Reduction in Fully Softened Shear Strength of Natural Clays

with NaCl Leaching and Its Effect on Slope Stability

Binod Tiwari, Ph.D., P.E., M.ASCE1; and Beena Ajmera, S.M.ASCE2

Abstract: Landslides and slope failures in natural clay-rich materials are frequently observed in coastal areas and other areas where these mate-
rials were deposited in a saline water environment. High sodium chloride (NaCl) concentration in the pore fluid results from deposition in this
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environment. As shown by the results of this study, subsequent reduction in the NaCl concentration results in reduction in fully softened shear
strength, with potentially significant reduction in slope stability. Fourteen sample materials were collected from seven different landslide areas
in Niigata Prefecture, Japan, to evaluate the effect of saline water on fully softened shear strength (FSSS). The sample materials were collected
from the intact mudstones and the sliding surface materials. Pore waters from the powdered sliding surface materials exhibited low concentra-
tions of NaCl; however, the pore waters in the powdered intact rock samples exhibited a high concentration of NaCl. Washing of NaCl from the
powdered intact rock samples caused a significant drop in FSSS, whereas mixing the sliding surface materials with NaCl at 0.5-M concentration
increased the FSSS of the samples significantly. To evaluate the effect of saline water on various types of clay minerals, 12 samples—nine with
montmorillonite as the clay mineral and three with kaolinite as the clay mineral—were prepared in the laboratory, and Atterberg limits and FSSS
of these mineral mixtures were measured. There was a significant increase in the FSSS when the mineral mixtures with more than 9.5%
montmorillonite were tested with saline water. The effect was negligible or negative for mineral mixtures having 9.5% or less montmorillonite
content and any amount of kaolinite. An excellent correlation was observed between the liquid limits, plasticity indexes, and corresponding fully
softened friction angles irrespective of the type of pore water. Likewise, there was a good correlation between the ratios of the liquid limits and
plasticity indexes measured with different pore waters and the corresponding ratios of the fully softened shear strengths. It was observed that the
reduction in FSSS of powdered intact rock with NaCl leaching could reduce the calculated factor of safety of the landslides by more than 0.3,
demonstrating the negative effect of NaCl leaching from the slope materials on the stability of slopes. DOI: 10.1061/(ASCE)GT.1943-
5606.0001197. © 2014 American Society of Civil Engineers.
Author keywords: Fully softened shear strength (FSSS); Saline water; Liquid limit; Plasticity index; Landslides; Slope stability; Coastal
mudstone.

Introduction strength of normally consolidated London clay, Skempton (1970)

While analyzing the long-term stability of slopes in stiff fissured clays,
Skempton (1964) observed that the average strength of the clay had
fallen to a value lower than the peak but higher than the residual shear
strength. The average drop in strength noted by Skempton (1964) for
a case history of Northolt and Kensal Green was of 60% of the peak,
whereas in the case of Sudbury, the drop in strength was of 80% of the
peak. According to Roscoe et al. (1958), in a drained test, a saturated
clay is at its critical state if any further change in shear deformation
does not result in a change in moisture content. An ideal clay specimen
either expands or contracts to reach the critical state when sheared at
a constant stress. Schofield and Wroth (1968) noticed that while
shearing, the peak friction angle of a normally consolidated remolded
clay occurs just before the critical state and suggested a value of 22.5

for London clay. Because this value is comparable to the peak shear
1
Associate Professor, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering,
California State Univ., Fullerton, CA 92831 (corresponding author). E-mail:
btiwari@fullerton.edu
2
National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow and Via
Scholar, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061.
Note. This manuscript was submitted on August 9, 2013; approved on
August 25, 2014; published online on September 29, 2014. Discussion
period open until March 1, 2015; separate discussions must be submitted for
individual papers. This paper is part of the Journal of Geotechnical and
Geoenvironmental Engineering, © ASCE, ISSN 1090-0241/04014086
(10)/$25.00.
considered the fully softened shear strength (FSSS) or the critical state
shear strength to be numerically equal to the peak shear strength of the
normally consolidated clay. Henkel (1957) and Skempton (1970)
mentioned that the end result of complete softening in homogeneous
clays and shales is the fully softened condition, with a shear strength
equal to that of the normally consolidated mineralogical composition
of the clay.
Chandler and Skempton (1974) proposed to ignore the cohesion
intercept and use the fully softened friction angle while conducting
stability analysis for the long-term stability of a slope in stiff fissured
clays. Skempton (1977) recommended that the long-term stability of
many first-time slides be performed using FSSS. This fact was later
confirmed by Morgenstern (1977), Stark and Eid (1997), and Mesri
and Shahein (2003). Mesri and Abdel-Ghaffar (1993) mentioned that
the friction angle of a clay specimen is determined mainly by the
mineralogical composition of the soil. Stark et al. (2005) stated that the
mineralogical effect on the friction angle of a soil mass can be related
to the liquid limit. Tiwari and Ajmera (2011) measured the FSSS of
reconstituted soil samples, obtained from the mixtures of some
minerals and natural soil samples using a direct shear device, and
developed various correlations between FSSS and the index prop-
erties of soils. Moreover, the proposed correlations were verified with
the measured FSSS of 82 natural soil samples and data available in the
literature. VandenBerge et al. (2013) summarized the report of the
proceedings of the workshop on fully softened shear strength of soil
that was held at Virginia Tech (Blacksburg, Virginia) in 2011. The

© ASCE 04014086-1 J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

 conference was organized to discuss the current understanding and
practice on the measurement and application of FSSS.
Coastal landslides and consequences associated with these land-
slides are well known to the geotechnical community. These issues are
common in the United States (Wang et al. 2002; Johnsson 2002; Olsen
et al. 2012), United Kingdom (Hinton 2007), and Japan. In Japan,
coastal landslides are more severe where mudstone exists as the
dominant rock type. Tiwari et al. (2005) collected sample materials from
the intact rocks and sliding surfaces of different landslide areas and
measured the chemical compositions of the pore fluid associated with
those samples. They demonstrated that the intact rock contains a sig-
nificant amount of NaCl in the pore fluid, which continuously leaches
out from the materials at the sliding surface. This causes a significant
drop in residual shear strength of those materials at the sliding surface
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after being exposed to fresh water (Tiwari et al. 2005). It is well
documented in the literature that mudstone in coastal areas is generally
formed because of the sedimentation of fine particles in a saline water
environment. Because of high overburden pressure and salinity of the
pore fluid, such mudstone possesses a high interparticle bond. Bjerrum
(1967) argued that physical weathering, i.e., disintegration of mudstone
by wetting and drying, may be sufficient to reduce the interparticle bond
stress. Various types of salts exist in the pore water of coastal mudstones
(Anson and Hawkins 1998; Moore and Brunsden 1996; Ito et al. 2003),
and such saline pore water can influence the overall instability of the
slope by changing the shear strength of the soil (Moore 1991; Anson and
Hawkins 1998; Kenney 1977; Leroueil 2001; Di Maio 1996).
In case of the coastal mudstones, fracture and slaking of mud-
stone may cause significant softening. Seepage of rain water through
these fractures can cause the leaching of NaCl, as was observed by
Tiwari et al. (2005), which may also reduce the FSSS of the soil.
Many stable slopes may lose their stability because of this reduction
in FSSS. The reduction in the FSSS of soil with NaCl leaching and its
impact on slope stability has not been reported so far. Although
Tiwari et al. (2005) studied the effect of NaCl leaching on the re-
sidual shear strength of soil, they did not mention the effect on FSSS.
This study focuses on how the FSSS of soil-like materials changes
with the concentration of NaCl in the pore water and its influence on
the overall stability of slopes. The FSSS values of sample materials
collected from seven landslide areas in the Niigata Prefecture of Japan
were measured by powdering and reconstituting the samples at their
corresponding liquid limits while preserving the concentration of
NaCl observed in their natural condition. The chemical composition
of the pore fluid showed that there is a high concentration of NaCl
(3 to 18 g=L, depending on the sample) in the groundwater near the
sliding surface (Tiwari et al. 2005). This NaCl concentration in the
groundwater was attributed to the continuous leaching of NaCl
from the sliding surface material. Therefore, the FSSS was also
measured after leaching the NaCl from the pore fluid of the pow-
dered intact rock samples as well as after adding saline water in
the powdered sliding surface materials. Moreover, to study the re-
lationship between FSSS, mineralogical composition, and saline
pore fluid, the FSSS of 12 soil samples prepared in the laboratory by
mixing kaolinite, montmorillonite, and quartz was also measured.
The experimental details and research findings will be discussed
subsequently.
Soil Testing Procedure
To observe the effect of NaCl concentration on the FSSS of the
natural soil, material samples were collected from intact rocks and
sliding surfaces of seven different landslide areas: Okimi, Yosio,
Mukohidehara, Engyoji, Iwagami, Tsuboyama, and Utsunomata.
These landslides are located in the Niigata Prefecture of Japan.
Descriptions and locations of these landslides were provided by
© ASCE 04014086-2
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.
Tiwari et al. (2005). The natural samples were powdered finely
by ball milling. Each sample was prepared by adding water to the
dry, powdered material then mixing it to a uniform water content
equal to the liquid limit (hereinafter referred to as reconstituting
the sample). This water content was selected as the appropriate
initial moisture content based on recommendations from Burland
(1990) and the Virginia Tech workshop (VandenBerge et al. 2013).
The resulting soil-water mixture of each sample was then placed
in an air-tight container and allowed to hydrate for 24 h. After the
hydration period, the sample was stirred thoroughly in a batch mixer. A
portion of the sample was then transferred into a direct shear box and
consolidated to a pressure of 50 kPa using incremental consolidation
pressures starting from 10 kPa. The direct shear box used in this study
was square with side dimensions of 100 mm, and the sample was filled
to a height of 25 mm. A fully automatic data-acquisition system was
used to obtain the real-time observations of the consolidation process as
well as to determine the completion of the primary consolidation of the
specimen. The procedure in ASTM D3080-04 (ASTM 2004) was fol-
lowed for the direct shear testing. The fully automated data-acquisition
system was used to monitor the shearing process and obtain data
pertinent to the shear stress, shear displacement, and vertical dis-
placement. Once the shearing stage was completed, the entire sample
was oven dried to determine the dry weight and void ratio of the
sample. Materials from the same batch mixture were used to conduct
direct shear testing at the normal stresses of 100, 150, and 200 kPa.
The shear deformation rates used in the determination of FSSS for
the reconstituted samples ranged from 0:001 to 0:005 mm=min.
Effective normal stresses were 50, 100, 150, and 200 kPa as used for
the unleached samples. Note that the initial dry density and void ratio
of each sample was different from the others, as the specimens were
reconstituted at their corresponding liquid limits.
The second step was to leach the NaCl by washing the sample
five times by adding approximately 500 mL of distilled water per
100 g of material each time into the powdered intact rock sample,
mixing the sample well into the water, allowing more than 24 h for
particle sedimentation, and removing the clear water from the top.
The material remaining after the fifth leaching was then tested using
the consolidation and direct shear procedure as explained earlier.
Effective normal stresses were 50, 100, 150, and 200 kPa, as used in
the unleached samples.
The FSSS values of the sliding surface materials were also
measured by powdering and reconstituting these materials at the
corresponding liquid limits and conducting the direct shear tests, as
explained earlier. Moreover, the powdered sliding surface materials
were also mixed with saline water of 0.5-M concentration and FSSS
values were measured.
The materials collected from the sliding surface and intact mud-
stone portion of the landslide areas included a significant amount of
montmorillonite and kaolinite in the clay portions. Therefore, it was
important to understand the effect of NaCl concentration on the FSSS
of constituent minerals. To determine the effect of saline pore fluid on
the FSSS of major constituent minerals of the natural samples, mont-
morillonite, kaolinite, and quartz were mixed in different proportions
to prepare 12 different soil samples (hereinafter referred to as mineral
mixtures) in the laboratory. All of the minerals were purchased com-
mercially. The montmorillonite used in this study contained 95%
montmorillonite, and the remaining 5% was composed of quartz with
a trace of feldspar. Similarly, the kaolinite used in this study contained
90% kaolinite and 10% quartz with trace of feldspar. The quartz used in
this study was ground to size finer than 5 mm. Hydrometer analyses of
the mineral mixtures were performed following the procedures out-
lined in ASTM D422-63 (ASTM 2007). Similarly, the plastic limits
and liquid limits of the mineral mixtures were measured following the
methods explained in ASTM D4318-10 (ASTM 2010). The saline
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.
 Table 1. Liquid Limit, Plasticity Index, Clay Fraction, Activity, and USCS Classification of Powdered and Reconstituted Natural Samples Obtained from
Landslide Areas
Sampling site Liquid limit Plasticity index Clay fraction (%) Activity USCS classification
Okimi 1 84 53 45 1.17 CH
Okimi 2 78 52 41 1.26 CH
Yosio 1 73 35 22 1.6 MH
Yosio 2 64 34 19 1.78 CH
Mukohidehara 1 70 38 24 1.58 CH
Mukohidehara 2 65 34 22 1.55 CH
Engyoji 1 69 38 27 1.38 CH
Engyoji 2 62 29 20 1.46 MH
Iwagami 1 71 38 26 1.45 CH
Iwagami 2 63 32 25 1.29 CH
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Tsuboyama 1 120 65 42 1.56 MH

Tsuboyama 2 108 66 41 1.61 CH
Utsunomata 1 83 54 51 1.06 CH
Utsunomata 2 68 27 17 1.62 MH

Table 2. Concentration of NaCl in Pore Water and Proportions of Various of the landslides and intact rock portions are labeled as Samples 1
Clay Minerals in Powdered and Reconstituted Natural Samples Obtained and 2, respectively. Based on the data presented in Table 1, liquid
from Landslide Areas limits of the powdered sliding surface materials were 5–15% greater
NaCl Montmorillonite Kaolinite Mica than the liquid limits of the powdered intact rock materials. Activity
Sampling site (g=L) (%) (%) (%) values of the materials ranged from 1.06 to 1.78. Of the 14 samples,
four were classified as elastic silt (MH) materials based on the USCS
Okimi 1 0.21 23 6 0
classification system [ASTM D2487-06 (ASTM 2006)], whereas the
Okimi 2 2.43 26 3 0
remaining samples were classified as fat clay (CH) materials. Pre-
Yosio 1 0.22 16 8 2
sented in Table 2 are the proportions of montmorillonite, kaolinite,
Yosio 2 2.11 18 11 2
and mica (major clay minerals) in the powdered natural samples.
Mukohidehara 1 0.22 14 11 2
Mineralogical compositions were measured as explained in Tiwari
Mukohidehara 2 2.03 16 8 2
and Marui (2005). The proportion of montmorillonite varied by only
Engyoji 1 0.02 17 5 3
1–3% between the sliding surface materials and the intact rock
Engyoji 2 2.08 18 5 3
samples, except for the materials from the Tsuboyama landslide.
Iwagami 1 0.20 14 12 4
Despite the similar proportions of montmorillonite in the intact rock
Iwagami 2 2.32 15 5 1
and sliding surface materials, the liquid limit of the powdered natural
Tsuboyama 1 0.15 28 5 2
samples changed significantly between Samples 1 and 2. This can be
Tsuboyama 2 2.40 35 1 3
attributed to the chemistry of the pore water. Therefore, the NaCl
Utsunomata 1 0.19 19 4 0
concentration in each sample was measured by powdering the
Utsunomata 2 2.22 21 6 1
samples and saturating them with distilled water. The NaCl con-
centrations in the pore water of all samples are presented in Table 2.
water used in this study was prepared in the laboratory by adding NaCl As observed in Table 2, NaCl concentration in the pore water of the
to distilled water to a concentration of 0.5 M (29:2 g=L). This relatively sliding surface materials ranged from 0:02 to 0:22 g=L, whereas the
high NaCl concentration is similar to the NaCl concentration in NaCl concentration in the pore water of the powdered intact rock
present-day seawater. Using this high concentration allowed for ob- ranged from 2:03 to 2:43 g=L. This is approximately 10% of the
servation of the maximum variation in FSSS with NaCl concentration NaCl concentration of seawater in Niigata, i.e., 22 g=L. This higher
from that of distilled water to that approaching seawater. NaCl concentration in the pore water might have caused the lower
The shear testing process for the mineral mixtures was similar to liquid limits of the powdered intact rock samples.
that for the powdered natural samples, as described earlier. While Shear envelopes of the powdered natural samples were prepared
running tests for soil specimens mixed with saline water, the direct based on the corresponding peak shear strengths of the reconstituted
shear box was completely submerged in 0.5-M NaCl solution for the specimens sheared at the effective normal stresses of 50, 100, 150,
duration of the testing. The shearing rate ranged from 0:0001 and 200 kPa. A typical shear envelope obtained for Okimi Landslide
to 0:01 mm=min depending the coefficient of consolidation of in- Sample 2 is presented in Fig. 1. The shear envelopes were curved for
dividual specimens. all samples, although the amounts of curvature were different.
Therefore, for the purpose of analysis, secant fully softened friction
angles (FSFAs) were calculated for all samples at each corre-
Test Results and Discussion sponding effective normal stress. Presented in Table 3 are the av-
erage values of the secant FSFAs of the powdered natural samples.
The powdered and reconstituted intact rock samples showed FSFA
Powdered and Reconstituted Natural Samples
values that were higher by 1.5 to 4.2
than those of the powdered and
Liquid limits, plasticity indexes, clay fractions, activity values, and reconstituted sliding surface materials, despite the similarity in the
soil classifications based on the Unified Soil Classification System mineralogical compositions. This increase in FSFA in case of the
(USCS) of the powdered and reconstituted natural samples are powdered intact rock samples could be caused by a significant
presented in Table 1. The samples collected from the sliding surface concentrations of NaCl present in the pore water. Note that these

© ASCE 04014086-3 J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

 landslide sites were more than 30 km away from the ocean.
Therefore, the reduction in FSSS from unleached samples compared
with that measured on leached samples is potentially greater for sites
nearer the active coastline than inland sites because of the presence
of higher NaCl concentrations in the pore water near the active
coastline. The FSFAs of the powdered intact rock samples without
leaching and after leaching the NaCl by washing the samples five
times with distilled water (hereinafter referred as the leached
samples) are also presented in Table 3. The FSFAs of the NaCl
leached powdered intact rock samples were very close to the FSFAs
of the powdered sliding surface material. This can be attributed to the
loss of NaCl in the sliding surface material caused by leaching.
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samples were prepared in the laboratory with montmorillonite
contents ranging from 0 to 95% and kaolinite contents ranging from
0 to 90%. The proportions of various minerals in those samples,
liquid limits, plasticity indexes, clay fractions, activity values
(measured with distilled water), and USCS classifications are pre-
sented in Table 4. Eight samples were classified as CH, three as silt
(ML), and one as MH. Activity values of these samples ranged from
0.28 to 4.33. The results for the liquid limits and plasticity indexes
for all natural samples and mineral mixtures, measured with distilled
and saline water, are presented in Fig. 2.
In the case of the mineral mixtures having kaolinite as the major
clay mineral and mineral mixtures with 9.5% or less montmoril-
lonite content, the liquid limit of the mineral mixtures tested with
saline water was slightly higher than or close to that determined with

Mineral Mixtures
Plasticity Characteristics
As observed in the previous section, higher NaCl concentration in
pore water causes a reduction in liquid limit and an increase in
FSFA. The liquid limit of the powdered natural samples from the
sliding surfaces of landslides ranged from 69 to 120, whereas the
activity, percentage of montmorillonite, and percentage of kaolinite
ranged from 1.06 to 1.78, 14 to 28%, and 4 to 12%, respectively
(Table 1). Likewise, the concentration of NaCl in the pore water of
the powdered and reconstituted intact rock samples was approxi-
mately 10% of the NaCl concentration in seawater. This shows that
the effect of the NaCl concentration in the pore water on the geo-
technical properties of soil depends on the type and proportion of
clay mineral contained in the sample. Therefore, 12 different soil
Fig. 1. Shear envelope of Okimi Landslide Sample 2
distilled water (Table 4). On the other hand, for the mineral mixtures
having more than 9.5% montmorillonite content, the liquid limits
with saline water were lower than those measured with distilled
water. The plasticity index followed a trend similar to that of the
liquid limit. This is in agreement with the results presented by Di
Maio (1996) and Spagnoli and Sridharan (2012), among others.
Deformation Characteristics
Fig. 3 contains the curves for shear stress versus horizontal de-
formation and the vertical deformation versus horizontal de-
formation obtained with saline water for the four normal stresses for
mineral mixture Sample 7. Similar figures were prepared for all the
samples and for the two types of pore waters tested but are not
presented here because of space limitations. The figures exhibited
trends similar to those presented in Fig. 3. The FSSS values were
taken as the peak value of shear stress for each test. These were
observed at horizontal shear deformations between 2 and 7 mm.
However, for the majority of the mixtures, FSSS values were be-
tween the displacements of 3 to 5 mm. The tests were terminated
after the attainment of the FSSS values. It was noted that the vertical
deformation of the majority of the specimens sheared at the lower
normal stresses were higher than those specimens sheared with
higher normal stresses.
Fig. 4 shows the stress-displacement curves for mineral mixture
Sample 7, containing 66.5% montmorillonite, tested with saline and
distilled water separately at the effective normal stress of 200 kPa.
The behavior observed in Fig. 4 was typical for majority of the
samples having more than 9.5% montmorillonite content. This

Table 3. Average Values of the Secant FSFA, FSFA after Leaching NaCl Five Times, FSFA with Saline Water, Difference in the FSFA between Powdered
and Reconstituted Intact Rock Samples and Sliding Surface Materials, and Ratios of the FSFA for Powdered and Reconstituted Intact Rock Samples and
Sliding Surface Materials
Sampling site f9 (degrees) f9L (degrees) Df9 (degrees) Df9 (%) f29=f19 fS9 (degrees)
Okimi 1 14.3 2.2 13.3 1.15 21.3
Okimi 2 16.5 14.5
Yosio 1 14.2 2.4 14.5 1.17 20.3
Yosio 2 16.6 14.8
Mukohidehara 1 13.6 1.5 9.9 1.11 17.7
Mukohidehara 2 15.1 13.4
Engyoji 1 14.2 3.4 19.3 1.24 20.9
Engyoji 2 17.6 13.9
Iwagami 1 15.3 4.2 21.5 1.27 18.7
Iwagami 2 19.5 15.8
Tsuboyama 1 13.1 1.8 12.1 1.14 22.1
Tsuboyama 2 14.9 12.8
Utsunomata 1 14.5 3.7 20.3 1.26 22.2
Utsunomata 2 18.2 14.7
Note: f9 5 average FSFA; fL9 5 FSFA of leached sample; Df9 5 difference in FSFA; f19 and f29 5 FSFA of Samples 1 and 2; fS9 5 FSFA with saline water.

© ASCE 04014086-4 J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

 Table 4. Proportion of Various Clay Minerals, Liquid Limit, Plasticity Index with Distilled and Saline Waters, Clay Fraction, Activity, and USCS
Classification of Mineral Mixtures
Sample Montmorillonite (%) Kaolinite (%) Nonclay (%) LLDW PIDW Clay fraction (%) Activity USCS classification LLSW PISW
1 9.5 0.0 90.5 45 14 9.5 1.47 ML 48 25
2 19.0 0.0 81.0 88 59 19.0 3.11 CH 28 10
3 28.5 0.0 71.5 134 99 28.5 3.47 CH 62 42
4 38.0 0.0 62.0 170 122 38.0 3.21 CH 77 53
5 47.5 0.0 52.5 209 160 47.5 3.37 CH 81 55
6 57.0 0.0 43.0 268 213 57.0 3.74 CH 87 60
7 66.5 0.0 33.5 304 262 66.5 3.94 CH 94 65
8 76.0 0.0 24.0 370 308 76.0 4.05 CH 103 69
9 95.0 0.0 5.0 486 411 95.0 4.33 CH 148 99
10 0.0 9.0 91.0 8 4 9.0 0.44 ML 14 7
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11 0.0 18.0 82.0 19 6 18.0 0.33 ML 22 9

12 0.0 90.0 10.0 70 25 90.0 0.28 MH 70 35

Fig. 2. Plasticity characteristics of natural samples and mineral mix-

tures prepared separately with distilled and saline water

indicates that reduced NaCl concentration in sample pore water

results in reduced FSSS values when the proportion of montmo-
rillonite is greater than 9.5%.

Fully Softened Shear Envelopes

The shape of shear envelopes presented in the literature were sug-
gested to be linear by several researchers including Moore (1991)
and curved by several other researchers including Kenney (1967),
Di Maio (1996), and Tiwari et al. (2005). Kenney (1967) noted that
the composition of the pore water could result in an increase in the
bond strength and attractive forces between the clay minerals having
a greater influence at low effective normal stresses, thus resulting in
the curvature of the shear envelope.
In this study, the majority of the mineral mixtures exhibited
curved failure envelopes. However, the curvatures of the shear
envelopes for the mineral mixtures tested with saline water were
significantly high, although they were very small for the mixtures
tested with distilled water. There was no correlation between any
index property and the curvature (or linearity) of the shear enve-
lopes. Based on work by Kenney (1967), it appears that the degree
Fig. 3. Curves of shear stress versus horizontal deformation and vertical
deformation versus horizontal deformation of mineral mixture Sample 7
(Table 4)
of curvature noted in this study on FSSS failure envelopes for mineral
mixtures is related to the NaCl concentration, with the greater degree
of curvature observed for greater NaCl concentration. Furthermore,
presented in Fig. 5 are the fully softened shear envelopes for mineral
mixture Sample 7 tested with both types of pore waters. Fig. 5 shows
that the shear envelopes were slightly curved for soil tested with saline
water. For other mixtures, the values of FSSS obtained for their
corresponding effective normal stresses are presented in Table 5.
Because of the presence of curvature in the shear envelopes, secant

© ASCE 04014086-5 J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

 Table 5. Fully Softened Shear Strength and Ranges of Secant FSFA of
Mineral Mixtures Tested at Effective Normal Stresses Ranging from 50 to
200 kPa for Samples Prepared with Saline and Distilled Water
Effective normal stress
(kPa)
Pore water
Sample type 50 100 150 200 9 (degrees)
fsec R2
1 Saline 16.9 40.2 63.2 84.1 24.7–26.3 0.9966
Distilled 6.7 13.5 20.7 26.9 28.3–29.1 0.9993
2 Saline 22.5 42.5 60.2 80.1 21.9–25.9 0.9985
Distilled 7.7 15.5 22.9 30.5 14.0–15.3 0.9999
3 Saline 20.7 45.5 63.5 77.9 19.0–24.6 0.9946
Distilled 7.1 15.6 23.4 31.8 9.3–9.6 0.9993
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4 Saline 23.3 46.9 60.7 79.7 19.9–25.2 0.9932

Distilled 8.1 16.2 24.3 32.4 9.0–9.5 1.0000
5 Saline 23.3 41.8 55.5 65.1 18.4–25.9 0.9999
Distilled 8.3 15.7 23.8 32.5 8.9–9.4 0.9991
6 Saline 23.5 43.5 59.8 72.5 21.7–25.0 1.0000
Fig. 4. Comparison between shear stress-displacement characteristics Distilled 8.4 15.8 24.4 32.6 9.1–9.2 0.9992
of mineral mixture Sample 7 prepared separately with distilled and 7 Saline 17.2 45.8 62.9 90.8 21.3–24.5 0.9896
saline waters and sheared at an effective normal stress of 200 kPa Distilled 8.5 16.7 25.2 32.7 8.9–9.0 0.9997
8 Saline 22.0 47.9 72.8 80.5 21.8–24.2 0.9759
Distilled 13.7 25.0 40.0 53.5 8.7–8.8 0.9978
9 Saline 24.7 46.0 69.4 97.6 18.7–22.8 0.9974
Distilled 27.8 55.4 80.9 110.1 7.6–7.9 0.9993
10 Saline 23.8 44.6 58.8 67.6 28.7–29.4 0.9991
Distilled 21.6 38.4 59.3 79.9 29.9–30.5 0.9974
11 Saline 31.3 57.2 83.0 107.4 28.2–32.0 0.9992
Distilled 28.6 56.3 84.0 114.6 29.2–29.8 0.9996
12 Saline 19.8 55.9 84.6 109.4 18.7–26.0 0.9870
Distilled 28.7 58.7 88.5 117.7 21.0–23.4 0.9999
9 5 secant FSFA.
Note: fsec

with more than 9.5% montmorillonite, FSFA increased by

Fig. 5. Fully softened shear envelope of mineral mixture Sample 7 63.3–173.4% when tested with saline water.

Effect of Saline Water on Fully Softened Shear Strength

friction angles were calculated for all tested mineral mixtures for
each value of the effective normal stress. Also presented in Table 5
are the ranges of secant friction angles for the mineral mixtures tested
with both distilled and saline water. As evidenced in Table 5, there
was a variation of less than 1
(except for Sample 12) in secant
friction angles for the tested effective normal stress range when the
mineral mixtures were tested with distilled water. However, the
mineral mixtures tested with saline water exhibited 0.7 to 7.5

variation in secant friction angles when they were tested at effective
normal stresses ranging from 50 to 200 kPa.
Comparison of the FSFAs from FSSS tests on mineral mixtures
was made at similar normal stress because the majority of failure
envelopes were curved. For simplicity, FSSS values of tested samples
in this study were compared based on the average values of the secant
FSFAs for effective normal stresses ranging from 50 to 200 kPa.
These values were used in the discussions and in preparing various
correlations presented in the subsequent sections of this paper. The
average FSFAs for the mineral mixtures, tested separately with dis-
tilled and saline water, differences in the average FSFAs (in degrees
and percentages) with saline and distilled water, and ratios of the
average FSFAs obtained with saline and distilled water are presented
in Table 6. As can be observed in Table 6, mineral mixtures with
kaolinite as the predominant clay mineral and samples with 9.5% or
less montmorillonite content exhibited reductions of 3.0–11.6%
FSFA when tested with saline water. However, for mineral mixtures
To accurately evaluate the effect of saline water on the FSSS of
materials, FSFAs obtained with saline water (fSW 9 ) presented in
Table 6 were plotted against FSFAs obtained with distilled water
(f9DW ), as shown in Fig. 6. For comparison, the data pertinent to the
FSFAs of the natural samples (powdered intact rock sample plotted
on the y-axis and the same material after leaching NaCl on the
x-axis) are also presented in Fig. 6. Except the four samples (i.e.,
mineral mixture Samples 1, 10, 11, and 12), FSFAs of the samples
with saline water were significantly higher than with distilled water.
For the four samples identified, FSFAs obtained with the saline
water were either equal to or lower than those obtained with distilled
water. These mineral mixtures had 9.5% or less montmorillonite con-
tent and kaolinite as the clay minerals. All powdered and recon-
stituted natural samples also exhibited behavior similar to that
observed for the mineral mixtures having more than 9.5% mont-
morillonite content. However, the increase in FSFA was not as high
as in the mineral mixtures. This can be attributed to the lower
concentration of NaCl in the pore water of powdered and recon-
stituted natural intact rock samples, which was approximately 10%
of the saline water prepared in the laboratory. Specifically, Lambe
(1960) and Di Maio and Fenelli (1994) showed that the thickness of
the diffused double layer, as defined by Chapman (1913), is affected
by the composition and chemistry of the pore water. Moreover,
Mitchell (1993) and Yong et al. (1992) found that an increase in the
salt concentration in the pore water results in a reduction in the

© ASCE 04014086-6 J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

 Table 6. Average Secant FSFA of Mineral Mixtures Prepared Separately water can be attributed to the increase in the effective normal stress
with Distilled and Saline Waters, Increase/Decrease in the Average Secant because of the decrease in osmotic repulsion and the increase in
FSFA with Saline Water, and Corresponding Ratios of Average Secant interparticle bonding (Tiwari et al. 2005). The increase in the FSFA
FSFA of mineral mixtures having more than 9.5% montmorillonite content
Sample f9 (degrees) f9S (degrees) Df9 (degrees) Df9 (%) f9=f9
s agrees with the results observed by Moore (1991), Kenney (1967),
Di Maio and Fenelli (1994), and Di Maio (1996) for residual shear
1 28.8 25.5 23.3 211.6 0.89
strengths.
2 14.8 24.3 9.5 63.3 1.64
The solid line included in Fig. 6 represents no change in FSFA
3 9.5 22.7 13.2 139.4 2.39
with changes in the salinity of the pore water. The FSFA of the
4 9.3 22.6 13.3 143.0 2.43
powered sliding surface materials prepared and tested with distilled
5 9.1 22.3 13.2 145.1 2.45
water (x-axis) and the powdered sliding surface materials prepared
6 9.2 23.5 14.3 155.1 2.55
and tested with saline water (y-axis) are also presented in Fig. 6.
7 8.7 22.8 14.1 162.1 2.62
The plot in Fig. 6 generally indicates that the powdered natural
8 8.8 23.4 14.6 165.9 2.66
samples exhibit a similar relationship between samples prepared
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9 7.7 21.1 13.4 173.4 2.74

with distilled water compared with those prepared with saline water.
10 30.3 29.1 21.2 24.5 0.96
However, the FSSS variation in powdered natural samples was much
11 29.6 29.7 0.1 23.0 1.00
lower than that in the mineral mixtures. This can be attributed to the
12 21.9 21.8 20.1 26.0 1.00
difference in the amount of kaolinite and montmorillonite in mineral
mixtures and the powdered natural samples. Specifically, only one
type of clay mineral (either montmorillonite or kaolinite) was used in
each mineral mixture, which was not true for the natural samples. As
the response of the clay minerals to the pore fluid composition is
greatly dependent on the size and shape of the minerals and the
chemistry at the clay-water interface, the double layer plays a larger
role in montmorillonite than in kaolinite. Thus, the effect on the
geotechnical properties of clay minerals caused by the chemistry of
the pore fluids is more significant in montmorillonite than in kao-
linite (Spagnoli and Sridharan 2012). Nevertheless, the data pre-
sented in Fig. 6 indicate that the FSFA of soil decreases significantly
after the NaCl concentration is reduced by leaching.

Correlations for Fully Softened Friction Angle

Fig. 6. Comparison between FSFAs of the mineral mixtures prepared
separately with distilled and saline waters; results of powdered and
reconstituted intact rock samples before and after NaCl leaching; and
corresponding results of the powdered and reconstituted sliding surface
materials prepared separately with the distilled and saline waters
thickness of the double layer. The reduced thickness triggers the
diffusion of ions into the pore water (Tiwari et al. 2005; Mitchell
1993; Barbour and Fredlund 1989). Mitchell (1993) and Barbour
and Fredlund (1989) also showed that the effective normal stress in
soil increases because of the decrease in osmotic repulsion caused
by the ion diffusion. Furthermore, for sodium-montmorillonite, physio-
chemical forces are also responsible for the increase in the shear
strength, because there is no lattice cation substitution when NaCl is
the pore water (Di Maio and Fenelli 1994; Tiwari et al. 2005). In
particular, increasing the salt concentration in pore water results in
the strengthening of the bonding between the particles (Moore 1991;
Sridharan and Ventakappa Rao 1979; Chatterji and Morgenstern
1990). Therefore, in mineral mixtures having more than 9.5%
montmorillonite content, the increase in shear strength with saline
Relationship between FSFA, Liquid Limit, and
Plasticity Index
Tiwari and Ajmera (2011) provided correlations to estimate the
FSFA using the liquid limit or plasticity index for soils tested with
distilled water. To examine the effect of saline water, the friction
angles obtained in this study were plotted separately with the cor-
responding values of liquid limits and plasticity indexes. The results
containing the variation of the FSFA with the liquid limit for mineral
mixtures tested with both distilled and saline water are presented in
Fig. 7. Although the data points for the FSFAs measured with saline
water for a few mixtures are scattered, other data points for the
mineral mixtures and powdered natural samples exhibited a good
correlation with the liquid limit. Similarly, the FSFAs obtained from
this study for mineral mixtures tested with both distilled and saline
waters and the natural samples were plotted with the corresponding
values of their plasticity indexes. Fig. 8 shows the resulting cor-
relation chart. Again, the data points corresponding to the FSFAs of
mineral mixtures tested with saline water and powdered natural
samples exhibited a good correlation with the plasticity index.
Relationships between Difference in FSFA with Saline and
Distilled Water and Liquid Limit
Several figures were prepared examining the influence of the plasticity
characteristics of materials for both distilled and saline water on the
corresponding difference of the FSFA. However, because of space
limitations, only the correlation between the difference in FSFA
obtained with the distilled and saline water and the liquid limit is
presented in this paper, as shown in Fig. 9. The correlation line (dashed
line) on the left represents the samples dominated by kaolinite and on
the right (solid line) represents the samples dominated by montmo-
rillonite as their clay minerals. The natural samples also followed the

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J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

Downloaded from ascelibrary.org by Coffey Geotechnics P/L on 09/29/14. Copyright ASCE. For personal use only; all rights reserved.
Fig. 7. Variation of the average secant FSFA with liquid limit
Fig. 8. Variation of the average secant FSFA with plasticity index
trend exhibited by the mineral mixtures. Fig. 9 shows that the dif-
ference in FSFA remains constant at approximately 14
for soils having
liquid limits higher than 200 (dashed-dotted line). This behavior can be
attributed to the domination of expanded montmorillonite upon sat-
uration in diminishing the effect of other minerals, as observed in the
residual shear strength of mineral mixtures (Tiwari and Marui 2005).
Relationships between the Ratios of FSFA Tested with Distilled
and Saline Water and the Corresponding Ratios of Liquid
Limit and Plasticity Index
In the development of correlations, dimensionless parameters are
preferred. As the intent of this study is to determine the effect of
saline water on FSSS, correlations were developed between the ra-
tios of the FSFA measured with saline and distilled water (f9SW
=f9DW ) and the ratios of the liquid limits obtained with the saline
and distilled water (LLSW =LLDW ) as well as the ratios of the plas-
ticity indexes obtained with saline and distilled water (PISW =PIDW ).
Fig. 10 contains the variation of fSW9 =fDW9 with changes in LLSW
=LLDW for both natural samples and mineral mixtures. As Fig. 10
shows, there is a well-defined relationship between the ratio of
friction angles and the ratio of liquid limits. Furthermore, Fig. 10
clearly demonstrates that when the liquid limit obtained with saline
© ASCE 04014086-8
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.
Fig. 9. Variation of the difference in average secant FSFA of materials
prepared separately with saline and distilled water with the liquid limit
Fig. 10. Variation of fSW
9 =fDW
9 with LLSW =LLDW
water was less than the liquid limit obtained with distilled water, the
FSFA obtained with saline water was greater than the FSFA obtained
with distilled water. The opposite effect was observed when the
liquid limit obtained with saline water was greater than the liquid
limit obtained with distilled water. All samples except one follow the
general trend. Likewise, presented in Fig. 11 is the relationship
between f9SW =f9DW and PISW =PIDW . Fig. 11 shows a trend similar to
that observed in Fig. 10, although scatter of the data points was
slightly greater. Figs. 10 and 11 show that the effect of the pore fluid
chemistry on the FSSS is directly related to the influence of the pore
fluid on the plasticity characteristics of the soil. As indicated in
Figs. 10 and 11, the majority of the data obtained for the powdered
natural samples fell near the trend line obtained for the mineral
mixtures.
Discussion: Relevance of Results to Slope Stability
As a result of initial deposition in seawater, mudstones near coastal
areas possess a significant amount of NaCl in their pore space. This
causes a significant increase in the FSSS of these materials, meaning
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.

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Fig. 11. Variation of fSW
9 =fDW
9 with PISW =PIDW
that for the same mineralogical composition and state of stress, these
materials are stronger than the materials having nonsaline pore water
even after reaching their fully softened state. Mudstones undergo
slaking when exposed to weathering. Such slaking causes disinte-
gration of mudstone, ultimately leading to the fully softened state of
the mudstone. This is a common phenomenon also observed in stiff
fissured clays. In their highly weathered or fully softened states,
mudstone may come in contact with fresh water, and the concentra-
tion of NaCl bonding the soil minerals decreases with leaching.
Continuous leaching of NaCl from the fully softened soil causes
a significant decrease in FSSS and a decrease in the stability of the
slope. Frequent landslides occurring in the coastal area all over the
world may be attributed to this phenomenon. In the current study,
the landslide areas considered for the sampling sites are located more
than 30 km away from the ocean, and the amounts of NaCl concen-
tration in the natural samples were only approximately 10% of the
concentration of NaCl in seawater. The FSFA of the powdered and
reconstituted intact rock samples were 1.5 to 4.2
(with an average of
2.7
) higher than the FSFA of the powdered and reconstituted sliding
surface soils that have undergone a significant amount of NaCl
leaching after coming in contact with fresh water. This shows that the
increased FSFA caused by saline water can decrease over time. For the
landslide areas where the natural samples were collected, this 2.7

reduction in the friction angle because of NaCl leaching caused a
reduction of factor of safety of approximately 0.3. The effect can be
dramatically higher if the soil contains higher proportions of mont-
morillonite than the natural samples used in this study.
Summary and Conclusions
Fourteen samples, seven from intact rock and seven from the sliding
surface, were collected from seven landslide areas of Niigata Pre-
fecture in Japan. Index properties and fully softened shear strengths of
these materials were measured for the powdered and reconstituted
samples. In a second series of tests, the powdered intact rock samples
were washed with distilled water five times to leach the NaCl. On the
other hand, the powdered sliding surface materials were mixed with
saline water of 0.5-M concentration. The FSSS of samples from both
locations were measured again. Moreover, to observe the effect of
saline water on materials having a wide range of montmorillonite and
kaolinite proportions, 12 different mineral mixtures were prepared in
the laboratory by mixing montmorillonite, kaolinite, and quartz at
various proportions. Saline water prepared as 0.5 M NaCl and
© ASCE 04014086-9
J. Geotech. Geoenviron. Eng.
distilled water were used to measure the Atterberg limits and FSSS.
From the information gathered during this study, the following
conclusions were made:
• FSSS values of the powdered natural samples reduce signifi-
cantly with the reduction in the NaCl concentration in the pore
water, especially for the soils with more than 9.5% montmoril-
lonite content. The leaching of NaCl from the pore water is
a natural phenomenon in mudstones located in coastal areas. This
mechanism reduces the stability of coastal slopes with time. In
the studied landslide areas, factors of safety of the slopes reduced
by an average of 0.3 because of the reduction in FSSS as a result
of NaCl leaching from the sliding surface material.
• The reduction in the FSFA with NaCl leaching increases with the
initial concentration of NaCl in pore fluid. Therefore, this phe-
nomenon is serious in coastal areas or marine deposits.
• The effect of NaCl concentration in the pore water on the FSSS
was negligible or even opposite for the soils containing 9.5% or
less montmorillonite content or kaolinite as the dominant clay
mineral.
• For soil samples having more than 9.5% montmorillonite, the
effect of saline water in lowering the liquid limit and plasticity
index and raising the FSSS is significant. The effect increases
with an increase in the proportion of montmorillonite.
• There is a good relationship between the ratios of liquid limit or
plasticity index of soils with different concentrations of NaCl in
pore fluid and the corresponding ratios of the FSFA.
Acknowledgments
The authors acknowledge the National Science Foundation Gradu-
ate Research Fellowship program for providing a fellowship to the
second author. The authors also are grateful for the generous support
of California State University, Fullerton Associated Students, Inc.,
Grant No. 3361, which was used to purchase materials pertinent to
this project.
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