SOIL MECHANICS II

Shear Strength of Soil

INTRODUCTION
The shear strength of a soil mass is the internal resistance per unit area
that the soil mass can offer to resist failure and sliding along any plane
inside it.
The shear strength of a soil depends on condition where the deformation
of soil taking place:
Fully drained
Undrained
Both conditions

Different excess pore water pressure will caused different effective stress
under different conditions, thus in result different strength.
In the context of soil stabilization, analyses are usually done to check for
the long term condition (Undrained) and short term condition (Fully
drained)
The soil strength decide the safety of the structure construct on it.

STRESS ON A POINT
If at any point on any plane within a soil mass, the shear stress
becomes equal to the shear strength of the soil then failure will occur
at that point.

SHEAR STRENGTH IN SOILS

The shear strength of a soil is its resistance to shearing stresses.

It is measure of the soil resistance to deformation by continuous

displacement of its individual 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.

SHEAR STRENGTH IN SOILS

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.

Generally there are four types of soils:

Dry sand with no cementation

Dry sand with some cementation
Soft clay
Stiff clay

Internal friction angle () is measure of the shear strength of soils due

to friction.

MOHR-COULOMB FAILURE CRITERIA

Mohr presented a theory for rupture in materials.

This theory states that a material fails because of a critical

combination of normal stress and shear stress, and not from either
their maximum normal or shear stress alone.
For most soil mechanics problems, it is sufficient to approximate the
shear stress on the failure plane as a linear function of the normal
stress.

MOHR-COULOMB FAILURE CRITERIA

= + tan
Where c = cohesion and = angle of internal friction

In saturated soil, the total normal stress at a point is the

sum of the effective stress and the pore water pressure,
which is = +
Thus, the Mohr-Coulomb Failure Criteria need to rewrite
as

= + tan = + tan

Where c = effective stress cohesion and = effective angle of friction

MOHR-COULOMB FAILURE CRITERIA

In saturated soil, the total normal stress at a point is the sum of the
effective stress and pore water pressure.
The effective stress is carried by the soil solids.
The value of c for sand and inorganic silt is 0.

For normally consolidated clays, c can be approximated at 0.

Overconsolidated clays have values of c that are greater than 0.
The angle of friction is referred to as the drained angle of friction
and some typical values are given in Table 7.1.

MOHR-COULOMB FAILURE CRITERIA

The parameter of is affected by various factors, which are
Mineralogy soil contains various mineral. The existence of mineral could change the
values. For instance montmorilonit have low which is 40
Shape Shape particle have higher friction angle compare to round particle.
Grade better graded soil have better degree of interlocking between particles
and thus have higher value.
Void ratio the reduction of void ratio in the consolidation process for instance will
increase the degree of interlocking and thus increase the value.
Organic materials the existence of organic materials may reduce the value.

DETERMINATION OF SHEAR STRENGTH

PARAMETERS
The shear strength parameters of a soil are determined in the lab
primarily with two types of tests:
Direct Shear Test
Triaxial Shear Test

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

The shear test can be either stress-controlled or strained controlled.

In stress-controlled tests, the shear force is applied in equal increments

until the specimen fails.
In strain-controlled tests, a constant rate of shear displacement is
applied to one half of the box by a motor that acts through gears.
The advantage of the strain-controlled tests is that, in case of dense
sand, peak shear resistance and lesser shear resistance can be
observed and plotted.

In stress-controlled tests, only peak shear resistance can be observed

and plotted.

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 noncohesive soils
The test equipment consists of a metal box in which the soil specimen is
placed

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

The box is split horizontally into two halves
Vertical force (normal stress) is applied through 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 DATA

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

By refer to Fig 7.3, the following points can be drawn:-

In loose sand, the resisting shear stress increases with shear

displacement until a failure shear stress f is reached. After that, the
shear resistance remains approximately constant with any further
increase in the shear displacement.
In dense sand, the resisting shear stress increases with shear
displacement until it reaches a failure stress of f , which called peak
shear strength. After failure stress is attained, the resisting shear
stress gradually decreases as shear displacement increases until it
finally reaches a constant value called the ultimate shear strength.

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

The direct shear test is rather simple to perform, but it has some
inherent shortcomings. The reliability of the results may be questioned.
This is due to the fact that the soil is not allowed to fail along the
weakest plane but is forced to fail along the plane of split of the shear
box. The shear stress distribution over the shear surface of the
specimen is not uniform.

TRIAXIAL SHEAR TEST

The triaxial shear test is one of the most reliable methods in determine
the shear strength parameters.
The test is considered reliable for the following reasons: It provides information on the stress-strain behaviour of the soil that the direct shear
test does not.
It provides more uniform stress conditions than the direct shear test does with its stress
concentration along the failure plane.
It provides more flexibility in terms of loading path.

TRIAXIAL SHEAR TEST

THE EFFECT OF THE DRAINED

CONDITIONS DURING THE SOIL TEST
The shear strength parameters will change according to
the water content and soil density.
These values not only depend on the initial condition but
also depend on the changes during the running of the test.

There are two stages take place in the triaxial shear test.
At the first stage a constant normal stress are applied on
the sample and the second stage the normal stress
increase slowly until the sample fail.
The different drained condition on each test stage will
cause the change of water pressure and also the density.

TYPES OF TRIAXIAL SHEAR TEST

The three principal types of test are as follows:-

UU test
The specimen is subjected to a specified all-round pressure and then the principal
stress difference is applied immediately, with no drainage being permitted at any
stage of the test

CU test
Drainage is permitted until consolidation is complete; the principal stress difference is
then applied with no drainage being permitted.

Drained test
Drainage of the specimen is permitted at all time and the excess pore water pressure
is maintained at zero.

TYPES OF TRIAXIAL SHEAR TEST

TYPES OF TRIAXIAL SHEAR TEST

CONSOLIDATED DRAINED TEST

The specimen is first subjected to an all-around confining pressure.

The pore water pressure increase by uc.

When the connection to drainage is kept open, dissipation of the
excess pore water pressure and consolidation occur.

With time, uc will become 0.

The deviator stress, d on the specimen is increased at a very slow
rate.

The drainage connection is kept open, and the slow rate of deviatorstress application allows complete dissipation of any pore water
pressure that developed as a result.

CONSOLIDATED DRAINED TEST

CONSOLIDATED DRAINED TEST

CONSOLIDATED DRAINED TEST

CONSOLIDATED DRAINED TEST

CONSOLIDATED DRAINED TEST

CONSOLIDATED-UNDRAINED TEST
It is the most common type of triaxial test.

The saturated soil specimen is first consolidated by an all-round

chamber fluid pressure
After the pore water pressure generated by the application of
confining pressure is completely dissipated, the deviator stress on the
specimen is increased to cause shear failure.
During this phase of the test, the drainage line from the specimen is
kept close.

Since drainage is not permitted, the pore water pressure will increase.
The general patterns of variation of d and ud with axial strain for
sand and clay soils are shown in Figure 7.13d, e, f, and g.

CONSOLIDATED-UNDRAINED TEST
In loose sand and normally consolidated clay, the pore water pressure increases with
strain.
In dense sand and over consolidated clay, the pore water pressure increase with strain
up to a certain limit, beyond which it decreases and become negative (with respect to
the atmospheric pressure).
This pattern is because of the soil has a tendency to dilate.
Consolidated-drained tests on clays soils take considerable time.

Thus, CU tests can be conducted on such soils with pore pressure measurements to obtain
the drained shear strength parameters.
Since drainage is not allowed in these tests during application of deviator stress, the
tests can be performed rather quickly.

The and can be computed by (For sand and normally consolidated clay)
0.5

1
= 2 tan1
450
3
= 2 tan1

1
3

0.5

450

CONSOLIDATED-UNDRAINED TEST

CONSOLIDATED-UNDRAINED TEST

CONSOLIDATED-UNDRAINED TEST

UNCONSOLIDATED-UNDRAINED TEST
Drainage from the soil specimen is not permitted during the
application of chamber pressure.
Because of the application of chamber confining pressure, the pore
water pressure in the soil specimen will increase by uc.
There will be a further increase in the pore water pressure ud
because of the deviator stress application.
The total water pressure u is = +
The UU test is usually conducted on clay specimens and depends on a
very important strength concept for a saturated cohesive soils.
The added axial stress at failure is practically the same regardless of
the chamber confining pressure. (Figure 7.17)

UNCONSOLIDATED-UNDRAINED TEST

UNCONFINED COMPRESSION TEST

The unconfined compression test is a special type of UU test that is
commonly used for clay specimens.
The confining pressure is 0.
An axial load is rapidly applied to the specimen to cause failure.

At failure, the total minor principal stress is 0 and the total major
principal stress is 1.
1
=
=
=
2
2
Where qu is the unconfined compression strength.

UNCONFINED COMPRESSION TEST

UNCONFINED COMPRESSION TEST