Geotechnical Engineering 367

Direct Shear Test for Dry Sand

I hereby declare that this submitted report is my own work and have not been copied from any
other student or past year reports. The work of any other person contained herein is clearly
acknowledged.

Name

Kok Ka Yee

Student ID

7E1B9116/15860095

Date Performed

28 March 2014

Date Due

29 April 2014

Unit Lecturer

Dr. Muhammad Ekhlasur Rahman

1.0

Introduction

1.1

Background
Direct shear test, is one of the oldest and simplest soil shear strength test. The purpose

of direct shear test is to determine the shear strength of soil. Normally, direct shear test is
used for non-cohesive soil such as sands, but it also can be used for cohesive soils such as
clay. In direct shear test, apparatus needed are basically consisted of a shear box which is
separated horizontally in two halves. One half is fixed, and the other is either pulled or
pushed. The soil specimen is placed into the shear box.

During the test, a constant normal stress (

is applied to the soil specimen, and a

horizontal shear force is applied to one half of the shear box, therefore the soil will fail along
a pre-determined horizontal plane between the two halves of the shear box. Lateral
deformation (L) and vertical deformation (h) of the soil specimen will be recorded. All of
these readings taken will be used for calculation and graph plotting to determine shear
strength parameter.

Due to the simplicity of direct shear test, there are number of limitations for this test.
For direct shear test, drainage cannot be controlled and pore water pressure cannot be
measured. Thus, only drained direct shear test are able to be carried out. Besides, the shear
stress along the pre-determined plane is actually not uniform as the failure occurs
progressively from the edges toward the center of soil specimen. Overall, direct shear test is a
useful, relatively low cost and ease for preparation.

1.2

Aim and Objective

The objective of direct shear test is to determine the shear strength of the soil. The

shear strength of soil can be expressed by empirical Mohr-Coulomb relationship: s = c +

tan while

is the normal stress on failure plane of soil. With carrying out direct shear

stress, two parameters can be obtained, which are the soil cohesion, c and the soil friction
angle, .

In this laboratory, clean dry sand will be used as soil sample. As dry sand will not
having pore pressure development, the effective stress parameters c and will be equal to c
and . In addition, clean sand tend to be cohensionless, therefore cohesion, c of clean dry
sand assumed to be zero. Thus, the shear strength of clean dry sand can be determined as s =
tan .

2.0

Procedure

1. 60 mm square dimension of shear box was used in this direct shear test. Two halves of the
shear box was ensured to be correctly assembled with spacer screws withdrawn and
clamping screws in position.

2. The rigid plate was inserted above the lower plate, with the ridges aligned normal to the
direction of travel of the assembled box.

3. The dry sand was poured and the upper surface was levelled at about 5mm below the upper
edge of the shear box. The sand was placed carefully using a funnel and tube with tube end
not more than 10mm above the sand surface. The sand was compacted to the required density
(unit weight), while another correctly oriented and ridged plate was placed gently on the sand
to fit the upper pressure plate. The sand density was calculated after filling out the
information needed in the calculation sheet. No porous stones were needed on the top and
bottom of soil specimen as the test is for dry sand and no drainage is required.

4. The assembled shear box was then placed carefully in the correct position in the load frame
with a steel ball on the upper pressure plate. The loading hanger in position was placed and
the normal load was applied.

5. The drive mechanism was released and shear box was brought closed to the loading piston ad
proving ring shaft, and drive mechanism was then re-engaged. The shear box was then
brought into tight contact with the loading piston by operating the adjuster screw on the
proving ring support assembly.

6. The spacer screws were brought into contact with the lower half of the shear box, the
clamping screws were removed and spacer screws was given a further half turn to raise the
upper half of the shear box away from the lower half. The spacer screws were retracted by
means of a few anti-clockwise turns.

7. The dial gauge was placed for monitoring the normal (vertical) displacements correctly in
position over the centre of the load hanger and it was positioned for monitoring shear
(horizontal) displacements. It was noted that the horizontal displacement dial gauge measures

the displacement of the upper half of the shear box relative to the lower half of the box. Both
dial gauges was set to zero. The dial gauge on the proving ring gives, after applying a
calibration factor marked on the proving ring, the shear force mobilised across the shear
plane.

8. The gear box drive was checked to ensure it had set to the correct displacement rate of at
least 1.25 mm/min. Manual sheet was prepared and tasks of reading various dial gauges had
been assigned to different group members.

9. The shear box drive motor was started. The dial gauge readings were recorded at 10 second
intervals for the first minute and then at half minute intervals until the shear force is seen to
either remain constant, to decrease for three consecutive readings or until the shear box is
about to reach the limit of its travel. The motor was switched off and drive piston was
retracted.

10. Shear box was removed, dismantled and the soil was discarded.

Figure 1

Apparatus set-up for Direct Shear Test

3.0

Results and Calculations

In this laboratory, the shear box dimension is 60 mm square. Therefore, lateral dimension, L
which taken for shear strain calculation is 60 mm.

Table 1

Experimental Result and Calculated Shear Strain

Horizontal Displacement,
L (mm)
0.00
0.02
0.04
0.06
0.08
0.20
0.32
0.48
0.64
0.80
0.96
1.12

Sample calculation:

Vertical Displacement,
H (mm)
0.000
0.002
0.008
0.016
0.026
0.064
0.128
0.192
0.256
0.288
0.320
0.321

Shear Stress,
(kPa)
0
19
34
43
47
56
51
46
41
37
34
33

Shear Strain
= L/L
0.0000
0.0003
0.0007
0.0010
0.0013
0.0033
0.0053
0.0080
0.0107
0.0133
0.0160
0.0187

Shear Stress-Strain Curve

60

Shear Stress, (kPa)

50

40

30

20

10

0
0.0000

0.0020

0.0040

0.0060

0.0080

0.0100

0.0120

0.0140

Shear Strain,
Figure 2

Shear Stress Strain Curve for Sand Sample

0.0160

0.0180

0.0200

Graph of Normal Displacement against Shear Displacement

Dilation

0.250

0.150

0.050

-0.050

-0.150

-0.250

0.00

0.20

0.40

0.60

0.80

Compression

Normal Displacement, h (mm)

0.350

-0.350

Shear Displacement, L (mm)

Figure 3

Graph of Normal Displacement versus Shear Displacement

1.00

1.20

Graph of Shear Stress against Normal Stress

60

Shear Stress, (kPa)

50

40

30

20

10

0
0

10

20

30

40

Normal Stress, n (kPa)

Figure 4

Graph of Shear Stress versus Normal Stress

50

60