FINAL Direct Shear Test 132

Direct Shear Test
ANGUS MAGALLANES ORDENIZA PANTONIAL

Direct Shear Test
D Used to determine the maximum

resistance to shearing stress
More suitable for cohesionless soils

Shear Strength of Soil
The maximum resistance to shearing stresses.
S It is expressed as,
S = 𝒄′ + 𝝈′ 𝐭𝐚𝐧 ∅′
Where c’ = effective cohesion

𝜎 ′ = effective stress
∅′ = effective shearing resistance angle
APPARATUS
Shear box Loading frame with loading yoke
Shear box container Proving ring
Base plate with cross groves on its top Dial gauges (2 numbers)
Porous stones (2 numbers) Weights
Plain grid plates (2 numbers) Tampering rod
Perforated grid plates (2 numbers) Spatula
Loading pad with steel ball Sampler
Digital weighing machine
Figure 1: Direct Shear Test Apparatus
TEST PROCEDURE
01
Collect the soil specimen which is either
undisturbed or remolded. The sample should
be taken using sampler and Rammer. If
cohesionless soil is taking then sampler and
rammer are not required.
02
The inner dimensions of sampler should be 60 mm x 60 mm
in plan which are also the inner dimensions of shear box.
The Thickness of box is about 50 mm while the thickness of
sample should be 25mm.
Figure 2: Shear Box,Porous Stones, Grid Plates, Loading pad
Now attach the two halves of the shear box with
locking pins and place the base plate at the bottom.
03
04
Above the bottom plate, Place the porous stone and
above it place the grid plate. Plain grid plates are used
for undrained conditions while perforated grid plates
are used for drained conditions.
05
Now we have baseplate, porous stone and grid plate in the
shear box. Weigh the box at this stage and note down.
06
After that place the soil specimen above the grid plate.
Undisturbed sample is directly transferred to shear box.
If sandy soil is using, place it layers wise and tamper the
each layer to get the required density.
Note down the weight of shear box with soil specimen.
07
08 Above the soil specimen, place the upper grid plate,
porous stone and loading pad one above the other.
Figure 3: Different Layers Positions in Shear Box
Now the whole box is placed in a container
and mounted on the loading frame.
09
10 Proving ring is arranged in such a way that it
should contact the upper half of the shear box.
Loading yoke is placed on the steel ball of

loading pad of shear box.
11
12
Two dial gauges are fitted one to the container for
measuring shear displacement and other one is to the
loading yoke for measuring vertical displacement.
13
Now locking pins are removed from the shear
box and spacing screws are placed in their
respective positions of the box.
Figure 4: Applying Load on Specimen
14
The upper half of the box is raised slightly with the
help of spacing screws. The spacing is decided
depending upon the maximum size of particle.
15
Now apply the normal stress which is generally
25 kN/m2. Also apply the shear load at a
constant rate of strain.
16
Now the box starts reacting to loads applied
and for every 30 seconds note down the
readings of proving ring and dial gauges.
17
If the proving ring reaches maximum and suddenly drops
it, means the specimen is failed. Note down the
maximum value which is nothing but failure stress.
18 For some soils, failure point is taken at 20% of

shear strain.
Finally remove the box and measure the water
content of the specimen.
19
20 Repeat the same procedure for different normal

stresses of 50, 100, 150,200,250,300,400 kN/m2
Observations and Calculations for Direct Shear Test
Calculations are to be done using the observations taken from the test as follows:
Size of the box =

Area of the box =
Thickness of specimen =
Mass of specimen =
Volume of specimen =
Bulk Density of soil =
Dry density of soil =
Void ratio =
Mass of box + base plate + porous stone + grid plate =
Mass of box + base plate + porous stone + grid plate + Soil specimen =
Calculate the shear stress using below tabulated observations:
S. No. Elapsed Horizontal dial Horizontal Vertical dial Vertical Proving ring Shear Shear
Time gauge reading displacement gauge reading displacement reading force stress
Now determine the shear stress at failure for different normal stress values:
Test no Normal Shear Stress Shear Initial Final Water
stress at Failure Displaceme Water Content
(kN/m2) (kN/m2) nt at Failure Content
Now plot a graph between normal stress and shear stress by taking normal stress on abscissa and
shear stress at failure on ordinate.
. .
. ∅′.
𝑐′
𝜎
Figure 5: Graph plotted between Normal Stress and Shear stress
Results
R S = 𝑐 ′ + 𝜎 ′ tan ∅′

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Direct Shear Test

ANGUS MAGALLANES ORDENIZA PANTONIAL

D Used to determine the maximum

More suitable for cohesionless soils

Where c’ = effective cohesion

Note down the weight of shear box with soil specimen.

Loading yoke is placed on the steel ball of

18 For some soils, failure point is taken at 20% of

20 Repeat the same procedure for different normal

Size of the box =

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