Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................... 2
THEORY.................................................................................................................. 3
Direct shear box................................................................................................. 3
Measurement of shear strength..........................................................................3
Volume change in shear box...............................................................................4
OBJECTIVE.............................................................................................................. 6
MATERIAL & EQUIPMENT........................................................................................ 7
TEST PROCEDURE.................................................................................................. 8
SAFETY AND HEALTH PROCEDURE.......................................................................11
RESULTS AND CALCULATION:............................................................................... 12
Dense sand:...................................................................................................... 12
i) Sample A (60kPa)....................................................................................... 12
ii) Sample B (100kPa).................................................................................... 13
iii) Sample C (150kPa)................................................................................... 14
iv) Angle of internal friction of sand samples................................................15
Loose sand:...................................................................................................... 17
Sample A: (60kPa)......................................................................................... 17
Sample B (100kPa):....................................................................................... 18
Sample C (150kPa):....................................................................................... 19
DISCUSSION......................................................................................................... 21
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................... 23
REFERENCES........................................................................................................ 24
Books................................................................................................................ 24
Internet............................................................................................................. 24

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INTRODUCTION

A direct shear test is a laboratory or field test used by geotechnical engineers to measure the
shear strength properties of soil or rock material, or of discontinuities in soil or rock masses

The U.S. and U.K. standards defining how the test should be performed are ASTM D 3080
and BS 1377-7:1990, respectively. For rock the test is generally restricted to rock with (very)
low shear strength. The test is, however, standard practice to establish the shear strength
properties of discontinuities in rock.

The test is performed on three or four specimens from a relatively undisturbed soil sample. 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,
or through a specified strain. 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 (commonly friction angle) (). The results of the
tests on each specimen are plotted on a graph with the peak (or residual) stress on the x-axis
and the confining stress on the y-axis. The y-intercept of the curve which fits the test results
is the cohesion, and the slope of the line or curve is the friction angle.

Direct shear tests can be performed under several conditions. The sample is normally
saturated before the test is run, but can be run at the in-situ moisture content. The rate of
strain can be varied to create a test of undrained or drained conditions, depending whether the
strain is applied slowly enough for water in the sample to prevent pore-water pressure build-
up.

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. These advantages have to be weighed against the difficulty of measuring pore-
water pressure when testing in undrained conditions, and possible spuriously high results
from forcing the failure plane to occur in a specific location.

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THEORY
Direct shear box
The soil is contained in a box (Figure 1) which has a separate top half and bottom halves. A
normal stress is applied onto the soil by placing weights on the lid of the box. The horizontal
shear force needed to cause failure of the soil is measured.

Figure 1: Shear box test apparatus

Measurement of shear strength

We carry out shear box tests on a soil with different normal stresses. We then draw a graph of
shear stress at failure against normal stress

Figure 2: Shear strength of soil determined from the shear box test

The shear strength of the soil () in the shear box is simply the angle under the graph as
shown in Figure 2. It is usual to calculate the angle from the slope of the graph rather than to
measure it, since

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 tan = slope of graph
Sometimes the graph does not pass through the origin and the soil appears to have some shear
strength at zero normal effective stress. This value of shear stress is called the cohesion c of
the soil, measured in kPa. Soil cohesion should be used with caution in geotechnical design, it
adds a lot of apparent strength to the soil but in many situations, particularly long-term, the
cohesion may be less than apparent in the laboratory test and may even be zero.

Volume change in shear box

As well as measuring the shear force and normal force during the shear box test, we also
measure the vertical movement of the lid of the shear box (Figure 3). If the lid moves up
during the test, the volume of the soil is increasing (dilation). If the lid moves down during
the test, the volume of the soil is decreasing (compression).

Figure 3: Measurement of volume change in the shear box

Usually dense soils dilate during shear and loose soils compress during shear. The reason for
this behaviour is described below.

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The changing strength and volume of soils during a shear box test is best shown with typical
graphs of shear box test results. Figure 4 below shows two graphs from a typical shear box
test on a dense and loose sample of a soil. Both graphs have the horizontal travel of the top
half of the shear box (x) on the horizontal axis.

The first graph shows the shear force T needed to shear the soil during the test. In the dense
soil, a peak shear strength is reached after which the shear strength of the soil reduces. The
loose soil requires only a small shear force at first but the shear force increases as the test
continues. Eventually, both graphs reach the same shear force and will remain at this shear
force if the test is continued. Both the dense and the loose soil have reached the same critical
state.

Figure 4: Typical graphs obtained from a shear box test

The second graph shows the vertical movement of the lid of the shear box. You can see for
the dense soil the lid may move down a little at the start if the soil is not perfectly dense but
later the lid moves upwards as the soil dilates. The dilation does not continue forever but

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stops when the soil reaches the critical state. For the loose soil, the lid moves down as the soil
compresses.

Again, this does not continue forever but stops when the soil reaches the critical state. Both
the dense and the loose soils will continue to shear at the critical state without changing
volume (i.e. without the lid moving up or down).

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OBJECTIVE

This test is performed to determine the consolidated-drained shear strength of a sandy to silts
soil. The shear strength is one of the most important engineering properties of a soil, because
it is required whenever a structure is dependent on the soils shearing resistance. The shear
strength is needed for engineering situations such as determining the stability of slopes or
cuts, finding the bearing capacity for foundations, and calculating the pressure exerted by a
soil on a retaining wall.

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MATERIAL & EQUIPMENT

NO NAME PICTURE

1 Direct shear device

2 Load and deformation dial gauges

3 Balance

4 Shear Box And Sand

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TEST PROCEDURE

1. The initial mass of soil in the pan was weight.

2. The diameter and height of the shear box was measure. Compute 15% of the diameter
in millimetres.

3. The shear box was carefully assembled and places it in the direct shear device. Then
place a porous stone and a filter paper in the shear box.

4. The sand was placed into the shear box and level off the top. A filter paper, a porous
stone, and a top plate (with ball) were placed on top of the sand.

5. The large alignment screws were removed from the shear box. The gap between the
shear box halves were opened to approximately 0.025 in. using the gap screws, and
then back out the gap screws.

6. The pan of soil was weight again and the mass of soil used was compute.

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7. Complete the assembly of the direct shear device and initialize the three gauges
(Horizontal displacement gage, vertical displacement gage and shear load gage) to
zero.

8. The vertical load was set to a predetermined value, and the bleeder valve was closed
and applies the load to the soil specimen by raising the toggle switch.

9. The motor were started with selected speed so that the rate of shearing is at a selected
constant rate, and take the horizontal displacement gauge, vertical displacement gage
and shear load gage readings. The readings were recorded on the data sheet.

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10. Continue taking readings until the horizontal shear load peaks and then falls, or the
horizontal displacement reaches 15% of the diameter.

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SAFETY AND HEALTH PROCEDURE

1. The screw in the shear box must be release before starting applying the horizontal
load, otherwise, all the shear stress will be borne by the screws instead of the soil
sample.

2. The thickness of the soil being placed in the shear box should be appropriate. To thin
will make the sample shear off in an undesired plane.

3. The apparatus should not be started before the computer starts recording the data
while the recording should not be stopped until the shear stress is constant or
decreases.

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RESULTS AND CALCULATION:

1. Dimensions and Unit weight of soil sample

A B C
Length of box (mm) 99.70 100.40 100.06
Width of box 99.80 100.00 100.06
Horizontal cross sectional area of box (mm2) 9950.06 10040.00 10012.00
Thickness of sand layer (mm) 30.84 30.84 30.20
Volume of sand (mm3) 306859.85 309633.60 302362.4
Mass of sand (g) 512.5 517.1 504.9
Unit weight of sand (kN/m3) 16.3841 16.3831 16.3812
Applied vertical load (kg) 6.0 10.0 15.0
Normal stress (kPa) 60 100 150

(16.3841+16.3831+ 16.3812)
=16.3842 kN /m
Average Unit Weight of Sand = 3
3

Dense sand:
i) Sample A (60kPa)

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ii) Sample B (100kPa)

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iii) Sample C (150kPa)

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iv) Angle of internal friction of sand samples

Sample A B C
Normal Stress (kPa) 60 100 150
Maximum Shear Stress (kPa) 59.2 97.7 147
Ultimate stress (kPa) 39.70 61.85 83.20

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From the above graph, equation relating shear stressed with normal stress: t = c + tan can
be obtained.
By setting c = 0, the equation obtained by the graph is y = 0.9798x

tan = 0.19798

=tan 1 (0.9798)=44.42

From the above graph, equation relating shear stressed with normal stress: t = c + tan can
be obtained.

By setting c = 0, the equation obtained by the graph is y = 0.583x

tan = 0.583

=tan 1 (0.583)=30.24

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Loose sand:
Sample A: (60kPa)

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Sample B (100kPa):

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Sample C (150kPa):

Angle of internal friction of sand samples

Sample A B C
Maximum Shear Stress (N/mm2) 41.7497 69.9899 71.8367
Normal Stress (kPa) 60 100 150

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From the above graph, equation relating shear stressed with normal stress: t = c + tan can be
obtained.

By setting c = 0, the equation obtained by the graph is y = 0.5618x

tan = 0.5618

=tan 1 (0.5618)=29.33

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DISCUSSION

1. Specimen disturbed while trimming. The trimming of specimens must be done in the
humid room with every care taken to minimize disturbance of the natural soil
structure or change in the natural water content. As a rule, the effect of trimming
disturbance is inversely proportional to the size of the specimen.

2. The area under the shear and vertical loads did not remain constant throughout the
test, hence affecting the value of shear stress and normal stress calculated.

3. Specimen disturbed while fitting into shear box. The specimen must exactly fit the
inside of the shear box to insure complete lateral confinement, yet a pre-trimmed
specimen must be inserted without flexing or compressing. The specimen cutter must
have the identical inside dimensions as those of the shear box.

4. Permeability of porous stones too low. Unless the porous stones are frequently
cleaned, they may become clogged by soil particles and full drainage of the specimen
inhibited.

5. Slippage between porous stone and specimen. When testing undisturbed firm or stiff
clays, particularly under low normal loads, it may not be possible to transfer the
required shear force to the specimen by means of the standard porous stone. In such a
case, slippage of the porous stone will result and a portion of the shear force will be
applied to the specimen by the rear edge of the upper frame. The slippage may be
marked by tilting of the upper frame and the development of an inclined shear plane
through the upper rear corner rather than one through the mid-height of the specimen.
The use of dentated porous stones or of wire cloth or abrasive grit between the stone
and the specimen may be necessary to affect the transfer of shear stress.

6. Rate of strain too fast. The time to failure in the drained direct shear test must be long
enough to achieve essentially complete dissipation of excess pore pressure at failure.
In general, it is safer to shear too slowly.

7. The assumption of zero cohesion in the dry sand is invalid because there is a very
small amount of cohesion actually. Also, the sand might not be 100% dry.

8. The tests simplicity and, in the case of sands, the ease of specimen preparation.

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9. The travel of the machine can be reversed to determine the residual shear strength
values, which is shear strength parameters at large displacements.

10. Shear box represents a cheaper method in determining the drained shear strength
parameters for coarse-grained soil. Preparing soil samples for other testing methods is
relatively difficult and expensive.

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CONCLUSION

In our experiment, the friction angle of the loose and dense sample has been tested. The peak
frictional angle of the dense sample is 44.42 while the ultimate frictional angel is 30.24.
The loose samples is 29.33.

Some important findings are listed below:

The loose sample only has an ultimate stress while the dense sample has peak and
ultimate stress.
The vertical displacement of the dense sample is positive while the loose sample is
negative.
The dense samples residual force is rather similar with loose sample ultimate stress.

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REFERENCES

Books
1. R.F. Craig, Soil Mechanics, 7th Edition, Chapman & Hall, 2004
2. B.H.C. Sutton, Solving Problems in Soil Mechanics, 2nd edition

Internet
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_shear_test
2. http://www2.hkedcity.net/citizen_files/aa/az/gs55401/public_html/ShearStrength/shea
r.html

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