Sm1 Labclass Sand Castle

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SOIL MECHANICS I
LABORATORY CLASS 4: STRENGTH OF SAND, CAPILLARY COHESION
AIM
An easy method for determination of effective strength of sand is to measure its angle of repose. However, in
geotechnical practice, the strength of materials is usually determined using loading tests. The most suitable one
is the triaxial test, where a cylindrical specimen is loaded by the axial and radial stresses. A more simple form of
the test is the unconfined compression test with zero total radial pressure, which is performed in this laboratory
class. The experiments demonstrate some essential features of the strength and behaviour of granular (coarse
grained) soils:
• Angle of repose and its relation to the critical state friction angle;
• Increase of strength caused by capillary suction; existence of capillary cohesion;
• Problems associated with unconfined compression test on soil: typically soils would be unsaturated during
the test, and the effective stresses would not be known. In practice unconfined compression should be
avoided with soils.
PROCEDURE
1 Angle of repose
Slowly pour dry sand onto a flat surface to make a cone of a convenient hight to measure the angle of repose of
the slope. When pouring the sand watch the surface of the slope to make sure that the slope is continuously
falling and that the critical state may be assumed.
2 Unconfined compression test

i. Thoroughly mix sand and water to prepare the sample of water content of approximately 10%.
ii. Build a sand castle and measure the average diameter and height.
iii. Using the balance and hand pressure carry out an unconfined compression test. On loading, watch the
sample and the mass reading carefully to identify the reading at the failure of the soil.
iv. Immediately after the test take a sample to determine the water content and degree of saturation
v. Repeat the procedure until you receive three sets of data with a reasonable scatter in stress at failure
(say 10%). Then consider average values of vertical stress, water content and degree of saturation.
PROCESSING DATA, REPORT

Compute vertical normal stress at failure and plot Mohr's circle for total stresses. Assuming a linear strength
envelope determine the capillary cohesion caused by suction (use φ' determined from your angle of repose test
and c'=0).
Determine the pore pressure within the sand castle at failure assuming that effective stress in unsaturated soil
can be computed according  '= −S uw 1−S u a , i.e. the pore pressure is u=S u w 1−S ua  , where S is
degree of saturation. Construct Mohr's circle for effective stresses at failure knowing its diameter and the failure
envelope of the sand (φ'). From the effective stress compute the capillary suction s=ua-uw, which for continuous
air (ua=0) becomes s=-uw.
Note: For unsaturated soils the formulation of the effective stress requires an additional information – the
dependence of suction on water content (the water retention, or the so called soil-water characteristic curve) .
The use S in the above expression is a rather crude simplification of the unsaturated soils behaviour.
The report on the laboratory class should include:

1) Effective angle of friction of dry sand φ' determined from the angle of repose α. Explanation of the
relationship between φ' a α (figure, equation).
2) Capillary cohesion determined graphically and by computation for your unsaturated sand specimen.
3) Mohr's circle of total and “effective” stresses at failure of unsaturated sand in unconfined compression.
Graphically determined “pore pressure”.
4) Computation of the “pore pressure” (strictly valid only for saturated soil) . From the geometry of Mohr's
circle determine the general relationship between pore pressure and φ', vertical load at failure and
geometry (diameter) of the specimen. From the equation compute the “pore pressure” and “suction” in
your sand castle.
5) Your comment on the cohesion of the tested soil. Is dry sand cohesive or cohesionless soil? Is wet sand
cohesive or cohesionless soil? Is the terminology “cohesive soil” and cohesionless soil” useful and based
on sound physical concepts?
sm1_labclass_sand_castle.odt 11.11.29 1/2

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DATA
Angle of repose
Test No 1 2 3 Average angle of

friction φ' [°]
Angle of repose α [°]
Angle of friction φ' [°]
Strength of sand castle
Test Height Dia Load at Force Cross Stress at Water content Void Degree
Failure at Section Failure ratio of
No Wet Dry w
(mass) Failure Area e Saturat.
Mass Mass
[m] [m] [kg] [N] [m2] [Pa] S
[g] [g]
1
2
3
Average ------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- -------
sm1_labclass_sand_castle.odt 11.11.29 2/2

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2 Unconfined compression test

PROCESSING DATA, REPORT

The report on the laboratory class should include:

sm1_labclass_sand_castle.odt 11.11.29 1/2

Test No 1 2 3 Average angle of

Strength of sand castle

Average ------- ------- -------- -------- -------- -------- ------- -------

sm1_labclass_sand_castle.odt 11.11.29 2/2

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