SOILS AND FOUNDATIONS

Japanese Geotechnical Society

Vol. 47, No. 6, 10291044, Dec. 2007

RESIDUAL STRENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF

NATURALLY AND ARTIFICIALLY CEMENTED CLAYS
IN REVERSAL DIRECT BOX SHEAR TEST
MOTOYUKI SUZUKIi), SHUNSUKE TSUZUKIii) and TETSURO YAMAMOTOi)
ABSTRACT
The naturally cemented clay preserving chemical bonds that was gradually disintegrated by weathering is a soil exhibiting a progressive failure such as a landslide. The residual strength of soil possessing cementation properties given
by diagenesis has not yet been investigated. The objective of this study is to clarify the residual strength characteristics
of naturally and articially cemented clays using an improved reversal direct box shear test apparatus. Based on the
test results of reconstituted Kaolin clay, undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted samples of three natural clays, this
paper describes the inuence of normal stress, shear displacement rate, consolidation and shear histories on the residual strength of cemented clay. Especially, to simulate the same mechanical behavior as the naturally cemented clays,
the cementation was articially reproduced by adding cementing agents to slurry clay. Consequently, 1) the residual
strength of cemented clay is independent of consolidation yield stress and initial void ratio. 2) The residual strength of
cemented clay as well as non-cemented clay increases with increasing the shear displacement rate. 3) The residual
strength of cemented clay as well as non-cemented clay is not aected by any stress history.
Key words: landslide, remolding, residual strength cementation, reversal direct box shear test, undisturbed sample
(IGC: D6/E6)

INTRODUCTION
Residual strength of clay is one of the most important
strength parameters in estimating slope stability of reactivated landslide (Skempton, 1964, 1985). The residual
strength, which is dened as the minimum drained shear
strength after large shear displacement, should generally
be determined by reversal direct box shear test (RDBST),
ring shear test (RST) and direct box shear test on pre-cut
specimen. The inuence of normal stress, overconsolidation ratio and shear displacement rate on the residual
strength of dierent types of soil has been examined in
detail (Kenney, 1967; La Gatta, 1970; Bishop et al., 1971;
Ramiah et al., 1970; Bucher, 1975; Lupini et al., 1981;
Lemos et al., 1985; Gibo et al., 1987; Yatabe et al., 1991;
Tika et al., 1996; Suzuki et al., 2000; Mitachi et al.,
2003). Laboratory shear tests to measure the residual
strength were usually carried out on a reconstituted specimen prepared by pre-consolidating a slurry sample above
its liquid limit at room temperature. Therefore, the soil
structure of the reconstituted specimen is thought to be
considerably dierent from that of an undisturbed specimen.
A progressive failure such as a landslide occurs in soils
such as mudstone and clay shale. Such soils are naturally
i)
ii)

cemented clays that gradually lose cementation properties

in the process of weathering (Bjerrum, 1967a; Abramson
et al., 1996). Skempton (1970) showed that the shear
strength on the slip surface in rst-time landslide of overconsolidated clay is close to the peak strength of an undisturbed sample and contains a signicant cohesion
term. The cementation as well as delayed compression of
natural clay deposit is induced by aging (Bjerrum, 1967b)
and that cementation is also formed in sand through
three-phase diagenetic actions (Barton, 1993). It has been
known that soils possessing cementation properties have
consolidation yield stress higher than the eective overburden pressure under the in-situ condition, and that they
have low compressibility where the vertical stress is below
the consolidation yield stress but are subjected to rapid
compression under a greater stress. They exhibit outstanding strain softening during shearing under a low
conning pressure (Cuccovillo and Coop, 1999 and
others). It is very important from the engineering viewpoint to identify how naturally cemented clays lose
cementation while they reach the residual state after it has
been subjected to large deformation in the process of a
landslide, and the dierence in residual shear characteristics between cemented and non-cemented clays. The
residual strength of an undisturbed sample has often been

Yamaguchi University, Japan (msuzukiyamaguchi-u.ac.jp).

Hazama Corporation, Japan.
The manuscript for this paper was received for review on March 22, 2005; approved on September 20, 2007.
Written discussions on this paper should be submitted before July 1, 2008 to the Japanese Geotechnical Society, 4-38-2, Sengoku, Bunkyo-ku,
Tokyo 112-0011, Japan. Upon request the closing date may be extended one month.
1029

1030

SUZUKI ET AL.

compared with that of a remolded or reconstituted sample. Bishop et al. (1971) and Townsend and Gilbert (1973)
showed that the residual strength of an undisturbed sample was essentially equivalent to that of a remolded sample. On the other hand, Nakamori et al. (1996) showed
that the angle of internal friction at the residual state of
an undisturbed sample was dierent from that of a
remolded sample. However, the dierence in residual
strength of both samples has not been thoroughly considered from the viewpoint of side frictional force generated from contact with the shear box peculiar to the direct
shear type test. Furthermore, the inuence of the above
factors on residual strength of the undisturbed sample
possessing cementation properties has scarcely been investigated. Therefore, it is necessary to resolve the problems associated with them, in conducting stability analysis of a landslide slope consisting of the naturally cemented clays with a high degree of accuracy.
In this study, a conventional reversal direct box shear
test apparatus was newly improved to ensure suitability
for measuring the normal stress actually applied to a
shear surface. A series of reversal direct box shear tests
was performed on reconstituted Kaolin clay and on undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted samples of three
natural clays under various test conditions. The discussion in this paper focuses on the following points based
on the test results: 1) The validity of peak and residual
strengths determined by RDBST as demonstrated
through comparison with ring shear test; 2) The inuence
of horizontal displacement amplitude on residual
strength; 3) The dierence in residual strength between
undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted samples; and 4)
The inuence of normal stress, shear displacement rate
and consolidation history of naturally and articially
cemented samples. Each undisturbed sample was properly regarded as naturally cemented clay, since it included
no pre-existing discontinuous plane and signicant cohesion term in peak shear strength. Especially, in the above
experiments, cementation simulating the same mechanical behavior as the undisturbed sample was articially
reproduced by adding a cementing agent to a slurry sample at room temperature. Finally, the inuence of preshearing as a kind of shear history on residual strength is
also mentioned.

of aging has been highlighted by Bjerrum (1967b). The

mechanical behavior of aged clay is as follows: 1) The insitu soil structure of natural clay deposits is formed by
delayed compression and cementation over a long period
of geological time; 2) As a result, the consolidation yield
stress of the aged clay often becomes much higher than its
eective overburden pressure; 3) The ``stress overshooting'' in the void ratio, e, and consolidation pressure, p,
relation is evidently observed for the aged clay preserving
any developed cementation. Hence the degree of cementation developed in the aged clay can be estimated by a location of consolidation yield stress in e-log p relation.
Laboratory-simulated cementation can be articially
reproduced by either adding a cementing agent to a soil
sample (e.g., Fisher et al., 1978; Kamon and Nagao,
1986) or pre-consolidating a slurry sample at high temperature (e.g., Tsuchida et al., 1989). The development
of cementation formed between soil particles presumably
results from an increase in chemical bonding due to
precipitation such as calcium carbonate. Furthermore, it
is known that the shear behavior of articially cemented
clay is very similar to that of overconsolidated clay. Fisher et al. (1978) showed that the cohesive component of
shear strength was increased by the precipitation of calcium carbonate.
The mudstone and shale subjected to remolding on a

MECHANICAL BEHAVIOR OF NATURALLY

CEMENTED CLAYS
Abramson et al. (1996) expressed that soils exhibiting
progressive failure are clay and shale possessing chemical
bonds that have gradually disintegrated by weathering.
Mesri and Cepeda-Diaz (1986) also pointed out that shale
is a highly overconsolidated clay with a varying degree of
chemical induration resulting from diagenetic bonding.
Barton (1993) demonstrated that the natural transition of
freshly deposited soils, i.e. ``clays'' and ``sands'',
respectively led to ``shales and mudstones'' and ``sandstones'' due to diagenetic alteration in sequence of ``aging'', ``mild diagenesis'' and ``induration''. The concept

Fig. 1. Schematic diagrams showing one-dimensionally consolidation

and drained shear behaviors in (a) void ratio and eective normal
stress relation and (b) shear stress and shear strain (or shear
displacement) relation for cemented and non-cemented soils,
respectively

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CEMENTED CLAY

slip surface are considered to have altered to so-called

``landslide clay'' whose shear strength falls to a residual
value as shear deformation proceeds. Accordingly, the
landslide clay originated from the soils can be regarded as
one of the aged clays. The drained shear and dilatancy behaviors of soils with and without the cementation that
passed through the critical state and reached the residual
state are schematically shown in Fig. 1. The concept of
residual strength for a cemented soil could be extended in
terms of the disappearance of cementation, in addition to
the reorientation of platy clay particles parallel to the
direction of shearing. In considering stability of landslide
slope consisting of naturally cemented clay such as mudstone, it is important to elucidate the residual strength
characteristics of undisturbed soil samples having natural
cementation.
REVERSAL DIRECT BOX SHEAR TEST FOR
DETERMINING RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF
UNDISTURBED SAMPLE

Test Apparatus and Test Procedure

The residual strength was conventionally determined
using RST apparatus (e.g., Bishop et al., 1971; La Gatta,
1971; Bucher, 1975; Bromhead, 1979; Gibo, 1987;
Yatabe et al., 1991; Suzuki et al., 1997) and RDBST apparatus (e.g., Nakamori and Sutho, 1988; Okawara et
al., 2000a). The RDBST apparatus can apply a large
deformation to a specimen by reciprocating the direction
of shearing. As to naming such the test, ``reversal shear
box test'' is commonly used in most papers. In this paper
``Reversal Direct Box Shear Test (RDBST)'' is labeled as
an established technical term. It should be noted that
Okawara et al. (2000a) recently developed a reversal
direct box shear test apparatus measuring the horizontal
frictional force generated on a contact plane between a

Table 1.

1031

mobile box and squeezed soil with a high degree of accuracy. Table 1 summarizes the essential features of the
improved RDBST and RST apparatuses. The RDBST has
the main advantage for determining the residual strength
of an undisturbed specimen, since the specimen used in
the RDBST is a small disk as compared with an actual
specimen used in the RST. Additionally, the RDBST has
the following features as compared with the RST: 1) The
cross-sectional area of the specimen is always changed as
the test proceeds; 2) The increment of shear displacement
is intermittent due to reversal of shearing direction; 3)
The mechanism of this apparatus is very simple to operate; 4) The soil sample in the specimen is squeezed from
an opening between the upper and lower shear boxes; and
5) The reorientation of soil particles formed on a slip
plane is not completely formed by reversal shearing.
The RDBST apparatus used in this study was initially
developed by Nakamori and Sutoh (1988) and was recently improved by the rst author to ensure compatibility
with the ``Method for consolidated constant pressure
direct box shear test on soils (JGS T 5611997)''. Figure 2
schematically shows an overview of the apparatus (Fig.
2(a)) and details of the shear box (Fig. 2(b)). The specications of the apparatus are described by Nakamori and
Sutoh (1988). The dimensions of the disk-shaped specimen are 60 mm in diameter and 20 mm in height. The
shear box consists of metal boxes divided into two parts
with smooth inner walls. The upper shear box was rigidly
xed whereas the lower shear box was moved smoothly
through a roller bearing in parallel with the upper shear
box. A high-rigidity load cell for measuring the vertical
force was set on the side of the load-receiving plate. By
removing the inuence of side friction due to dilatancy,
the measured normal stress was considered to be a value
that actually mobilized on the shear plane. Maximum

Comparison in features of reversal direct box shear and ring shear tests

Type of test

Reversal direct box shear test

(RDBST)

Ring shear test

(RST)

Little

Much

Undisturbed

Remolded/Reconstituted

Increment of shear displacement

Intermittent

Continuous

Cross sectional area of specimen

Changed

Unchanged

Little

Much

Straight

Circumferential

Features

Shear mode

Soil sample

Quantity
Condition*

Leakage of soil sample

Reorientation of platy clay particles
parallel to the direction of shearing

*: The condition of sample that facilitates testing. Both RDBST and RST are, however, applicable to undisturbed samples, remolded
samples and reconstituted samples.

1032

SUZUKI ET AL.
Table 2.

Fig. 2. Essential features of reversal direct box shear test apparatus

improved in this study (After Nakamori and Sutoh, 1988)

normal stress can be applied up to 784 kPa by dead

weights. The shear displacement rate can be changed
within the range of 0.02 and 1.0 mm/min. The opening
between the upper and lower boxes was set at 0.2 mm by
adjusting the bolts as shown in Fig. 2(a). The amplitude
of horizontal displacement, Dd, was usually set at 7
mm deviation from the original position of the shear box
before shearing. In the case of Dd7 mm, the accumulated shear displacement, Sd28 mm, corresponds to 1
cycle in the reversal shear process.
The ring shear test apparatus used in this study can
measure the frictional force between the specimen and
rings using the load cell attached to the loading frame via
a linking yoke connected to the upper ring (Suzuki et al.,
1997). The frictional force along the rings was induced by
the displacement of the specimen relative to the rings. In
the apparatus, the load-receiving plate did not rotate but
was supported using ball bearing to prevent deviation of
normal forces. Then, the frictional force along the
perimeter of the specimen acted upward in the case of a
negative dilatancy, or downward in the case of a positive
dilatancy. In this test, net normal stress acting on the
shear surface was calculated based on the frictional force
measured by the load cell. When determining the gap between the upper and lower rings before the start of the
shear test, changes in frictional force along the rings were
measured for modifying normal stress accordingly.

Physical Properties of Soil Samples Used

The soil samples used in this study were three kinds of

Physical properties of soil samples used

Soil samples

Kaolin
clay

Landslide
Clay A

Landslide
Clay B

Landslide
Clay C

rs (g/cm3)
D50 (mm)
Dmax (mm)
w L (z )
w P (z )
Ip
Fclay (z)
Fc (z)
Soil classication

2.618
0.007
0.2
62.0
40.2
21.8
35.3
98.0
MH

2.687
0.03
5.1
34.4
17.5
16.9
25.5
63.9
CL

2.677
0.018
11.0
91.3
31.4
59.9
45.5
54.2
CH

2.833
0.007
0.5
33.2
23.7
9.5
44.5
78.1
ML

Fig. 3.

Grain size distribution curves of soil samples used

natural clays, labeled ``Landslide Clay A'', ``Landslide

Clay B'' and ``Landslide Clay C'', and an industrial clay
labeled ``Kaolin clay''. Landslide Clays A to C were
severally sampled in undisturbed state at three landslide
sites in the western part of Japan. Table 2 shows the
physical properties and soil classication of the soil samples. Figure 3 shows grain size distribution curves of the
soil samples. The maximum grain sizes of Landslide
Clays A and B used in this study were 5.1 and 11.0 mm,
respectively, larger than the allowable maximum grain
size of 60-mm-diameter specimens in direct box shear
tests. The content of particles of diameter of 0.85 mm or
more in mass was approximately 5z in Landslide Clay A
and approximately 35z in Landslide Clay B. The content
of particles of diameter of 2 mm or more in mass was approximately 2z in Landslide Clay A and approximately
32z in Landslide Clay B. Yatabe et al. (1996) tested cohesive soils mixed with gravel (of particle size 2 to 5 mm)
using two types of ring shear test apparatus, one for simple shear test and the other for box shear test. They revealed that residual strength increased monotonously
with the increase of gravel content and that the residual
strength of clays mixed with gravel varied according to
the gravel content and the restraining of slip surface.
They showed the relationship between the gravel content
and the angle of internal friction at the residual state, qr.
Assuming that the tendency shown by Yatabe et al was
reasonable for these samples, the dierence Dqr from qr
at a gravel content of 0z was approximately 0.2 degree
for Landslide Clay A with a gravel content of 2z, and

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CEMENTED CLAY

1033

Photo 1. Sampling of undisturbed soil using thin wall tube at slip layer in Landslide B

approximately 7 degrees for Landslide Clay B with a

gravel content of 32z. This means Landslide Clay A was
free from the inuence of gravel, but Landslide Clay B
was greatly inuenced by gravel. Landslide Clay B was
relatively homogeneous clay mixed solely with gravel
(Photo. 1(a)). When specimens were made, care was
taken to prevent extremely large gravels from being included. When extremely large gravels were found in the
specimen after the shear test, the corresponding test
results were not adopted. Test results therefore were free
from the inuence of extremely large gravels.
Figure 4 shows the relationships between tan qr, the
clay fraction, Fclay, and the plasticity index, Ip, for the soil
samples used in this study including other soil samples
(referred). Here tan qr corresponds to residual coecient
of friction. Most data plotted in this gure is quoted from
previous studies (Skempton, 1964, 1985; Townsend and
Gilbert, 1973; Kenney, 1977; Lupini et al., 1981; Wesley,
1977; Mesri and Cepeda-Diaz, 1986; Collotta et al., 1989;
Yatabe et al., 1991). Lupini et al. (1981) recognized that
the residual shear behavior was classied into three
modes, that is, ``turbulent mode'', ``transitional mode''
and ``sliding mode''. These modes depend on the shape
of dominant soil particle and on the coecient of interparticle friction. Lupini et al. noted that the sliding shear
occurs where the percentage of platy soil particles with a
lower coecient of friction was higher than that of rotund soil particles, and that qr at the point is determined
mainly by the type of clay mineral, chemical properties of
pore water and the coecient of interparticle friction.
The turbulent shear occurs where the percentage of rotund soil particles is higher than that of platy soil particles, and qr at the point is determined mainly by the shape
and packing of rotund soil particles but not by the
coecient of interparticle friction. The transitional shear

Fig. 4. Correlations between tan qr, (a) clay fraction and (b) plasticity
index for various soils, respectively

occurs where neither rotund nor platy soil particles are

predominant (where the sliding shear and the turbulent
shear are occurring simultaneously in dierent parts of
the shear zone). Then, qr varies delicately according to
grading of the soil. Lupini et al. also concluded that there
are no general correlations between residual strength and
soil index properties. As can be seen in Fig. 4, our data is
plotted in the approximate range of the other data distribution.

Test Conditions and Test Cases

A series of reversal direct box shear tests with dierent
test conditions was carried out on the undisturbed,
remolded and reconstituted samples. Each undisturbed
sample was cut from a soil block sampled around a slip
layer with a thin wall tube as shown in Photo. 1. The
reconstituted sample of Kaolin clay was prepared by mixing powdered sample with pure water at the water content
equal to two times its liquid limit, and then consolidating
under a pressure of 83 kPa. The remolded sample of
Landslide Clay A was prepared by tampering the previously tested sample adjusted at the initial water content.
The reconstituted samples of Landslide Clay B and C
were prepared by mixing with pure water added to the
slurry using portions of previously tested samples and
then consolidating under a pressure of 49 kPa using a
large pre-consolidation tank. The initial water content of
the slurry was adjusted to be its liquid limit. The initial

1034

SUZUKI ET AL.

height of the slurry in the tank was adjusted to ensure

that the height of the sample after the pre-consolidation
became more than 2 cm.
The applied normal stress was changed in the range
from 49 kPa to 784 kPa. Firstly, each specimen was consolidated under the required consolidation stress, sC, until the end of primary consolidation was conrmed by
judgment based on the 3t-method. To prevent swelling of
the specimen, it was submerged immediately after applying the consolidation stress. Subsequently, the specimen was sheared under a constant total normal stress, sN,
until the accumulated shear displacement, Sd, became a
sucient value to reach the residual state. The residual
strength of clay is associated with degree of reorientation
of soil particles which is aected by the normal stress, the
shear displacement and so on (Gibo et al., 1987; Okawara
et al., 2000). Okawara (2000b) described that the degree
of reorientation of soil particles parallel to the direction
of shearing did not always increase in RDBST if accumulated shear displacement was suciently great. It is necessary to consider the shear displacement enough to determine the residual strength by reversal direct box shear test
as well as ring shear test (Suzuki et al., 1997). However,
no xed method has been available for determining the
residual strength of soils in RDBST. Tests are actually
discontinued case by case and residual strength is determined. Then, a new method was proposed for objectively
determining residual strength regardless of the shear
displacement by applying hyperbolic approximation to
the measurement of the reversal shear behavior. The
shear stress, t, and Sd curve in RDBST is discontinuous.
t once becomes zero when the direction of shearing is
reversed. The hyperbolic approximation was applied to
the measured relationship between the stress ratio,
(t/sN)d0, and the number of cycles, N, when the sample
returns to the pre-shearing initial state (d0). The value
of stress ratio at d0 was adopted in the proposed
method, since the shear behavior was scarcely aected by
reverse of shear direction. An asymptotic value was dened as the stress ratio at the residual state, (t/sN)r.
Hyperbolic approximation parameters, a and b, are given
by the segment and gradient of the straight tted to the
measurement of the relationship between N/(t/sN)d0
and N by the least square method. If the approximated
hyperbola is in good agreement with the measurement,
(t/sN)r is given as an inverse of b. The validity of the data
tting can be assessed using the correlation coecient, r.
The lowest value of r was 0.982 among all test cases. The
applicability of the method was supposed based on the
test results of kaolin and natural clays under various test
conditions. Therefore the residual strength of soil can be
determined by this method.
In this study, RDBST was conducted on ve samples:
Kaolin clay, Landslide Clays A through C, and Kaolin
clay mixed with ordinary Portland cement (OPC). The
Kaolin clay specimens were produced by trimming a
reconstituted sample. A series of tests were conducted on
multiple specimens at varying normal stress, shear
displacement amplitude, shear displacement rate, over-

consolidation ratio and normal stress during shearing, respectively. Specimens of Landslide Clays A through C
were made from undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted samples by trimming. A series of tests were conducted
on Landslide Clay A using multiple specimens at varying
normal stress to compare strengths of undisturbed and
remolded samples. To investigate the inuence of the
maximum grain size on residual strength, a reversal direct
box shear test was conducted under incremental loading
on remolded samples obtained by passing the sample
through 0.425- or 0.85-mm sieves. In a series of tests on
Landslide Clay B, multiple specimens were tested at
varying normal stress to examine the dierence in
strength between undisturbed and reconstituted samples.
The inuence of the method of changing shear displacement rate was investigated using an undisturbed sample.
Tests were conducted on multiple specimens at varying
shear displacement rates, and shear displacement rate
was continuously increased in the residual state using a
single specimen. For Landslide Clay C, a series of tests
were conducted on multiple specimens under varying normal stress to examine the dierence in strength between
an undisturbed sample and a reconstituted sample that
passed a 0.425-mm sieve. To investigate the inuence of
curing time on the residual strength of cured Kaolin clay
mixed with OPC, tests were conducted using specimens
with curing time ranging from 14 to 91 days. To examine
the dierence in strength between undisturbed sample (intact sample) and remolded sample of Kaolin clay mixed
with OPC, multiple specimens with a constant curing
time of 28 days were tested under varying normal stress.
To investigate the inuence of shear displacement rate on
the Kaolin clay mixed with OPC, multiple specimens were
tested at varying shear displacement rate. The test cases,
initial conditions of the specimens and test results are listed in Tables 3 to 5. Here, the initial condition means
whether a disturbance of sample due to sampling or not,
and state parameters of specimen such as the initial void
ratio. Table 3 shows the initial conditions of a reconstituted specimen of Kaolin clay under dierent conditions of normal stress, horizontal displacement amplitude, shear displacement rate, consolidation and shear
stress histories. Table 4 shows the initial conditions of
undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted specimens prepared from Landslide Clays A to C. Table 5 shows the
initial conditions of intact and remolded specimens of
Kaolin clay mixed with OPC.

Peak and Residual Strengths in RDBST and RST

At rst, the peak and residual strengths obtained by the
improved RDBST are rigorously compared with those by
RST. Next, the inuence of the horizontal displacement
amplitude on reversal shear behavior, which has not yet
been examined, is discussed. Figures 5(a) and (b) show
the relationships among t, d and sN in the reconstituted
Kaolin clay that was normally consolidated and sheared
under a constant total normal stress. The angle of internal friction at the peak state, qp, obtained by pushing the
mobile box, has a larger value than that obtained by pull-

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CEMENTED CLAY

Table 3.
Test No.

1035

Test cases, initial conditions and test results of reconstituted Kaolin clay

Initial
Initial water Initial wet Initial degree
density
of saturation void ratio
content
w 0 (z )
rt0 (g/cm3)
Sr0 (z)
e0

sC
(kPa)

sN
(kPa)

OCR
d_
Dd
tp
tr
(t/sN)p
(t/sN)r
(sC/sN) (mm/min) (mm)
(kPa)
(kPa)

KRC1-1
KRC1-2
KRC1-3
KRC1-4
KRC1-5

59.9
66.5
59.1
56.7
51.0

1.618
1.613
1.588
1.601
1.661

97.3
100.0
95.3
95.1
96.7

1.650
1.768
1.624
1.562
1.380

49
98
196
294
392

49
98
196
294
392

1
1
1
1
1

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

7
7
7
7
7

0.648
0.658
0.648
0.551
0.508

37.7
64.5
118.2
158.4
201.5

0.436
0.250
0.271
0.271
0.254

21.4
24.5
53.2
79.7
99.7

KRC2-1
KRC2-2

65.9
66.5

1.586
1.613

97.9
100.0

1.804
1.768

98
98

98
98

1
1

0.1
0.1

3
7

0.670
0.658

68.5
64.5

0.286
0.250

28.0
24.5

KRC3-1
KRC3-2
KRC3-3
KRC3-4
KRC3-5
KRC3-6
KRC3-7
KRC3-8
KRC3-9
KRC3-10

64.2
62.0
66.5
62.5
62.5
64.2
63.0
59.1
63.6
63.7

1.595
1.619
1.613
1.619
1.613
1.583
1.590
1.588
1.621
1.606

97.8
98.8
100.0
99.1
98.5
96.6
96.6
95.3
99.9
98.6

1.760
1.683
1.768
1.691
1.700
1.781
1.748
1.624
1.706
1.733

98
98
98
98
98
196
196
196
196
196

98
98
98
98
98
196
196
196
196
196

1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1

0.02
0.05
0.1
0.2
0.5
0.02
0.05
0.1
0.2
0.5

7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7

0.549
0.639
0.658
0.566
0.548
0.423
0.486
0.648
0.424
0.469

55.3
63.8
64.5
62.5
58.1
85.1
98.7
118.2
86.8
94.8

0.232
0.263
0.250
0.295
0.357
0.241
0.216
0.271
0.299
0.280

22.7
25.8
24.5
28.9
35.0
47.3
42.4
53.2
58.6
55.0

KRC4-1
KRC4-2
KRC4-3
KRC4-4
KRC4-5
KRC4-6
KRC4-7
KRC4-8
KRC4-9
KRC4-10

66.5
62.5
63.6
63.9
62.2
63.2
62.5
62.9
63.9
62.9

1.613
1.536
1.519
1.536
1.622
1.618
1.616
1.601
1.589
1.611

100.0
92.5
91.5
93.3
99.2
99.5
98.8
97.6
97.1
98.6

1.768
1.769
1.820
1.794
1.682
1.704
1.695
1.728
1.766
1.711

98
196
392
784
784
784
784
784
784
784

98
98
98
98
784
392
196
784
392
196

1
2
4
8
1
2
4
1
2
4

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7
7

0.658
0.841
0.888
1.189
0.408
0.472
0.556
0.378
0.486
0.587

64.5
70.0
75.2
97.8
325.0
191.8
120.0
302.5
198.6
124.4

0.250
0.320
0.298
0.352
0.224
0.242
0.194
0.204
0.244
0.236

24.5
31.4
29.2
34.5
175.5
94.9
38.0
159.8
95.7
46.2

KRC5-1

66.5

1.613

100.0

1.768

98

0.658

64.5

0.250

24.5

61.0

1.599

96.3

1.699

0.1

0.491

99.4

0.253

24.7

KRC5-3

64.2

1.584

96.7

1.780

0.1

0.416

164.9

0.216

21.2

KRC5-4

63.1

1.591

96.7

1.749

1
1
1
2
1
4
1
8

0.1

KRC5-2

98
98
196
98
392
98
784
98

0.1

0.383

307.3

0.305

29.8

RKRC1-1
RKRC1-2
RKRC1-3
RKRC1-4
RKRC1-5

65.9
65.9
66.3
59.2
56.3

1.568
1.583
1.556
1.620
1.620

97.4
99.0
96.5
98.6
96.6

1.770
1.743
1.799
1.572
1.525

49
98
147
196
294

49
98
147
196
294

1
1
1
1
1

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

0.659
0.526
0.513
0.529
0.466

29.8
49.6
76.8
97.8
133.1

0.305
0.170
0.178
0.183
0.188

14.9
16.7
26.2
35.8
55.2

RKRC2-1
RKRC2-2
RKRC2-3
RKRC2-4
RKRC2-5

59.0
59.2
59.9
59.4
60.1

1.631
1.620
1.625
1.618
1.624

99.5
98.6
99.5
98.5
99.5

1.554
1.572
1.575
1.580
1.580

196
196
196
196
196

196
196
196
196
196

1
1
1
1
1

0.02
0.1
0.2
1.0
2.0

0.534
0.529
0.525
0.493
0.461

98.5
97.8
100.2
99.0
87.8

0.172
0.183
0.205
0.220
0.217

33.6
35.8
40.2
43.0
42.5

98
98
98

KRC: Reversal direct box shear test on reconstituted Kaolin clay

RKRC: Ring shear test on reconstituted Kaolin clay
tr,(t/sN)r: Residual strength and stress ratio at residual determined by hyperbolic curve approximation

ing the mobile box. This is a natural result because the

specimen usually reached a failure envelope until Sd attained 7 mm (1/4 cycle). It was found that the angle of internal friction at the residual state in the pushing side is
not consistent with that in the pulling side.
Figure 6 shows the peak and residual strength lines for
reconstituted Kaolin clay obtained by RDBST and RST.
The strength parameters at the peak and residual states as
shown in this gure were determined by tting to the

measurement of the relationship among the peak

strength, tp, the residual strength, tr, and sN using the
least square method. The coecient of correlation, r, and
the number of data, n, are shown in this gure. The measured value is in very good agreement with the tting line
because all r values are above 0.986. The residual strength
obtained by unimproved RDBST has already been compared with that obtained by RST (Bishop et al., 1971;
Townsend and Gilbert, 1973; Yatabe et al., 1996). Ac-

SUZUKI ET AL.

1036

Table 4.
Test No.
AU6-1
AU6-2
AU6-3

Test cases, initial conditions and test results of undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted specimens of Landslide Clays A to C
Initial
condition

Undisturbed

ARM6-4
ARM6-5
ARM6-6
ARM6-7

Remolded

ARM6-8
BU7-1
BU7-2
BU7-3

Initial
Maximum Initial water Initial wet Initial degree
sN
content
density
of saturation void ratio
grain size
(kPa)
3
Dmax (mm)
w0 ( z )
rt0 (g/cm )
Sr0 (z)
e0

d_
(mm/min)

(t / sN )p

tp
(kPa)

(t/sN)r

tr
(kPa)

5.1

18.4
19.1
19.1

1.951
1.975
1.944

78.4
82.7
79.4

0.630
0.621
0.646

98
196
294

0.02
0.02
0.02

1.172
1.003
0.994

109.5
171.8
256.3

1.081
0.811
0.775

106.0
159.1
227.8

5.1

19.2
19.1
17.5

1.964
1.975
1.918

81.8
82.7
72.7

0.630
0.621
0.646

98
196
294

0.02
0.02
0.02

0.803
0.808
0.835

66.0
148.9
228.4

0.951
0.802
0.805

93.2
157.2
236.8

0.850

2.0

1.679

8.5

0.632

196
147
98

1.0

0.719

134.3

0.877
0.869
1.001

171.9
127.7
98.1

0.425

8.6

1.788

36.5

0.632

196
147
98

1.0

0.602

115.6

0.582
0.587
0.620

114.0
86.3
60.8

Undisturbed

11.0

28.8
29.5
29.8

1.773
1.879
1.819

81.5
93.5
87.6

0.945
0.845
0.909

98
196
294

0.05
0.05
0.05

1.009
0.665
0.424

98.3
123.0
128.0

0.397
0.290
0.283

38.9
56.8
83.2

BRC7-4
BRC7-5 Reconstituted
BRC7-6

11.0

30.6
30.6
30.6

1.814
1.851
1.860

88.4
92.1
93.1

0.927
0.889
0.880

98
196
294

0.05
0.05
0.05

0.716
0.333
0.274

69.2
66.2
82.1

0.310
0.258
0.205

30.4
50.6
60.3

1.851
1.879
2.086
1.825

89.0
93.5
100.0
84.9

0.859
0.845
0.592
0.873

196
196
196
196

0.02
0.05
0.5
1

0.351
0.665
0.565
0.294

71.2
123.0
128.1
58.7

0.210
0.290
0.384
0.248

41.2
56.8
75.4
48.7

BU7-7
BU7-8
BU7-9
BU7-10

Undisturbed

11.0

28.5
29.5
24.0
27.7

CU8-1
CU8-2
CU8-3

Undisturbed

0.5

13.5
13.8
12.6

2.187
2.149
2.252

81.4
78.1
85.9

0.471
0.500
0.417

98
196
294

0.1
0.1
0.1

0.832
0.699
0.638

89.1
156.8
212.9

0.746
0.652
0.545

73.1
127.8
160.2

0.425

27.5
23.9
23.9

2.129
2.027
2.119

100.0
92.5
100.0

0.697
0.731
0.656

98
196
294

0.1
0.1
0.1

0.727
0.534
0.518

71.7
111.5
164.3

0.574
0.409
0.410

56.3
80.1
120.4

CRC8-4
CRC8-5 Reconstituted
CRC8-6

AU: Reversal direct box shear test on undisturbed Landslide Clay A

ARM: Reversal direct box shear test on remolded Landslide Clay A
BU: Reversal direct box shear test on undisturbed Landslide Clay B
BRC: Reversal direct box shear test on reconstituted Landslide Clay B
CU: Reversal direct box shear test on undisturbed Landslide Clay C
CRC: Reversal direct box shear test on reconstituted Landslide Clay C
Dd7 mm
tr,(t/sN)r: Residual strength and stress ratio at residual determined by hyperbolic curve approximation

cording to these comparisons, RDBST showed a higher

value of qr than that obtained by RST. However, no considerations were made on change of vertical frictional
force due to the dilatancy that occurred during drained
shear. By taking account of the vertical force measured
on the opposite side of the loading plate, the dierence of
qr determined by RDBST and RST on reconstituted Kaolin clay is clearly shown in Fig. 6. In this case, the qr
value measured by RDBST is 3.8 degrees larger than that
measured by RST. It is often postulated that this result
occurred because the reversal box shear test might cause
imperfect orientation due to reversal shearing. However,
Okawara et al. (2000b) examined the specimen surface by
scanning electron microscopy and revealed that completely oriented clay particle structures were observed after 2 cycles of cyclic shear under conditions of constant
pressure.
The relationship between the stress ratio, (t/sN), and

Sd, under dierent amplitudes of horizontal displacement, Dd (3 mm and 7 mm), are shown in Fig. 7.
As can be seen in this gure, the stress ratio and accumulated shear displacement curve in the case of Dd3
mm is slightly higher than that in the case of Dd7
mm. The stress ratio at the residual state, (t/sN)r, is determined by the hyperbolic approximation method. As a
result, (t/sN)r in the case of Dd3 mm and 7 mm is
0.286 and 0.250, respectively. The dierence in (t/sN)r is
equivalent to about 2 degrees in qr. Thus the stress ratio
at the residual state seems to be dependent of the horizontal displacement amplitude.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Dierence in Naturally and Articially Cemented Clays

Naturally cemented clays constituting the slope subjected to a landslide have accumulated shear strain in the

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CEMENTED CLAY

Table 5.
Test No.

Test cases, initial conditions and test results of intact and remolded specimens of Kaolin clay mixed with OPC

Initial
condition

KI9-1
KI9-2
KI9-3
KI9-4
KI9-5
KI9-6

Intact

KI9-7
KI9-8
KI9-9
KI9-10
KRM9-11
KRM9-12
KRM9-13

1037

Remolded

Initial water
content
w0 (z)

Initial wet
density
rt0 (g/cm3)

Initial degree
of saturation
Sr0 (z)

Initial
void ratio
e0

Curing
time
tc (days)

sN
(kPa)

d_
(mm/min)

(t / sN )p

tp
(kPa)

(t/sN)r

tr
(kPa)

72.5
66.3
64.6
68.1

1.522
1.580
1.557
1.523

95.3
97.6
94.4
93.1

2.039
1.823
1.834
1.959

14
28
56
91

98
98
98
98

0.1
0.1
0.1
0.1

1.330
1.727
1.744
1.968

141.2
182.9
212.9
215.9

0.412
0.381
0.352
0.345

40.4
37.4
34.5
33.8

68.6
68.4

1.542
1.544

95.2
95.3

1.931
1.924

28
28

196
294

0.1
0.1

0.983
0.856

207.7
259.7

0.354
0.316

69.5
92.8

68.6
67.7
72.1
69.7

1.552
1.572
1.569
1.554

96.1
97.6
99.6
96.9

1.913
1.859
1.941
1.926

28
28
28
28

196
196
196
196

0.02
0.05
0.2
0.5

0.898
1.365
0.942
0.900

182.7
264.3
193.7
185.9

0.263
0.316
0.378
0.314

51.5
61.9
74.0
61.6

69.0
69.5
65.7

1.557
1.574
1.542

96.8
98.8
93.6

1.910
1.886
1.880

28
28
28

98
196
294

0.1
0.1
0.1

0.886
0.775
0.618

105.0
167.1
188.4

0.374
0.326
0.298

36.7
63.9
87.7

KI: Reversal direct box shear test on intact cement treated Kaolin clay
KRM: Reversal direct box shear test on remolded cement treated Kaolin clay
OPC : ordinary Portland cement
Dd7 mm
tr,(t/sN)r: Residual strength and stress ratio at residual determined by hyperbolic curve approximation

Fig. 6. Comparison in peak and residual strength lines obtained by

RDBST and RST on reconstituted Kaolin clay (Test
No.KRC11KRC15 and Test No.RKRC11RKRC14)

Fig. 5. Typical shear stress and horizontal displacement curves, and

stress paths obtained by RDBST on normally consolidated clays
(Test No.KRC11KRC15)

Fig. 7. Relationship between stress ratio and accumulated shear

displacement for reconstituted Kaolin clay (Test No.KRC21 and
KRC22)

1038

SUZUKI ET AL.

slip surface due to shearing over long periods of time, and

may have had their original cementation damaged. The
undisturbed sample used in this study was obtained in a
slip layer at crop on edge of the landslide slope. However,
all specimens cut from each undisturbed sample did not
include a pre-existing discontinuous plane such as slickenside that was formed by large deformation. The shear
strength mobilized on the slip surface of rst-time landslide of overconsolidated clay is close to the peak strength
of an undisturbed sample and contains a signicant cohesion term. Overconsolidated clay may have been in a state
much earlier than the fully softened state without any
cementation or stress history or the critical state (Skempton, 1970). Peak strengths of all undisturbed samples include a signicant cohesion term in detail below. It suggested that the natural cementation in each undisturbed
sample could be partially damaged, but be still extant, as
shown in Fig. 1.
The mechanical properties of naturally cemented clay
are formed owing to cementation as a result of cohesive
materials developing on the surface of soil particle combining particles (Barton, 1993). Cohesive materials include calcium carbonate and some chemicals (Kenney et
al., 1967; Fisher et al., 1978). To investigate the mechanical properties of soils possessing cementation properties,
attempts have been made to articially reproduce aged
soils by adding cement or other materials to soils (Fisher,
1978 and others). The mechanical properties of materials
possessing cementation change similarly with the development of cementation regardless of their composition (Leroueil and Vaughan, 1990 and others). The articially cemented clay produced in this study by adding cement to soil is therefore considered to exhibit mechanical
behavior equivalent to that typical of naturally cemented
clay.

Consolidation Yield Stress of Undisturbed and Cementtreated Clays

To examine the consolidation yield stress of the soil
samples used in this study, one-dimensional consolidation tests using incremental loading were performed on
the undisturbed and reconstituted samples prepared from
Landslide Clays B and C, and the cement-treated Kaolin
clay. The reconstituted sample was prepared by thoroughly kneading at the water content above its liquid
limit. Then the initial water content of the sample, w0,
was naturally reduced by air-drying, in order to avoid
lowering the height of specimen extremely during the test.
Figure 8 shows the relationship between the void ratio, e,
and the consolidation pressure, p, on a log scale for these
clays. From Fig. 8(a), the consolidation yield stress, pc, is
found to be 375 kPa for Landslide Clay B and 180 kPa
for Landslide Clay C. Both samples were considered to be
heavily overconsolidated under the in-situ condition. The
cement-treated Kaolin clays as shown in Fig. 8(b) were
cured under atmospheric pressure for 28 days. The cement quantity, Qc, was added in three variations: 10, 30
and 50 kg/m3. The e-log p curve for the untreated sample
(Qc0 kg/m3) at the initial water content, w065.3z, is

Fig. 8. Relationships between consolidation pressure and void ratio of

(a) Landslide Clays B, C and (b) Kaolin clay mixed with OPC, respectively

also shown in this gure. Except for the case of Qc10

kg/m3, the stress overshooting due to development of
cementation is evidently observed in this gure. From
Fig. 8(b), it was claried that pc increases with an increase
in Qc.

Comparison of Residual Strength between Undisturbed,

Remolded and Reconstituted Samples
Figure 9 shows the relationships between tp, tr and sN
for undisturbed samples of Landslide Clays A to C. For
these samples, the strength parameters at the peak and
residual states are as follows: qp41.89
, cp23.4 kPa
and qr31.89, cr42.5 kPa for Landslide Clay A; qp
8.09, cp89.2 kPa and qr12.79
, cr15.3 kPa for
, cp32.3 kPa and qr
Landslide Clay B; qp28.59
23.99
, cr33.3 kPa for Landslide Clay C. As mentioned
above, the failure envelopes were determined by tting to
the measured value using the least square method. It can
be seen that the value of cr in all cases did not become
zero, because the cementation of the specimen may not be
completely lost. It was well known that the residual state
failure envelope is likely to be a curvature. Skempton
(1985) pointed out that the relation between the residual

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CEMENTED CLAY

1039

Fig. 10. Relationship between residual strength and normal stress for
natural clays, respectively (Test No.AU61AU63, ARM64
ARM66, BU71BU73, BRC74BRC76, CU81CU83
and CRC84CRC86)

Fig. 9. Peak and residual strength lines of undisturbed natural clays;

(a) Landslide Clay A, (b) Landslide Clay B and (c) Landslide Clay
C, respectively (Test No.AU61AU63, BU71BU73 and
CU81CU83)

strength and the eective normal stress is non linear for

most clays. He postulated that for design purpose it was
often useful to take a straight with a signicant cohesion
in the range of pressure. A shape of residual state failure
envelope of undisturbed soil has not yet been claried.
Figure 10 shows the relationships between tr and sN for
the undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted samples of
the three landslide clays. Skempton (1964) suggested that
the residual angle of shearing resistance of clay that was
normally consolidated from slurry at the liquid limit is
compatible with that measured by large strain tests on the
undisturbed overconsolidated clay and by tests on the
natural slip plane. After that, La Gatta (1971) also
reported that residual strength was not inuenced by
specimen preparation or stress history. The results exhibited by Bishop et al. (1971) are similar to those from
La Gatta (1971). Townsend and Gilbert (1973) concluded
that qr was independent of initial soil structure and stress
history. On the other hand, as mentioned above,
Nakamori et al. (1996) reported that the residual strength
of undisturbed samples using unimproved RDBST
diered from that of remolded samples, presumably due

to the dierent interparticle voids and the formation of

the shear surface. However, their remolded sample was
prepared from a previously tested sample that was passed
through a 0.25-mm sieve. It is possible that the grading of
the remolded sample remarkably changed from the original grading of the undisturbed sample. In the previous
studies, residual strength of undisturbed soil have never
been compared with disturbed soil based on the data taking account of changes in grading of sample and in side
friction peculiar to direct shear test. It can be seen from
Landslide Clays A and B in Fig.10 that the value of qr for
the undisturbed sample is not consistent with that for the
remolded or the reconstituted sample. Although the data
of undisturbed sample stand close to those of remolded
or reconstituted sample, the coincidence of residual
strength in both samples is not testied by the present
data. In the case of Landslide Clay C, the residual
strength parameter of the undisturbed sample is considerably dierent from that of the remolded sample that
passed a 0.425-mm sieve. qr decreases from 23.99 to
18.19while cr decreases from 33.3 kPa to 21.5 kPa. The
result of Landslide Clay C is dependent not only on the
change of grading but also on the initial condition of
sample. A soil sample passing through 0.425-mm sieve
was often used in laboratory shear test for landslide investigation. It was potentially useful to compare the
residual strength of the adjusted grading sample with that
of the original grading sample.
Figure 11 shows the relationship between qr and maximum grain size, Dmax, of Landslide Clay A. In this case,
only small quantities of samples with adjusted grain size
were available. Testing multiple specimens under varying
normal stress was dicult. Multiple stages loading test
varying normal stress in residual state was therefore conducted on a single specimen. After the specimen had been
once reached the residual strength state under high pressure, the normal stress was decreased step by step in the

1040

SUZUKI ET AL.

Fig. 11. Relationship between internal friction angle at residual state

and maximum grain size of Landslide Clay A (Test No.ARM6
4ARM68)

Fig. 13. Peak and residual strength lines of Kaolin clay mixed with
OPC (Test No.KI92, KI95 and KI96)

Fig. 12. Relationship between stress ratio at residual state and initial
void ratio of natural clays (Test No.AU61AU63, ARM64
ARM66, BU71BU73 and BRC74BRC76)

multiple stages, because the residual strength of the specimen which had been previously sheared under high pressure became a lower value than that of the specimen
which had been sheared under low pressure ever since the
start owing to dierence in reorientation of clay particles
(Yagi et al., 1995). For remolded samples, the value of qr
trends toward a decrease with decreasing the Dmax. It must
be emphasized that the angle of internal friction at the
residual state may be underestimated by adjusting the
grading of the soil sample before testing. As shown in
Fig. 12, ((t-c)/sN)r is plotted against the initial void ratio,
e0, before consolidation for these samples. The value of cr
used in this gure is shown in Fig. 10. Although part of
the data is scattered in this gure, the stress ratio at the
residual state of each sample is almost independent of the
initial void ratio. For Landslide Clays A and B, stress ratio in the residual state varied among undisturbed or
remolded sample and reconstituted sample. e0 varied in
the similar range for undisturbed and remolded samples
probably because of the state of the sample.

Residual Strength of Cement-treated Clay

The residual strength characteristics of cement-treated
clay, which articially produced cementation, were inves-

Fig. 14. Relationships between stress ratios at peak and residual

states, consolidation yield stress and curing time for Kaolin clay
mixed with OPC (QC50 kg/m3) (Test No.KI91KI94)

tigated. Figure 13 shows the relationships between tp, tr

and sN for the cement-treated Kaolin clay that was mixed
with OPC (Qc50 kg/m3). The curing time for all samples was 28 days. As shown in this gure, the peak and
residual strength parameters obtained were qp21.19
, cp
137.1 kPa and qr15.89
, cr11.2 kPa, respectively.
The failure envelopes were determined by tting to the
measure value using the least square method. The
strength parameter of the cement-treated Kaolin clay
decreases with increasing the shear displacement.
Especially the value of cr is much lower than that of cp.
Figure 14 shows the relationships between the stress ratio
at the peak and residual states, (t/sN)p and (t/sN)r, the
consolidation yield stress, pc, and the curing time, tc, on a
log scale for the cement-treated clay. From this gure,
(t/sN)p and pc increased monotonously as tc increased.
This result is attributed to the development of cementation. On the other hand, (t/sN)r is a nearly constant

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CEMENTED CLAY

Fig. 15. Relationship between residual strength and normal stress for
intact and remolded Kaolin clay mixed with OPC, respectively
(Test No.KRC11KRC15, KI92, KI95, KI96 and KRM9
11KRM913)

value, irrespective of the increase in curing time. The

stress ratio at the residual state is independent of an increase in consolidation yield stress for the cemented Kaolin clay. This nding is consistent with that for the naturally cemented clay. Therefore, the residual strength is
not related to any development of cementation. Figure 15
shows the relationships between tr and sN for Kaolin
clays with and without cementation. The cementation
was considered to disappear in the sample made by thoroughly remolding the intact cement-treated clay. The
residual strength parameter for the remolded sample of
cement-treated clay is almost equivalent to that for the intact sample of cement-treated clay. The material composition is changed by adding the cementing agent. For the
reason, the cement-treated clay has a higher value of
residual strength as compared with the untreated clay.

Inuence of Shear Displacement Rate on Residual

Strength of Undisturbed and Cement-treated Clays
The relationship between the residual strength and the
shear displacement rate for various soils has been examined using RDBST apparatus (Kenney, 1967; Ramiah et
al., 1970; Skempton, 1985; Mitachi et al., 2003) and RST
apparatus (Lemos et al., 1985: Skempton, 1985; Yatabe
et al., 1991; Tika et al., 1996; Suzuki et al., 2000). Skempton (1985) concluded that the variation in strength within a usual range of slow laboratory test (0.0020.01
mm/min) was negligible. Yatabe et al. (1991) and Mitachi
(2003) also reported that the residual strength hardly
changed with changing the shear displacement rate. Contrary to these studies, Lemos et al. (1985) pointed out that
the residual strength of soils showing the sliding shear
with a high clay content increased with increasing the
shear displacement rate, whereas the residual strength of
soils showing the turbulent shear with a low clay content
exhibited a reversed rate eect. Lemos et al. also stated
that the rate eects are quite small but may play a major
part in preventing the rapid movement of landslide. On
the basis of a review of previous studies, the residual
strength trended toward being increased, decreased or
constant with increasing the shear displacement rate, d_ ,

1041

Fig. 16. Inuence of shear displacement rate on stress ratio at residual

state observed in RDBST and RST on undisturbed, reconstituted
and cement-treated specimens (Test No.KRC31KRC310,
BU77BU710, KI95, KI97KI910 and RKRC21
RKRC25)

depending on the clay fraction and the kind of dominant

clay mineral (Suzuki et al., 2000). It is, however, emphasized that the eect of shear displacement rate on the
residual strength of undisturbed samples has not yet been
claried.
The relationship between (t/sN)r and d_ on a log scale
for the undisturbed samples of Landslide Clay B, and the
reconstituted and cement-treated Kaolin clays are shown
in Fig. 16. A series of RDBSTs was carried out by setting
dierent shear displacement rates using multiple specimens. As can be seen in this gure, (t/sN)r for reconstituted Kaolin clay increases linearly with an increase
in log d_ , irrespective of the magnitude of normal stress.
This tendency is similar to that obtained by consolidated
constant pressure RST on the same sample. For Landslide Clay B and cement-treated Kaolin clay, as well as
reconstituted Kaolin clay, (t/sN)r seems to increase
linearly with increasing d_ . It should be noted that the
residual strength of overconsolidated clay also shows the
dependency on shear displacement rate. In the RDBST
conducted by Mitachi et al. (2003), the shear displacement rate was changed step by step once a specimen
reached the residual state. The results measured by the
same procedure as them are also shown in Fig. 16. The
shearing speed was accelerated from 0.02 mm/min to 1.0
mm/min in the residual state. As the shear displacement
rate is continuously increased in the residual state, (t/sN)r
is evidently increased. This rate eect seems to depend on
the test procedure for changing the shearing speed.
Regarding the rate eect, no clear conclusion can be
drawn from these results until further experiments have
been conducted.

Inuence of Stress History in Consolidation and Shear

Processes
Suzuki et al. (2000) and Mitachi et al. (2003) have
reconrmed the suggestion of Skempton (1964) that the
residual strength of reconstituted sample was not aected

1042

SUZUKI ET AL.

Fig. 18. Inuence of pre-shearing on residual strength of reconstituted

Kaolin clay (Test No.KRC12 and KRC51KRC54)

Fig. 17. Relationships between stress ratios at peak and residual

states, and overconsolidation ratio for undisturbed, reconstituted
and cement-treated specimens in RDBST (Test No.KRC41
KRC410, BU71BU73, CU81, CU82, KI92, KI95 and
KI96)

by the eective stress history in the consolidation process

represented by a change of overconsolidation ratio,
OCR. The inuence of OCR, however, has never been examined from the viewpoint of the consolidation yield
stress for undisturbed samples. Figure 17 shows the
relationships between (t/sN)p, (t/sN)r and OCR on a log
scale for the undisturbed samples of Landslide Clays B
and C and the cement-treated Kaolin clay. As shown in
Fig. 17(a), the value of OCR was changed in the range of
1.0 to 8.0 by changing sN under conditions of constant pc.
On the contrary, as shown in Fig. 17(b), the OCR value
was changed in the same range by changing pc under conditions of constant sN. It was shown for these clays as
well as for reconstituted clay that (t/sN)p increases with
the increase in OCR value, whereas (t/sN)r is almost constant. The results obtained by reloading along a swelling
line are also shown in Fig. 17(a). There exists no clear
dierence between (t/sN)r and the OCR value, when the
OCR was varied by unloading and reloading along the
swelling line in the e-log p relation. The cyclic consolidation of an in-situ soil on a slip surface may be caused by a
change in eective normal stress due to seasonal uctuation of groundwater level. Based on the results, the residual strength of clay mobilized on the slip surface was not
signicantly aected by the uctuation of groundwater

level.
Finally, the inuence of shear history represented by
pre-shearing on the residual strength is discussed. The
landslide moved intermittently along an existing slip surface. The landslide clay could be repeatedly subjected to
consolidation and shear after a large deformation. The
RDBST was performed on the reconstituted Kaolin clay
in order to simulate such a phenomenon. As illustrated in
Fig. 18, a specimen was consolidated and sheared under
normal stress in the rst stage, sN, 1st98794 kPa, until
the accumulated shear displacement attained 28 mm (1
cycle). Subsequently, the pre-sheared specimen was consolidated and sheared again under normal stress in the
second stage, sN, 2nd98 kPa. The test cases are shown in
Table 3. Figure 18 also shows the relationships between
the peak and residual stress ratios in the second stage,
(t/sN, 2nd)p and (t/sN, 2nd)r, and the stress ratio at nished
pre-shearing in the rst stage, (t/sN, 1st)fin. It is seen from
this gure that (t/sN, 2nd)r, that is, the residual stress ratio
during reshearing is almost constant, irrespective of preshearing. This result is consistent with the recovery characteristic of residual strength due to reconsolidation before reshearing (Gibo et al., 2002). Accordingly, the
residual strength is independent of any stress history in
the consolidation and shear processes.
CONCLUSIONS
A series of reversal direct box shear tests was carried
out on undisturbed, remolded and reconstituted samples
prepared from four kinds of natural and industrial clays.
This paper mainly describes the inuence of the normal
stress, the shearing speed and the stress history in consolidation and shear processes on the residual strength for
soils having natural and articial cementation. The
following conclusions were derived from the results and
the discussion.
(1) Inuence of horizontal displacement amplitude on
the residual strength was recognized in the reversal
direct box shear tests.
(2) For remolded sample, the angle of internal friction

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CEMENTED CLAY

(3)
(4)

(5)

(6)

(7)

(8)

at the residual state trends toward decreasing slightly with a decrease in the maximum grain size.
The stress ratio at the residual state of undisturbed
sample is independent of the initial void ratio.
The stress ratio at the residual state of cement-treated clay is independent of the increase in consolidation yield stress.
For cement-treated clay, the residual strength
parameter of intact sample is almost equivalent to
that of remolded sample.
For not only reconstituted clay but also undisturbed
and cement-treated clays, the stress ratio at the
residual state increases linearly with an increase in
shear displacement rate on a log scale, irrespective
of the magnitude of normal stress. These results
were obtained by conducting the tests using several
specimens under dierent shear displacement rates.
This tendency observed using the reversal direct
shear box test is almost the same as that using the
ring shear test, but it is aected by the procedure for
changing the shear displacement rate.
The stress ratio at the residual state of undisturbed
and cement-treated clays is independent of the overconsolidation ratio as a function of the consolidation yield stress. This relation is not inuenced by
unloading and reloading along the swelling line for
reconstituted clay.
The stress ratio at the residual state is not inuenced
by pre-shearing for reconstituted clay. As mentioned above, the residual strength is independent of
any stress history in the consolidation and shear
processes.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
The reversal direct box shear test apparatus could be
utilized with the permission of Fukken Co. Ltd. The
authors are grateful to Dr. Katsumi Nakamori, Mr.
Yoshiji Sutoh and Dr. Naozo Fukuda for provision of
undisturbed samples and to Mr. Kazuya Kitamura for his
experimental assistance.
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