Direct Shear Test

• Common lab test in practice

• Sample placed in the direct shear device
• The base is locked down
• Constant normal stress applied
• Shear stress increased until failure
Normal stress σn

Shear stress σ3

Soil

1
 Shear Strength of Soil
τf = c + σ’ tan φ
τf = shear strength
c = cohesion
φ = angle of internal friction
σ1 major principle stress

σ3 σ3
Minor principle stress
Confining stress

σ1
2
 Shear Strength of Soil
Consider the following situation:
A normal stress is applied vertically and held constant
A shear stress is then applied until failure

Normal stress σn

Shear stress σ3

Soil

3
 Shear Strength of Soil
• For any given normal stress, there will be one value of shear stress
• If the normal stress is increased, the shear stress will typically
increase in sands and stay the same in clays

Normal stress σn

Shear stress σ3

Soil

4
 Shear Strength of Soils
Is there a relationship between F and N?

N
F

F = N tan φ
φ is the angle of internal friction φ
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N
 Shear Strength of Soils
Suppose there is some “glue” between block and surface
Initially - block will not fail until bond is broken

N
F Block will
fail
F

φ Block is
F = C + N tan φ stable
C is the cohesion C
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N
 Shear Strength of Soils
F = C + N tan φ
above equation is specified in forces
In terms of stress:
τ = c + σ tan φ
• Three types of material
– granular (frictional) materials - i.e. c = 0 (sands)
• τ = σ tan φ
– cohesive materials - i.e. ϕ = 0 (wet clays)
• τ= c
– materials with both cohesion and friction
• τ = c + σ tan φ
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 Direct Shear Test
Plotting 2 or more points provides the following

Shear
stress
φ

normal stress 8
 Direct Shear Test

Typical plot for sands -

Drained Condition
Shear
stress

φ
c=0
normal stress
9
 Direct Shear Test
Typical plot for clays -
drained condition
Shear
stress Overconsolidated
OCR >1

normallyconsolidated
OCR=1
c
φ

normal stress
10
 Residual Shear Strength
• The discussion thus far have referenced failure of the soil.
• Failure is indicated by excessive strain with little to no
increase (even decrease) in stress.
• After failure, the soil strength does not go to 0
• The soil retains residual strength
Peak Strength

Shear
Residual Strength
stress

11
Shear displacement
 Shear Strength of Soils

τ Increasing
normal stress
τ/σ dense

loose

displacement Displacement

Normalising curves to normal stress leads to a unique set of

curves for each soil.
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 Shear Strength of Soils
Overconsolidated clay Normally
consolidated clay
τ τ

displacement displacement

OC Clay

NC Clay

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Drained Direct Shear Test on Clay
 Shear Strength of Soils
Plot volume changes as Void Ratio

loose
Critical
void
Void medium ratio
Ratio

dense

displacement
• All tests eventually come to same Void Ratio
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 Shear Strength of Soils

Dense Sand
ΔV

Medium Dense

displacement

Loose Sand

15
1/18/2010
 Direct Shear Test

• Direct shear test is Quick and Inexpensive

• Shortcoming is that it fails the soil on a designated
plane which may not be the weakest one
• Shear stresses and displacements are nonuniformly
distributed within the specimen. An appropriate
height cannot be defined for calculation of shear
strains. Therefore, stress-strain relationships or any
associated quantity such as modulus, cannot be
determined from this test.

16
 Summary of Test Method

This test method consists of placing the test specimen in

the direct shear device, applying a predetermined normal
stress, providing for wetting or draining of the test
specimen, or both, consolidating the specimen under the
normal stress, unlocking the frames that hold the test
specimen, and displacing one frame horizontally with
respect to the other at a constant rate of shearing
deformation and measuring the shearing force and
horizontal displacements as the specimen is
sheared

17
 Specimen Size
1. The minimum specimen diameter for circular
specimens, or width for square specimens, shall be
2.0 in. (50 mm), or not less than 10 times the
maximum particle size diameter, whichever is larger
2. The minimum initial specimen thickness shall be 0.5
in. (12 mm), but not less than six times the maximum
particle diameter.
3. The minimum specimen diameter to thickness or
width to thickness ratio shall be 2:1

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 Test Plan
• Depth of sample = 10 m
• Water table at ground surface
• Effective vertical stress at 10 m =
10*(18-9.8) = 82 kPa
• Normal stress = 40, 80 & 120 kPa will be applied
• Diameter of sample = 2.5”, Area = 3167 mm2 = 3.167x10-3 m2
• Group 1 & 4 => 40 kPa Î 40*Area = 0.1267 kN = 12.9 kg
• Group 2 & 5 => 80 kPa Î 80*Area = 0.1267 kN = 25.8 kg
• Group 3 & 6 => 120 kPa Î 120*Area = 0.1267 kN = 38.8 kg

19
 Normal displacement dial

Normal load = 40 kg

Shear load dial

Proving ring Soil Lateral displacement dial

Failure is often taken to correspond to the maximum shear

stress attained, or the shear stress at 15 to 20 percent
relative lateral displacement. 20
 Height of sample (H0), in. 1
Diameter of sample (d0), in. 2.5
Area of sample (A0), in2 4.9087
Volume, (V0), cm3 80.4398
Sp. Gravity (assumed) 2.68

Weight dry soil used = 146.5 gm

Initial soil thickness = 1 in.
Initial Dial gage reading = 514
Final Dial gage reading = 500
Soil thickness before shear = 0.986 in.
Volume of soil before shear = 79.3137 cm3
Void ratio before shear = 0.43
Dry density before shear = 18.1 kN/m3

21
 Specimen No. 1, Normal load = 25 kg
Lateral Normal Normal
displace- Lateral displace- displace- Shear Shear
Elapsed ment dial, displace- ment dial, ment, load dial, Shear Stress,
time, min 0.01 mm ment, % 0.001" mm 0.0001 in Force, lbs kPa τ/σ
0.00 0 0.0 500.0 0.00 0 0.00 0 0
0.25 10 0.2 493.0 -0.18 72 22.73 31.93 0.412
0.50 25 0.4 491.0 -0.23 94 29.68 41.68 0.538
0.75 43 0.7 490.0 -0.25 116 36.62 51.44 0.664
1.00 62 1.0 489.0 -0.28 134 42.30 59.42 0.768
1.25 78 1.2 488.5 -0.29 151 47.67 66.96 0.865
1.50 98 1.5 489.0 -0.28 165 52.09 73.17 0.945
1.75 112 1.8 490.0 -0.25 180 56.83 79.82 1.031
2.00 128 2.0 491.0 -0.23 187 59.04 82.92 1.071
148 2.3 494.5 -0.14 194 61.25 86.03 1.111
168 2.6 497.5 -0.06 195 61.56 86.47 1.117
188 3.0 499.5 -0.01 193.5 61.09 85.80 1.108
2.75 208 3.3 501.5 0.04 186 58.72 82.48 1.065
228 3.6 502.0 0.05 174 54.93 77.16 0.997
Calibration factor of proving ring
0.3157 lb/div upto 350 and 0.7160lb/div above 350 22
 1.20

1.00

0.80

0.60 Specimen 1
τ/σ

Specimen 2
0.40 Specimen 3

0.20

0.00
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Relative Lateral Displacement (%)

23
 Failure Envelope
400
y = 0.797x + 20.90

Shear stress, kPa

R² = 0.997
300

200 φ= tan-1(0.797)
100
= 38.6o
c = 20.9 kPa
0
0 100 200 300 400
Normal stress, kPa

Void Stress
Water Dry unit ratio Normal ratio at
Specimen Content wt. Initial befor Stress failure φ=tan-1 Displace-
no. (%) (kN/m3) void shear (kPa), σn (τ /σ)f (τ/σ) ment (%)
1 16.0 18.10 0.45 0.43 77.41 1.11 47.98 2.65
2 15.3 18.19 0.44 0.37 154.83 0.90 41.99 1.76
3 15.9 17.90 0.47 0.32 309.66 0.87 41.02 2.13
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 0.40
Normal displacement (mm)

0.20 Expansion

0.00

-0.20
Compression

-0.40
0.0 1.0 2.0 3.0 4.0 5.0
Relative Lateral Displacement (%)

25