UNIVERSIDAD NACIONAL DE COLOMBIA

BOGOTÁ

SOIL MECHANICS

EFFECTIVE STRESS

JULIO ESTEBAN COLMENARES MONTAÑEZ , PhD

TITULAR PROFESSOR

BOGOTÁ D.C
2018 - I
 Review
We must remember that:

I. The stress concept is based on the acceptance that the ratio between the force
and the area of application is approximated to a finite limit when the area
approaches a point.

II. The strains show how much the infinitesimal element changes dimensions and
shape, with respect to its original dimensions and shape.

III. The stress is a tensor.

IV. The stress state in a specified point on the continuum can be represented by:
the stress tensor (9 stresses -6 of them are different-); the principal stresses (3
stresses); or the equivalent stresses (2 stresses). This is also the case for the
strains.
 CONTENT
1. INTRODUCTION

2. GENERAL DEFINITION

3. BASIC CONCEPT OF EFFECTIVE STRESS

4. INTERSTITIAL PRESSURE

5. GEOSTATIC CONDITION OF STRESSES

6. EXAMPLES
 1 INTRODUCTION
Groundwater originates from the
infiltration process of rainwater,
watercourses or thawing of the ice
mass.

• Water table is the surface where

the pore water pressure head is
equal to the atmospheric
pressure.

• Its location depends on the local Taken from: https://www.thinglink.com/scene/619618059098783744

environmental conditions.
 1 INTRODUCTION

The possible states of soil moisture

Taken from: epa.ohio.gov Taken from:

http://clasfaculty.ucdenver.edu/callen/1202/Battle/Destroy/Hydrolo
gy/HydrologyBasics.html
 2 GENERAL DEFINITION
• Effective stress (σ’) is defined as the difference between the
total stress (σ) in any direction and the pore-water pressure
(u).

𝜎′ = 𝜎 − 𝑢

• Terzaghi (1936) was the first who clearly

stated this basic law governing the
mechanical properties of porous
materials.
Taken from:
http://www.civilenggforall.com/20
15/08/theoretical-soil-mechanics-
by-karl-terzaghi-civilenggforall.html
 3 BASIC CONCEPT OF EFFECTIVE STRESS

• Soil is a skeletal structure of solid particles in contact, forming an

interstitial system of interconnecting voids. The voids are filled
partially or wholly with water.

• The deformability of a soil,

subjected to loading or
unloading, is its capacity to
deform the voids, normally by
displacement of water.

Taken from: http://slideplayer.com/slide/221934/

 The principle of effective stress
This principle was stated by Terzaghi (1936) based of two hypotheses:

1. Volumen change and 2. Shear strength (τ) depends of

deformation in soils depends on the effective stress, not the total
the changes in effective stresses.
normal stress in the direction
considered.

𝝈′ = 𝝈 − 𝒖 𝝉 = 𝒄′ + 𝝈′ 𝒕𝒂𝒏 ∅′
C’: Cohesion intercept
Ø’: Angle of shearing resistance
 Effective stress
• Any plane through an element of soil has acting on it
a resultant normal stress (σn ) and a shear stress (τ).
The water in the pores will be under a pressure (u)
known as the pore water pressure.

σ'n= σ – u

• Since water cannot carry shear, a shear stress will

always be an effective stress.

τ = τ’

• An effective stress may be thought of as that part of

the total stress that is transmitted through the soil
skeleton
 Effective stress
• The application of the effective stress principle is an empirically established concept –a
working hypothesis-.
• It says nothing about the way the stresses are transmitted through the soil skeleton – the
term “intergranular stress” should not therefore be used. In clay soils, attempts to treat
the concept in terms of interparticle forces run into difficulties as to “what is a particle?”
i.e. does it include the chemically bound water?
• Similarly the principle says nothing about the distribution of stress within the pore fluid
adjacent to a clay particle. The pore water pressure is simply the pressure measured
through a porous tip which is much larger than the grains.
• The key feature of the principle is that in predicting strength and deformation, we only
need to know the appropriate effective stresses and their changes and not the
independent values of σ and u. This is a tremendous advantage.
• However, in the field, we will always have to measure u in order to obtain σ´.
 Effective stress

• In the laboratory we need only

to apply the appropriate values
of (σ – u) and need not concern
ourselves with their separate
absolute values.
 Application
• All measurable effects of a change of stress such as compression, distortion
or a change in shearing resistance are due exclusively to changes in
effective stress (taking due regard to time effects: creep, ageing, etc).

• It follows that to define the effective stress on any element of soil it is

necessary to know not only the total stress, but also the pore water
pressure.

• That is why ground water conditions play such vital role in ground
engineering problems – particularly for retaining walls and slopes. Changes
in ground water pressure without changes in total pressure can take place
because of seepage, water table fluctuations, consolidation or swelling. All
these effects will give rise to changes in effective stress and result in
important, sometimes catastrophic soil behavior.
 Application
Taken from:
• Neglecting creep, if there is no distortion http://kgs.uky.edu/kgsweb/do
wnload/misc/landuse/ESTILL/e
or volume change during a change in stillissues.htm

total stress there is no change of

effective stress.

• A decrease in σ´ causes swelling and

weakening – could result from a
decrease in σ with u constant or increase
in u with σ constant.

• An increase in σ´ causes compression

and strength increase –could result from
increase in σ with u constant or decrease
in u with σ constant
Taken from: http://kgs.uky.edu/kgsweb/download/misc/landuse/ESTILL/estillissues.htm
 Effective stress
• The volumetric changes (compressibility) and the soil resistance
changes depend only of the variation of effective stress.
 Effective stress
• In a soil saturated, the effective stress can be shown as force
transmitted between particles divided by the surface area
𝐴𝑠 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑛 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑓𝑖𝑔𝑢𝑟𝑒:
𝑷 = 𝑷′ + 𝑨 − 𝑨𝒄 𝒖
A= Total area.
Ac= Area in contact between grains Taken from: Simons, Menzies. 1975

𝐷𝑖𝑣𝑖𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑡𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑎: 𝑺𝒌𝒆𝒎𝒑𝒕𝒐𝒏, 𝟏𝟗𝟔𝟎

𝑃 𝑃′ 𝐴 − 𝐴𝑐 𝜎 = 𝜎′ + 1 − 𝑎 𝑢
= + 𝑢
𝐴 𝐴 𝐴
′
𝐴𝑐 𝑻𝒆𝒓𝒛𝒂𝒈𝒉𝒊, 𝟏𝟗𝟐𝟑
𝜎 =𝜎 + 1− 𝑢
𝐴 If a<<1
𝜎 = 𝜎′ + 𝑢
 Effective stress
The stress state can be u>0
represented as equivalent and
average stresses. The effective
stress concept also can be
represented as:
• Equivalent Stresses:
𝒑′ = 𝒑 − 𝒖
𝒒′ = 𝒒
u<0
• Average Stresses:
𝒔′ = 𝒔 − 𝒖
𝒕′ = 𝒕

Taken from: Parry, 2004

 Partly Saturared soils
• In partly saturated soils the water phase is not continuous. As a result
changes in uw (pore water pressure) can give rise to different types of
micro-structure, or fabric, from those induced by changes in σ.
• Thus changes in degree of saturation due to changes in uw amounts
to a change in material e.g. shrinkage cracks, crumb structures, micro
fissuring due to desiccation.
Total stress constant
Total stress change
Uw→0
Uw=constant

Shrinkage
Cracks
 Partly saturated soils
• Collapse of grain structure on wetting. Increase of uw at constant σ
(i.e. σ´ decreases) yet volume decreases.
(a) (c)
s o il wle
p a rtic a te
s r

u
w<0


(b ) (d )
 4 INTERSTITIAL PRESSURE
• Depending on the zone where the soil is located, interstitial pressure
has different distributions.
• Interstitial pressure can be studied as a function of the water state.

Taken from: http://blog.hj-koehler.de/boden-unter-wasser/

 4 INTERSTITIAL PRESSURE
Water States

Hygroscopic water Capilarity water Gravitational water

Keeps the electro-ionic It is located under the

It is located over the
balance of the minerals water table:
water table. It is
surface. It has a high Can be in:
subjected to negative
cohesion state and it is
pressure (relative) by - REST (HYDROSTATIC
released only by cation
capillarity. CONDITION)
exchange (in the case of
clays ) or in vapor state. - MOVEMENT (FLOW
CONDITION
 Water states

Taken from: https://edafologia2urjc.wikispaces.com/2.+Tipos+de+agua+en+el+suelo

 Capillary water
• If the lower part of a dry soil mass makes contact with water, water will rise
across the pores up to a certain height over the water table.
• That rise is attributed to surface tension of water (i.e. the elastic like force existing
in the surface of a body, especially a liquid, tending to minimize the area of the
surface, caused by asymmetries in the intermolecular forces between surface
molecules).
 Capillary water
CAPILLARY HEIGHT hc:
The Jurin’s Law defines the height reached
when the weight of liquid head and the
ascending force by capillarity are
equilibrated. The height hc in length units
of liquid head is given by the equation:
2Ts
hc  cos 
R
Where:
Ts: Surface tension of liquid
𝛼 : Angle of contact between the liquid
and the capillary tube
R: Capillary tube radius
γ: Unit weight of liquid
 Capillary water
• The pressure distribution in this zone is linear such as to
hydrostatic pressure law.
 Gravity water
• The interstitial pressure in any point is equal to weight of water head
existing between that point and the water table.

Taken from: http://techalive.mtu.edu/meec/module06/Aquifers.htm

 Gravity water
Water flow occurs within a porous media when there is an imbalance
of energy (Hydraulic gradient i). In this case, water flows from points
with more energy to points with less energy.

Upstream
u  ( z1  z2  h) w Downstream
u  ( z1  z2  h) w
5 GEOSTATIC CONDITION OF STRESSES
It is assumed that for this condition the ground is infinite and
completely horizontal. Also, it is accepted that for plane Y act the same
stresses that for plane X.

𝜕𝜎𝑥 𝜕𝜏𝑦𝑥
+ =𝕏=0
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑧
𝜕𝜏𝑥𝑧 𝜕𝜎𝑧
+ =ℤ=𝛾
𝜕𝑥 𝜕𝑧
Under special conditions, the
balance equations can be solved Zw

by direct integration:
𝑛

σ= γ 𝑖 ∗ 𝑧𝑖
𝑖
 Effective stresses due to geostatic
conditions
The effective stress in a soil mass not subjected to external loads is found from the
unit weight of the soil and the depth of groundwater. Consider a soil element at a
depth z below the ground surface
𝑇𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑐𝑎𝑙 𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠:
𝜎 = 𝛾𝑠𝑎𝑡 ∙ 𝑧
𝑃𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑝𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒:
𝑢 = 𝛾𝑤 ∙ 𝑧
𝑬𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔:
𝝈′ = 𝝈 − 𝒖 = 𝜸′ 𝒛
Taken from: Budhu, 1976
𝐼𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑊𝐿 𝑖𝑠 𝑎𝑡 𝑑𝑒𝑝𝑡ℎ 𝑧𝑤 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 𝑔𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑙
𝜎 = 𝛾𝑧𝑤 + 𝛾𝑠𝑎𝑡 𝑧 − 𝑧𝑤 E𝒇𝒇𝒆𝒄𝒕𝒊𝒗𝒆 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒆𝒔𝒔
𝑢 = 𝛾𝑤 (𝑧 − 𝑧𝑤 ) 𝝈′ = 𝜸𝒛𝒘 + 𝜸′(𝒛 − 𝒛𝒘 )
 Geostatic condition
• The ratio between horizontal effective stress and vertical effective stress in geostatic
condition is denominated Coefficient of earth pressure Ko and is represented by the
following expression.
• Then… under this conditions, how the stress state is determined?

 'horizontal  '3
K0  
 'vertical  '1

Taken from: http://falbo.blogspot.com/2013/03/sinclinal-de-la-sierra-del-courel-un.html

6 EXAMPLES
6 EXAMPLES
 Review
I. The effective stress represents the average stress carried by the soil solids and
it is the difference between the total stress and the porewater pressure.

II. The effective stress principle applies only to normal stresses and not to shear
stresses.

III. Deformations of soils are due to effective, not total, stress.

IV. Capillary action results in negative porewater pressures and increases the
effective stresses.
 BIBLIOGRAPHY
Craig, R. F. (1997) Soil Mechanics. 6th Edition. Chapman & Hall.

Murthy, V.N.S.(2003).Geotechnical Engineering: Principles and practices of soil

mechanics and Foundation Engineering. Marcel Dekker, Inc.

Atkinson, J.(1993).The Mechanics of soils and Foundation. Second Edition. Taylor and
Francis.

Budhu, M. (1976). Soil Mechanics and Foundations (3a ed.). Arizona: John wiley &
sons. Inc.

Simons, N., & Menzies, B. (1975). A short course in foundation engineering (2a ed.).
Londres: Thomas Telford