NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering

Chapter 4 Lecture 25 Stresses in Soil Mass - 9 Topics

1.3.10 Undrained Shear Strength of Anisotropic Clay 1.3.11 Applicability of Drained (, ) and Undrained ( ) Shear Strength arameters for Foundation Design

1.3.10 Undrained Shear Strength of Anisotropic Clay

Due to the nature of the deposition of cohesive soils and subsequent consolidation, clay particles tend to become oriented perpendicular to the direction of the major principal stress. Parallel orientation of clay particles could cause the strength of the clay to vary with direction; or in other words, the clay could be anisotropic with respect to strength. This fact can be demonstrated with the aid of figure 38, in which V and H are vertical and horizontal directions that coincide with lines perpendicular and parallel to the bedding planes of a soil deposit. If a soil specimen with its axis inclined at an angle with the horizontal is collected and subjected to an undrained test, the undrained shear strength can be given by ( ) =
1 3 2

(50)

Where ( ) is the undrained shear strength when the major principal stress makes an angle with the horizontal.

Figure 38 Strength anisotropy in clay

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Let the undrained shear strength of a soil specimen with its axis vertical (i.e., ( =90 ) ] be referred to as ( ) (figure 38b); similarly let the undrained shear strength with its axis horizontal [ . . , ( =0 ) ] be referred to as ( ) (figure 38c). if = ( ) = ( ) the soil is isotropic with respect to strength, and the variation of undrained shear strength can be represented by a circle in a polar diagram, as shown by curve a in figure 39. However, if the soil is anisotropic, ( ) will change with direction. Casagrande and Carrillo (1044) proposed the following equation for the directional variation of the undrained shear strength. ( ) =

(51)

When ( ) > ( ) , the nature of variation of ( ) can be represented by curve b in figure 65. Again, if ( ) < ( ) , the variation of ( ) is given by curve c. the coefficient of anisotropy can be defined as =
( )
( )

(52)

Figure 39 Directional variation of undrained strength of clay In the case of natural soil deposit, the value of K can vary from 0.75 to 2.0 K is generally less than 1 in overconsolidated clays. Richardson et al. (1975) made a study regarding the anisotropic strength of a soft deposit of marine clay (Thailand). The undrained strength was determined by field vane shear tests. Both rectangular and triangular vanes were used for this investigation (figure 40). The undrained shear strengths were obtained from the following equations: 1. Triangular vanes: ( ) = 43 2
3

(53)

Where = torque applied to cause failure

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NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering

= 2 sin (see figure 68) = height of vanes (see figure 68) 2. Rectangular vanes: = 2 Where = vane diameter
6

( ) + 2 ( )

(54)

Figure 40 Configuration of vanes used by Richardson et al. (1975) for use in equations (53 and 54). (A. M. Richardson, e. W. Brand, and A. Menon, In Situ Determination of Anisotropy of a Soft Soil, Proc. Conference on In Situ Measurement of soil Properties, ASCE, vol. 1, 1965) The directional variation of shear strength of this investigation is shown in figure 41. Based on the experimental results, Richardson et al. concluded that ( ) can be given by the following relation:

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NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering

Figure 41 Vane shear-strength polar diagrams for a soft marine clay in Thailand. (a) Depth = 1 ; (b) depth = 2 m; depth = 3 m; (d) depth = 4 m; (After A. M. Richardson, E. W. Brand, and A. Menon, In Situ Determination of Anisotropy of a Soft Clay, Proc. conference on In Situ Measurements of Soil Properties, ASCE, vol. 1, 1975.)

() =

() ()
2 2 2 2 +

(55)

1.3.11 Applicability of Drained (, ) and Undrained ( ) Shear Strength arameters for Foundation Design
In conducting the analysis of the stability of various foundations, proper choice of the soil shear strength parameters is necessary. To demonstrate this, consider the problem of the construction of an embankment over saturated clay as shown in figure 42a. The stability of such foundations is generally analyzed by assuming a cylindrical failure surface. With the gradual construction of the embankment, the induced average shear stress, , through a cylindrical surface passing through point P gradually increases with the height of the fill and remains constant from the time of completion of construction (figure 42b). Since the construction is completed in a relatively short time and drainage from the soil is negligible during the construction phase, the pore water pressure in the foundation soil will increase up to the time corresponding to completion of construction (figure 42c). After that, the induced pore water pressure will begin to dissipate and will eventually reach equilibrium.

Figure 40 Variation of factor of safety with time for a foundation on a saturated clay beneath a fill. (Redrawn after A. W. Bishop and . Bjerrum, The Relevance of the Triaxial Test to the Solution of Stability Problems, Proc. Research Conference on shear Strength of Cohesive Soils, ASCE, 1960)

Up to the time of end of construction, due to the practically undrained condition the shear strength of the clay will remain constant ( ). Hence, the factor of safety of the foundation is lowest at the end of construction (figure 40d). So during the construction phase, stability analysis using the = 0 method
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NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering

(. . , = ) is more applicable. After that, the pore water pressure in the field may be observed and the stability may be reestimated by the drained shear strength parameters ( . . , and ). Table 7 shows several cases of factor of safety from stability calculations for end-of-construction failures of fills on saturated clays. Also shown in table 7 are the factors of safety calculations for stability of footings using the = 0 concept. These demonstrate the applicability of = analysis.

Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur