Q1: Explain the phenomena of cohesion zero for clay in CD with proper

reference.

Ans The Mohr failure envelops for CD test of typical clay soils are shown below

Fig 1 : Mohr failure envelope for a normally consolidated clay in drained shear

Fig 2: Mohr failure envelope (DEC) for an over consolidated clay

Even though only one Mohr circle is shown, the results of three or more CD tests
on identical specimens at different consolidation pressures would ordinarily be required
to plot the complete Mohr failure envelope. If the consolidation stress range is large or
the specimens do not have exactly the same initial water content, density and stress
history then the three failure circles will not define a straight line and an average best fit
line by eye is drawn. The slope of the line determines the Mohr Coulomb strength
parameter øˊ, in terms of effective stresses. When the failure envelope is extrapolated
to the shear axis it will show a surprisingly small intercept. Thus it is usually assumed
that the cˊ parameter for normally consolidated non-cemented clays is essentially zero
for all practical purposes.
The over consolidated clay expands during shear while the normally consolidated
clay compresses or consolidates during shear. Normally consolidated clays behave
similarly to loose sands, whereas over consolidated clays behave like dense sands.
(Ref: An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering - Robert D. Holtz & William D
Kovacs)
Q2: Explain the phenomena of cohesion of dry sand more than zero in Direct
shear test from proper reference.

Ans Desne sand have peak strength with c’ >0. In dense and medium sands, shear
stress increases with shear displacement to a maximum or peak value 𝜏𝑚 and then
decreases to an approximately constant value 𝜏𝑐𝑣 at large shear displacements. This
constant stress 𝜏𝑐𝑣 is the ultimate shear stress.

For explaining the phenomena of cohesion of dry sand analysis of referred article
has been carried out which considers the peculiarities of determining quartz sand shear
strength according to the Mohr-Coulomb strength criterion, via a direct shear test and
that of factors influencing the characteristic angle of internal friction and cohesion values
of the obtained strength parameters.
Air-dry sand from the Klaipėda region has been chosen as the characteristic soil
of the Baltic Sea coastal area in Lithuania. The determined solid density of quartz grains
is ρs = 2.65 g/cmᵌ. The mineralogical composition of sand is made of 85% of silica, 6%
of sunstone and other remaining materials. A sand size distribution curve is presented
in
Universal shear device ADS 1/3 was employed for conducting direct shear tests. Shear
tests have been performed with maximum void ratio samples. The initial void ratio sand
samples varied within the boundaries from 1.480 to 1.501 g/cmᵌ. The samples have
been sheared under constant normal stress on the top of the sample and at a constant
horizontal displacement rate of 0.5 mm/min. The applied values of vertical stress were
25; 50; 75; 100; 125; 150; 175; 200; 300; 400; 500 and 600 kPa, respectively. The
maximum applied horizontal displacement made 9 mm. The maximum values of shear
strength have been identified according to the maximum rate of t/s. The characteristic
values of the internal angle of friction and cohesion c (kPa) have been calculated
applying least square methods taking into account the covariation of the values.
 The characteristic values of soil shear strength corresponding 36 tests include
the angle of internal friction φk = 26.06° and cohesion c = 7.31 kPa.

Fig 1 Fig 2

To investigate the influence of the vertical load value of soil shear strength, the
values of the internal angle of friction and cohesion have been processed (calculated)
for different quantities of shear tests where the number varied from 3 to 36. Random
processing using the Microsoft Excel Sampling command (McCullough, Heiser 2008)
was compiled to identify the influence of testing the quantity of characteristic shear
strength. The obtained results, in case tests are not repeated, are given in Figures 1–2.

The characteristic values of soil strength parameters, in case the tests are repeated
under the same conditions (maximum quantity of tests remains the same, id est. 36) are
presented in Figures 3–4.

Fig 3 Fig 4

The analysis of the results of the considered case (when tests can be repeated)
discloses that the obtained characteristic value of the angle of internal friction is ~2° less
for a small quantity of tests while cohesion magnitude varies from 5 to 10 kPa in respect
of the number of tests.
Cohesion formally is the intercept of the strength criterion with the ordinate axis.
The negative value of cohesion, due to a large scatter of results, is obtained processing
tested data via least square methods to obtain the characteristic value (this only due to
design procedures that artificially introduce the safety factor) of linear strength criterion.
Surely, such cohesion value actually does not exist and can be taken as 0 value for
usual
conservative design applications; however, as for more accurate numerical analysis, the
processed parameters of the strength criterion should be introduced to obtain a relevant
response to soil behavior at the critical state (according to the Mohr-Coulomb linear
strength criterion), because mean shear strength values are usually used in numerical
modelling

Ref: (Šarunas SKUODIS ,Arnoldas NORKUS, Neringa DIRGELIENE , Liudvikas RIMKUS)

Determining Characteristic Sand Shear Parameters of Strength via a direct shear test
Journal of Civil Engineering and Management Jun 2015