Shear Strength of Soils

1 Introduction
1.1 Applications of Shear Strength
• Stability of slopes: Cuts, embankments, earth dams, hill slopes etc.

(a) Embankment
(b) Cut

Figure 1: Slope stability of Embankment and Cut

• Bearing capacity of shallow foundations

• Stability of retaining walls, sheeting/bracing

• Load carrying capacity of deep foundations (eg. pile foundations)

1.2 Components of shear strength of soil

Strength of the soil is its capacity to resist stresses acting on it. Soil usually fails under shear
stresses. Soil gets its strength from three main components.
1. Frictional resistance to sliding and rolling between the soil particles

2. Cohesion/adhesion between the particles

3. Interlocking between the soil particles

Within the soil mass there will be a large number of soil particles interacting between one
another and it is difficult to delineate the influences of each component.
These three components are affected by several factors like
• Changes in moisture content

• Pore water pressure (steady state and excess)

• Structural (soil fabric) disturbances

• Fluctuation in ground water table

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 • Underground water movement (seepage)

• Stress history (preconsolidation pressure, overconsolidation ratio (OCR))

• Time (older deposits exhibit higher strength)

• Chemical actions and environmental conditions

2 Some Mechanics Basics

2.1 Friction
Consider a block with weight (W) resting on a rough surface and acted upon by a horizontal
force (P) as shown below.

Figure 2: Block pushed on a rough surface

With increase in the horizontal force (P), the frictional resistance (F) and the angle of
obliquity (α) also increases. Angle of obliquity (α) is the angle which the resultant force (Ra )
of weight (W) and horizontal force (P) makes with the normal to the surface. When the hori-
zontal force (P) is increased such that the angle α becomes equal to the angle of friction (φ),
the maximum value of frictional force (F = µN ) is reached and the block starts to slide.

For 0 < α < φ, no slip or sliding occurs

When α = φ, the point of impending motion and F = µN

The coefficient of friction (µ) is independent of the area of the contact and is strongly
dependent on the nature of the surface in contact, material type and surface conditions. For
the condition of impending motion (α = φ), we have F = µN and the coefficient of friction can
be obtained as
F
µ= = tan(φ)
N
For Soils
The same concept of friction can be applied in the case of soils, but in the case of soils
the resistance is offered by friction between the soil particles. In the case of granular soils
(coarse grained soils) the resistance is mainly offered by friction against sliding and/or rolling
of the particles (hence known as angle of internal friction). In the case of fine grained soils
resistance is offered by cohesion between the particles also. In the case of dense soils, there will
be additional resistance offered by interlocking of the particles.

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2.2 Stress State
Consider an infinitesimally small volume of soil at a depth of z m below the ground level (GL)
as shown in figure 3. The three dimensional stress state at that point can be represented using
a stress cube as shown in the figure. There are nine stress components with three normal stress
components (σxx , σyy , σzz ) and six shear stress components (τxy , τyx , τyz , τyz , τxz , τzx ).x, y and z
represents the three Cartesian basis vectors. It is of special interest to know about the principal
planes, where the normal stresses will have extremum values and no shear stress components
will be there. The normal stresses acting on the principal planes are called principal stresses.

Figure 3: 3D stress state at a point (at depth z)

For many of the geotechnical engineering problems, the three dimensional stress state can
be idealized to a two dimensional stress state as shown in figure 4. It is important to determine
the normal stress and shear stress acting on any plane at this point given the stresses acting in
the planes normal to x and y direction (ie. σx , σy , τxy = τyx ).

Figure 4: 2D equilibrium stress state

Consider a plane inclined at an angle θ with the vertical.

Let the area of the plane is An . We are interested in determin-
ing the normal stress and shear stress acting on this plane. In
order to determine the stress on this plane consider the equi-
librium of forces acting on the wedge as shown in figure 5.
Considering the equilibrium of forces in the direction normal
to the plane;
σn An = (σx An cosθ)cosθ − (τxy An cosθ)sinθ
+ (σy An sinθ)sinθ − (τyx An sinθ)cosθ Figure 5: Equilibrium of forces
acting on the wedge
Simplifying the above equation, considering the fact that τxy = τyx , we get
σn = σx cos2 θ + σy sin2 θ − 2τxy sinθcosθ

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Using double angle trigonometric formulas the equation can be rewritten as
σx + σy σx − σy
σn = + cos2θ − 2τxy sin2θ (1)
2 2
Similarly considering the equilibrium of forces acting parallel to the plane we get;
τn An = (σx An cosθ)sinθ + (τxy An cosθ)cosθ − (σy An sinθ)cosθ − (τyx An sinθ)sinθ

Simplifying and applying the double angle formulas, we get

σx − σy
τn = sin2θ + τxy cos2θ (2)
2
Determination of principal planes

In order to determine the principal plane we need to determine the angle (θ) such that the
normal stress, σn is extremum, for which we have the condition
dσn
=0
dθ
From equation (1) we have

−(σx − σy )sin2θ − 2τxy cos2θ = 0

or
−τxy
tan2θ =
(σx − σy )/2
 
1 −1 −τxy
Therefore, for planes inclined at angle (θ = tan ) the normal stress will have
2 (σx − σy )/2
extremum values and hence represent the principal planes.
Mohr’s Circle of stresses

Mohr’s circle is an easy graphical method developed by the scientist Christian Otto Mohr
(1835-1918), to represent the normal and shear stresses acting on different planes at any point
with in a solid body. It can be shown that the locus of state of stress (ie. σn and τn ) acting on
different planes (inclined at different angles, θ) at any point within the soil mass will be in the
form of a circle. This can be shown by squaring and adding the expressions for σn and τn given
by equations (1) and (2). After simplifying we get the expression as the equation of a circle as
given below.  2  2
σx + σy 2 σx − σy 2
σn − + τn = + τxy (3)
2 2
Consider a graph with x axis representing the values of normal stresses (σn ) and y axis rep-
resenting the values of shear stresses
s(τn ). Then equation(3) represents a circle with center at
2
σx + σy σx − σy 2 . The Mohr’s circle is shown in figure
( , 0) and radius equal to + τxy
2 2
6 (please note that the subscript ’n’ is removed from the normal and shear stress terms as it
represent only some arbitrary plane). Therefore, any point on the Mohr’s circle represent the
normal stress (σ) and shear stress (τ )) acting on a particular plane corresponding to that point.

Let us now see how to plot a Mohr’s circle for practical applications. In order to plot
the Mohr’s circle a proper sign convention should be followed. In case of geotechnical

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 Figure 6: Mohr’s circle

applications we assume a sign convention where compressive stress is taken as

positive and tensile stress is taken as negative (please note that this is different from
the normal convention where tensile stress is taken as positive). The reason for this change
is because the soil is very weak in tension and in most practical problems in geotechnical
engineering we will consider only compressive stresses. Following this, the convention for shear
stresses are as given in figure 7.

Figure 7: Sign convention for shear stresses

Also, the angle of inclination of the planes are such that positive angles are obtained when
measured in counter clockwise direction and negative angle are obtained in clockwise sense.
An angle of separation of planes corresponding to 2θ on the circle corresponds to
an angle of separation of θ in the element. We can understand this concept from figure
8. Figure 2a represents the soil element and consider the stresses acting on the vertical plane
P (ie. σx and τxy ). It is represented by the point D in figure 2b. Now consider a plane R which
is making an angle (θ = 180◦ ) with the the plane P. Then in the Mohr’s circle the stress state
corresponding to this plane will be shown using a point at an angle (2θ = 360◦ ); ie the same
point D.
Similarly, consider the horizontal plane Q making an angle (θ = 90◦ ) with the plane P of
the element. Assume the normal stress acting on this plane Q (σy ) is less than that on plane
P (ie.σy < σx ). The shear stress on both planes should be equal and opposite (refer to the sign
convention) for equilibrium conditions (ie. τxy = τyx ). The stress state on this plane can be
represented by point E which is at an angle (2θ = 180◦ ) from point D on the Mohr’s circle.
Stress state on plane S which is inclined at an angle 180◦ to plane Q is also represented by
the same point E on the Mohr’s circle. Therefore, it can be concluded that the stresses

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acting on parallel planes of an element oriented at any angle are represented by
the same point on the Mohr’s circle.

Figure 8: Representation of stress state on Mohr’s circle

Figure 9: Representation of stress state on Mohr’s circle (Contd...)

Construction of Mohr’s circle

In order to plot a Mohr’s circle for a general stress state as given in Figure 9a, first we
should mark the points (D and E) corresponding to stress states at mutually perpendicular
planes. Point of intersection of line DE with the horizontal axis (σ axis) gives the location of
the center of the Mohr’s circle and the line DE will be equal to the radius of the circle.
Many important information can be obtained form the Mohr’s circle as shown in figure 10.
For example the maximum shear stress (τmax ) value will be equal to the radius of the circle.
Similarly the major (σ1 ) and minor (σ3 ) principal stresses can be obtained on the normal stress
(σ) axis (note that on principal planes shear stresses are zero). Orientation of these planes with
respect to each other can be obtained using trigonometric relations. For example, it can be
◦ 90◦
observed that the plane of maximum shear stress makes an angle of 45 (= )
2
with the major principal plane.

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 Figure 10: Maximum shear stress, Major and Minor principal stress from Mohr’s circle

Consider a point P on the Mohr’s circle as shown in the figure 11. Point P gives the normal
stress (σθ ) and shear stress (τθ ) acting on a particular plane. The resultant stress acting on the
plane will have a magnitude given as:
q
R = σθ2 + τθ2

Angle of obliquity (α) is the angle made by the resultant with the normal to the plane and is
given by:  
−1 τθ
α = tan
σθ
The angle of obliquity will be maximum at the point where the tangent drawn from the origin
meets the Mohr’s circle as shown in figure 11. This point is important in soil mechanics because
we have seen in section 2.1 that the slip happens at the angle of maximum obliquity.

Figure 11: Resultant stress and Angle of obliquity from Mohr’s circle