Author(s)

Rafig Azzam

RWTH Achen University, Aachen, Germany.

This paper discusses the shortcomings of the traditional Coulomb shear criterion and the direct shear-box testing method used for clayey soil and presents a modified shear criterion that considers the elasto-plastic behavior of cohesive soil. This modified approach involves direct shear testing under constant volume, a method that has been developed by the author. A modified ring shear apparatus and the theory behind the shear criterion and its implication for slope stability analysis are then discussed and the results of investigated tuffitic clayey sediments are presented. The results show that the presented new shear criterion does not consider the cohesion as material constant, but rather it depends on the void ratio. In this case, the stress state and the consolidation status and thus the elasto-plastic behavior of the clayey soil are considered.

Shear Criterion, Shear Testing Procedure, Shear Parameter, Ring Shear Testing, Slope Stability Analysis

Azzam, R. (2016) Shear Failure Criterion and Constant Volume Ring Shear Testing Method for Clayey Soil. Engineering, 8, 545-560. doi: 10.4236/eng.2016.88051.