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through the chamber fluid; as a result, the pore water pressure of the sample will increase by
. The
connection to the drainage is kept open for complete drainage so that
where
is the deviator
stress at failure. The minimum effective principal stress is
.
From the results of a number of tests conducted using several specimens, the Mohrs circles at failure can be
plotted as shown in Figure 4.18. The values of c and are obtained by drawing a common tangent to these
Mohrs circles, which is the Mohr-Coulomb envelope. For normally consolidated clays (Figure 4.18a), we
can see that . Thus the equation of the Mohr-Coulomb envelope can be given by
. The
slope of the failure envelope will give us the angle of friction of the soil. As shown by equation (5) for these
soils
Figure 4.17 Consolidation drained triaxial tests in clay (a) application of confining pressure (b)
application of deviator stress
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Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 3
The plane of failure makes an angle of
the values of can be determined by measuring the intercept of the failure envelope on the
shear stress axis and the slope of the failure envelope, respectively. To obtain a general relation between
(20)
or
(21)
Note that the plane of failure makes an angle of
Figure 4.19 Derivation of equation (21)
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Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 5
The shear strength of clays at very large strains is referred to as residual shear strength (i.e., the ultimate
shear strength). It has been proved that the residual strength of a given soil is independent of past stress
history
(22)
(i.e., the c components is 0). For triaxial tests,
(23)
Where
The residual friction angle in clays is of importance in subjects such as the long-term stability of slopes.
Consolidated undrained test
In the consolidated undrained test, the soil specimen is first consolidated by a chamber confining pressure
; full drainage from the specimen is allowed. After complete dissipation of excess pore water pressure,
,
generated by the confining pressure, the deviator stress is increased to cause failure of the specimen.
During this phase of loading, the drainage line from the specimen is closed. Since drainage is not permitted,
the pore water pressure (pore water pressure due to deviator stress,
are made during the test. Figure 4.21 shows the nature of the
Figure 4.20 Failure envelope of a clay with perconsoldation pressure
NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering
Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 6
variation of and
with axial strain; also shown is the nature of the variation of the pore water pressure
parameter
see equation (5 from chapter 4)] with axial strain. The value of A at failure,
is
positive for normally consolidated clays and becomes negative for overconsolidated clays. Thus,
is
dependent on the overconsolidated ratio. The overconsolidation ratio, OCR, for triaxial test conditions may
be defined as
(24)
Where
is the maximum chamber pressure at which the specimen is consolidated and then allowed
to rebound under a chamber pressure of
.
At failure,
Figure 4.21 Consolidation undrained triaxial test. (a) Application of confining pressure (b)
application of deviator stress
NPTEL- Advanced Geotechnical Engineering
Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 7
consolidated undrained tests on a number of specimens can be conducted to determine the shear strength
parameters of a soil, as shown for the case of a normally consolidated clay in Figure 4.22. The total-stress
Mohrs circles (circles A and B) for two tests are shown by the broken lines. The effective-stress Mohrs
circles C and D correspond to the total-stress circles Ai and B, respectively. Since C and D are effective-
stress circles at failure, a common tangent drawn to these circles will give the Mohr-Coulomb failure
envelope given by the equation
(25)
Where
(26)
Where
is the intercept of the total-stress failure envelope along the shear stress axis.
The shear strength parameters for overconsolidated clay based on effective stress, i. e., can be
obtained by plotting the effective-stress Mohrs circle and then drawing a common tangent to
As in consolidated drained tests, shear failure in the specimen can be produced by axial compression or
extension by changing the loading conditions.
Unconsolidated undrained test
In unconsolidated undrained triaxial tests, drainage from the specimen is not allowed at any stage. First, the
chamber confining pressure
is applied, after which the deviator stress is increased until failure occurs.
For these tests.
Total major principal stress
Total minor principal stress
Tests of this type can be performed quickly since drainage is not allowed. For a saturated soil, the deviator
stress at failure,
(27)
This generally referred to as the shear strength based on concept.
The fact that the strength of saturated clay sin unconsolidated undrained loading conditions is the same
irrespective of the confining pressure
is subjected to an
additional confining pressure of
.
We saw in chapter 4 that
.
Since the effective confining pressure of specimen B is the same as specimen A, it will fall with the same
deviator stress,
. The total-stress Mohrs circle for this specimen (i.e., B) at failure can be given by circle
no. 3. So, at failure, for specimen B
Total minor principal stress
Total major principal stress
The effective stresses for the specimen are as follows:
Effective major principal stress
Effective minor principal stress =
The above principal stresses are the same as those we had for specimen A. thus, the effective-stress Mohrs
circle at failure for specimen B will be the same as that for specimen A, i.e., circle no 1.
The value of
1 70 440.4
2 92 474.7
Determine the values of c and for the soil.
Solution From equation (21),
. For test
. So,
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Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 11
(a)
Similarly, for test
. Thus,
(b)
Subtracting equation (a) from (b),
Substituting
in equation (a)
Example 2 A normally consolidated clay specimen was subjected to a consolidated undrained test. At
failure,
, and
. Determine
.
Solution Referring to Figure 4.26,
Hence
Again,
So,
Hence
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Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 12
Example 3 For a saturated clay soil, the following are the results of some consolidated drained triaxial tests
at failure:
Test no.
1 60 25.6
2 90 36.5
3 110 44.0
4 180 68.0
Draw a
is shown in Figure 4.27; this is a straight line, and the equation of it may
be written in the form
Figure 4.26
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Dept. of Civil Engg. Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 13
(a)
Now equation (20) can be written in the form
(b)
Comparing equations (a) and (b) we find and . From Figure 4.
27,
and
. So,
And
Figure 4.27