S-ON,

A. W. (198.5). G&technique 35, No. 1. 3-18

Residual strength of clays in landslides, folded strata

and the laboratory*
A. W. SKEMIlONt

The post-peak drop in drained shear strength of an

overconsolidated
clay may be considered as taking
place in two stages. First, at relatively small displacements, the strength decreases to the fully softened or
critical state value, owing to an increase in water
content (dilatancy). Second, after much larger displacements, the strength falls to the residual value,
owing to reorientation of platy clay minerals parallel
to the direction of shearing. If the clay fraction is less
than about 25% the second stage scarcely comes into
operation; the clay behaves much like a sand or silt
with angles of residual shearing resistance typically
greater than 20. Conversely, when the clay fraction is
about SO%, residual strength is controlled almost entirely by sliding friction of the clay minerals, and
further increase in clay fraction has little effect. The
angles of residual shearing resistance of the three most
commonly occurring clay minerals are approximately
15 for kaolinite, 10 for illite or clay mica and 5 for
montmorillonite. When the clay fraction lies between
25% and 50% there is a transitional type of behaviour, residual strength being dependent on the
percentage of clay particles as well as on their nature.
The post-peak
drop in strength of a normallyconsolidated clay is due only to particle reorientation.
Measurements of strength on natural shear surfaces
agree, within practical limits of variation, with values
derived from back analysis of reactivated landslides.
This field residual strength can be recovered by multiple reversal shear box tests on cut-plane samples, but
in high clay fraction materials it is typically somewhat
higher than the strength measured in ring shear tests.
Residual strength is little affected by variation in the
slow rates of displacement encountered in reactivated
landslides and in the usual laboratory tests, but at
rates faster than about
lOOmm/min qualitative
changes take place in the pattern of behaviour. A
substantial gain in strength is followed, with increasing
displacement, by a fall to a minimum value. In clays
and low clay fraction silts this minimum is not less
than the slow or static residual, but in clayey silts
(with clay fractions around 15-25%
according to
tests currently in progress) the minimum can be as low
as one-half of the static value.

dabord, pour des d&placements relativement petits, la

resistance decroit jusqua la valeur correspondant a
ICtat critique, a cause dune augmentation de la
teneur
en
eau
(dilatance).
Puis,
apres
des
deplacements
beaucoup
plus
considtrables,
la
resistance tombe a la valeur residuehe, a cause de la
reorientation des mineraux dargile en forme de feuillets paralleles a la direction du cisaillement. Si la
fraction dargile est inftrieure a environ de 25% la
deuxieme &ape apparait rarement et Iargile se comPorte a peu prts comme du sable ou du limon avec des
angles de resistance rtsiduelle au cisaillement typiquement suptrieurs B 20. Inversement, avec une fraction
dargile denviron 50% la resistance rtsiduelle est
rtgie presquentierement par le frottement glissant des
mintraux argileux et une augmentation ulterieure de
la fraction dargile na que trts peu deffet. Les angles
de resistance rtsiduelle
au cisaillement
des trois
mineraux argileux les plus souvent trouves sont approximativement 15 pour la kaolinite, 10 pour lillite
ou Iargile mica&e et 5 pour le montmorillonite.
Lorsque la fraction dargile est comprise entre 25% et
50% il y a un type pour ainsi dire transitoire de
comportement, puisque la resistance residuelle depend
du pourcentage de particules dargile aussi bien que de
leur nature. La chute de resistance qui suit la valeur de
pit est due exclusivement 9 la reorientation des particules. Dans les limites pratiques de variation les
mesures de la resistance effect&es sur des surfaces
naturelles de cisaillement saccordent avec les valeurs
obtenues a partir de lanalyse a posteriori de glissements de terrains reactives. Cette resistance residuelle
in situ peut &tre retrouvee par des essais de bone de
cisaillement
alternatifs multiples effect&s
sur des
Cchantillons a plans coupes; mais dans des mattriaux
ayant une grande fraction dargile elle est typiquement
un peu superieure a la resistance mesurte a laide
dappareils de cisaillement circulaire par torsion. La
resistance rdsiduelle nest que legbrement affect&e par
des variations dans les vitesses lentes de dtplacement
quon trouve dans les glissements de terrains reactives
et dans les essais habituels de laboratoire, mais a des
a environ
lOOmm/min des
vitesses
superieures
changements qualitatifs ont lieu dans la forme du
comportement. Un gain appreciable de resistance est
suivi, au fur et a mesure que le d&placement augmente, par une chute a la valeur minimale. Dans les
argiles et les limons a basse fraction dargile ce
minimum nest pas inferieur a la valeur residuelle
lente ou statique, mais dans les limons argileux, avec
des fractions dargile denviron 15-25%
selon des
essais en cours actuellement Ie minimum peut etre
aussi bas que la moitie de la valeur statique.

On peut admettre que la chute qui suit la valeur de pit

dans la resistance au cisaillement dans letat drain&
dune a&e surconsolidee a lieu en deux &apes. Tout
* Special lecture given to the British Geotechnical
Society, at the Institution of Civil Engineers, on 6
June 1984.
t Imperial College of Science and Technology.
3

S-ON

Residual

Low (e g. <

INIRODUCIION
In the Rankine Lecture of 1964 the Author
drew attention to the nature and engineering
significance of residual strength. Much has been
learnt during the past 20 years, and the present
lecture is an attempt to summarize our knowledge of this subject.
Residual strength is the minimum constant
value attained (at slow rates of shearing) at large
displacements. The displacements necessary to
cause a drop in strength to the residual value are
usually far greater than those corresponding to
the development of peak strength and the fully
softened
(critical state) strength
in overconsolidated
Consequently,
residual
clays.
strength is generally not relevant to first-time
slides and other stability problems in previously
unsheared clays and clay fills, but the strength of
a clay will be at or close to the residual on slip
surfaces in old landslides or soliflucted slopes, in
bedding shears in folded strata, in sheared joints
or faults and after an embankment failue.
Therefore,
whenever such pre-existing shear
surfaces occur the residual strength must be
known, as it will exert a controlling influence on
engineering design.
DEVELOPMENT OF RESIDUAL STRENGTH
The post-peak drop in drained strength of an
intact overconsolidated clay may be considered
as being due, firstly, to an increase in water
content (dilatancy) and, secondly, to reorientation of clay particles parallel to the direction of
shearing. At the end of the first stage the fully
softened or critical state strength is reached.
At larger displacements, when reorientation is

20%)

clay

N-C

peak

fraction

complete, the strength falls to and remains constant at the residual value (Fig. l(a)).
In normally consolidated clays, which consolidate when sheared (to displacements a little
beyond the peak) the post-peak drop in strength
is due entirely to particle reorientation.
The effects of particle reorientation are felt, to
any appreciable extent, only in clays containing
platy clay minerals and having a clay fraction
(percentage by weight of particles smaller than
0.002 mm) exceeding about 20-25%.
Silt and
sandy clays with lower clay fractions exhibit
nearly the classical critical state type of behaviour in which, even at large displacements,
the strength is scarcely less than the normally
consolidated peak value, and the post-peak drop
in strength of overconsolidated material of this
kind is due almost entirely to water content
increase (Fig. l(b)).
The change from sand to clay type of behaviour is clearly demonstrated by a series of
ring shear tests on sand-bentonite mixtures (Fig.
2). As will be seen later, the same pattern is
found in natural clays.
There is ample evidence from the field, as well
as the laboratory, for an increased water content
in sheared overconsolidated clays. London Clay,
for example, has a water content of about 34 at
and near slip surfaces, compared with 30 in
neighbouring unsheared material (Skempton,
1964). A still larger increase has recently been
observed in the heavily overconsolidated Siwalik
strata at the Kalabagh Dam site where water
contents in tectonically sheared claystone are
around 23 in contrast with values of about 15 in
unsheared material having the same clay fraction of anoroximatelv
60%.
1I

RFSIDUAL.

STFtF.NGTH

Orientation of platy clay minerals in shear

zones and on slip surfaces has been observed
under the microscope in samples from the field,
as at Waltons Wood (Fig. 3, from Skempton &
Petley, 1967a) and several other landslides
(Morgenstern & Tchalenko, 1967), and also in
laboratory shear tests (Lupini, Skinner & Vaughan, 1981).
Plasticity

index

PI

critical

E
u zoEC

state)

-----e-o

_J

100
Clay
Normally

fraction

consolidated
PVCF

CF. %
at o =

350

kPa

1.55

2. Ring shear tests on sand-bentonite

(after Lupini, Skinner & Vaughan, 1981)

Fig.

mixtures

pellet
. organic

,\

Clay

lncluslon

Partlcle

OF CLAYS

Displacements at various stages of shearing

Peak strengths are attained at small strains
corresponding to displacements of the order
1 mm in shear box or ring shear tests on overconsolidated clays, and after rather more movement for normally consolidated clays: see Table
1. Water content changes (softening in overconsolidated and consolidation in normally consolidated clays) seem to be essentially complete
at displacements generally smaller than 10 mm;
often about 5 mm is sufficient (Petley, 1966).
Ring shear tests at normal effective pressures
up to about 600 kPa indicate that displacements
usually exceeding 100 mm, and in some cases
exceeding 500 mm, are necessary before the
strength of an intact clay falls to a final steady
residual value, represented by an angle of shearing resistance & However, strengths approaching close to this final value, for example to a
strength represented by &+ l, are reached at
displacements ranging from about 20% to 50%
of those required for the full drop to the residual
(see Fig. 4 and data given by Lupini, 1980).
At higher pressures it would be expected that
particle orientation, and therefore the fall to
residual strength, is completed at smaller displacements. This idea receives support from
tests on a clay shale by Sinclair & Brooker
(1967). With cr = 100 kPa the strength was still
falling after displacements of 6Omm, but when
cr = 2000 kPa the residual was reached at about
25 mm.
Less information is available on the strength
characteristics of structural discontinuities in
clays, such as joints and bedding planes, which
have not been sheared in nature. Tests on joint
surfaces in the S. Barbara Clay (of Pliocene age,
near Florence) show a reduced peak strength
compared with that of the intact clay, and the
residual is attained at displacements of 3040 mm (Fig. 5). In tests on London Clay joint
surfaces all the cohesion had been lost and the
angle of shearing resistance was within 3 of the
residual after 8 mm displacement (Skempton &
Table 1. Typical displacements
shear in clays having CF>30%

Stage

orlentatlon

Peak
Rate of volume change
approximately zero
At &,+1
Residual 6,
Fig. 3. Fabric of shear zone and slip surface at Waftons Wood

Intact clays, with a<600 kPa.

at various

stages of

Displacement: mm
GC

N-C

0.5-3

3-6
4-10
30-200
100-500

SKEMlTON

Sample

n =

188L

LL = 62

525

kPa

PL = 26

(p,

Rate of dlsplacemenl

0.01

900

kPa)

mm/mln

b 0.3
2

Residual

r/u =

0 152 -

@r = 8 6

o-2

01

CF = 47

---__.
q, =

10.6

____--_--_

Q = 9.6
l

200
Displacement.
Fig.

4. Kahbagh

ring shear test, August

S.Barbara
w =

51

LL =

---

300

76

mm

1983

Clay
PL =

43

CF

= 37

20
15:
10..
5a
I

10

He. 5. Reversal shear box tests

CGebresi & Maafredini, 1973)

RESIDUAL

30

STRENGTH

When tests are satisfactorily carried out on

samples containing a fully developed slip or
shear surface the residual strength is recovered
at virtually zero displacement, since all water
content changes and particle orientation effects
have already been brought about by the shearing movements in nature. The strength on such
shear surfaces is here defined as the field re-

40

mm

on intact

Petley, 1967a). A still sharper reduction in

strength was found in the shaly Lower Oxford
Clay tested parallel to bedding, though probably
not precisely on a bedding plane. Here the angle
of shearing resistance fell to within 2 of the
residual after displacements of only 4 mm and
almost to the residual itself at little more than
l(r2Omm
(Burland, Longworth
& Moore,
1977). All the tests mentioned in this paragraph
were made at pressures not exceeding 600 kPa.
They indicate the brittleness of natural fractures in clays.
FIELD

20
Displacement

day

and on joint surfaces

(from

sidual value. In principle it should be the same

as the strength calculated from back analysis of
a landslide in which movement has been reactivated along a pre-existing slip surface and, as we
shall see, this identity has in fact been established within practical limits of accuracy.
Examples of slip surface tests are shown in
Fig. 6 (Skempton & Petley, 1967b). The tests
were made in the shear box apparatus, care
being taken to locate the slip surface as exactly
as possible in the plane of the box and to
arrange the sample so that shearing follows the
natural direction of movement. It will be noted
that in second runs of the tests, after reversing
the travel of the box, the strengths return closely
to the first-run values. The trough in the early
stages of the second runs is characteristic of
reversal shear box tests, although it may be
largely or wholly eliminated by unloading the
sample during the backward travel, an improvement in technique introduced later than the date
of these particular tests.

RESIDUAL

STRENGTH

Before proceeding to examine case records

relating to the determination of field residual
strengths, two points must be mentioned. First,
in normal laboratory practice, tests to measure
residual strength are made at slow rates of displacement not exceeding about 0.01 rnm/min to
avoid the possibility of generating unknown
pore pressures. However, it is demonstrated
later in this lecture that over the entire range of
rates of movement recorded in reactivated landslides residual strength is unlikely to vary by
more than *S% from the value corresponding
to the usual laboratory testing rates. A direct
comparison can therefore be made between
laboratory and back analysis strengths.
The second point concerns stability analysis.
Ideally the reactivated landslide should have a
factor of safety of 1.0, i.e. it should be moving
slowly on a pre-existing slip surface, and the
shape of the slip surface and the relevant
piezometric levels should be known. It is then
possible to calculate the average normal effective stress and the average shear stress acting on
the slip surface from a two-dimensional analysis,
using the method of Morgenstern
& Price
(1965) or Sarma (1973). Finally, a correction is
applied to allow for the strength developed on
the sides of the actual three-dimensional slide.
This amounts to a reduction in shear stress given
by the factor

OF CLAYS

Waltons Wood landslide

The history of field residual strength begins in
September 1962 when the first successful slip
surface test was made on a sample from Waltons Wood (Fig. 7) and found to give an angle
of shearing resistance in reasonably good agreement with a conventional back analysis of this
old but still active landslide. Moreover, the
strength lay far below the peak and the fully
softened values for intact samples. Further tests
and more refined stability analysis gave results
(Fig. 8) proving, within the limits of accuracy
expected from field work, that slip surface tests
and back analysis yielded the same strength.
During this investigation, also, particle orientation on the slip surface was observed in thin
sections under the polarizing microscope, and in
addition the residual strength was recovered
(approximately) by multiple reversal shear box
tests on intact clay.
A detailed description of this case record is
available (Early & Skempton, 1972), preliminary accounts having been given by Skempton
(1964) and by Skempton & Petley (1967a).
Clear evidence existed that the landslide had
undergone large displacements in the past, and
during 3 years preceding investigations it moved
about 1 m. The slip surfaces were in colluvial
clay derived from Upper Carboniferous mudstone, with kaolin&e as the predominant clay
mineral.

1+ KDIB
where D and B are the average depth and width
of the sliding mass, and K is an earth pressure
coefficient. In the cases considered here K is
taken as 0.5 and the correction is typically about
5%.

Pll
LL =

60

75

WE1

PL = 29

First run

M4 landslides near Swindon

Two quite large landslides were reactivated by
cuttings excavated for the M4 motorway, near
Swindon, in the winter 1969-70.
A section
through the slide at Burderop Wood is shown in
Fig. 9. The other slide, half a mile away, near
Hodson village, had identical geological conditions and closely resembled Burderop slide in

--

CF

= 58

Second

Sample

run

126/l

d = 59 kPa
m
B

0.002

-40TA

w = 27

mmlmln
Sr =

=
sr

24.8

31.0

--

kPa
172
103

I
sr =

6 20

15-2
69

4
Dlsplacemenr

mm

Fig. 6. Slip surface tests on Atherlield

Sevenoaks Weald escarpment, 1%6

4
Displacement

Clay from

mm

Fig. 7. Slip surface test at Waltons Wood landslide,

September 1962

SKFtMFION

Colluwum
LL =
q

from

SIIP surface

Normal
Fig.

Carbontferous
PL =

57

27
.

tests

effective

mudstone
CF =

70

Back

analysis

stress

(T. kPa

Waltons Wood landslide: field residual strength

8.

Distance
0

50

100

150

200

250

NNW

ssw
x slip
I

600 -

- 200

surface

Pwometer

- Top of Gault
1 Plerometrlc
level

PrOfIle

Q GWL
E
= 500.

Slope

,n March

Upper
Greensand

,970

- 180

indlcalor

Slip observed
an excavation
for remedlal
works

ZE
pm

I
100

100

- 80

1
200

300

400
Distance

500

600

700

800

900

ft

Fig. 9. Burderop Wood landslide

other respects. The material involved was colluvium derived from Gault Clay with a few small
fragments of Greensand and pellets of unworked Gault.
During remedial works in 1970, block samples were taken for slip surface tests from three
locations at Burderop. At another position
nearby, organic matter of a woody nature was
found just below the slip surface. This gave a
radiocarbon age of 12 600 years, showing that
the landslide had originally taken place in a late
period of the last (Devensian) glaciation when
severe periglacial climatic conditions prevailed
in central and southern England.
The slip surface tests were carried out at
Portsmouth Polytechnic by the Authors former
research assistant Dr D. J. Petley and are detailed in an unpublished report (Skempton,

1971). They gave good results with an unusually

small scatter (Fig. 10).
At both sites the slip surfaces were well
defined by slip indicators, inclinometers and visual observation,
and
groundwater
levels
(checked by piezometric readings) were known
while movements still continued. Back analyses
of the two slides (Skempton, 1972) differed by
about 0.7 in the angle of shearing resistance
and the slip surface tests gave an angle not more
than about 1 above the average back analysis
value.
Bury Hill
Regrading of the slope at the Bury Hill site
led to a reactivation in 1960 of a landslide which
had previously moved between about 1938 and
1955 in a thick mantle of soliflucted Etruria

RESIDUAL

STRENGTH

OF CLAYS

Gault Clay
LL = 64

PL = 29

CF = 47

Burderop
back analysis
Hodson I
0 Shp surface tests

l
l

Normal effectwe stress d: kPa

Fig. 10. Field residual strengthsfor M4 laadslides near Swindon, 1970-71

Table 2.

Field residual strength of some English clays

Site

Stratum

Index properties
(average values)

Water
in sheal
ZOe

Waltons Wood
Jackfield
>

Upper Carboniferous

29
21

Bury Hill
Various
M4, near Swindon
Sevenoaks bypass
various

Etnria Marl
Upper Lias
Gault
Athetfield
London Clay

30
29
36
35
34

PL

60
64
64
75
80

Marl. Investigations made in 1968 (Hutchinson,

Somerville & Petley, 1973) enabled the slip
surface and piezometric levels to be determined,
and four sets of slip surface tests were carried
out. The results showed some scatter, but three
of the four samples gave reasonably consistent
strengths corresponding to an angle of shearing
resistance of about 13-6 at the average normal
effective pressure of 97 kPa acting on the slip
surface. This result has to be compared with
12.0 as the best estimate from back analysis,
but there are difficulties in figuring the piezometric levels at the time of the 1960 failure, and
the material is variable. The difference, of about
12%, is therefore considered not to be of great
significance. In Table 2, summarizing data on
field residual strength, the angle of residual
shearing resistance deduced from this case record is taken as 12.5 at 100 kPa with a curvature of the envelope as given by the slip surface
tests.
London Clay
The first line relating field residual strength
and normal effective pressure for London Clay

27
28
29
29
29

&=

tan

(s/u)at the following

cr values: deg

CF

PIICF

150 kPa

70
36

0.4
0.6

12.8

52
52
47
58
55

0.6
0.7
0.8
0.8
0.9

12.1
9.9
11.1
11.8

was based on slip surface tests from sites at

Guildford and Dedham, and on a single back
analysis of a reactivated landslide in a railway
cutting at Sudbury Hill (Skempton & Petley,
1967a). However, at the small average pressure
in this slip (30 kPa) a considerable percentage
difference existed between back analysis and the
test results.
Nine years later Hutchinson & Gostelow
(1976) presented data from analysis of slips in
an abandoned London Clay cliff at Hadleigh
which confirmed the Sudbury Hill result and
extended the range of back analysis to 50 kPa.
An improved field residual envelope could then
be drawn, much as in Fig. 11, but still with only
the few low pressure Guildford slip surface tests
affording a (poor) comparison with back analysis
strengths. However, the situation greatly improved in 1978 when Bromhead published analyses of several rather deep-seated slips at Herne
Bay, with normal effective pressures of lOO150 kPa (Bromhead, 1978). As will be seen,
these new results strongly support the best-fit
line drawn through the slip surface test points
and despite the scatter (to be expected with tests

10

SKEMITON

London

LL =

Clay
o

loo-

Tests
on
SllP
surface

80

PL =

CF

29

55

GuIldford

D Dedham
v

Walthamstow

Warden

Back
analysis

Point

Sudbury

HalI

l Hadleigh

Herne

Bay

M Wraysbury

100
Normal

150
effectw

Fig. 11. Field residual strength for London

from different sites) there can be little doubt

that the tests and back analysis are measuring
essentially the same strength.
Summary of the comparisons
A statistical summary of the comparisons between back analysis and slip surface test results
is given in Table 3. This shows that while there
is a tendency for the tests to give slightly higher
strengths, on average by about 0.5 in the angle
of shearing resistance, the difference is within
the limits of variation. Thus the conclusion is
reached that back analysis of reactivated landslides and slip surface tests (at the relevant
effective pressure) both give the field residual
strength.
It also follows from the statistics in Table 3
that, even in the almost ideal conditions of these
case records, where pore pressures are known
with reasonable certainty and problems such as
the effects of progressive failure are absent,
stability analysis and laboratory tests cannot be
expected to yield results with an accuracy better
than about &lo%.
Table 3. Comparison between back analysis of reactivated landslides and slip surface test results (14 case
recolds)

Parameter

Angle of
shearing
resistance:
deg

Mean 4 from analysis

Mean 4 from tests
Mean A+
Standard deviation in A+
Maximum A+
Minimum A&

12.8
13.4
+0.6
Zt1.2
+2.5
-2.2

A&l&: %

200
stress

kPa

Clay

Other clays
Granted the above conclusion, it is possible to
collect values of field residual strength from
several other investigations. Three will be mentioned here; a unique set of results from the
Siwalik claystones is separately discussed.
One of the earliest examples of back analysis
of a reactivated landslide, at Jackfield, was published by Henkel & Skempton in 1955, before
the subject of residual strength was understood.
However, the analysis is sound and provides
data on a clay having a smaller clay fraction than
is common in landslide studies.
Slip surface tests on Atherfield Clay from
Sevenoaks Weald escarpment have been shown
in Fig. 6. They are three of a total of seven such
tests measuring field residual strength at pressures from 70 kPa to 400 kPa.
The third clay in this context is the Upper
Lias, for which Chandler (1982) gives valuable
information on stability analysis and other details from eight different sites, covering pressures from 12 kPa to 120 kPa.
Results for these and the four clays previously
discussed are summarized in Table 2.

Curvature of envelope
For most clays the relation between residual
strength and normal effective pressure is nonlinear. The strength s at any given pressure u is
conveniently expressed by the secant angle of
shearing resistance 4 where
tan 4 = s/u

+4.5
*9
+17.5
-17

Values of 4 for (r = 50 kPa, 100 kPa and

150 kPa are given in Table 2.
When comparing one clay with another it is
best to fix on a standard pressure, such as
100 kPa. Thus the value of & at u = 100 kPa

STRENGTH

RESIDUAL

11

OF CLAYS

A London

Clay

0 Llas
OGaull
I
A@ =
Fig.

12. Difference

@r,nrl

tan +/tan6 loo

A*

1.5)

between ring shear and field residual strength

can be taken as a characteristic parameter of a

clay.
Curvature of the envelope can be expressed
by the ratio of tan 4 at a pressure (T to the
standard tan 4 at 100 kPa. Mean values of this
ratio for the clays listed in Table 2 are as
follows:
u: kPa

d,, (mean

each point
6 an average
otzor3
analyses

25

50

100

150

1.12

1.07

1.00

0.96

However, there are considerable variations in

the degree of curvature between one clay and
another.
For design purposes it is often useful to take a
best-fit linear envelope over the range of pressures involved, in the form
s=c+atanb
COMPARISON OF FIELD RESIDUAL AND
RING SHEAR TESTS
Ring shear tests in the machine described by
Bishop, Green, Garga, Andresen & Brown
(1971) tend to give residual strengths, for high
clay fraction materials, which are somewhat
lower than the field values. Typically the difference is 1 or 2 in the angle of shearing resistance, as shown in Fig. 12 where comparisons
are made with back analysis results. Chandler
(1984) summarizes the data for Lias and London Clay, and a ring shear test on Gault from
the M4 landslide at Burderop is quoted by Lupini (1980). At Bury Hill a ring shear result lay
as much below the back analysis strengths as the
slip surfaces tests lay above but, as previously
mentioned, the clay at this site is variable.
Various suggestions can be made in explanation, mostly based on the idea that shearing in
the ring test is more concentrated or intense
than in landslides, but the question is still unre-

solved, especially since Bromhead & Curtis

(1983) indicate that with a different ring shear
machine agreement with field residual strength
is obtained in London Clay, despite the fact that
this machine and Bishops give almost identical results on two samples of Gault Clay from
Folkestone Warren (Bromhead, 1979).
RELATION BETWEEN RESIDUAL STRENGTH
AND CLAY FRACTION
It is clearly a matter of great interest to obtain
a relationship between residual strength and clay
fraction for a natural material covering a wide
range of particle size but having essentially the
same clay mineralogy throughout. This is now
close to being achieved by tests on Siwalik claystones and siltstones in Pakistan.
Siwaliks
Investigations at Mangla and a neighbouring
site at Jari, and currently in progress at the
proposed Kalabagh Dam on the Indus, provide
data from within mutually similar suites of materials. At these locations rather thick beds of
sandstone alternate with finer-grained beds of
claystone and siltstone, ranging from the top of
the Middle Siwaliks (late Pliocene) at Kalabagh
into the Upper Siwaliks (early Pleistocene) at
Mangla and Jari. The strata are heavily overconsolidated freshwater deposits and, owing to
tectonic folding, most of the claystones contain
bedding shears while thrust joints (many of them
sheared) characterize the siltstones.
Illite and kaolinite are the dominant clay minerals, with subordinate montmorillonite, and the
PI/CF ratios vary between 0.5 and 0.8 with a
slight tendency for lower values at Kalabagh
than at Mangla and Jari. Typically there is a
calcite content of about 5%.
After many attempts to obtain satisfactory
shear surface samples from these hard materials,
seven sets of shear box tests were successfully

12

SKEWETON

carried out at the Mangla laboratory in 196%

67. Results for a high clay fraction bedding
shear are shown in Figs 13 and 14. One test
shows a small peak, as the shear surface could
not be aligned perfectly with the plane of the
box, but a steady minimum strength is attained
after only 5 mm displacement. In the two other
tests the shear surface (field residual) strength is

LL = 68

Sample
64144
PL = 28

CF = 58

400
o kPa

200

@&Sample

600

800

Shear

64138

surface

recovered from the start, as was the case with

most of the other samples.
Tests on a thrust shear joint in siltstone are
shown in Fig. 15. The displacement on this joint
was quite small. Nevertheless the tests indicate
that the residual strength has already been developed in nature, presumably to be accounted
for by the low clay fraction (compare with Fig.
l(b)) and also by the high pressure acting when
the joint was sheared.
Values of & (at o = 400 kPa) from these
seven samples are plotted in Fig. 16. They reveal a relationship evidently corresponding to
the transitional and sliding shear zones of the
sand-bentonite tests of Fig. 2.
However, it is possible to add further points
and to extend the graph into the sand or rolling shear zone by including results of cut-plane
multiple reversal shear box tests made at the
Kalabagh laboratory. The cut plane acts rather
like an unsheared joint, and five or six reversals
usually produce a steady minimum strength (Fig.
17).
The close correspondence between cut-plane
and shear surface tests, demonstrated in Fig. 16,
provides evidence that the cut-plane tests give a
good measure of the field residual strength and
justifies the use of such tests in delineating the
picture, presented here for the first time, showing the relation between residual strength and
clay fraction in a natural sedimentary deposit.

Fig. 13. Jari Dam: left abutment, shear zone A

Sample
LL =
150

68

6144

PL =

~,rst run

CF

28

---Second

58

run

n--- =

300 I

831

---

f / /---0.0025

$=

292

mmlmr

Sample
u =

s3

830

LL =
-

40
Frst

76109

PL =
run

21

CF

---Second

23

run

i,oo_/yK-T+

4
Dtsplacement:

10

mm

Fig. 14. Shear surface tests on Jari Dam, shear zone

A, January 1%6

4
Displacement

10

mm

Fig.
15. Shear surface tests on Jari Valley no. 3, thrust
shear joint, November 1965

FCESILXJAL STRENGTH

C&O3

<

PliCF

10%

Mangla

Jan

Kalabagh.

0.5 - 0.8

13

OF CLAYS

Values

Shear
tests

surface

cut-plane

tests

of o,, at on =

400

kPa

40t--

SlItstone

Claystone

1
From
field
records

-0-1

E30D

,,,,,,,,

Bedding/,+,,,
shears

20 -

OL

10
I

20
1

301
Clay

40
1

fraction

(after

16. Field residuals for Sialik

Fig.

50
I

60
I

80
1

90
L

pretreatment)

claystone

70
L

and siltstone,

April 1984

300
:

W =Sample
21 LL 1359
= 49
d,
S, =

PL =Test
29 83CF

75 kPa

4
Dlsplacemenl.

Fig.

17. Reversal

= 42

10.6
o;

400

kPa

10

mm

shear box test on a cut-plane

sample

at Kalabagh,

October

1983

Variations with clay mineralogy

The clay minerals can have little effect on
residual strength when the clay fraction is less
than 20%, as the strength is then controlled
largely by the sand and silt particles. Conversely,
with clay fractions exceeding 50%, residual
strength depends almost entirely on sliding friction of the clay particles and therefore depends
on their character.
Thus the siltstone in Fig. 16 with 13% clay
fraction has a strength equal to that of sand. At

the other end of the scale, clays such as the Lias

and Atherfield having PI/CF ratios similar to
those of the Siwalik claystones have much the
same residual strength (Fig. 18), but the kaolinitic clay from Waltons Wood (PI/CF = 0.4) has a
somewhat greater residual, despite its high clay
fraction, and lies in Fig. 18 not much below the
point for kaolin itself (Lupini, 1980). In sharp
contrast, if the PI/CF ratio exceeds about 1.5, as
in some clay shales reported from the USA
(Townsend & Gilbert, 1973) the residual angle

14

SKEMPTON

PIICF
Values

40

+ Waltons

of I$,,

at nn x 100

Wood
(Upper

x JackfIeld

kPa

. Bury

HIII

0.4
0.6

Carbon-

Iferous)

0.6

o Siwallk

0.7

0 LIZIS

0.7

o Swmdon

(Gault)

0 Sevenoaks
a London

0.8

(Atherfleld)

0.8

Clay

0.9

l\
l

Approximate
for PVCF

Kaolin

-+--

0.4

Benlomte

--o---

bounds
= 0.550.9

16

20

40

60

60

100

Clay
Fig.

Aj_,-

fraction

18. Field residual and ring shear tests on sands, kaolin and bentonite

Kaolm

London
(each

=
Clay
point

>

350

kPa

= 40-140

ave?age

CF =

82

CF

60

of 8 tests)

Usual range of slow

laboratory
tests

Tii
g
E

0.8

0~0001

0.001

L
0.01

2
v,
0.7

Fig. 19. Variation

0.01

0.1

1
100

1 mm/rmn
i
100

10

I
10

0.1

1000

cm/day

,
10 000

cm/year

in residual strength of clays at slow rates of displacement

of shearing resistance falls below 7, to values

comparable with that of bentonite in which the
clay mineral is montmorillonite.
Finally there is the special case where the
particles smaller than 0.002mm
are non-platy
clay minerals, such as halloysite, or rock flour
consisting of very finely divided quartz etc. The
angles of residual shearing resistance of such
soils bear little if any relation to the content of
clay-size particles and are usually greater than
25 (Kenney, 1967; Wesley, 1977).
RATE EFFECIX
Rates of displacement on pre-existing shear
surfaces can vary by many orders of magnitude
from exceedingly slow movements in some reactivated landslides to very fast displacements in-

duced by earthquakes. A knowledge of the

effects produced by different rates of shearing is
therefore a significant part of residual strength
studies.
Slow rates
Tests on two clays over a range of speeds
from about 100 times slower to 100 times faster
than the usual (slow) laboratory test rate are
plotted in Fig. 19 (data from Petley, 1966 and
Lupini, 1980). On average, the change in
strength is rather less than 2.5% per log cycle. It
therefore follows that variations in strength
within the usual range of slow laboratory tests
(say 0.002-0.01 mm/min) are negligible.
In the field, from observations on reactivated
landslides and mud-flows, it is known (Skemp-

RESIDUAL STRENGTH OF CLAYS

Table 4. Variations ia residual

slow rates of displacement

strength

of days at

Laboratory, typical

0.005

= 7 mm/day

ton & Hutchinson,

1969) that the highest daily
rate of movement is of the order 50 cm/day and
the lowest average rate is about 2cm/year,
which probably corresponds to a daily rate of
not less than 5 cm/year. If the strength at a
typical laboratory rate of 0+00.5 mm/min is taken
as standard, the variations over this entire range
lie between -3% and +5%, as set out in Table
4.
Thus it appears, to a first approximation, that
all such movements can be regarded as slow
and as being related to a static residual
strength equal (from this point of view) to values
measured in the usual slow laboratory tests. This
is the justification for making a comparison,
without any rate correction,
between slow
laboratory tests and back analysis.
There is, however, an interesting corollary
since Fig. 19 also implies that small changes in
strength can cause large changes in rate of
movement. This immediately accounts for the
marked influence of seasonal variations in piezometric levels and for the success of remedial
works which bring about a relatively small increase in factor of safety.
Fast rates
In connection with earthquake design of the
Kalabagh Dam project, tests are being made at
Imperial College to measure the effects of fast
rates of displacement on residual strength. A
Sample
vv =
O-St

0.01

205

62

LL

100

sample is remoulded with water to bring it to a

plastic state and tested in the ring shear apparatus at pressures of 200 kPa and 500 kPa
after preconsolidation at the maximum attainable pressure of 900 kPa. In all cases the water
content during the shear tests is at, or a little
below, the plastic limit.
The slow residual state is first established by
shearing at 0.01 mm/min to displacements usually of about 500mm (Fig. 4). The rate is then
increased and maintained until approximately
steady conditions obtain. After a pause to allow
any pore pressures to dissipate, the slow rate is
reimposed. The rate is then increased again, to
some other high value and so on until tests have
been made at three or four different fast rates
under both pressures. Part of the first of this
series of tests, in which the fastest rate was
400 mm/min, is shown in Fig. 20. In subsequent
tests 700-800 mm/min has been achieved.
All samples so far tested at fast rates show a
rise in strength to a maximum, followed by a
decrease to an approximately steady minimum
value. To obtain characteristic parameters for
any particular sample, 400 mmlmin is chosen as
representing the fast tests and the strengths (residual, fast maximum and fast minimum) are
plotted against normal pressure, in order to
obtain by interpolation the values at a standard
pressure of 400 kPa (Fig. 21).
For clays the increase in strength becomes
pronounced at rates exceeding 100 mm/min
(Fig. 22) when some qualitative change in behaviour occurs. This is probably associated with
disturbance of the originally ordered structure,
producing what may be termed turbulent
shear, in contrast with sliding shear when the
particles are orientated parallel to the plane of
displacement. It is possible, also, that negative
pore pressures are generated and, as displacement continues, these are dissipated within the
g=

188L

27

15

kPa (p,

PL =

0 01

400

= 900

26

kPa)

CF

mm/mm

47

0.01

o-5
0.4
b
0.3
O-215
0.2
0.156
0.1
b

-___-_-.

12h

0.156

pause

0.155

12 h pause

\,

0 1
500

600

700
Displacement

Fig. 20. Kalabagh

800

900

mm

Dam ring shear test, August

1983

16

SKF.MErON
300Sample

704

LL = 45

Rmg

PL =

o Residual
400

23

shear
CF =

40
X Max

Fast
mm/mln

+ M,n

200 -

6 kPa

21. Kalabagb Dam ring shear tests, Febmary

Fig.

Sample
LL = 45

1984

704

PL = 23

CF

= 40

kPa
Max

Min

Slldmg
shear

0000
1

10

Turbulent
shear

400

100
Rate of displacement:

Fig.

22. Kalabagb

Dam ring shear tests, Febmary

1.4

Sample

1.2

w =

0.57

2094
24

(r =
LL =

490

1000

mmlmln

kPa

39

1984

(p,

PL = 27

900

kPa)

CF

= 3

0.52

-____z,

0.4 0.2 0

800

I
900

3 h pause
,
\
1000

Displacement:
Fig.

23. Kalabagb

4 h pause
I
1200

1100
mm

Dam ring shear test, April 1984

,
1300

1400

RESIDUAL

STRENGTH

Sample
LL =

39

PL =

17

OF CLAYS

91 OL
21

CF

21

kPa
D =

200

g =

495\

01
1

10
Rate

100
of displacement:

400
1000
mm/mln

J
10 000

Fig. 24. Kalabagh Dam ring shear tests, October 1983

body of the sample thus leading to a decrease in

strength.
That some structural change has taken place
in clays at ratios of 400 mm/min or more seems
apparent from the fact that on reimposing the
slow rate a peak is observed, the strength falling
to the residual only after considerable further
displacement (Fig. 20), an effect not seen after
shearing 100 mm/min or slower.
By contrast, in a low clay fraction siltstone
5 o-

4 OValues

of I$

at (T = 400

kPa

3,O-

P
D
0

2o-

1 o-

slitstone

20

LOW
CF
30

40

@, deg

Fig. 25. summary of ring shear tests for Kalabagh

Dam, June 1984

(CF = 3) there is no qualitative change at rates

even as high as 800 mm/min; the strength at
once rises to a maximum and then falls sharply
towards the residual, and on restoring the slow
rate the residual is almost immediately regained
(Fig. 23). These effects point to pore pressure
changes only; certainly there can be no clay
particle orientation
or disordering
in this
sample.
As an intermediate material, a clayey siltstone
with about 25% clay fraction shows a remarkable drop in strength, at fast rates (400 mm/min
or more), from the maximum to a minimum
equal approximately to one-half of the residual
(Fig. 24). It is surely significant that this material
lies in the transitional zone, but why it should
show a normal increase in strength at fast rates
followed by an abnormal decrease is not clear.
However, two specimens from this sample, one
with 21% and the other with 27% clay fraction,
show almost identical patterns of behaviour.
Clearly more research is needed better to
define the limits of this phenomenon and, for all
types of soil, to measure pore pressures at fast
rates of displacement and to explore the effects
in still more rapid tests. Meanwhile the results at
present available are summarized in Fig. 25;
their significance in earthquake engineering design is obviously considerable.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Permission to quote results from the Mangla
and Kalabagh laboratories has kindly been given
by the Pakistan Water and Power Authority
(WAPDA). Other tests not taken from published papers were carried out as part of a

SKEMPT0N

18

general research programme

at Imperial College
and in connection
with investigations
for Kent
County Council (Sevenoaks bypass), Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners (M4 landslides near Swindon) and WAPDA
(Kalabagh
Dam project).
The fast ring shear tests are being made by Mr
Luis Lemos. In preparing the lecture much benefit has been derived from discussions with Dr
R. J. Chandler and Dr P. R. Vaughan. All the
tracings are by Mrs Anne Langford.
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Bromhead,
E. N. (1978). Large landslides in London
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291-304.
Bromhead,
E. N. (1979). A simple ring shear apparatus.
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Bromhead,
E. N. & Curtis, R. D. (1983). A comparison of alternative
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T. I. & Moore, J. F. A.
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R. J. (1982). Lias clay slope sections and
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R. J. (1984). Recent European
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A. W. (1971).
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