SOIL MECHANICS (CE-505)

Lecture 15:
Shear Strength of Soil

Prof. S. M. Abbas
Department of Civil Engineering
Jamia Millia Islamia
New Delhi, India
 SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL
The shear strength of a soil mass is the internal resistance per unit area that the soil
mass can offer to resist failure and sliding along any plane inside it.
• The safety of any geotechnical structure is dependent on the strength of the soil.
• If the soil fails, a structure founded on it can collapse, endangering lives and causing
economic damage. The strength of soils is therefore of paramount importance to
geotechnical engineers.
• Shear strength is required to make estimates of the load-bearing capacity of soils and the
stability of geotechnical structures, and in analyzing the stress–strain characteristics of
soils.

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 MOHR-COULOMB FAILURE CRITERION
As per Mohr (1900), a material fails because of a critical combination of normal stress and
shearing stress and not from either maximum normal or shear stress alone.
The functional relationship between normal stress and shear stress on a failure plane can be
expressed in the following form:

Shear stress, t
𝜏! = 𝑓(𝜎)
Mohr Criterion
This failure envelope defined by a curved line.
Mohr-Coulomb Criterion
For most soil mechanics problems:
f
• It is approximated to straight line
c
• Modified by using Coulomb criterion
Normal stress, s
𝜏! = 𝑐 + 𝜎 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜙 (Mohr-Coulomb Criterion)
where, f = angle of internal friction
c = cohesion
s = normal stress on the failure plane
tf = shear strength

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 MOHR-COULOMB FAILURE CRITERION (CONTD.)
In saturated soils, s = s’ + u
The Mohr-Coulomb Criterion in terms of effective stress:
𝜏! = 𝑐′ + 𝜎′ 𝑡𝑎𝑛𝜙′
where, c’ = cohesion, and f’ = angle of internal friction based on effective stress
The value of c’ for sand and inorganic silt is 0. For normally consolidated clays, c’ can be
approximated at 0. Over-consolidated clays have values of c’ that are greater than 0.
The angle of friction, f’, is sometimes referred to as the drained angle of friction.

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

INCLINATION OF FAILURE PLANE CAUSED BY SHEAR
#"
2𝜃 = 90 + 𝜙 " à 𝜃 = 45 +
$
𝑎𝑑
sin 𝜙′ =
𝑓𝑎
𝜎′% + 𝜎′&
𝑓𝑎 = 𝑓𝑂 + 𝑂𝑎 = 𝑐 " cot 𝜙′ +
2
𝜎′% − 𝜎′&
𝑎𝑑 =
2
𝜎′% − 𝜎′&
∴ sin 𝜙′ = 2
𝜎′ + 𝜎′&
𝑐 " cot 𝜙′ + %
2
1 + sin 𝜙′ cos 𝜙′
𝜎′% = 𝜎′& + 2𝑐′
1 − sin 𝜙′ 1 − sin 𝜙′
%'()* #" #" ,-( #" #"
However, = 𝑡𝑎𝑛 $ 45 + , and = 𝑡𝑎𝑛 45 +
%+()* #" $ %+()* #" $

Thus
𝝓′ 𝝓′
𝝈′𝟏 = 𝝈′𝟑 𝒕𝒂𝒏𝟐 𝟒𝟓 + + 𝟐𝒄′𝒕𝒂𝒏 𝟒𝟓 +
𝟐 𝟐

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 LABORATORY TEST FOR DETERMINATION OF SHEAR
STRENGTH PARAMETERS
• Direct Shear Test
• Triaxial Shear Test (Sample Preparation, De-Airing Procedure, Triaxial Shear Test)
• Unconfined Compression Test
• Vane Shear Test

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 DIRECT SHEAR TEST
• Shear box

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 DIRECT SHEAR TEST PLOTS

Nature of variation of void ratio with

shearing displacement

Plot of shear stress and change in height of

specimen against shear displacement for loose
PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA
and dense dry sand (direct shear test)
 DIRECT SHEAR TEST PLOTS

Failure envelope for clay obtained

from drained direct shear tests

Results of a drained direct shear test on an

overconsolidated clay
PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA
 PROBLEMS
Following are the results of four drained direct shear tests on an overconsolidated clay:
• Diameter of specimen = 50 mm
• Height of specimen = 25 mm

Test No. Normal Force, Shear Force at Residual Shear

N (N) Failure, Speak (N) Force, Sresidual (N)
1 150 157.5 44.2
2 250 199.9 56.6
3 350 257.6 102.9
4 550 363.4 144.5

Determine the relationships for peak shear strength (tf) and residual shear strength (tr).

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 TRIAXIAL SHEAR TEST
Triaxial Setup

Drainage Conditions:
• Consolidated-drained test or
drained test (CD test)
• Consolidated-undrained test
(CU test)
• Unconsolidated-undrained test
or undrained test (UU test)

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 CONSOLIDATED DRAINED TEST (CD TEST)
The saturated specimen first is subjected to an all around confining pressure, s3, by
compression of the chamber fluid. As confining pressure is applied, the pore water pressure of
the specimen increases by uc (if drainage is prevented). This increase in the pore water
pressure can be expressed as a nondimensional parameter in the form
𝑢1
𝐵=
𝜎&
where B = Skempton’s pore pressure parameter

For saturated soft soils, B ≃1;

For saturated stiff soils, B can be less than 1.

(a) specimen under chamber- confining

pressure; (b) deviator stress application

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 CONSOLIDATED-DRAINED TRIAXIAL TEST

(a) volume change of specimen

caused by chamber-confining
pressure;
(b) deviator stress vs strain in the
vertical direction
for loose sand and normally
consolidated clay;
(c) deviator stress vs strain in the
vertical direction for dense sand
and overconsolidated clay;
(d) volume change in loose sand
and normally consolidated clay
during deviator stress
application;
(e) volume change in dense sand
and overconsolidated clay during
deviator stress application

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 CONSOLIDATED-DRAINED TRIAXIAL TEST

Effective stress failure envelope from drained tests on sand

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA
and normally consolidated clay
 CONSOLIDATED-DRAINED TRIAXIAL TEST

Effective stress failure envelope for overconsolidated clay

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA

 PROBLEMS
Q.1. A consolidated-drained triaxial test was conducted on a normally consolidated clay.
The results are as follows:
s3 = 110 kPa; (Dsd)f = 172 kPa
Determine (a) Angle of friction, f’, (b) Angle q that the failure plane makes with the
major principal plane.
Q.2. Refer to Q.1., (a) Find the normal stress s’ and the shear stress tf on the failure plane.
(b) Determine the effective normal stress on the plane of maximum shear stress.
Q.3. The equation of the effective stress failure envelope for normally consolidated clayey
soil is tf = s’ tan 30. A drained triaxial test was conducted with the same soil at a
chamber-confining pressure of 70 kPa. Calculate the deviator stress at failure.
Q.4. The results of two drained triaxial tests on a saturated clay follow:
Specimen-I: s3 = 70 kPa; (Dsd)f = 130 kPa
Specimen-II: s3 = 160 kPa; (Dsd)f = 223.5 kPa
Determine the shear strength parameters.

PROF. S. M. ABBAS, JMI, NEW DELHI, INDIA