Result:

Shear Box Inside Diameter

: 0.06m

Area (A)

: 0.0036m2

Shear Box Height

: 0.02m

Specimen : Sample A
Loading : 3.4 kg
Normal Weight : 33.354N
Time
Elapse
Horizontal
Time
10
20
30
40
50
60
70

Normal Stress, rn : 9.265 kN/m2

Horizontal
Load dial Horizontal

dial reading

Displacement

9
16
24
31
40
49
57

t x 0.01
0.09
0.16
0.24
0.31
0.40
0.49
0.57

10
10
10
10
10
10
10

Shear

reading

shear force,

Stress,

4
4.5
5
5.5
6
6
6

F (kN)
7.84
8.82
9.8
10.78
11.76
11.76
11.76

(kN/m2)
2178
2450
2772
2994
3267
3267
3267

Specimen : Sample B
Loading : 5.4 kg
Normal Weight : 52.974N
Time
Elapse
Horizontal
Time
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90

dial reading

Displacement

10
18
24
33
41
50
58
66
75

t x 0.01
0.10
0.18
0.24
0.33
0.41
0.50
0.58
0.68
0.75

10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10

Specimen : Sample C
Loading : 6.4 kg

Normal Stress, rn : 14.714 kN/m2

Horizontal
Load dial Horizontal

Shear

reading

shear force,

Stress,

5
5.5
6
7
7
7.8
8
8
8

F (kN)
9.8
10.78
11.76
13.72
13.72
15.288
15.68
15.68
15.68

(kN/m2)
2722
2994
3267
3811
3811
4247
4356
4356
4356

Normal Weight : 62.784N

Time
Elapse
Horizontal
Time
10
20
30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100

10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10
10

Normal Stress, rn : 17.440 kN/m2

Horizontal
Load dial Horizontal

dial reading

Displacement

7
15
23
31
38
47
57
65
73
82

t x 0.01
0.07
0.15
0.23
0.31
0.38
0.47
0.57
0.65
0.73
0.82

Shear

reading

shear force,

Stress,

6
7
8
9
9
9.5
10
11
11
11

F (kN)
11.76
13.72
15.68
17.64
17.64
18.62
19.6
21.56
21.56
21.56

(kN/m2)
3267
3811
4356
4900
4900
5172
5444
5989
5989
5989

Discussion
The shear strength of a soil is its resistance to shearing stresses. It is a measure of the
of the soil resistance to deformation by continuous displacement of its individual soil
particles. Shear strength in soils depends primarily on interactions between particles.
Shear failure occurs when the stresses between the particles are such that they slide or roll
past each other. In this experiment, soil derives its shear strength from the cohesion and
frictional resistance between the soil particles.
From the tables above, we can see that normal stress (), the force which applied
vertically to the soil specimen is held constant for each loading. For loading 3.4kg, its
normal stress, rn is 9.265 kN/m2; for loading 5.4kg, its normal stress, rn is 14.714 kN/m2;
for loading 6.4kg, its normal stress, rn is 17.440 kN/m2. While, shear stress, the force
which applied horizontally to the soil specimen is keep increasing until failure occur.
From the graph of shear stress against horizontal displacement, we can see that as the
shear stress is also growing larger as the loading increased.
In Mohr-Coulomb
Law, the relationship
between normal stress
and

shear

stress

is

given as = c + tan.
Where, cohesion (c), is
a measure of the forces
that cement particles of
soils. While, internal friction angle () , is the measure of the shear strength of soils due
to friction. From the graph of shear stress against normal stress, we know that the
cohesion (c) for the soil specimen is 1650 kN/m2 and the internal friction angle () is 48.
Hence, the Mohr-Coulomb equation for this experiment is = 1650 kN/m2 + tan48.
There are some possible error that may occurred affecting the accuracy of the
experimental result. Firstly, it may because of the instrumental error. Zero error in the dial
gauge should be set at zero before starting the experiment as it may affect the experiment
readings. Secondly, parallax error may occurred. While taking the reading on the dial

gauge, the eyes position's should be perpendicular to the scale of dial gauge to obtain a
more precise reading. Moreover, human limits may be another reason causing the error
occurred. This happened when the one's who reading the stopwatch, reading the dial
gauge and recording the results are different. Message transferring process and the
reaction of the students is the factor contributing the errors. Thus, the experiment should
be carried out at least three times to reduce the errors.

Conclusion
In conclusion, when horizontal displacement increased, the shear stress will also
increased. Besides that, as the loading increased, the shear stress experienced by the soil
specimen will also increased. Shear stress of the soil specimen is directly proportional to
its normal stress. The larger the normal stress applied on the soil specimen, the larger the
shear stress undergoes by it.

References
1 Principles of Direct Shear Test , Chap 7.4 of Experimental Soil Mechanic
2 Bardet, J. P., Experimental Soil Mechanics, 1997, Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle
River, New Jersey.
3 Detailed description of Direct Shear Test , Chap 7.5 of Experimental Soil
Mechanic Bardet, J. P., Experimental Soil Mechanics, 1997, Prentice-Hall, Upper
Saddle River, New Jersey.
4 Detailed description of Direct Shear Test with photos and an example data
Engineering Properties of Soils Based on Laboratory Testing, Experiment 11:
Consolidation, Prof. Krishna Reddy, UIC
5 Direct Shear Test on Wikipedia
6 A Simple Technique for Determining the Shear Strength of Fine-Grained
Unsaturated Soils using the Conventional Direct Shear Apparatus, J.J. Lane, S.K.
Vanapalli. 2002. 2nd Canadian Specialty Conference on Computer Applications in
Geotechnique, Winnipeg, pp. 245-253.
7 Continuous Failure State Direct Shear Tests,A. Tisa,1984. Swiss Federal Institute
of Technology, Zurich, Switzerland. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 17, 8395. Springer-Verlag.