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NAME
STUDENT
NUMBER
: 1409485
MODULE TITLE
MODULE TUTOR
: JITTINA JACOB
PROGRAMME
LEVEL
: HE 5
SUBMISSION
DATE
: 14/08/2015
Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION
2. OBJECTIVE
3. APPARATUS
4. THEORY
5. PROCEDURE
10
7. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
11
8. GENERAL DISCUSSION
11
11
9. ERRORS
11
10. CONCLUSION
12
REFERENCE
13
1. Introduction
The shear box test is used to measure the shear strength of the soil sample.
The shear strength is one of the most important engineering properties of a
soil, because it is required whenever a structure is dependent on the soils
shearing resistance. The shear strength is needed for engineering situations
such as determining the stability of slopes or cuts, finding the bearing capacity
for foundations, and calculating the pressure exerted by a soil on a retaining
wall.
2. Objective
The objective of the shear box test is to measure the soils shear strength
parameters, which are the soil cohesion and the angle of friction , and can be
done on both cohesive and non-cohesive soils, in this report the samples
tested were all of consolidated drained soil. The shear strength of soil is one
of the major engineering properties of soil and is required whenever a
structure is built.
3. Apparatus
Apparatus used to carry out the shear box test is as follows:
4. Theory
The soils shear strength is basically its maximum resistance to shearing
stresses. The shear box test is one of the oldest and most common strengthmeasuring tests of soil. The shear box test can be used on cohesive and noncohesive soil samples.
The shear strength is composed of friction, which is the resistance due to the
friction between particles at their contact points and interlocking particles. The
shear strength of soil depends on the effective stress, drainage conditions and
the density of the particles.
Cohesive soil is a sticky soil such as clay or slit and shear strength of
cohesive soils equals almost half of the unconfined compressive strength
obtained.
Non-cohesive soil is a loose, sandy soil, which does not bond together.
In this test non-cohesive soil is used (sand).
The formulas used to calculate the desired values are as follows:
Horizontal Movement = Horizontal movement ( ) /100
Vertical Deflection = Vertical movement ( ) /100
Shear Strain =
60 60
5. Procedure
The procedure of the test as done in the laboratory is as follows:
Fix the upper part of the box to the lower part by the fixing screw. Attach
the base plate to the lower part.
Place the grid plate on the stone, keeping the serrations on the grid at
movement.
Adjust the entire three-dial gauge to read zero.
Put the weight on the loading yoke to apply the required normal stress.
Remove the fixing screw from the box and raise slightly the upper half
box with the help of spacing screws. Remove the spacing screw also.
Start the motor to apply shear load at a constant rate of strain.
Record reading of proving ring dial gauge and vertical and shear
movement dial gauges until proving ring dial gauge readings decrease,
0:00
0:15
0:30
0:45
1:00
1:15
Proving
Proving
ring
Reading
0
0
5
8
8.2
7.6
Table 1
Calculated Values
Horiz.
Vertical
Horiz.
Vert.
Shear
ring
Movemen
Defln.
Movement
defln.
strain
(Divs)
0
0
25
40
4.1
3.8
t (Divs)
0
33
57
86
113
143
(Divs)
47.5
50
55
51
54
56
(mm)
0
0.33
0.57
0.86
1.13
1.43
(mm)
0.475
0.50
0.55
0.51
0.54
0.56
%
0
0.66
1.14
1.72
2.26
2.86
Figure 1
Plan
2
Area (m )
-3
3.6x10
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
Shear
Shear
load (kN)
Stress
0
0
9.35x10-2
1.5x10-1
1.63x10-3
1.14x10-1
(kN/m2)
0
0
25.97
41.67
45.28
31.67
Stress/strain (1)
Figure 2
Calculated Values
Time
Proving
Proving
Horiz.
Vertical
Horiz.
Vert.
Shear
Plan
Shear
Shear
M: SS
ring
ring
Movement
Defln.
Movement
defln.
strain
Area (m2)
load (kN)
Stress
Reading
0
(Divs)
0
(Divs)
0
(Divs)
39
(mm)
0
(mm)
0.39
%
0
3.6x10
(kN/m2)
0
9
32
32
35
36
38
37
34
60
93
124
153
185
215
36
44
44
48
45
46
46
0.34
0.60
0.93
1.24
1.53
1.85
2.15
0.36
0.44
0.44
0.48
0.45
0.46
0.46
0.68
1.20
1.86
2.48
3.06
3.70
4.30
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.4x10-2
0.12
0.12
0.13
0.134
0.114
0.14
9.44
33.33
33.33
36.11
37.22
31.67
38.89
0:00
0:15
0:30
0:45
1:00
1:15
1:30
1:45
1.8
6.4
6.4
7
7.2
7.6
7.4
Table 2
-3
Figure 3
Figure 4
0:00
0:15
0:30
0:45
1:00
Proving
ring
Reading
0
0.8
2.5
2.7
2.5
Table 3
Calculated Values
Proving
Horiz.
Vertical
Horiz.
Vert.
Shear
ring
Movement
Defln.
Movement
defln.
strain
(Divs)
0
4
12.5
13.5
12.5
(Divs)
0
31
59
92
119
(Divs)
21
24
26
28
28
(mm)
0
0.31
0.59
0.92
1.19
(mm)
0.21
0.24
0.26
0.28
0.28
%
0
0.62
1.18
1.84
2.38
Plan
2
Area (m )
3.6x10
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
3.6x10-3
Figure 5
Figure 6
Maximum Shear Stress against normal stress for all three tests:
-3
Shear
Shear
load (kN)
Stress
0
0.015
0.047
0.05
0.047
(kN/m2)
0
4.17
13.06
13.89
13.06
Figure 7
can be obtained.
y=0.167 x
=tan1 (0.167)=9.48
Angle of friction ( =
9.48
7. Safety Precautions
According to the laws of the laboratory a couple of personal protective
equipment are mandatory to wear during the test to avoid damages, the
equipment are as listed below:
10
Safety boots
Gloves
Laboratory Coats
8. General Discussion
The shear box is used to derive the soils properties, properties such as the
frictional angle, the cohesion, the peak shear strength and the residual shear
strength. Other type of determining the shear strength of soils is the vane
shear test, which surpasses the shear box test in determining the shear
strength of undrained soils such as clay or slit.
8.1 Advantages and disadvantages of shear box test
The advantages of the direct shear test over other shear tests are the
simplicity of setup and equipment used, the ability to test under different
saturation, drainage, and consolidation conditions, and the shear box test
represents a cheaper method in determining the shear strength parameters.
The disadvantages of shear box test are the difficulty of measuring pore-water
pressure when testing in undrained conditions, and possible misleading high
results from forcing the failure plane to occur in a specific location.
9. Errors
Some of the errors that might have affected the shear box test include:
10. Conclusion
In conclusion the failure in the direct shear test may be considered to occur at
maximum shear stress against the normal load of each of the samples. The
result values obtained from the maximum stress against normal loads graph
11
9.48
and
Reference
12
Direct
Shear
Test
(2015).
1st
ed
[online].
Available
from:
http://www.uic.edu/classes/cemm/cemmlab/Experiment%2012-Direct
%20Shear.pdf [Accessed 9 May 2015]
Geotechdata.info, (2015) Direct Shear Test - Geotechdata.info [online].
Available from: http://www.geotechdata.info/geotest/direct-shear-test.html
[Accessed 9 May 2015]
Geotechnicalinfo.com, (2015) Angle of Internal Friction on the Geotechnical
Information
Website.
Available
at:
http://www.geotechnicalinfo.com/angle_of_internal_friction.html
(Accessed: 13 August 2015).
Jacob, J. (2015) Lab Shear box test [Online]. RAK: Jittina Jacob. Available
from:
http://elearning.bolton.ac.uk/file.php/11626/1_LAB_SHEAR_BOX_TEST.p
df [Accessed 9 May 2015]
Osano, S. (2015) DIRECT SHEAR BOX AND RING SHEAR TEST
COMPARISON: WHY DOES INTERNAL ANGLE OF FRICTION VARY,
http://www.controls-group.com/.
Available
at:
http://www.controls-
group.com/backend/technology_comm/file_tmp/141007164511_direct_s
hear_box_and_ring_shear_apparatus.pdf (Accessed: 11 August 2015).
13