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OBJECTIVE
To determine the shear strength parameters for clayey soil.
THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
Triaxial test is more reliable because we can measure both drained and undrained
shear strength.
Generally 1.4 diameter (3 tall) or 2.8 diameter (6 tall) specimen is used.
Specimen is encased by a thin rubber membrane and set into a plastic cylindrical
chamber.
'
Cell pressure is applied in the chamber (which represent 3 ) by pressurizing the cell
fluid (generally water).
Vertical stress is increased by loading the specimen (by raising the platen in strain
controlled test and by adding load directly in stress controlled test, but strain
controlled test is more common) until shear failure occurs. Total vertical stress, which
'
'
APPARATUS
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
PROCEDURE
1.
2.
3.
4.
5. Fill in the spaces in this window and click on the button ok to the right sight of
the screen. The fields marked * by their side can not be left blank and characters
/*.,:;@#? can not be used while filling up the spaces.
6. In the window Test in Progress make sure that you select the test that you want
to run and then click on the button ok at the bottom of the screen.
7. Switch on the Load Cell machine using the button at the back.
I.
COMPRESSION STAGE
From the previous stage you will be directed to the screen titled Compression Stage for
Undrained Test.
I.
II.
Fill and Pressurise the Cell. Select Material Type and Press Button to Calculate Suggested
Rate of Strain on Enter Directly:
a) Close the valve on the test Marked CP.
b) Carefully place the sample on the Triaxial cell base pedestal.
c) Place the top pressure pad and use black O-rings to secure the membrane around the base
pedestal and top pressure pad.
d) Place the Triaxial cell cover over the sample and use the three rods to secure it in place.
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
l)
m)
Open the knob at the top of cylinder and attach the tube marked CP to the knob knob
marked Water located at the bottom left of the panel. Open the valve on the test cell
marked CP. This will gradually fill the cell. Control the flow using the valve marked CP.
Close the knob at the top of the glass cylinder when the cell is filled with water.
Detach the tube marked CP from the knob marked Water and attach it back to the
knob marked CP on the panel.
Close the valve on the test cell marked CP.
Use the knob in the Set Pressure Control panel to increase the pressure to the desired
cell pressure level. Monitor the cell pressure box in the DS-7 software window to get the
accurate reading.
Set the Burette/Annulus Input Control valve to Pressure position.
Slowly open the valve on the test cell marked CP. This will transfer the cell pressure to
the water inside the glass cylinder.
In the DS-7 software window, select the right Material Type to the right side of the
window and click on the button calculate Rate of Strain.
Input the Calculated rate of displacement value from the computer screen to display
window at the bottom of the test cell and press Enter .
III.
IV.
Reset Force Transducer & Bring Piston just into contact with top cap:
a) Raise the sample using the key on the keypad on the loading frame until the load piston
just touches the top notch of the top plate above the soil sample.
b) On the DS-7 software window, click on the red button marked Reset Force Transducer.
c) This should reset the lower right window on the Test Monitoring Window in the DS-7
software to 0.0 lbf
V.
VI.
VII.
Click on the green continue button at the bottom of the page of the software window.
A window will appear that will instruct you to press enter (Green Button) to start the Test
Countdown. If everything is ready, click on the green button Start Test Countdown.
Once the two whistles go, press the green button Run on the keypad at the bottom of the test
cell.
VIII.
8.
9.
= 13.7%
= 12.7 mm/min
Volume, Vo
Degree of saturation, s
Area, Ao
= 8.735
Length, Lo
= 98 kPa
= 70.9 mm
Cycl
e
1st
2nd
3rd
4th
Cell pressure, 3
= 5.68 N/div
Defor
m,
dial
0.01
(units
)
0
L
(m
m)
Loa
d
dial
unit
s
Sam
ple
load,
P
(kN)
L/L
0.00
0.000
25
0.25
0.017
50
0.50
0.051
75
0.75
16
0.091
85
0.85
17
0.097
78
0.78
0.000
100
1.00
17
0.097
125
1.25
26
0.148
150
1.50
29
0.165
175
1.75
32
0.182
200
2.00
34
0.193
177
1.77
0.000
180
1.80
10
0.057
540
5.40
0.000
550
5.50
15
0.085
650
6.50
46
0.261
750
7.50
55
0.312
0.00
00
0.00
35
0.00
71
0.01
05
0.01
20
0.01
10
0.01
41
0.01
76
0.02
12
0.02
47
0.02
82
0.02
50
0.02
56
0.07
62
0.07
76
0.09
17
0.10
1-
Corr
Area
A1
(cm2
)
1.00
00
0.99
65
0.99
29
0.98
95
0.98
80
0.98
90
0.98
59
0.98
24
0.97
88
0.97
53
0.97
18
0.97
50
0.97
44
0.92
38
0.92
24
0.90
83
0.89
8.73
5
8.76
6
8.79
7
8.82
8
8.84
1
8.73
5
8.86
0
8.89
1
8.92
4
8.95
6
8.98
8
8.95
9
8.96
4
9.45
6
9.47
0
9.61
7
9.76
Deviat
or
stress
1=P/
A1
(kPa)
0.00
Norm
al
stres
s
1/
19.39
0.198
57.97
0.592
103.08
1.052
109.72
1.120
0.00
0.000
109.48
1.117
166.46
1.699
184.89
1.890
203.22
2.074
214.73
2.191
0.00
0.000
63.59
0.649
0.00
0.000
89.76
0.916
271.39
2.770
319.38
3.259
0.000
1200
1300
20%
1418
12.0
0
13.0
0
-
66
0.375
67
0.381
58
0.16
93
0.18
34
-
42
0.83
07
0.81
66
-
9
10.5
2
10.7
0
-
356.46
3.637
350.47
3.576
= 360 kPa
= 458 kPa
1=3 + 1
DISCUSSION
In this experiment, there are 4 cycles done on the same sample, which is
the blue clay cohesive soil. In theory, the sample will fail either at the
maximum deviator stress value or at 20% of the axial strain. In this
experiment, the soil sample fails fully at the 4th cycle, with the value of
deviator stress at 350.47 kPa and at a strain of 0.1834.
Since this test only use one value of cell pressure 3, which is at 98 kPa,
only one Mohrs circle can be plotted at the graph of shear strength
against normal stress . The values of 1 can be obtained from the stressstrain curve; and in this experiment, we have taken the value of 1 from
the maximum deviator stress at the 4th cycle, which is where the soil
sample fails. Next, to get the value of 1, we have used the formula 1=3
+ 1 and we have determined the value of 1 as 458 kPa. Meanwhile, the
value of 3 is taken directly from the cell pressure, which is at 98kPa.
The horizontal value of the graph is determined as 180 kPa, and this value
indicates the Cu, shear strength of the soil sample. However, some
precautions also should be taken to make sure to increased the probability
that our group can get the exact values and avoided more an errors such
as the eyes must be perpendicular to the reading, do not exceeded 150 psi
(1034 KPa), and there are a number of major error sources in this
experiment - in fact this experiment uses some instrumentation which is
not highly accurate and that why sometimes the difference between
calculated results and graphical results are due to inaccurate measuring is
occurred.
CONCLUSION
After finishing the experiment and calculations, we can conclude that from
the experiment, the objective are achieved which is to determine the
shear strength of the sample.
REFERENCES
1. Mdm. Farah Hafifee, Chapter 2 (Soil Strength Behaviour) Note,
Faculty of Civil Engineering, UiTM Kota Samarahan.
2. Budhu, M. Soil Mechanics and Foundations 3rd Edition., John Wiley &
Sons, Inc., 2011.
3. Sir Embam Ak Daud, Soil Mechanics Laboratory Manual, Faculty of
Civil Engineering, UiTM Kota Samarahan.
4. UU Triaxial Test,
http://faculty.fullerton.edu/btiwari/geotech_Lab/mainpage_files/other/
UU. Retrieved on 8th March 2015.
5. Unconsolidated Undrained Test,
http://www.uta.edu/ce/geotech/lab/Main/Soil%20Lab/10_UU
%20test/UU.pdf. Retrieved on 8th March 2015.