Merits of direct shear test

 The sample preperation is easy. The test is simple and convenient.

 As the thickness of the sample is relatively small, the drainage is quick and
the pore pressure dissipates very rapidly. Consequently, the consolidated-
drained and the consolidated-undrained tests take relatively small period.
 Direct shear test is ideally suited for conducting drained tests on cohesionless
soils.
 The apparatus is relatively cheap.

Demerits of direct shear test

 The stress condition is known only at failure. The conditions prior to failure
are indeterminate and, therefore, the mohr circle cannot be drawn.
 In direct shear test ,the stress distribution on the failure plane (horizontal
plane) is not uniform. The stresses are more at the edges and lead to the
progressive failure, like tearing of a paper. Consequently, the full strength of
the soil is not mobilised simultaneously on the entire failure plane.
 The area under shear gradually decreases as the test progresses. But the
corrected area cannot be determined and therefore, the original area is taken
for the computation of stresses.
 The orientation of failure plane is fixed. This plane may not be the weakest
plane.
 Control on the drainage conditions is very difficult. So, only drained tests can
be conducted on highly permeable soils.
 The measurement of pore water pressure is not possible in direct shear test.
 The side walls of the shear box cause lateral restraint on the specimen and do
not allow it to deform laterally.

UNCONFINED COMPRESSION TEST

Advantages:
(i) It is widely used, simple and quick test.

(ii) This is most convenient and suitable for calculating sensitivity of clays.

(iii) The cost involved in this test is much less then the triaxial test due to
simpler testing requirement.

Disadvantages:
(i) As no covering or lateral support is provided to the sample in this test, it
is applicable to soil which can stand unsupported and are impervious to
maintain the un-drained condition throughout the test.

(ii) The sample must be fully saturated.

(iii) The test is suitable for intact homogeneous clays only.

(iv) The test under estimates in-situ strength because of the sampling
disturbance.

TRIAXIAL TEST

Advantages:
1. The test can be performed, with complete control, under all the three
drainage conditions.

2. It is possible to take pore pressure measurements during the test.

3. The distribution of stress on the failure plane is uniform.

4. It is possible to determine the state of stress within the specimen at any

stage of the test.

Disadvantages:
1. The test set up is more complicated than any other shear test. It requires
a skilled person to handle the apparatus precisely.

2. Tests on small diameter samples (i.e., 38 mm) of stiff fissured clays give
very high strength. Hence to obtain accurate result for such type of soils,
large diameter specimens should be tested.

3. Consolidation of cohesive soil specimens take more time than in the

shear box test.

1. Unconsolidated un-drained (uu) test:

In this test the specimen is fitted between solid non-porous discs to avoid
expulsion of water from the specimen. The required confining pressure is
applied and axial load is applied without allowing the specimen to
consolidated under the confining pressure, the axial load is usually applied
at a rate of 2% strain per minute till the sample fails or an axial strain of
20% has reached.

2. Consolidated un-drained (Cu) test:

In this type of test the specimen is fitted between porous discs and under
confining pressure the specimen is allowed to consolidate (i.e., drainage is
allowed). The drainage tap is then closed and axial load is applied till
failure.

3. Consolidated drained (CD) test:

The specimen is fitted between porous discs and specimen is allowed to
consolidate under confining pressure. The axial load is then applied without
closing the drainage tap (i.e., drainage is allowed)
Boussinesq’s Theory / Solution
Boussinesq (1885) has given the solution for the stresses caused by the application of the
point load at the surface of a elastic medium with the aid of the mathematical theory of
elasticity.
3.3.1 Assumptions
1) The soil medium is an elastic continuum having a constant value of modulus of
elasticity (E). i.e. it obeys Hooke’s law
2) The soil is homogeneous, i.e. it has identical elastic properties at all points in identical
directions.
3) The soil is isotropic, i.e. it has identical elastic properties in all direction at a point.
4) The soil mass is semi-infinite, i.e. it extends to infinity in the downward directions
and lateral directions. In other words, it is limited on its top but a horizontal plane and
extends to infinity in all other directions.
3.5 Limitations
1) The solution was derived assuming the soil as an elastic medium, but the soil doesnot
behave as an elastic material.
2) When the stress decrease occurs in soil, the relation between the stress and the strain
is not linear as assumed, therefore, the solution is not strictly applicable.
3) In deep sand deposits, the modulus of elasticity increases with an increase in depth
and therefore, the Boussinesq’ s solution will not give satisfactory results.
3.6 Stress Isobar or pressure bulb
An ‘isobar’ is a stress contour or a curve which connects all points below the ground surface
at which the vertical pressure is the same. An isobar is a spatial curved surface and
resembles
a bulb in shape. The stress isobar is also called ‘pressure bulb’ .
Any number of pressure bulb may be drawn for any applied load, since each one
corresponds
to an arbitrarily chosen value of stress. The isobar of a particular intensity can be obtained
by:
3.13 Westergaard’s Solution
Boussinesq’ s solution assumes that the soil deposit is isotropic. Actual sedimentary deposits
are generally anisotropic. There are thin layers of sand embedded in homogeneous clay strata.
Westergaard’ s solution assumes that there are thin sheets of rigid materials sandwiched in a
homogeneous soil mass. These thin sheets are closely spaced and are of infinite rigidity and
therefore prevent the medium from undergoing lateral strain. These permit only downward
displacement of the soil mass as a whole without any lateral displacement. Therefore
Westergaard’ s solution represents more closely the actual sedimentary deposits.

3.14 Newmark’s Influence Chart

3.14.1 Introduction:
The vertical stress at any particular depth in the soil due to the action of vertical load
on the surface of the ground was given and explained by the famous Boussinesq’ s theory.
This theory gave formulae to calculate vertical stresses at a point for different types of
vertical loading, taking into consideration only a few well defined and standard shape of
loading like a point loading, line loading, strip loading, rectangular loading and circular
loading. When some complex shape of loading, like a plan of a structure was given, it
became very cumbersome to calculate the vertical stress using these formulas. Hence, a need
for more simpler and faster method of stress calculation was realized. Newmark formulated a
new simple graphical method to calculate the vertical stress at any particular depth caused
due to any shape of vertical uniformly distributed loading in the interior of an elastic,
homogeneous and isotropic medium, which is bounded by horizontal planes

Equivalent point- load method

The vertical stress at a point under a loaded area of any of any shape can be determined by
dividing the loaded area into small area and replacing the distributed load on each on small
area by an equivalent point load acting at the centroid of the small area. The principle of
superposition is then applied and the required stress at a specified point is obtained by
summing up the contributions of the individual. Point loads from each of the units by
applying the approximate point load formula, such as that of Boussinesq’ s or Westergaard’
s.
PLASTIC EQUILLIBRIUM
A body of soil is said to be in a state of plastic equilibrium, if every part of it is on the
verge of failure. So this can be visualized by a perfectly rigid plastic model where with a
stress strain relationship if we assume that it is rigid and perfectly plastic. So here a graph
which is shown, shear stress versus shear strain and at a zero shear strain itself it actually
attains that yield shear stress (Refer Slide Time: 05:44). So here the stress strain behavior
of the soil can be represented here by the rigid perfectly plastic idealization.