excessive.
Filter paper side drains should not be used in triaxial tests, because
they can lead to errors in strength measurement and are generally unnecessary
for the soils of Hong Kong. Membrane corrections must be made in the usual
way.
The strain rate for drained tests with pore pressure monitoring should
be such that the pore water pressure fluctuation is negligible, and in any case
the fluctuation should be no greater than 5% of the effective confining pressure.
For undrained tests, the rate should be selected so as to allow complete
equalisation of pore water pressure throughout the specimen. It is desirable
that the strain rate does not exceed 2% per hour.
For undrained tests, failure can be defined either as the maximum deviator
stress or as the maximum obliquity (1'/3'). For fully-drained tests, these
two criteria coincide.
For CD tests, the p'-q stress paths are of no significance. Actual volume
changes during drained tests should be measured throughout the shear process.