Effect of Sample Preparation on Saturated and Unsaturated Shear Strength of Cohesionless Soils

Abstract

The geotechnical behavior of cohesionless soils is governed by field conditions. Such soils exist in two distinct forms, namely: disintegrated, such as fresh sediments under no overburden and/or no suction, and intact, such as old deposits with overburden and/or suction. The main contribution of this research was the successful capture of field conditions in laboratory samples, and the determination of shear strength under saturated and dried states. Results indicated that disintegrated samples possess identical soil behavior under both saturation states. Shear stiffness and peak shear increased with increasing normal stress, and no clear failure peaks were observed, similar to loose soils. Both samples showed an initial contraction followed by dilation at low normal stresses and mostly contraction at high normal stresses. Apparent cohesion was non-existent, and the friction angle measured 44.5° in the saturated state and 48° in the dried state. The intact sample exhibited behavior similar to the disintegrated sample when saturated. Under the dried state, clear failure peaks followed by residual shear were observed, similar to dense soils. Soil response was primarily dilative at low normal stresses and largely contractive under high normal stresses. Apparent cohesion was zero, and friction angle was 42° in the saturated state and changed to 91 kPa and 36°, respectively, in the dried state. Finally, structural cohesion increased with normal stress, and the friction angle due to suction was between 0.05° and 0.02°.