Geotechnical Engineering Lab.

Group No.: 4

Experiment Title: Direct Shear Test

Student Name: Mohammed Abu-Sheikhah

I.D No.: 200820513
Instructor(s): Dr.Monther
Eng. Innas
Date of Exp.: 20th. Nov. 2010
*Objective:
Estimate the angle of friction (φ) and cohesion (c) of soils. For the current
lab, a granular soil is used (dry swelih sand), and to determine the
shearing strength of the soil using the direct shear apparatus

:General Disscussion
• Unlike materials like steel, most of the soils are visco-elastic, meaning
the failures are time dependant
• For most of the geotechnical designs concerning foundations,
earthworks and slope stability issues the soils are required to withstand
shearing stresses along with compressive stresses
• Shear stresses tend to displace a part of soil mass relative to rest of the
soil mass
• Shear strength is the capacity of the soil to resist shearing stresses
• Relative sliding between soil particles is the major factor contributing to
the shear resistance
• If the normal forces increase, the number of contact points also increase
thus increasing the resistance
• The reverse may happen if the normal loads decrease (which is the case
in excavations)
• Hence the shear strength is a function of normal load, angle of friction
(amount of interlocking among the soil particles) and cohesion (intrinsic
property of clays due to which they stay close to each other even at zero
normal load).

Where:
c: cohesion (c = 0 in case of sands)
σ: vertical normal stress
Φ: Angle of friction (Φ = 0 in case of clays)

Direct Shear Test

• A quick and inexpensive test to obtain the shear strength parameters of
both fine and coarse grained soils either in undisturbed or remolded state
• Ease of sample preparation Cons
• Drainage cannot be controlled and pore water pressure cannot be
measured
• Not very much representative of failures in fine grained soils where pore
pressure plays a significant role on shear strength. Much recommended
for fully drained cases
• The failure plane is always forced horizontal which is not the weakest
plane in the case of in situ conditions. This issue can be resolved by using
triaxial testing
*Equipment:

1- Direct Shear Box Apparatus

2- Loading Frame (motor attached)
3- Dial gauge
4- Spatula
5- Proving ring
6- Tamper
7- Straight edge
8- Electronic Balance to weigh
9-Aluminum container

*Sample Description:
.Sweileh sand

:Specifications for the used sand

The used sand in this test is usually Ottawa sand (Sweileh sand) passing
#20 sieve and retained at #30 sieves. It is preferred to use sand which is
.uniform or “one size” sand, with rounded grains
Uniform sand is preferred to avoid segregation problems, where the
weight of fine sand might be more than it for the same volume of coarse
.sand, and a volume the mixture might weigh still more
Rounded grains are preferred to reduce packing.

Standard Reference:
ASTM D1556 - 07 Standard Test Method for Density and Unit Weight of Soil
in Place by the Sand-Cone Method

*Procedure:
1- Check the inner dimension of the soil container.
2- Put the parts of the soil container together.
3- Calculate the volume of the container. Weigh the container.
4- Place the soil in smooth layers (approximately 10mm thick).if
a dense sample is desired tamp the soil.
5- Weigh the soil container, the difference of these two is the
weight of the soil. Calculate the density of the soil.
6- Make the surface of the soil plane.
7- Put the upper grating on stone and loading block on top soil.
.A normal load of 2kg was placed by means of using a lever arm -8
Increments of shear stress were applied, and horizontal -9
deformation corresponding to each load increment was recorded of
.the answer sheet
A new normal load was placed on the lever arm, which was twice as -10
.large as the prior one, and then step 3 was repeated

*Remarks:
The friction between sand particles is due to sliding and rolling friction and
interlocking action.

*Conclusion:
In many engineering problems such as design of foundation, retaining
walls, slab bridges, pipes, sheet piling, the value of the angle of internal
friction and cohesion of the soil involved are required for the design. Direct
shear test is used to predict these parameters quickly. The laboratory
report covers the laboratory procedures for determining these values for
cohesion less soils.
 Data Sheet
First Sample :2 Kg
Horizontal Shear Shear Normal volume
Displaceme Force stress Stress
nt
1 mm 7 0.194 0.055 0.7
2 mm 7.5 0.211 0.056 0.7
3 mm 7.8 0.224 0.057 0.7
4 mm 8 0.234 0.058 0.8

Second Sample:4 Kg
Horizontal Shear Shear Normal Volume
Displaceme Force stress Stress
nt
1 mm 2 0.055 0.111 -0.5
2 mm 2.3 0.064 0.112 -0.5
3 mm 3.1 0.089 0.114 0.5
4 mm 3.2 0.093 0.117 0.5
5 mm 3.1 0.092 0.119 0.1
6 mm 2.9 0.087 0.121 0.1
7 mm 1.85 0.057 0.123 0.1

Third Sample: 8 Kg
Horizontal Shear Shear Normal Volume
Displaceme Force stress Stress
nt
1 mm 5 0.138 0.222 0.5
2 mm 5.2 0.146 0.225 1.7
3 mm 4.9 0.140 0.229 2.4
4 mm 4.6 0.134 0.234 2.8
5 mm 4.35 0.129 0.238 2.7
 0.25

0.2
shear stress

0.15 2kgs
8kg
0.1 4kg

0.05

0
1 mm 2 mm 3 mm 4 mm 5 mm
horizontal displacement