186 Chapter 7 Shear Strongth of Soil ‘A consolidated-drained triaxial test on a clayey soil may take several days to complete, This amount of time is required because deviator stress must be applied very slowly to ensure full drainage from the soil specimen. For this reason, the CD type of triaxial test is uncommon. Example 7.1 ‘A consolidated-drained triaxial test was conducted on a nortnally consolidated clay. The results are as follows: | © 3 =276KNim?* © (Aoy)y = 276 KINI? | Determine : a. Angle of friction, 4" \ . Aingle 8 that the failure plane makes with the major principal plane . Normal stress, o', and shear stress, zy, on the failure plane i Solution ( For northally consolidated soil, the failure envelope equation is i y= o'tang! — (because c’ = 0) i For the triaxial test, the effective major and minor principal stresses at failure are i as follows! ' of = 01 = 05 + (Aura); = 276 + 276 = 552 KN/m? : a i of = 03 = 216 kNIm? \ Parta i ‘The Mobr’s circle and the failure envelope are shown in Figure 7.14, from which : we find that : : (a = ) i SAR 2) \ pa “ (é 5 #) j i a } 552-276 : ta tze 8 or : :days to applied the CD 7.3 Triaxial Shear Test (General) 187 ‘Shear stress oN Normal stress Figure 7.14 Mohr’ circle and failure envelope for a normally consolidated clay Part b From Eq. (7.6), 19,45° ee ee Parte ‘Using Eqs. (5.21) and (5.22), we get 4 + "(on the failure plane) = 7! So “and oo. a= 3 S sin 20 Substituting the values of o/ = 552 kN/m?, o4 = 276 kN/m?, and @ = 54.73° into the preceding equations, we get 552+ 276 , 552 = 276 ol = cos(2 X 54.73) = 368.03 kN/m? 2 and 552. — 276 3 Sin(2. X 54.73) = 130.12 KN/m? .488 Chapter7 Shear Strength of Soil Example 7.2 For the triaxial test described in Example 7.1, ‘a. Determine the effective normal stress on the plane of maximum shear stress. pp. Explain why the shear failure occurred along a plane with @ = 5473" and not along the plane of maximum shear stress. Solution Parta rom f2q. (5.22), we can see that the maximum shear stress will oceur on ‘the plane with @ = 45°. From Eq. (5.21), oy oe os oh | a= cos 26 wl Substituting @ = 45° into the preceding equation, we get 76, oe Part b o is ‘The shear stress that will cause failure along the plane with 0 = 45°is 1, =o" tang! = 414 tan(19.45) = 146.2 kN/m? | However, the shear stress induced on that plane is 414 Nin? in 20 = 52 78 sin 90 = 138 kN/m* Because 7 = 138 kN/m? < 146.2 kN/m? = 7,, the specimen did not fail along the plane of maximum shear stress, = Example 7.3 | ‘Two similar clay soil specimens were preconsolidated in triaxial equipment under a chamber pressure of 600 kN/m?. Consolidated-drained triaxial tests were con: ‘ducted on these two specimens. Following are the results of the tests; 100 KN/m? Specimen I:o \ (dors) = 410.6kNAm? Specimen 2:03 = 50 kNim* 1 (Aoa)y = 384.37 ‘kNio? ‘Determine the shedr strength parameters for the samples (see Figure 7.15).7.3 Triaxial Shear Test (General) 189 Conmn Aanyel th Hoh. ered @ f i g ~~ 30 100 437 5106 ‘Normal stress (kN/m?®) Figure 7.15 Solution For Specimen 1, the principal stresses at failure are 05 = 05 = 100kN/m? and oh = 01 = 03 + (Moy) = 100 + 410.6 = 510.6 kim? Similarly, the principal stresses at failure for Specimen 2 are 04 = 03 = 50. KN/m? and Oj =O = 04 + (Aog), = 50+ 384.37 = 434.37 KN/m? ‘These two specimens are oyerconsolidated. Using the relationship given by Eq (77) oL= oy wane (45 + ) + evan 4s + 4) 2 2 ‘Thus, for Specimen 1 a 510.6 = 100 cane(45 + 4) #2ctan (4s + (Ilda) and for Specimen 2 434.37 = 50 an'(4s + 4) + 2c'tan (« +4) (7.14b), | Buectio dat & els yrnme 190 Chaptor 7 Shear Strength of Soil Subtracting Eq. (7.14b) from Eg. (7-148) 76.23 = sorani(45 + 2) or Substituting 4, = 12° in Eq. (7.14a) 510.6 = 100 tan4[45 + (12/2)] + ‘2€ tan[45 + (12/2) ‘or x 510.6 = 152.5 + 2.47¢ So 145kN/m? Q . Consolidated-Undrained Test ‘The consolidated-undrained testis the most common type of triaxial test. 1 this test, the saturated soil specimen is first consolidated by an all-around chamber fluid pres- sure, o%, resulting in drainage. After the pore water pressure generated by the ap- plication of confining pressure is completely dissipated (that is, Bor, = 0), the Mevator stress, Av. on the specimen is increased to cause shear failure, ‘During this phase of the test, the drainage line from the sample is kept closed, Since drainage is vot permitted, the pore water pressure, Aug, will increase. During the test, simulta- meoke measurements of Ag and Au, arc made. The increase of pore water Pressure, ‘Ailg, can be expressed in a nondimensional form as Aus Re (7.45) where A = Skempton’ pore pressure parameter (Skempton, 1954) “The general patterns of variation of Ao, and Au, with axial stain for sand and clay soils are shown in Figures 7.16d through 7.16, In loose sand and normally con- Soldated clay, the pore water pressure increases with strain, In dense sand and over- semlilated clay, the pore water pressure increases with strain to a certain limit, beyond which it decreases and becomes negative (with respect 0 the atmospheric pressure), This decrease is because of a tendency of the soi 10 dilate. Ualike the consolidated-drained lest, the total and effective principal sires® are not the same in the consolidated-undrained test, Because the pore wafer Prove are ure ie measured in this test, the principal stresses may be analyzed as follows: «Major principal stress at failure (total): a3 + (Aog)p = 71 . Major principal stress at failure (effective): oy ~ (Ata)y = 0%7.3 Triaxial Shear Test (General) 193 aot g Shear stress eet otundy Figure 7.18 Total stress failure en- velope obtained from Bee consolidated-undrained 3 7 ‘ests in over-consolidated ‘Nocmal stross clay and the straight line b'c' follows the relationship given by Eq. (7.16). The effective stress failure envelope drawn from the effective stress Mohr’ circles will be similar to that shown in Figure 7.18. Consolidated-drained tests on clay soils take considerable time. For this rea- son, consolidated-undrained tests can be conducted on such soils with pore pressure measurements to obtain the drained shear strength parameters. Because drainage is not allowed in these tests during the application of deviator stress, they can be per- formed quickly. ‘Skempton's pore water pressure parameter A has been defined in Eq. (7.15). At failure, the parameter A can be written as (Auta) y (Aoa)y (7.18) ‘The general range of A; values in most clay soils is as follows: * Normally consolidated clays: 0.5 to 1 * Overconsolidated clays: —0.5 to 0 Example 7.4 A specimen of saturated sand was consolidated under an all-around pressure of 420 KN/m?. The axial stress was then increased without permitting drainage. The specimen failed when the axial stress reached 350 N/m’. The pore water pres- sure at failure was 289.45 kNém?, Determi a. the consolidated-undrained angle of shearing resistance; b. the drained friction anglo, #’,194 Chapter 7 Shear Strength of Soil fective stess future envelope ‘Total stress feilure envelope ‘Shear stress (Nin?) ° wap 055A 70 eee Nona sess Nin?) Figure 7.19 Bt Solution Parta ‘At failure, or = 420 N/m? oy = 04 + (Acra)y = 420 + 350 = TI0KN/mx? From Figure 7.19 LAB Tes snd OA tos 7I0 = 420 _ 350 “770+ 420 1190 oz or esti Part b 5! = 0 ~ (Autg)y = 420 ~ 289.45 = 130.55 KN/m? | =o ~ (Aug)y = 710 ~ 289.45 = 480.55kN/m? ey AR as oh _ 480.55 — 130.55 OA’ of +04 48055 + 13055 350 "ain or 34.94EZul2Z Gipen Qe Poe KLE, Oper Cede 2 > Or © Gaye, Lt Sta BO ¢ Z- Cty fo ong? Lt Sia Sh GE /~ Sin $4GR aces ~raede Dee 206 Chapter7 Shear Strength of Soil iguation (7.42) isan extremely useful relationship If the plasticity index of a normally consolidated clay deposit is known, the variation ‘of undrained cohesion ‘with depth can be estimated approximately. seid Foote, Ishihara, Schlosser, and Poulos (1977) have demonstrated that, for overeonsolidated clays, the following relation holds approximately true: (ders oraonset__ (QC RYE (7.43) (€,1672 )nowmaty consoidated where OCR = overconsolidation ratio “The overconsolidation ratio was defined in Chapter Gas OCR= (7.44) where o! = preconsolidation pressure (Chapter 6) { Example 7.5 ‘A 16 m thick normally consolidated clay deposits shown in Figure 7.30. The plas- tielty index of the clay is 48%. Estimate the ‘undrained cohesion at the middle of the clay layer. Solution ‘Ar the middle of the clay layer, the effective overburden pressure is a4 = Yong X 3 + Yhasy % 8 = 17x34 09 — 9.81) X 8 = 2452ENIE y= 17 KNin? png Groandwatr tale oa = 19 KN El pry sand (2 Clay ES Rock Figure 7.30} i i i 78 7.8 Vane Shear Test 207 From Eq. (7.42) Su = O11 + 0.0087(P1) Fo or cj = 70.11 + 0.0037(P2)] = 124,52[0.11 + 0,0037(48)| = 35.8 kN/m? eps = 32076 Vane Shear Test Fairly reliable results for the undrained shear strength, ¢, ((p = 0 concept), of very plastic cohesive soils may be obtained directly from vane shear tests. The shear vane usually consists of four thin, equal-sized steel plates welded to a steel torque rod (Figure 7.31). First, the vane is pushed into the soil, Then torque is applied at the top of the torque rod to rotate the vane at a uniform speed. A cylinder of soil of height hand diameter d will resist the torque until the soil fails. The undrained shear strength of the soil can be calculated as follows. If Tis the maximum torque applied at the head of the torque rod to cause fail- ure, it should be equal to the sum of the resisting moment of the shear force along the side surface of the soil cylinder (M,) and the resisting moment of the shear force at each end (M,) (Figure 7.32a): T=M,+M,+M, (7.45) MoM, i Te Po i I | a Figure 7.31 ‘Diagram of vane shear test equipment