Unsaturated shear strength of a silty sand

• Main Authors: Schnellmann, Reto, Rahardjo, Harianto, Schneider, Hans R.
• Other Authors: School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Civil engineering
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/103041; http://hdl.handle.net/10220/16897
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Series of single stage, consolidated drained direct shear tests under different net normal stresses and matric suctions were carried out to evaluate the unsaturated shear strength behavior of a silty sand. A back pressure shear box was used to measure and control pore-air and pore-water pressures. The experimental data show that matric suction increases shear strength of the soil significantly following a highly non-linear relationship. An increase in net normal stress results in a higher shear strength and the shearing behavior changes gradually from a peak shear strength followed by a strain-softening behavior to a strain-hardening behavior. A comparison between experimental shear strength measurements and predicted unsaturated shear strength values was made and the results are presented in the paper.