ADAMSON UNIVERSITY

College of Engineering
Department of Civil Engineering

GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING 2 DIRECT SHEAR TEST EXPERIMENT NO.:2

Prepared By: Anselmo, Abbygail Marie C.

Submitted To: Engr. Ma. Cecilia M. Marcos, Ph.D

29 July, 2013

Experiment 2 Direct Shear test

Introduction A direct shear test is a laboratory or field test used by geotechnical engineers to measure the shear strength properties of soil[1][2] or rock[2] material, or of discontinuities in soil or rock masses.[3][2]. A detailed description of the testing equipment and procedure can be also found on geotechdata.info direct shear test page. 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 buildup. 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.

Definitions and Theory Shear strength of a soil is the maximum resistance to shearing stress at failure on the failure plane. Shear strength is composed of: a. Internal friction which is the resistance due to friction between individual particles at their contact points and interlocking of particles. This interlocking strength is indicated through parameter .

b. Cohesion which resistances due to inter-particle force which tend hold the particles together in a soil mass. The indicative parameter is called Cohesion intercept (c). Coulomb has represented the shear strength of soil by the equation:

f = c + n tan Where, shear strength of soil = shear stress at failure. = Cohesion intercepts. Total normal stress on the failure plane Angle of internal friction or shearing resistance The graphical representation of the above equation gives a straight line called Failure envelope.

The parameters c and are not constant for a given type of soil but depends in its degree of saturation, drainage conditions and the condition of laboratory testing.

In direct shear test, the sample is sheared along the horizontal plane. This indicates that the failure plane is horizontal. The normal stress, on this plane is the external vertical load divided by the corrected area of the soil sample. The shear stress at failure is the external lateral load divided by the corrected of soil sample. Purpose The purpose of direct shear test is to get the ultimate shear resistance, peak shear resistance, cohesion, angle of shearing resistance and stress-strain characteristics of the soils. Shear parameters are used in the design of earthen dams and

embankments. These are used in calculating the bearing capacity of soilfoundation systems. These parameters help in estimating the earth pressures behind the retaining walls. The values of these parameters are also used in checking the stability to natural slopes, cuts and fills.

Standard Reference ASTM D 3080 - Standard Test Method for Direct Shear Test of Soils Under Consolidated Drained Conditions.

Significance The direct shear test is one of the oldest strength tests for soils. In this laboratory, a direct shear device will be used to determine the shear strength of a cohesionless soil (i.e. angle of internal friction (f)). From the plot of the shear stress versus the horizontal displacement, the maximum shear stress is obtained for a specific vertical confining stress. After the experiment is run several times for various

vertical-confining stresses, a plot of the maxi mum shear stresses versus the vertical (normal) confining stresses for each of the tests is produced. From the plot, a straight-line approximation of the Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope curve can be drawn, f may be determined, and, for cohesionless soils (c = 0), the shear strength can be computed from the following equation:
s = s tan f

Equipments Direct shear device, Load and deformation dial gauges, Balance. Procedure (1) Weigh the initial mass of soil in the pan.

(2)

Measure the diameter and height of the shear box. Compute 15% of the diameter in millimeters.

(3)

Carefully assemble the shear box and place it in the direct shear device. Then place a porous stone and a filter paper in the shear box.

(4)

Place the sand into the shear box and level off the top. Place a filter paper, a porous stone, and a top plate (with ball) on top of the sand

(5)

Remove the large alignment screws from the shear box. Open the gap between the shear box halves to approximately 0.025 in. using the gap screws, and then back out the gap screws.

(6)

Weigh the pan of soil again and compute the mass of soil used.

(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)

Set the vertical load (or pressure) to a predetermined value, and then close bleeder valve and apply the load to the soil specimen by raising the toggle switch.

(9)

Start the motor 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. Record the readings on the data sheet. (Note: Record the vertical displacement gage readings, if needed).

(10)

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

Equipments used:

Shear box and the soil sample

Direct Shear Test Equipment

PROCEDURE:

(1) Weighing of the Shear Box

(2) Putting the soil sample

(3) Placing the shear box to the machine

(4) Recording the results

Data and Results: Data Sheet

Water Content of a Soil

Group: ____3____ Date: __July 22, 2013__ Location:_Adamson University_

Soil Description: ___Sand_____________________________________________________________ Size of Specimen: _________________________________________________________________

DIRECT SHEAR TEST

Trial 1 Weight of specimen: ____179 g.____ Horizontal Displacement (mm) 0.040 0.121 0.296 1.529 5.020 14.243 14.759 Horizontal Displacement (in) 0.00157 0.00476 0.0117 0.0602 0.198 0.561 0.581 Normal Load: ___1 kg.____ Shear Force (lb) 5.44 6.41 9.82 10.93 15.92 14.70 14.12 Shear Stress (psi) 0.993 1.17 1.79 1.99 2.91 2.68 2.58 ave=2.02 = ____11.97___

d = ___86.4 lb/ft3 __ Trial 2

= __9.53 lb/in2__

e = _____0.92_____

Weight of specimen: ____179 g.____ Horizontal Displacement (mm) 0.134 0.293 0.541 1.713 5.139 11.212 11.212 Horizontal Displacement (in) 0.00528 0.0115 0.0213 0.0674 0.202 0.441 0.441

Normal Load: ____2 kg._____ Shear Force (lb) 4.23 8.07 9.71 9.67 7.64 7.24 7.19 Shear Stress (psi) 0.772 1.47 1.77 1.76 1.39 1.32 1.31 ave=1.40 = ____8.03____

d = __86.4 lb/ft3 _

= __9.93 lb/in2__

e = ____0.92____

Calculations: Weight of porcelain dish + dry sand (before use) = W1 = 2772 g Weight of porcelain dish + dry sand (after use) = W2 = 2593 g Specimen length, L = 2.34 in Height, H = 1.44 in Width , B = 2.34 in Specific Gravity of soil, Gs = 2.66 Density of the Specimen: ( ( )( ) ) ( )

Dry unit weight of the specimen ( )

Void ratio of the specimen

Column 1 Calculate the normal stress

( )( ) N = F + 50 lbs

Assuming: a. 50 lbs load hanger + weight of yoke + weight of top half of shear box b. F, force of loading sample

Trial 1 F = 1.0 kg x 2.2 lbs/kg = 2.2 lbs N = 2.2 + 50 = 52.2 lbs ( )( )

2.02 = 0 + 9.53 tan

Trial 2 F = 2.0 kg x 2.2 lbs/kg = 4.4 lbs N = 4.4 + 50 = 54.4 lbs ( )( )

1.4 = 0 + 9.93 tan