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Shear Strength

of Soils
Shear failure
Soils generally fail in shear
strip footing
embankment
At failure, shear stress along the failure surface
reaches the shear strength.
failure surface mobilised shear
resistance
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Shear failure
The soil grains slide over
each other along the
failure surface.
No crushing of
individual grains.
failure surface
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Shear failure
At failure, shear stress along the failure surface
(t) reaches the shear strength (t
f
).
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Mohr-Coulomb Failure Criterion
t
o
| o t tan + = c
f
c
|
cohesion
friction angle
t
f
is the maximum shear stress the soil can take
without failure, under normal stress of o.
t
f
o
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Mohr-Coulomb Failure Criterion
| o t tan
f f
c + =
Shear strength consists of two
components: cohesive and frictional.
o
f

t
f

|
t
o
c
o
f
tan |
c
frictional
component
c and | are measures of shear strength.
Higher the values, higher the shear strength.
Mohr Circles & Failure Envelope
X
Y
Soil elements at
different locations
X
Y
X
Y
~ failure
~ stable
t
o
Mohr Circles & Failure Envelope
Y
Initially, Mohr circle is a point
o
c

o
c

o
c

Ao
o
c
+Ao
Ao
The soil element does not fail if
the Mohr circle is contained
within the envelope
GL
Mohr Circles & Failure Envelope
Y
o
c

o
c

o
c

Ao
GL
As loading progresses, Mohr
circle becomes larger
.. and finally failure occurs
when Mohr circle touches the
envelope
Orientation of Failure Plane
Y
o
c

o
c

o
c

Ao
GL
o
c
+Ao
90+|
|
45 + |/2
Failure plane
oriented at 45 + |/2
to horizontal
45 + |/2
Y
Mohr circles in terms of o & o
X X X
o
v

o
h

o
v

o
h

u
u
= +
total stresses
effective stresses
o
v
o
h
o
v
o
h

u
Envelopes in terms of o & o
Identical specimens
initially subjected to
different isotropic stresses
(o
c
) and then loaded
axially to failure
o
c

o
c

o
c

o
c

Ao
f

Initially
Failure
u
f

At failure,
o
3
= o
c
; o
1
= o
c
+Ao
f

o
3


= o
3
u
f
; o
1
= o
1
- u
f

c, |
c, |
in terms of o
in terms of o
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Triaxial Test Apparatus
porous
stone
impervious
membrane
piston (to apply deviatoric stress)
O-ring
pedestal
perspex cell
cell pressure
back pressure
pore pressure or
volume change
water
soil sample at
failure
failure plane
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Types of Triaxial Tests
Under all-around
cell pressure o
c

Shearing (loading)
Is the drainage valve open? Is the drainage valve open?
deviatoric stress (Ao)
yes
no
yes no
Consolidated
sample
Unconsolidated
sample
Drained
loading
Undrained
loading
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Types of Triaxial Tests
Depending on whether drainage is allowed
or not during
initial isotropic cell pressure application, and
shearing,
there are three special types of triaxial tests
that have practical significances. They are:
Consolidated Drained (CD) test
Consolidated Undrained (CU) test
Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) test
Granular soils have
no cohesion.
c = 0 & c= 0
For normally consolidated
clays, c = 0 & c = 0.
For unconsolidated
undrained test, in
terms of total
stresses, |
u
= 0
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CD, CU and UU Triaxial Tests
no excess pore pressure throughout the test
very slow shearing to avoid build-up of pore
pressure
Consolidated Drained (CD) Test
gives c and |
Can be days!
not desirable
Use c and | for analysing fully drained
situations (e.g., long term stability,
very slow loading)

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CD, CU and UU Triaxial Tests
pore pressure develops during shear
faster than CD (preferred way to find c and |)
Consolidated Undrained (CU) Test
gives c and |
Measure o

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CD, CU and UU Triaxial Tests
pore pressure develops during shear
very quick test
Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) Test
analyse in terms of o gives c
u
and |
u

Not measured
o unknown

= 0; i.e., failure envelope is
horizontal
Use c
u
and |
u
for analysing undrained
situations (e.g., short term stability,
quick loading)

o
1
- o
3
Relation at Failure
X
soil element at failure
o
3
o
1

X o
3
o
1
) 2 / 45 tan( 2 ) 2 / 45 ( tan
2
3 1
| | o o + + + = c
) 2 / 45 tan( 2 ) 2 / 45 ( tan
2
1 3
| | o o = c
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Stress Point
t
s
t
o
o
h

o
v

(o
v
-o
h
)/2
(o
v
+o
h
)/2
stress point
stress point
2
h v
s
o o +
=
2
h v
t
o o
=
X
o
v

o
h

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Stress Path
t
s
Stress path
is the locus
of stress
points
Stress path
Stress path is a convenient way to keep track of the
progress in loading with respect to failure envelope.
During loading
t
o
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Failure Envelopes
t
o
t
s
c
|
c cos |
tan
-1
(sin |)
failur
e
During loading (shearing).
stress path
Pore Pressure Parameters
Y
Ao
1

Ao
3

Au = ?
A simple way to estimate the pore
pressure change in undrained
loading, in terms of total stress
changes ~ after Skempton (1954)
| | ) (
3 1 3
o o o A A + A = A A B u
Skemptons pore pressure
parameters A and B
Pore Pressure Parameters
For saturated soils, B ~ 1.
A-parameter at failure (A
f
)
For normally consolidated clays A
f
~ 1.
B-parameter
B = f (saturation,..)
A
f
= f(OCR)
For heavily overconsolidated clays A
f
is negative.

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