Question

What are the uses of Direct shear test? What are its applications and Significance?

Answer 1

Uses of Direct Shear Test

1. A quick and inexpensive test to obtain the shear strength parameters of both fine and coarse grained soils either in undisturbed or remolded state

2. Ease of sample preparation

3. Unlike materials like steel, most of the soils are visco-elastic, meaning the failures are time dependent

4. For most of the geotechnical designs concerning foundations, earthworks and slope stability issues the soils are required to withstand shearing stresses along with compressive stresses

5. Shear stresses tend to displace a part of soil mass relative to rest of the soil mass

6. Shear strength is the capacity of the soil to resist shearing stresses

7. Relative sliding between soil particles is the major factor contributing to the shear resistance

8. If the normal forces increase, the number of contact points also increase thus increasing the resistance

9. The reverse may happen if the normal loads decrease (which is the case in excavations)

10. Hence the shear strength is a function of normal load, angle of friction (amount of interlocking among the soil particles) and cohesion (intrinsic property of clays due to which they stay close to each other even at zero normal load).

 

 

Answer 2

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