Loading…

Estimation of the shear strength of coarse-grained soils with fine particles

The determination of the shear strength of coarse-grained soils in standard shear devices is a challenging task due to the presence of large grains. Three approaches could be used to reduce the grain size of the tested specimen. This study aimed to determine whether the shear strength of a coarse-gr...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Transportation Geotechnics 2020-12, Vol.25, p.100407, Article 100407
Main Authors: Kouakou, N.M., Cuisinier, O., Masrouri, F.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The determination of the shear strength of coarse-grained soils in standard shear devices is a challenging task due to the presence of large grains. Three approaches could be used to reduce the grain size of the tested specimen. This study aimed to determine whether the shear strength of a coarse-grained soil with fines (particles smaller than 0.08 mm) can be estimated by the parallel gradation approach. Direct shear tests were conducted on parallel graded specimens of two soil types with different low plastic fines content. Two criteria can be used to select the dry density of the reconstituted specimen: the same dry density or the same relative density as the initial soil. The results showed that when the specimens had a low fines content, both criteria resulted in a similar dry density of the reconstituted soil, and the shear strength of the initial soil was correctly estimated. However, for the specimens with a high fines content, the friction angle of the initial soil was correctly estimated, and its cohesion was overestimated when the reconstituted soil was tested at the same dry density as the initial soil. A cohesion-fines content relationship was proposed to predict the initial soil cohesion.
ISSN:2214-3912
2214-3912
DOI:10.1016/j.trgeo.2020.100407