Unit 9

Shear Strength

Dr. Jitendra Singh Yadav

Assistant Professor-I
Dept of Civil Engineering
1

NIT Kurukshetra, Kurukshetra Haryana

• Introduction,

• Mohr stress circle,

• Mohr-coulomb failure-criterion,

• Relationship between principal stresses at failure,

• Shear tests: direct shear test, unconfined compression test, triaxial compression tests, drainage conditions and

strength parameters, vane shear test,

• Shear strength characteristics of sands, normally consolidated clays, over-consolidated clays and partially saturated

soils

• Sensitivity and thixotropy.

Ideal Shear Strength Test
 Independent control of stress and strain in each direction
 Direction of principal stress
 Rate of stress or strain application
 Uniform distribution of applied stress
 Control over pore (air or water) pressure

Parameters Obtained
 Shear strength parameters
 Pore pressure parameters
 Deformation parameters
Measurement of Shear Strength
The measurement of shear strength of soil involves certain tests observations at
failure with the help of which the failure envelope or strength envelope can be
plotted corresponding to a given set of conditions.
Shearing resistance can be determined in the lab by the following methods.
o Direct shear
o Triaxial
o Unconfined compression test
o Vane shear test
Determination of shear strength parameters :

Laboratory tests Field tests

➢ Direct shear test ➢ Vane shear test

➢ Triaxial shear test
➢ Direct simple shear test,
➢ Torsional ring shear test,
➢ Plane strain triaxial test,
➢ Laboratory vane shear test,
➢ Laboratory fall cone test
➢ Pocket penetrometer
➢ Pressuremeter
➢ Static cone penetrometer
➢ Standard penetration test

Most common laboratory tests used to determine shear strength

parameters c and  are Direct shear test and Triaxial test
Laboratory tests
Field conditions

A representative soil
sample
z z
svc svc + Ds

shc shc shc shc

svc svc + Ds

Before construction After and during

construction
 Laboratory tests
svc + Ds
Simulating field conditions in the laboratory
shc shc

0 svc svc + Ds

svc
0 0 shc shc
t

0 svc t

Representative Step 1 svc

soil sample taken Set the specimen in the Step 2
from the site apparatus and apply the Apply the corresponding
initial stress condition field stress conditions
o Undrained Test or Quick Tests: No drainage of water is permitted. Hence no
dissipation of pore water pressure during the test.
o Drained Test: Drainage is permitted throughout the tests during the application of
both normal and shearing loading so that full consolidation occurs and no excess
pore pressure is set up at any stage of the test.
o Consolidated Undrained Test: Drainage is permitted under the initially applied
normal stress only and fully primary consolidation or softening is allowed to take
place. No drainage is allowed afterward.
Direct shear test: Introduction

• Also called as Shear box test.

• Box can be of square or circular shape in plan.
• Used to determine soil strength and not the deformations.
• Different sizes of shear box can be used depending on grain size of the coarse
grain soil.
• Sample is loaded first with normal stress with the help of dead loads.
• Then a lateral force is applied to split the sample in two parts.

sn

Shearing plane
Direct shear test: Component parts

sn

Split box

t ` Force
Soil sample transducer

Porous stones
Direct shear test: Mechanism
sn
sh At the start of the test

sn
ti
Intermediate development of shi
stresses during the test
ti
sni
tf
shf Stress state at the end of the
test
tf

Normal stress remains constant for a particular sample test

Direct shear test
Preparation of a sand specimen

Porous
plates

Pressure plate
Components of the shear box Preparation of a sand specimen

Leveling the top surface of Specimen preparation

specimen completed
Direct shear test
Test procedure

P Steel ball

Pressure plate

Porous
plates

Proving ring to
measure shear
force

Step 1: Apply a vertical load to the specimen and wait for consolidation
Direct shear test

P Steel ball
Test procedure
Pressure plate

Porous
plates

Proving ring to
measure shear
force

Step 1: Apply a vertical load to the specimen and wait for consolidation
Step 2: Lower box is subjected to a horizontal displacement at a constant rate
Direct shear test
Dial gauge to measure
vertical displacement
Shear box

Proving ring to
measure shear
force

Loading frame to apply Dial gauge to measure

horizontal displacement
vertical load
Shear box test
 Usually only relatively slow drained tests are performed in shear box
apparatus. For clays, rate of shearing must be chosen to prevent excess
pore pressures building up. For sands and gravels tests can be performed
quickly

 Tests on sands and gravels are usually performed dry. Water does not
significantly affect the (drained) strength.

 Ifthere are no excess pore pressures and as the pore pressure is

approximately zero the total and effective stresses will be identical.

 The failure stresses thus define an effective stress failure envelope from
which the effective (drained) strength parameters c’, ’ can be
determined.
Direct shear test
Analysis of test results

Normal force (P)

s = Normal stress =
Area of cross section of the sample

Shear resistance developed at the sliding surface (S)

t = Shear stress =
Area of cross section of the sample

Note: Cross-sectional area of the sample changes

with the horizontal displacement
Direct shear test: Evaluation of results

• Peak shear stresses are noted down at each normal stress applied
• There will be ‘n’ numbers of normal and peak shear stresses for ‘n’
numbers of samples tested.
• A plot of Peak shear stress vs Normal stress do gives the shear strength
parameters ‘’ and ‘c’ for a particular soil.
tf

c
sn
How to understand dilatancy
i.e., why do we get volume changes when applying shear
stresses?

 =  + i
The apparent externally mobilized angle of friction on horizontal planes () is larger than
the angle of friction resisting sliding on the inclined planes (i).
strength = friction + dilatancy
How to understand dilatancy

Bolton, 1991
Interlocking and dilatancy

➢ When soil is initially denser than the

critical state which it must achieve,
then as the particles slide past each
other owing to the imposed shear strain
they will, on average separate. The
particle movements will be spread
about mean angle of dilation 

➢ In a dense sand there is a considerable

degree of interlocking between
particles . Before shear failure can take
place, this interlocking must be
overcome in addition to the frictional
resistance at the points of contact.
Interlocking and dilatancy

➢ In general, the degree of interlocking is greatest in the

case of very dense, well-graded sands consisting of
angular particles.

➢ The characteristic stress–strain curve for an initially dense

sand shows a peak stress at a relatively low strain and
thereafter, as interlocking is progressively overcome, the
stress decreases with increasing strain.
➢ The reduction in the degree of
interlocking produces an increase in
the volume of the specimen during
shearing as characterized by the
relationship, between volumetric strain
and shear strain in the direct shear test.
How to understand dilatancy
➢ The term dilatancy is used to describe the increase in volume of a dense
sand during shearing and the rate of dilation can be represented by the
gradient dv/d, the maximum rate corresponding to the peak stress.
➢ The angle of dilation  is tan-1 (dv/d)
➢ For a dense sand the maximum angle of shearing resistance (max ) determined
from peak stresses is significantly greater than the true angle of friction ()
between the surfaces of individual particles, the difference representing the
work required to overcome interlocking and rearrange the particles .
 How to understand dilatancy
➢ When soil is initially looser than the final critical state,
then particles will tend to get closer together as the soil
is disturbed, and the average angle of dilation will be
negative, indicating a contraction.
➢ In the case of initially loose sand there is no significant
particle interlocking to be overcome and the shear
stress increases gradually to an ultimate value without a
prior peak, accompanied by a decrease in volume.
max ,
 and cv

➢ Thus at the ultimate (or critical)

state, shearing takes place at
constant volume, the
corresponding angle of shearing
resistance being denoted cv (or
crit).

➢ The difference between  and

cv represents the work required
to rearrange the particles.
➢ In general, the critical state is identified by extrapolation of the
stress–strain curve to the point of constant stress, which should
also correspond to the point of zero rate of dilation on the
volumetric strain-shear strain curve.
How to understand dilatancy

➢ If the density of the soil does not have to

change in order to reach a critical state
then there is zero dilatancy as the soil
shears at constant volume.

➢ It is important to realize that a critical

state is only reached when the particles
have had full opportunity to juggle
around and come into new
configurations . If the confining pressure is
increased while the particles are being
moved around then they will tend to
finish up in a more compact state.
 max and cv

➢ In practice the parameter max, which is a transient

value, should only be used for situations in which it
can be assumed that strain will remain significantly
less than that corresponding to peak stress.

➢ If, however, strain is likely to exceed that

corresponding to peak stress, a situation that may
lead to progressive failure, then the critical-state
parameter cv should be used.
 How to understand dilatancy
➢ When dense sands or over-consolidated clays are
sheared they dilate

➢ Larger the particle size, greater the dilation

➢ Mohr-Coulomb idealisation implies dilation at a

constant rate when soil is sheared. This is unrealistic.
Direct shear tests on sands
How to determine strength parameters c and 
Normal stress = s3

Shear stress, t
Normal stress = s2

tf2 t
tf3 f1

Shear displacement
Shear stress at failure, tf

Mohr – Coulomb failure envelope

Normal stress, s
Direct shear test: Mohr’s stress circle

tf

(sntf3)

(sntf2)

(sntf1)

sn
Direct shear test: Sample results for sand

t dense • Peak shear stresses are noted

down at each normal stress
applied

loose

Expansion
Displacement dense

Volume change
medium
• Volume keeps on decreasing
for loose sand Displacement

Compression
• Volume first decreases and
then increases for medium
loose
dense and dense sand
• Attributed to dilatancy efffect
Direct shear tests on sands

Some important facts on strength parameters c and  of sand

Direct shear tests are drained and pore water
Sand is cohesionless hence c = 0 pressures are dissipated, hence u = 0

Therefore,
’ =  and c’ = c = 0
Direct shear tests on clays
In case of clay, horizontal displacement should be applied at a very slow rate to allow dissipation of pore water pressure (therefore,
one test would take several days to finish)

Failure envelopes for clay from drained direct shear tests

Overconsolidated clay (c’ ≠ 0)
Shear stress at failure, tf

Normally consolidated clay (c’ = 0)

’

Normal force, s
 Interpretation of shear box tests

 A peak and an ultimate failure locus can be obtained from the results each with different c’ and ’
values.

 All soils are essentially frictional and continued shearing results in them approaching a purely
frictional state where c’ = 0.

 Normally consolidated clays (OCR=1) and loose sands do not show separate peak and ultimate
failure loci, and for soils in these states c’ = 0.

 Over consolidated clays and dense sands have peak strengths with c’ > 0.

 Note that dense sands do not possess any true cohesion (bonds), the apparent cohesion results
from the tendency of soil to expand when sheared.
Direct shear test: Mohr’s stress circle

tf

(sntf3)

(sntf2)

(sntf1)

sn
Direct shear test: Stress path

Initial condition :-

Element on the failure plane Mohr’s diagrams

t
sn0
sh0
Pole
sh0 = K0sn0

sh0 sn0 sn
Direct shear test: Stress path

During the test , before failure :-

Element on the failure plane Mohr’s diagrams

t
sn
ti
shi
ti
ti

shi sni sn
Direct shear test: Stress path

At failure :-

Element on the failure plane Mohr’s diagrams

t
sn
ti tf Pole
shi

ti

shf shf snf sn

s nf
➢ Both the maximum stress ratio and the ultimate (or critical) void ratio decrease with
increasing effective normal stress.
➢ The difference between maximum and ultimate stress decreases with increasing effective
normal stress.
➢ The value of max for each test can then be represented by a secant parameter, the value
decreasing with increasing effective normal stress until it becomes equal to cv.

 s Due to decrease in
ultimate void ratio
Shear box test - advantages

 Easy and quick test for sands and gravels

 Samples may be sheared along predetermined planes. This is useful when the shear
strengths along fissures or other selected planes are required.
 Can be used to determine interface strength parameters

Direct shear test: Disadvantages

• The drainage conditions cannot be controlled.
• As pore water pressure can not be measured, only total stresses can be determined.
• Shear stress on the failure plane are not uniform as failure occurs progressively from the edges to the
center of the specimen.
• Area under the shear and vertical loads does not remain constant throughout the test.
• Soil is forced to shear at predetermined plane which should not be necessarily the weakest plane.
• Rotation of principal planes
• The only advantage of direct shear test is its simplicity and, in the case of sands, the ease of specimen preparation.
Thanks !!!