accordingly expressed as where aa y= ¢+ otang’ =o-u = effective cohesion ¢ = angle of shearing resistance referred to effective stress. U= pore pressure on the plane of rupture._ Limitation of Moht-Coulomb theory: + Itneglects the effect of the intermediate principal stress (6,) «This theory, approx the failure envelope into straight line which may be a little curve for over consolidated soil, + Forsome clays, there is no fixed relationship between the normal and shear stresses on the plane of failure. The theory cannot be used for such soils. «Incase of pure clays, according to this theory, shear strength is constant with the depth. However in practice a little increase is observed,Measurement of shear strength: Determination of shearing strength of a soil involves the plotting of failure envelopes and evaluation of the shear strength parameters for the necessary condition. Following test are carried out for this purpose: Field Tests: 1. Direct shear test 3. Unconfined Compression Test 5. Torsion Test Field Test: 1. Vane Shear Test 2. Penetration Test oe — 2. Triaxial Test 4. Vane shear Test (Laboratory) 6. Ring shear TestLe Direct Shear Test: + This is oldest shear test, still in use, quite simple to perform, * Thesoil specimen that is to be tested, is confined in a metal box of square cross-section that is split into two halves horizontally, a small clearance being maintained between the two halves of the box. This test is also called shear box test ‘+ There is no control over drainage conditions and no mechanism to measure pore pressure. Hence this testis preferred for drained conditions (CD). Also a constant shear strain rate of 1.25 mm/min is applied ‘+ Two types of application of shear are possible: Proving, Normal load One in which the shear ak tt, Upper helt stress is controlied and the 7AM aaah sealing other in which the shear \ Sample, force strained is controlled Y Lower half Generally, shear is applied at constant rate of strain. Fig.10.9 * Normal stress and shear on the failure plane are obtained by dividing the normal force and the shear resistance of the soil is recorded by proving Mohr's Failure ring dial gauge at failure. Envelope * Values of shear stress at failure are plotted against effective stress (or total stress) for each test. The shear strength parameters cand @ are obtained from the best ft straight line through the points. Advantages: * Testis simple and Quick. * Apparatus is cheaper. Fig. 10.10 * Noneed of Technical skill * Thickness of sample is small, Hence, drainage does not take much time Disadvantages: * The failure plane is predetermined (horizontal), which may not be the weakest plane. * Drainage conditions cannot be controled and no mechanism to measure pore water pressure. Therelore this test is not suitable for find grained soils. © This test is useful only for freely draining soils like sand. * There are stress concentrations at the sample boundaries, leading to nonuniform shear stress distribution on the failure plane:10.6 Triaxial Test Triaxial tests are performed on cylindrical soil samples. The samples have normally a height to diameter ratio of 2:1 ‘The test equipment specially consists of a high pressure cylindrical cel, made of perspex, fitted between the base and the top cap, The sample is fitted between rigid end caps and covered with a rubber membrane. Itis then placed in perspex cell, which is filled with water. The soil specimen is subjected to three compressive stresses in mutually perpendicular directions, one of the three stresses being increased until the specimen pore pressurS~ measurement fails in shear. The desired three-dimensional stress system is achieved by an initial application of all-round fluid pressure or ‘Top drainage connection via flexible tube Fig. 10.13 confining pressure through water. While this confining pressure is kept constant throughout the test, only vertical loading is increased gradually at uniform rate. The axial stress thus constitute the major principal stress and the confining pressure acts in the other two principal stresses being equal to the confining pressure. Basically ts test is conducted in two stages. (i) Cell pressure or consolidation stage. (li) Shear stage or Deviator stage. (i) Cell pressure or Consolidation stage: + In first stage of confining pressure, all around constant pressure o,, is applied. This conf" pressure 6, acts as minor principal stress ie. o.. For drain condition, expulsion of pore wa mitted by opening the valve and for undrain conditions, valve is kept close. In drain condition, consolidation is completed when expulsion of pore water stop and change Ul | I involume of soil is equal to the volume of 7 water collected = ji) Shear stage or deviator stage: Saturated (i) 70,2 sol * After completion of consolidation stage, lateral pressure ——| Saree 9,,is kept constant whereas axial stress is increased by 64, which is called deviator stress. * g,is increased till soil sample fails in shear. At failure | | deviator stress (6,) is called confined compressive 93S strength. Fig. 10.14 Cell pressure stage * Let (o,),be the deviator stress at failure, (a Where, P = axial force applied A,= Area at failure * The total axial stress at failure will be major principal stress at failure and is equal to (64), = 03 + (6g), This test is repeated with identical samples using different values of confining pressure (6, 10.15 Shear stage or deviator stage * Todetermine the shear parameters, the Mohr's circle at failure for each sample is plotted and a.common tangentto all Mohr circles at failure is drawn andis called Mohs + failure envelope. * Inundrain conditions, drainage valves are closed. Therefore pore pressure will + develop E if'u’is pore pressure at failure then, 6, =9,-4 aa Gs =65-U Area Correction: © AYA, 4 V; are the intial area of oross section, height and volume of soll specimen respectively ani to Mo 0 Let at tage of test, these values becomes A, hand V respectively. Also the corresponding et at any stag : changes in values being design: at any stage, ea Ve Wt aV= All + an)Vy tav hy + an But for axial compression, Ah is known to be negative As 7 yeav * Ty=ah ro where, €, = Volumetric strain (generally € y= 3€ ,) A €, = Linear strain * If drainage is not permitted, there will be no volume change hence, € y Ay ~-(for CU Test) re where, = correction factor rE Note: In triaxial test, curve depicting variation of axial stress (6,) or deviator stress (¢; 6) with strain is drawn, Types of Failure of Soil in Triaxial (i) Brittle failure: * This type of failure occurs in dense sand and heavily over consolidated clays. © Inbrittl failure, the axial strain at failure is small and failure plane is inclined as shown in figure. + Ithas a clear well defined failure plane. * Axial strain is around (5-8)%. (ii) Plastic Failure: wa 1047 * This type of failure occurs in normally consolidated clays and loose sands. *. In, this failure, large axial and lateral strain ocours at failure Which results in bulging of soi * Ithas well expressed lateral bulging. ‘* Axial strain is around (15-20)%. Fy.1018 = (iii) Semi-plastic or semi-brittle failure: = * Itis intermediate stage of both brittle and plastic failure, — * This type of failure found in silts and c-4 soils, = * Ithas shear cone and some lateral bulging. © Strains are of order of (12-14)% 3 Pig.1019 cateont miiAdvantages of tri-axial Test: «Failure occurs along weakest plane which is not which is weakest. Predetermined. Specimen can fail on any plane + There isa complete control over drainage conditions. + There is amechanismn to measure pore pressure. + Thesstress distribution on the failure plane is uniform than direct shear rest + Most versatile and accurate of all the shear testing methods, it can be performed on all soils. + Precise measurement of volume change during the test is possible. Limitations of Triaxial Test: + The triaxial test is much more complicated than the direct shear test. + Consolidation and drainage of cohesive samples in a triaxial test take a much longer time as compared. to that in a direct shear test. * Samples of cohesionless soil such as sands are difficult to prepare, which are more conveniently tested in a direct shear test. + During test, it is difficult to find area at failure. ‘Types of Triaxial Test on the basis of Drainage The choice of Test depends upon type of soil and the purpose for which test is required. It is also ‘depends upon drainage conditions available at the field. (i) Unconsolidated Undrain Test (U-U): * itis a quick test and may completed in 5-10 minutes. * In this test water is not allowed to leave the soil neither during consolidation stage (confining stage) nor shear stage (deviator stage). * Such tests are suitable for low permeable soil such as clays with fast loading. * Inthis test no significant change in volume is expected. Hence this test can be used to find out Poisson's ratio of soil sample. Es A, = O,theneyande,=0 22.4 HEL, Os Moe Sena °c Characteristics of saturated clay under UU conditions: «It fuly saturated clay is loaded rapidly, then conditions are undrained and pore pressure will developed. * For U-U Test following results are found , = 20-30 KNIm? «Normally a 400-300 Kim? A Saas 2 are{i) Consolidated Undrain Test (C-U): # During the first stage of confining pressure, drainage is alowed from the soil samnple Hence consolidation will take place «But during vertical shear loading, drainage is not permitted + This test is also called consolidation quick test. + Example ~ stability analysis of earthen dam during sudden draw down, «Time duration is 2-3 weeks. Characteristics of Normally consolidated clay under CU conditions: + Normally consolidated clay which would decrease in volume, were dranaye to te exhibit positive pore water pressure. + Atundrain consolidated conditions, Normally consolidated clay have c, = 0. Effective stress envelope Total stress envelope Fig. 10.21 * The value of 6, is less than 9’ and is approximately one half the value of ¢'. Characteristics of over consolidated clay under CU conditions: Ifthe clay is over consolidated, the pore water is negative during shear, the effective stresses become greater than the total stress and the effective stress Mohr circle gets shifted to the right of the total stress circle. Effective stress envelope Total stress ae Fig, 10.22So “« (iil) Consolidated Drain Test (C-D): ; © Drainage is permitted during setf pressure (confining pressure) stage and shear stage boi, «Ths testis most time taxing and for some soils may take SOvErAI WEEKS. SO, i aso aj ‘Slow test’ t * Since pore water is allowed to flow out. Hence 27 permeability (cohesionless soil) and slow loading rate. Saturated clay under C-D: ° Bore © Results of Normally consolidated clays are similar to that of sand. afl «at any stage of the test, the total stresses are (i) Normally Consoliated Clay the effective stresses. * * cy=Oand 9, lies between 20° - 30° w * Theresults of over consolidated clays are similar to silt. 4 * Results: os 64 = 60-100 kNim? To mae = 10- 15° ‘* Unconsoiidated drain Test is physically impossible. + Partially saturated clays under‘drain or undrain both gives results similar to that of silt. Ge Gp = 80-150kNim? ..whenundrained z 60-70 kN/m? when drained i Teens @ = 0-5" rae * UU test is carried out for evaluation of short term stability of ‘structure. * CD test is carried out for evaluation of long term stability of structure. Representation of Results of Tri-axial Tests Mohr's failure envelopes: Depending upon type of soil and drainage conditions, Mohr’ failure vo" may be of following types: 4 a e dL (esol i . ) (it) Pure sand (¢= 0) © Gy Pure clays (= 9unconfined Compression Test: * Its a special case of triaxial test in which confinin, 1g pressure is zero. It means only deviator or shear stress is applied. Since the specimen is laterally unconfined, the test is known as unconfined compression test. The axial or vertical compressive stress is the major principal stress and the other two principal stresses are zero, Since there is no cell pressure, no rubber membrane required. Therefore, without rubber membrane (.e. lateral support), sand and dry soils cannot be held in Position. Hence this test is applicable for saturated clays and silts. This test cannot be conducted on coarse grained soils such as sands and gravels. + Ifaxial force at failure is P, then Fig, 10.23 (j= = * The axial stress at failure is called unconfined compressive strength since confining pressure 6, =0,=0,hence 6, = 65+.04=0, Let'q,) be the ae compressive strength, “ = (= (601 $ Using, G, tan? (45+8) +2ctan(a5+t 3] actan(45+2 o qe zetan(#5+8) For frictionless soils i.e. for clays (9 = 0) a q, = 2etanas? o& cr 2 Hence shear strength for clays, $= c+otang = c+0 2% “2 © In this test, 6, = 0 and (0)),= (ar Therein there isa unique Mohr circle which passes through or} Fig. 10.24vaneshearTest NOTE, The vane shear test is essentially a quick test used either in the laboratory or inthe field Inthis test, there is no mechanism to measure pore pressure, hence itis essentially an undran test So itis used to determine the undrain shear strength of soils. This test is suitable for soft saturated clays and silts. The mechanism of test in lab and field is same, the only difference is in the size Discription Lab size Field size Height of vane (H) 20mm 10 em—20 em Diameter (0) 12mm 5om— 100m Vane thickness () | 0.5mm-1mm | 2am—3om The vane is pushed gently into the soil upto the required depth at the bottom of a borehole and torque is applied gradually to the upper end of the rod until the soil fails in shear, due to the rotation of the vane. The torque is imparted to the vane by means of a re disc at the top of the rod. The disc is calibrated to ae measured the applied torque. r i Vane The vane and shear stress distributions are as ae showin igure ‘i cat ‘Assuming that the shear stress acting along the surface, top and bottom of the shear cylinder is uniform and equal Total shearing resistance of the soil at failure, I | a = ndhS +2) (enrdr)-8 X S = unit undrain shearing resistance (= radius of sheared surface The moment of the total shear resistance about the centre is the torque ‘T at failure. Fig. 10.25 d, pare Tamed nsx5+], (2nrdr)-Sxr eh og = r= s-x( 26.2) fF * S=—Tr ay ase a(n. co (+6) ® Ifthe testis carried out such that the top end of the vane does not shear the soil (as in of bore hole), then undrain shear strength will be given by =a @ te) where h = immersed height of the vane.Pore Pressure Parameters: + Some time it is not possible to determine pore pressure practically, then theoretical approach given by skempton can be adopted. . i pressure parameters A and Bare empirical coefficients which are used to express the response of pore pressure to changes in vertical Pressure and lateral pressure under “undrain conditions" . Miers parameters are very useful in field problems where pore pressure that are induced consequent to change in total stress may have to be computed, for e.g. in case of construction of earth embankment over a soft clay deposit Parameter B: * This parameter is defined under cell pressure stage and represents the ratio of change in-pore pressure to the change in cell pressure. Au, Ao, where, Au, = change in pore pressure due to change in cell pressure by Ao. ale ten Ce B= Bis alsogivenby, 8 = where, nis porosity of soil. C, and C, are coefficients of consolidation and curvature respectively. © Bvaries from 0 to 1 depending on the degree of saturation * Bis zero for dry soil and is equals to unity for fully saturate soil Parameter A: * This parameter is valid in deviator stage and is defined in terms of 8 another parameter A , such that 1 A=AB : : © Theparameter A represents the ratio of change in pore pressure ‘to change in Geviator stress during shear stage. Aly 2 Avs Aug A = Boy M(6,-43) 46;—A03 where Au,= Change in pore pressure due fo change in deviator stress. «+ Theparameter Adepends upon strain in sol, degree of saturation, over consoldation rato, stratfication of soil etc. Its value may be as low as 8 or loose saturated sand. * During loading, cell pressure and deviator stress both changes. Therefore total change in pore pressure will be 0.5 for over consolidated soil with high O.C.R to as high as Au = Au, +AUy =B- Ao, + A xAdg B- AG, + ABAGs = B- Ao, + ABAG, ~ 405) change in major principal stress = change in minor principal stress Ao, Ao,Stress Path © Progressive change in the state of a particular load application can be represented by a se" a Mohr circle. The figure represents successive states as o. 1S increased with @, constant Such a dagra™ # several complete stress orcies can apnea’ Cluttered It's convenrentto plot only wo pontotman™a™ shear stress, and if needed the compiete circie can be reconstructed using such a pont ret Thus. the locus of points on the Mohr diagram whose coordinates represent the maumum $° stress and associated stress for the entire stress history is defined as stress pathShear stress: Principal stress Fig. 10.26 Stress paths Fig. 10.27 Stress path ‘+ Forgiven principal stresses 6, and o,, the coordinates of a point on the stress path are S,+05 1-0, zo and A The stress path for 6, = constant and o, increasing Is a 45° line as shown above * Astress path diagram may be constructed for total or effective stress conditions, Liquefaction of soil: * Inloose saturated sand, on shear disturbanee, there is decrease in volume as soil molecules comes closer. Hence pore pressure is set, due to which effective stress reduces suddenly. Hence this condition where a soil will undergo continued deformation at constant low residual effective stress or with zero effective stress is known as ‘Liquefaction of soil’ * Liquefaction mostly occurs due to earthquake forces which induce high pore water pressure. * When soil fails due to liquefaction, the structures founded on such soll sink. * Increase in pore water pressure results in reduction in shear strength, Complete transfer of intergranular stress from soil grain to water is known.as complete liquefaction. In this case, the effective stress reduced to almost zero, and the sand water behaves asa viscous material Thixotropy of clays: * Clays with an initial flocculated structure may lose strength due to disturbance or remoulding, However, with passage of time, the clay may gain the original strength due to thixotropy. * Thixotropy is defined as an isothermal, reversible, time-dependent process which occurs under constant composition and volume. This phenomenon is attributed to a process of softening caused by remoulding followed by a time-dependent regain of the original hard state, Shear strength Remouiding Fig,10.28 Thxotropy ofamateral