Hey guys, my question is:
Should you use the residual shear strength or the peak shear strength to calculate the total shearing resistance of the soil when failure takes place along an assumed failure surface?
I would assume it would depend on the amount of deformation of the soil. If failure is just taking place I'm guessing the soil has probably not deformed enough for it to reach residual strength, in which case it would be best to use peak strength?
However, I'm guessing using residual strength is more conservative?
Thanks!