Shear strength of soil:-

STRESS CONDITION AT A POINT IN A SOIL MASS

Through every point in a stressed body there are three planes at right angles to
each other which are unique as compared to all the other planes passing
through the point, because they are subjected only to normal stresses with no
accompanying shearing stresses acting on the planes.
These three planes are called principal planes, and the normal stresses acting on
these planes are principal stresses.
Ordinarily the three principal stresses at a point differ in magnitude. They may be
designated as the major principal stress 1, the intermediate principal stress
2, and the minor principal stress 3.
Principal stresses at a point in a stressed body are important because, once they
are evaluated, the stresses on any other plane through the point can be
determined.
Many problems in foundation engineering can be approximated by considering
only two-dimensional stress conditions. The influence of the intermediate
principal stress 2 on failure may be considered as not very significant.
 Shear strength of soil:-

Two-Dimensional Demonstration of the Existence of Principal Planes Consider

the body (Fig.6(a)) is subjected to a system of forces such as F1, F2, F3, and F4
whose magnitudes and lines of action are known.

Fig.6 Stress at a point in a body in two dimensional space

.
 Shear strength of soil:-

Consider a small prismatic element P.

The stresses acting on this element in the directions parallel to the arbitrarily chosen axes x and y are
shown in Fig. 6(b).

Consider a plane AA through the element, making an angle  with the x-axis.

The equilibrium condition of the element may be analyzed by considering the stresses acting on the faces
of the triangle ECD (shaded) which is shown to an enlarged scale in Fig. 6(c).

The normal and shearing stresses on the faces of the triangle are also shown.

The unit stress in compression and in shear on the face ED are designated as  and  respectively.

Expressions for  and  may be obtained by applying the principles of statics for the equilibrium condition
of the body. The sum of all the forces in the x-direction is
 Shear strength of soil:-

By definition, a principal plane is one on which the shearing stress is equal

to zero. Therefore, when i is made equal to zero in the above Eqation, the
orientation of the principal planes is defined by the relationship
 Shear strength of soil:-

Above Equation indicates that there are two principal planes through
the point P in Fig. 6(a) and that they are at right angles to each other. By
differentiating above Eq with respect to , and equating to zero, we have

Above Equation indicates the orientation of the planes on which the

normal stresses  are maximum and minimum.

Therefore, it follows that the principal planes are also planes on which the
normal stresses are maximum and minimum.
 Shear strength of soil:-

STRESS CONDITIONS IN SOIL DURING TRIAXIAL COMPRESSION TEST

In triaxial compression test a cylindrical specimen is subjected to a constant

all-round fluid pressure which is the minor principal stress 3 since the shear
stress on the surface is zero.

The two ends are subjected to axial stress which is the major principal stress
1 or The stress condition in the specimen goes on changing with the
increase of the major principal stress 1.

It is of interest to analyze the state of stress along inclined sections passing

through the sample at any stress level 1 since failure occurs along inclined
surfaces..
 Shear strength of soil:-

STRESS CONDITIONS IN SOIL DURING TRIAXIAL COMPRESSION TEST

Consider the cylindrical specimen of soil in Fig. 7(a) which is subjected to

principal stresses 1 and 3 (2. = 3).

Fig.7 Stress condition in a triaxial compression test specimen

 Shear strength of soil:-

Now CD, a horizontal plane, is called a principal plane since it is normal to the
principal stress 1 and the shear stress is zero on this plane.

EF is the other principal plane on which the principal stress 3 acts. AA is the
inclined section on which the state of stress is required to be analyzed.

Consider as before a small prism of soil shown shaded in Fig. 7(a) and the same
to an enlarged scale in Fig. 7(b).

All the stresses acting on the prism are shown. The equilibrium of the prism
requires
 Shear strength of soil:-

Let the resultant of  and  make an angle  with the normal to the inclined
plane.
One should remember that when  less than 90°, the shear stress  is positive,
and the angle  is also positive.
This equation may be obtained directly from the general above Eqs. by
substituting the following:
 Shear strength of soil:-

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE PRINCIPAL STRESSES AND COHESION c

If the shearing resistance s of a soil depends on both friction and cohesion,

sliding failure occurs in accordance with the Coulomb, that is, when

Substituting for the values of  and  from Eqs. As follows:

For 1
 Shear strength of soil:-

The plane with the least resistance to shearing along it will correspond to the
minimum value of 1 which can produce failure in accordance with the above
equation. 1 will be at a minimum when the denominator in the second member
of the equation is at a maximum, that is, when
 Shear strength of soil:-

If the sides of the cylindrical specimen are not acted on by the horizontal pressure
3, the load required to cause failure is called the unconfmed compressive
strength qu. It is obvious that an unconfmed compression test can be performed
only on a cohesive soil. According to above Eq., the unconfmed compressive
strength qu is equal to

Above Eq. shows one of the simplest ways of determining the shear strength of
cohesive soils.
 Shear strength of soil:-

Mohr's circle of stress:

This is a graphical representation of the stress conditions in a soil mass which
enables one to find out the stresses developed on any plane within the soil due to
an external loading system

If the principal stresses, 1 and 3 are known, the normal stress  and shear
stress  on a plane inclined at an angle  to the major principal plane is given by (
N.B. Previous deduction it was taken as  )

………………..( 3.1 )

Equations (2) can be represented by a Mohr Circle, as illustrated in Fig. 8. The

coordinates of any point on the circumference of the circle give the stress
conditions on a particular plane represented by that point
 Shear strength of soil:-

Fig.8. Mohr Circle Presentation

 Shear strength of soil:-

Pole:
The concept of the pole, or the origin of the planes, is very useful in such
problems where the locations of the principal planes are not known.
Consider the soil element subjected to a system of external stresses as shown in
Fig. 9. It is required to determine the normal and shear stresses acting on the
plane AA, inclined at an angle  to the horizontal. Considering the free body
diagram of the element it can be proved that the element can be in equilibrium
only if, xy , = yx.

The procedure for drawing the Mohr Circle and locating the pole are as
follows:
(i) Choose the co-ordinate axes and select a vector scale.
(ii) Locate the points A and B such that they represent the stresses on the
horizontal and vertical boundaries respectively, of the element.
(iii) Join AB. It intersects the  -axis at C.
(iv) With C as centre and CA = CB as radius, draw the Mohr circle.
 Shear strength of soil:-

Fig.9. Mohr circle presentation for pole

(v) The point A represents the stress conditions on the horizontal plane. From
A, draw a straight line parallel to this plane. It intersects the circumference at P.
Again, if from B a line is drawn parallel to the vertical plane (since the point B
represents the stresses acting on this plane), it will intersect the circle at the
same point P. This is the pole of Mohr's circle.
 Shear strength of soil:-

( v ) From the pole P draw a line parallel to the plane on which the stresses are
required. This line intersects the circle at Q.

The co-ordinates of Q give the normal and shear stresses on the given plane AA.
Thus, the pole may be defined as a particular point on the Mohr's circle such that,
if a line is drawn from this point making it parallel to any given plane within the
soil mass, then, the co-ordinates of the point of intersection of this line with the
circle will represent the stresses acting on that plane
 Shear strength of soil:-

Sign convention: The following sign conventions are normally followed for
plotting the stress co-ordinates :

Normal stress: Compressive stresses are taken as positive and tensile stresses
as negative. However, soils can with stand only compression and not tension.
Hence the normal stress on any plane of a soil element which is in static
equilibrium is always positive.

Shear stress: The sign of a shear stress is determined on the basis of the
direction of its moment about any arbitrary point inside the soil mass. If the
moment acts in the anti clockwise direction, the shear stress is positive, whereas
if it acts in the clockwise direction. the shear stress is negative
 Shear strength of soil:-

Location of the failure plane ( Using Mohr’s Circle ):

Fig. 10 represents a soil sample subjected to a major principal stress 1 and a
minor principal stress 3.

As the sample is on the verge of failure, the Mohr circle has touched the failure
envelope at P.

Evidently, the pole of the Mohr circle is at A.

Fig. 10. Location of Failure plane

 Shear strength of soil:-

 The highest point on the circumference of the Mohr circle is the crown R.

The line AR is inclined to the -axis at . The corresponding plane in the soil is
MN, which is the plane subjected to the maximum shear stress, max.

However, the potential failure plane in the soil is not MN, but the plane
represented by the point P, because the stress co-ordinates given by P are. such
that coulomb's equation is satisfied as the point P lies on the failure envelope.

In order to determine the location of this plane, join PA and PC.

…………………….( 3.1 )
 Shear strength of soil:-

 In Fig. 4, the plane BB, drawn at ( ) to the major principal plane, represents the
failure plane.
It can be proved that, at failure the relationship between the two principal
stresses is given by,

…………………….( 3.2 )