Shear Strength of Soils

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL

SUBMITTED BY :-
ANKIT NAGPAL
USN :- 1RV16CV012 SUBMITTED TO :-
SEMESTER :- 6TH S.Nethravathi Ma’am
INTRODUCTION
• Shear strength is a term used in soil mechanics to describe
the magnitude of the shear stress that a soil can sustain.
• If soil expands its volume, the density of particles will
decrease and the strength will decrease; in this case, the
peak strength would be followed by a reduction of shear
stress.
• The Shear Strength of soil is the resistance to deformation
by continuous shear displacement of soil particles or no
masses upon the action of a shear stress.
• The failure conditions for a soil may be expressed in terms
of limiting shear stress, called Shear Strength, or as a
function of the principal stresses.
FACTORS AFFECTING SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL
• Soil composition : Grain size distribution, shape of
particles, ions on grain and in pore fluid.
• State : Defined by the initial void ratio, effective normal
stress and shear stress , state can be described by
terms such as: loose, dense, over consolidated,
normally consolidated, stiff, soft etc.
• Structure: Refers to the arrangement of particles
within the soil mass. Structure of soils is described as:
undisturbed, disturbed, remolded, compacted, honey-
combed, single-grained; flocculated.
• Loading conditions: Effective stress path i.e., drained,
and undrained ; and type of loading, i.e., magnitude,
rate.
NOTE :-
 Shear strength in cohesionless soil results from
intergranular friction alone , while in all other soils it
results both from internal friction as well as cohesion.
 Shear strength primarily depends on the interactions
between particles.
 Shear failure occurs when the stresses between the
particles are such that they slide over each other.
MOHR COULOMB STRENGTH THEORY
• The Shear strength of a soil at a point on a
particular plane was expressed by coulomb as a
linear function of the normal stress on that plane
as :
Ʈ = σ tan(φ) + c
C = Cohesion
σ = Total stress applied normal to
the shear plane
Φ = the angle of internal
friction
C and φ are shear strength
Parameters of soil
MOHR COULOMB THEORY states that a material fails because of a
critical combination of normal stress and shear stress , and not
from their either maximum normal or shear stress alone.
 Shear failure occurs when the Mohr Circle is large enough to
touch the failure envelope.
 Therefore, no failure will occur at the stress states represented
by a circle A, but failure will occur at the stress states
represented by circle B.
1) Cohesionless soils are the soils which do not possess
cohesion and therefore C = 0.These soils derive the
shear strength from intergranular friction and are also
called frictional soils.
Equation for Shear Strength : S = σ tan(φ)
Examples – Sand and Gravels
2) Purely Cohesive Soil are soils which exhibit

cohesion but the angle of shearing resistance
φ=0 and are also called C-soils.
Equation for Shear Strength : S = C
Example-Saturated clays
3) Cohesive frictional soils are composite soil
having C and φ both and are also called C-φ
soils.
Equation for Shear Strength :
S = σ tan(φ) + c
Examples : Clayey soils, silty sand, sandy clay
The measurement of shear strength of soil involves
certain test observations at failure with the help of
which the failure envelope or strength envelope can be
plotted.
Shearing resistance can be determined in the laboratory
by the following methods :
 Direct Shear Test
 Triaxial Shear Test
 Unconfined Compression Test
 Vane Shear Test
Direct shear test or Box shear test is used to determine the shear
strength of the soil. It is more suitable for cohesionless soils.
• A specimen is placed in a shear box which has two stacked rings to hold
the sample; the contact between the two rings is at approximately the
mid-height of the sample.
• A confining stress is applied vertically to the specimen, and the upper ring
is pulled laterally until the sample fails.
• The load applied and the strain induced is recorded at frequent intervals
to determine a stress-strain curve for each confining stress.
• Several specimens are tested at varying confining stresses to determine
the shear strength parameters, the soil cohesion (c) and the angle of
internal friction.
• The results of the tests on each specimen are plotted on a graph with the
peak stress on the y-axis and the confining stress on the x-axis.
The advantages of the direct shear test over
other shear tests are the simplicity of setup
and equipment used, and the ability to test
under differing saturation, drainage, and
consolidation conditions.
• Vane shear test is used to determine the
undrained shear strength of soils especially soft
clays. This test can be done in laboratory or in the
field directly on the ground. Vane shear test gives
accurate results for soils of low shear strength
(less than 0.3 kg/cm2).
• Prepare 2-3 specimens of soil sample
• Mount the specimen container with the specimen on the
base of the vane shear apparatus.
• Gently lower the shear vanes into the specimen to their full
length without disturbing the soil specimen .
• The top of the vanes should be atleast 10 mm below the top
of the specimen. Note the readings of the angle of twist.
• Rotate the vanes at an uniform rate say 0.1o/s by suitable
operating the torque application handle until the specimen
fails.
• Note the final reading of the angle of twist.
Calculations
Shear strength in N/ cm2
T / [πd^2(h/2 + d/6)]
where T = Torque in N- cm, D= overall diameter of vane in cm
H = height of vane in cm.

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GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING

SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL

2) Purely Cohesive Soil are soils which exhibit

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