CHAPTER 2

SHEAR STRENGTH OF SOIL

DR. ROHAYA ALIAS

FACULTY OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
 Learning Outcome

At the end of the lecture, student should be able to

understand:

1) Concept of total and effective stresses,

pore pressure and excess pore pressure
2) Concept of friction model and soil shear
strength. Mohr-Coulomb failure theory, shear
strength parameters
 Pressure and Stress

• Pressure is force
per unit area
• Stress is the
pressure
transmitted from
the external face
to an internal
A weight resting on a location; within
block causes pressure the material
on the external • Stress is a
surface of the block measure of the
and stress on internal internal
planes in the body. forces acting
 Total Stress, Pore Water Pressure &
Effective Stress

The total stress acting at a point below the ground surface is due to the
weight of everything lying above: soil, water, and surface loading. Total stresses
are calculated from the unit weight of the soil.

The water in the pores of a soil is called pore water. The pressure within this
pore water is called pore pressure (u). The magnitude of pore pressure
depends on: the depth below the water table the conditions of seepage flow.
Stress in the Ground; for a Case of Total Stress, 

gwt
q
ground surface ground surface
hw

γ h γsat h γ h

 o = γh  o = γsath + γwhw  o = γh + q
The total stress in The total stress in the The total stress in
the ground in only ground in only due to the ground in only
due to overburden overburden pressure + due to overburden
pressure only hydrostatic pressure pressure + surcharge
load
Ground movements and instabilities can be caused by changes in total stress (such
as loading due to foundations or unloading due to excavations), but they can also
be caused by changes in pore pressures (slopes can fail after rainfall increases the
pore pressures).

In fact, it is the combined effect of total stress and pore pressure that controls soil
behaviour such as shear strength, compression and distortion. The difference
between the total stress and the pore pressure is called the effective stress:

Effective stress = Total stress - Pore pressure

 Resistance to , is provided by a combination
of the stresses from the solid called
effective stress (’) and from pore water in
the pores, called pore pressure u.
Thus  = ’ + u
’ =  - u

This equation is called the principle of effective stress

– first recognized by Terzaghi (1883-1963) – research in
soil consolidation.

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 Principle of Effective Stress

Principle of effective stress also can be written in

terms of changes (), so that the equation is given

 '    u
by;

Change in
Change in Change in pore water
effective total stress pressure
stress (so-called excess
• Changing can be either the total stress with constant pore
pore water
water pressure OR the pore water pressure with the total pressure)
stress constant.
• If the total stress and pore water pressures are change
equally, the effective stress remain constant and the soil state
DOES NOT CHANGE.

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9
 Shear Strength

Shear strength is a term used in soil mechanics

to describe the magnitude of the shear stress that a
soil can sustain.
The shear resistance of soil is a result of friction
and interlocking of particles, and possibly
cementation or bonding at particle contacts.
Due to interlocking, particulate material may
expand or contract in volume as it is subject
to shear strains.
 Shear Strength N
T S

R
(Coulomb’s failure criterion) T
N

Shear strength analyses are based primarily on the friction model.

The force transmitted between

2 bodies in static contact can be
resolved into 2 components:-
Normal component (N )
Shear component (T )
* both are perpendicular to
each other.
 Significance of Shear Strength

The safety of any geotechnical structure is dependent

on the strength of the soil;
 If the soil fails, the structure founded on it can
collapse.
Understanding shear strength is the basis to analyze
soil stability problems like:
– lateral pressure on earth retaining structures
– slope stability, and
– bearing capacity
Examples of Failure of Shear Strength
 Shear Strength in Soils

Soil derives its shear strength from two sources:

1) Cohesion, c between particles (stress independent
component)
• Cementation between sand grains
• Electrostatic attraction between clay particles
2) Frictional resistance,  between particles (stress
dependent component)
 c and  are measures of shear strength.

Higher the values, higher the shear strength.

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 Typical response of soils to shearing forces

 Figure above shows a typical shear stress/displacement (strain)

curve for the shearing of a prismatic element of soil under constant
normal stress (dense sand and overconsolidated clays)
 The shear stress at first increases quickly while the strain increases
slowly, but as the soil yields the strain increases dramatically while
the shear stress levels off and then begins to fall
 This max value of shear stress at the yield point is termed peak stress
 The shear stress continues to fall at a lower value, known as ultimate
stress (critical)
 At very much larger strains, it is referred to residual stress
Peak strength – is the maximum value of the shear stress to normal stress. For
drained tests these will occur simultaneously, for undrained tests they may occur at
different points
Critical state strength -At its critical state soil continues to distort at constant
effective stress and at constant volume. This applies for turbulent flow of the
particles: if the flow becomes laminar, as in clays at large strain, the strength falls to
the residual. Critical states are unique and do not depend on initial state or stress
path. Critical states correspond to shear strains typically 10% to 40%. Critical shear
stress increases with increasing effective normal stress and with decreasing water
content.
Residual strength -lowest strength which occurs after very large displacements. For
sands the residual strength is the same as the critical state strength. For clays the
residual is about ½ the critical state strength. For clays the flat clay particles
become aligned parallel to the direction of shear. The residual strength occurs after
very large (>1m) movements and is not usually relevant for geotechnical engineering
where generally ground movements must be small. However, on old landslides there
may have very large movements and in such cases the strength may already be at the
residual before construction starts.
Analyses of Stress using Mohr’s Circle

 Mohr’s circle of stress provides a convenient method of analyzing

two-dimensional stress states
 The Mohr’s circle construction enables the stresses acting in
different directions at a point on a plane to be determined, provided
that the normal and shear stresses are known on any two
orthogonal plane
 It is very useful in Soil Mechanics as many practical situations can
be approximated as plane strain problems.
Analyses of Stress using Mohr’s Circle

Normal stress induced are  1 and  3, where  1 >  3.

So this have cause shear stress, t.
 Mohr Coulomb Equation

τf= c + σ tan 

Where:

τf - the shear strength of the soil

c - the cohesion of the soil which represents the
attraction forces between the particles
 - the normal stress applied to the soil
 - the angle of internal friction of the soil
Failure Envelope
 Mohr-Coulomb Failure Criterion (Total stresses)

t f  c   tan 
e l o pe 
re env
fa ilu
Friction angle
Cohesion
tf
c


tf is the maximum shear stress the soil can take without failure, under
normal stress of .
Mohr-Coulomb Failure Criterion (Effective stresses)

t f  c' ' tan  '

 '  u
e l o pe ’
re env u = pore water
fa ilu
Effective pressure
cohesion Effective
tf friction angle
c’
’ ’

tf is the maximum shear stress the soil can take without

failure, under normal effective stress of ’.
 Internal Angle of Friction ()

 Typical values of internal angle of friction, ’ are given in table

below:
Soil type ’ (deg)
Sand: rounded grains
Loose 27-30
Medium 30-35
Dense 35-38
Sand: angular grains
Loose 30-35
Medium 35-40
Dense 40-45
Gravel with some sand 34-48
Silts 26-35
 Mohr-Coulomb Failure Criterion

How will be the graph of Shear stress against normal

compressive stress for:

 Frictional soil?
 Cohesive soil?
 Cohesive – frictional soil?
 Cohesion (c)

(a) Cohesionless Soil (c = 0) (b) Pure cohesive soil ( = 0) (c) Cohesive-frictional soil
(c-)
 c’ for sand and inorganic silt is 0
 c’ for normally consolidated clays can be approximated at 0
 c’ for overconsolidated clays are greater than 0