Shear Strength of Unsaturated Soil

Shear Strength Characterization

Requirements for Shear Strength

Cannot use saturated soil parameters c' and ' and
effective stresses because effective stresses are
unknown.

To characterize the shear strength of unsaturated soil, it is
necessary to measure the three stresses , u
a
, and u
w

at failure to determine the stress state variables ( - u
a
)
and (u
a
-

u
w
) at failure.

Test Procedures

1) Specimen preparation:

- undisturbed specimens should be taken from
representative samples where the soil properties
(composition, moisture condition, and density) are
the same;

- disturbed samples are prepared by reconstitution of
soil from dry or saturated (slurry) state, or by
recompaction of soil samples;

- disturbed samples must be prepared at the same
moisture condition and density to be "identical".
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2) Sample "consolidation":

- stresses are applied and the soil is allowed to come to
equilibrium so that the initial stress state variables
will be known;

- the matric suction pressures can be achieved by:

a) directly measuring the pore water and air
pressures of a specimen;

b) applying both air and water pressures keeping
u
a
>

u
w
(axis-translation technique).


3) Load to failure:

- soil is tested under undrained conditions by
preventing movement of air and/or water from the
soil and measuring the changes in pressure;

- soil is tested under drained conditions by allowing
movement of air and water from the soil under
regulated (constant) pressures.

- soil is loaded to failure using triaxial or direct shear
apparatus (modified to control pressures), and the
shear strength is given as half the deviator stress at
failure, (
1
-
3
)
f
/ 2 or the applied shear stress at
failure,
ff
.
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Failure Criteria

Mohr's circles are plotted using
1
and
3

but, for soils
that undergo large strains, there is a question as to
when does failure occur.

Maximum deviator stress = (
1

-
3
)
max


Maximum principal stress ratio =
)
)
(
(
3
max
3 1
uw

For undrained tests, the denominator of the latter
expression varies so the maximum for the two criteria
do not necessarily occur at the same value of strain.
















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Test Results How can we determine the shear strength of
unsaturated soils?

The shear strength of soil is dependent on the net normal
stress and the matric suction.

1) Drained triaxial shear tests:


a) Three-dimensional plots


(
3
u
a
)
(u
a
u
w
)
'

b
'
Plane

c'
= c' + (
3
u
a
) tan ' + (u
a
u
w
) tan
b


= [c' + (u
a
u
w
) tan
b
] + (
3
u
a
) tan '
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b) Two-dimensional plots







'
c'

b



c'
(
3
u
a
)


(u
a
u
w
)

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2) Undrained triaxial shear tests

- Linear and nonlinear behavior likely.


3) Drained direct shear tests

a) linear and nonlinear behavior reported for vs. (
f
- u
a
)
b) nonlinear behavior for
b
vs. (u
a
- u
w
) and for
vs. (u
a
- u
w
)

4) Undrained direct shear tests

- Linear and nonlinear behavior likely


Required Results

Shear strength parameters that give the shear strength as a
function of the net normal stress and the matric suction
pressure for a particular soil for drained or undrained
conditions.


Stress-strain behavior or volumetric strain behavior.

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Shear Strength Equations For Linear Behavior

In terms of net normal stress, (
f
- u
a
):

ff a
f
w
f
b
c
u u
= ' + ( ' + (
u

f a
) tan ) tan
or

ff a
f
c
u
= + ( '
f
) tan
where
c c
u w
f
b
' + (
u

a
= ) tan
If one used the stress state variable (
f
- u
w
):

" tan ) (u + tan ) u - ( +
a a

f w f
ff
u c =

For zero matric suction, the pore air and pore water
pressure are equal. The third term in the equations is
zero. Therefor the friction angle ' is the same.

Setting the two equations equal (for matric sunction > 0):
-u
af
tan' + (u
a
u
w
)
f
tan
b
= - u
wf
tan ' + (u
a
u
w
)
f
tan"
This simplifies to:
tan " = tan
b
- tan '
Since, tan
b
< tan ', " would have to be negative.

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Stress Point Envelopes (Stress Paths)

The top point of the Mohr circle (p
f
, q
f
) is used to
represent failure where:

q = 1/2 (
1
-
3
)
p = 1/2 (
1
+
3
)

3f

1f

p

p
f
q
q
f

a



Comparing Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope with the
stress point envelope, gives:

tan = sin '

a = c' cos '
Using q
f

vs. p
f

to represent failure, a and can be
determine by linear regression (objectively) and then '
and c' can be computed.
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For unsaturated soil, the stresses are given in terms of the
net normal stress to give:
q = 1/2 (
1
-
3
)
p = 1/2 (
1
+
3
) - u
a



f
f
b
q
r
= d' + p ' +
f
tan tan

r
f
= (u
a
- u
w
)
f

Comparing the extended Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope
with the stress point envelope, gives:

tan ' = sin '
d' = c' cos '
tan
b
= tan
b
cos '


Multistage Testing

Testing a single sample under increasing matric suction
using cyclic loading or sustained loading procedure.


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Unsat9 - 10
Mechanics of Unsaturated Soils


Homework Assignment