NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
Module DESN22053 Ground Engineering
Soil Strength - 2
These notes should be used in conjunction with the Week 9 “Soil Strength”
videos.
Soil strength is not constant
Soils can sometimes be more difficult to understand and predict than other
engineering materials. One of the reasons for this is that several factors can
affect the strength of the soil, resulting in the soil not having a constant value for
its strength.
The ‘Coulomb equation’ defines that the maximum shear stress that a soil can
withstand τ (i.e. the overall shear strength) is a result of the cohesion c, the
friction Φ and also the normal stress σn within the soil (which acts perpendicular
to the failure plane in the soil):
τ = c + σn tan Φ
For a soil in a given drainage condition, the values of c and Φ are constant.
However, the value of σn depends on how much stress is acting on the soil.
Another way in which the strength of a soil can be considered to be variable is
when we consider the amount of strain (movement) taking place in the soil. The
simplified plot below (for a general dense/stiff soil) shows the amount of shear
stress that a soil can resist against how much movement (strain) is occurring
along the failure surface in the soil. Like many other engineering materials, soil
can be seen to have a ‘peak’ strength. However, because soil does not ‘fracture’
(it is not a solid, it is a collection of particles that undergo shear movement
during failure), then even long after failure has occurred and much strain
(movement) has taken place, the friction between the soil particles still offers
some resistance to movement (i.e. the soil still has some strength, albeit lower
than the peak strength).
This lower value of
strength at large strain is
known as the ultimate
strength (and in clay
soils, at very large
strain, an even lower
residual strength can
be observed).
The importance of
drainage conditions
The appreciation of a number of connected concepts are required in order to
understand the importance of soil drainage:
The amount of normal stess (σn) acting across (perpendicular to) a failure
plane depends on how much stress is passing through the framework of
inter-connected soil patrticles (the soil ‘skeleton’).
The stress passing through the soil skeleton is known as the effective
stress (σ’).
The total stress in a soil is made of σ’ plus any pore water pressure (u).
NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
Module DESN22053 Ground Engineering
So, for a given total stress, if the value of u is high the value of σ’ will be
relatively low.
If is σ’ relatively low, then σn will be relatively low.
Referring to the Coulomb equation, if σn is relatively low then the overall
soil strength will be relatively low.
Immediately upon applying an increased load to a saturated soil, the resulting
increase in total stress will cause an increase in pore water pressure. The increase
in water pressure means that seepage (water movement) will occur: if water can
move easily (i.e. soil of high permeability), the increased pore water presure will
be able to dissipate quickly (via movement of water out of the soil), and hence
the pore water pressure will quickly reduce back to its original value.
Soil in which pore water pressure can dissipate easily is said to be in a drained
condition. (Conversely soils in which water movement, and dissipation of excess
pore water pressure, cannot occur easily are termed undrained soils).
After loading (i.e. increased total stress) under drained conditions, as excess pore
water pressures dissipate (because of seepage) the additional total stress is
transferred to the soil skeleton and hence the effective stress increases. So when
high permeability soils are put under an increased total stress, the increased pore
water pressure dissipates quickly (as stated above, high permeability means
water movement can occur easily and so the soil can be considered to be in a
‘drained’ condition). Thus, for high permeability soils any increase in total stress
is quickly taken up by an increase in effective stress.
But, for a low permeability saturated soil (e.g. clay)…
• In the short term:
– Any increase in total stress results in an increase in the pore water
pressure (producing ‘excess pore water pressure’).
– Seepage of water can only occur very slowly due to the low
permeability, and so the pore water pressure remains high.
– So the soil is considered to act in an undrained manner.
– In these circumstances we say that the values of cohesion (c) and
friction (Φ) are ‘undrained’ (or, are ‘in terms of total stress’): cu
and Φu.
• In the long term:
– Although the rate of water movement is slow, over a long time the
excess pore water pressure dissipates, and so the increase in total
stress that was applied is eventually transferred from the pore
water to the soil skeleton (i.e. the effective stress σ’ increases).
– So the soil can be considered to act in a drained manner.
– In these circumstances we say that the values of cohesion (c) and
friction (Φ) are ‘drained’ (or, are ‘in terms of effective stress’):
c’ and Φ’.
Determining soil strength parameters
Cohesion c and friction Φ are known as the ‘soil strength parameters’, and are
constant for a given drainage condition. A plot of shear stress against normal
stress at the point of failure can be used to determine the values of c and Φ for a
soil. However, assessing the shear stress and normal stress on a failure plane in a
soil can be difficult, and so the use of Mohr circles provides a graphical solution
to determination the shear strength parameters. If Mohr circles are plotted for a
number of tests, conducted at different normal stresses on a soil, the failure
envelope (line) can be plotted. The intersection of the failure envelope with the
vertical shear stress axis defines the value of cohesion for the soil (in kN/m 2), and
NOTTINGHAM TRENT UNIVERSITY
Module DESN22053 Ground Engineering
the angle of the failure envelope line provides the value for friction, in degrees
(usually called the ‘angle of friction’).
