Shear Strength of Soil

Direct Shear Box

Presenter: M Makaleng

July 2021
• Shear strength in soils
– Introduction
– Definitions
• Mohr-Coulomb criterion
– Introduction
– Lab tests for getting the shear strength
• Direct shear test
– Introduction
– Procedure & calculation
– Critical void ratio
• The strength of a material is the
greatest stress it can sustain;
• So that the unit of strength is the same
as stress (kPa);
• The safety of any geotechnical structure
is dependent on the strength of the soil;
• If the soil fails, the structure founded on
it can collapse.
• Understanding shear strength is the
basis to analyze soil stability problems
like:
– lateral pressure on earth
retaining structures (Chs. 13),
– slope stability (Ch. 15), and
– bearing capacity (Ch. 16).
Failure due to inadequate
strength at shear interface
 Shear Failure due to slope

Why is important to Calculate?

Iangle of internal friction
c: cohesion

The Nortje method is for slopes that will fail due to the cohesion and angel of
internal friction.
Using the following EQ

F= s tanI' +6.4 (c'/(J H))0.73 (0.025+tanI')0.27s0.24 –{ru (s tanI' sec2b+1.5

(c'/(JH))0.77
Shear Failure due to slope

Road cutting near Lobatse, Botswana

Where:
s: horizontal part of the slope
H: height of the slope
E: angel of the slope
c': cohesion Kpa
I': angel of internal friction
J: unit weight kN/m3
Static: Transcosna Grain Elevator
Canada (Oct. 18, 1913)

West side of foundation sank 24-ft

Bearing Capacity Failure
Dynamic: Foundation failure by liquefaction
after the 1964 Niigata Earthquake. (USGS)
Dynamic: Lateral Spreading caused by the 1906 San
Francisco Earthquake at Moss Landing, CA
(USGS Professional Paper 993)
 Shear Strength in Soils
• The shear strength of a soil is its resistance to
shearing stresses.
• It is a measure of the soil resistance to
deformation by continuous displacement of
its individual soil particles
• Shear strength in soils depends primarily
on interactions between particles
• Shear failure occurs when the stresses between
the particles are such that they slide or roll past
each other
 Methods of investigating shear strength

¾Unconfined compression test (for cohesive soil)

¾Direct shear test
¾Triaxial compression test
¾Vane test (for soft clay)
¾Standard penetration test (for cohesionless soil)
¾Penetrometer test
 Shear Strength in Soils
(cont.)
• Soil derives its shear strength from two
sources:
– Cohesion between particles
(stress independent component)
• Cementation between sand grains
• Electrostatic attraction between clay particles
– Frictional resistance between particles (stress
dependent component)
 Shear Strength of Soils: Cohesion
• Cohesion (C), is a measure of the forces that
cement particles of soils

• Dry sand with no cementation

• Dry sand with some cementation
• Soft clay
• Stiff clay
 Shear Strength of Soils; Internal
Friction
• Internal Friction angle (ij), is the measure of the
shear strength of soils due to friction
 Mohr-Coulomb Failure Criteria

• This theory states that a material fails

because of a critical combination of
normal stress and shear stress, and not
from their either maximum normal or
shear stress alone.
 Mohr-Coulomb Failure
Criterion

Shear
Strength,S
ij = ijƍ

Cƍ

Normal Stress, ın = ıƍ = Ȗh

IJ f = c + ı n tan ij = c + μı n (12.2)
IJ f = c + ı n tan ij = c + μ 'ı n
ƍ '
ƍ ƍ '
(12.3)
where
IJ f = shear strength
c = cohesion; cƍ =effective cohesion
ij = angle of internal friction; ijƍ = effective angle of internal friction
μ = coefficient of friction; μ ' = effective coefficient of friction.
 μ=tanij¶

0.51-0.58
0.58-0.70
0.70-0.78

0.58-0.70
0.70-0.84
0.84-1.00
0.67-1.11
0.49-0.70
 Mohr-Coulomb shear failure criterion

ı1 IJ
IJf = c’ + μ’ın’
ı3 Failed Zone
ı3 ij

ı, IJ)

ı1 ij ș
c’
ıff
ı3 ı1
ı
 Inclination of the Plane of
Failure Caused by Shear

Figure 12.2 Inclination of failure plane

in soil with major principal plane
 Way 1: Increase the normal
stress in one direction
ı1 major principle stress

ı3 ı3
Minor principle stress
Confining stress

ı1
 Way 2: directly apply the shear stress
Consider the following situation:
Normal stress ın
-A normal stress is applied
vertically and held
constant Shear
-A shear stress is then applied stress IJ
until failure

Normal stress ın
Determination of Shear Strength Parameters
The shear strength parameters of a soil are
determined in the lab primarily with two types
of tests: 1) Direct Shear Test; and 2) Triaxial
Shear Test.
(1) (2)
Normal stress ın

Shear stress ı3 ı1
Soil

ı3
 Direct Shear Test
• Direct shear test is Quick and Inexpensive
• Shortcoming is that it fails the soil on a
designated plane which may not be the
weakest one
• Used to determine the shear strength of
both cohesive as well as non-cohesive
soils
• ASTM D 3080
 Direct Shear Test (cont.)
• The test equipment consists
of a metal box in which the
soil specimen is placed
ooroaostress ın
• The box is split
horizontally into two halves
• Vertical force (normal Shear stress ı
3

stress) is applied through Soo

o
a metal platen
• Shear force is applied by
moving one half of the
box relative to the other to
cause failure in the soil
specimen
Direct Shear Test
Direct Shear Test
Direct Shear Test

Normal Load Normal Stress = Normal load /

the specimen’s cross-sectional
Sharing Force
area
Soil Specimen
Shear stress = Shearing Force /
the specimen’s cross- sectional
Test with different Normal Load
area
Shear Stress

The graph can be used to

determine the given soil’s shear
I
strength for any load
c ormal Stress = Normal load / the
specimen’s cross-sectional area
soil’s shear strength for any load
Normal Stress Problem: Shear failure is forced to
Iangle of internal friction occur along a predetermined plane,
c: cohesion which is not necessarily the weakest
plane of the soil specimen tested.
Direct Shear Test
 Direct Shear Test Data
Shear stress
Peak Strength

Residual Strength
Direct Shear Test Data:
Volume change

¨H
 Direct Shear Test: Procedure
1.Measure inner side or diameter of shear box and find
the area
2.Make sure top and bottom halves of shear box are
in contact and fixed together.
3.Weigh out 150 g of sand.
4.Place the soil in three layers in the mold using the
funnel. Compact the soil with 20 blows per layer.
5.Place cover on top of sand
6.Place shear box in machine.
7.Apply normal force. The weights to use for the three runs
are
2 kg, 4 kg, and 6 kg if the load is applied through a lever arm,
or 10 kg, 20 kg, and 30 kg, if the load is applied directly.

Note: Lever arm loading ratio 1:10 (2kg weight = 20 kg)

 Direct Shear Test: Procedure
8. Start the motor with selected speed (0.1 in/min) so that
the rate of shearing is at a selected constant rate
9. Take the horizontal displacement gauge, vertical
displacement gage and shear load gage readings.
Record the readings on the data sheet.
10. Continue taking readings until the horizontal shear
load peaks and then falls, or the horizontal
displacement reaches 15% of the diameter.
 í1
Ȗd
N V
ı= ; IJ =
A A
 Figures
Peak Stress
Shear stress, s s3

s2

s1 N3 = 30 kg

N2 = 20 kg

N1 = 10 kg

Horizontal displacement, ¨H
 Scale 1:1
Shear Stress, s (kPa)

(ı2,s2)
(ı3,s3)
ij

(ı1,s1)

Cƍ

oormal Stress ı, kPa

 Figures (cont)
Vertical displacement

Horizontal displacement
 Example 1
Normal load (kN) 0.2 0.4 0.8

Strain (%) Shearing force (N)

0 0 0 0
0.5 21 33 45
1 46 72 101
1.5 70 110 158
2 89 139 203
2.5 107 164 248
3 121 180 276
3.5 131 192 304
4 136 201 330
4.5 138 210 351
5 138 217 370
5.5 137 224 391
6 136 230 402
6.5 234 410
7 237 414
7.5 236 416
8 417
8.5 417
9 415

CSA of box = 3600 mm2

 Example 1Continues.....
300

250

200
Shearing force (N)

150

100

50

0
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Strain (%)
 Example 1Continues.....
Normal load (kN) Normal stress (kPa) Shear force (kN) Shear stress (kPa)
0.2 55.6 138 38.3
0.4 111.1 237 65.8
0.8 222.2 417 115.8

Scale 1:1
125.0

100.0
Shear Stress (kPa)

75.0

50.0

25.0

0.0
0.0 25.0 50.0 75.0 100.0 125.0 150.0 175.0 200.0 225.0 250.0
Normal Stress (kPa)
 Example 1Continues.....

cohesion = 13kPa

angle of friction = 25q

s: Shear strength
c: Cohesion ( Strength gained from the ionic bound between
grain particles)

ı: Effective intergranular normal pressure

(perpendicular to shear plane)

I: Angle of internal friction

(Strength gained from internal friction resistance)

tan I : Coefficient of friction