Shear Strength Behavior of Different Soils

Abstract

The magnitude of shear strength of soils plays a major role in determining bearing capacity of shallow footings, frictional resistance for piles, stability of slopes, etc. for the safe and economic design of civil engineering structures. Based on the ideas of different researchers, shear strength of clay can be improved either by mixing sand or gravel, silty sand with gravel, and sand either with silt or gravel or granulated blast furnace slag in different proportions. Compaction water contents play a significant role for the improvement of shear strength of residual soil. Compaction characteristics, normal stress and relative density influence the shear strength parameters. In this paper, techniques for improvement of shear strength of different soils such as clay, silty sand, sand and residual soil have been explained.

Keywords: Shear strength, Clay, Silty sand, Sand, Residual soil