Evaluation on the Results of Multistage Shear Test

Abstract

Shear strength is a very important soil property to determine the stability of foundations, retaining walls, slopes and embankments. To solve those problems in geotechnical engineering, shear strengths are usually determined from laboratory tests performed on specimens prepared by compaction in the laboratory or undisturbed samples obtained from exploratory soil borings. In order to determine the shear strength parameters, the soil specimens are required at least 3 identical samples. To eliminate the effects of soil variability on the result, multistage testing is used to maximize the amount of shear strength information that can be obtained from only one specimen by using several confining pressures. Test results demonstrate that is possible and convenient to perform multistage shear test on compacted soil to measure shear strength. The direct shear tests were carried out using the multistage technique and the results are quite well comparable to those of traditional shear tests.