• The strength of a material is the maximum shear stress that it can sustain,

thefore if the materials loaded just beyond the maximum stress will fail.

• Failure maybe sudden - like a biscuit

• Failure may lead a very large plastic straining – plasticine

• For most soil – failure involves large straining without complete loss of
strength.
Behaviour of soil in shear test
• The essential features of soil strength can most easily be seen in ideal
shearing tests.
•Direct shear test is not ideal because the stresses and deformations are
non-uniform and the state of stress and strain are not completely defined by
the measurements on only one plane.
• However this test is convenient for demonstrating the basic characteristic
of soil strength.
Behaviour of soil in shear test

• D = for heavily overconsolidated clays or

dense sand

• W = for normally consolidated or lightly

overconsolidated clays or loose sand

•Soils on Dry side (D) reach peak shear stresses before reaching the critical
state

• Both ultimately reach critical states at which the shear stress is constant
and there are no more volumetric strains.
Behaviour of soil in shear test

Dilation •Soils on the wet side (W) compress as

the shear stresses increase while soils
on dry side (D) dilate (expand) after a
small compression.

•At any stage of shearing the angle of dilation  is defined by

 v
• tan   
 h
Peak, critical state and residual strength

• The peak state will normally be

reached at strains of the order of 1%
while critical state will be reached after
strains greater than 10%.
• In some soils the critical state reached
after strains exceeded 50%

• For soils that have a peak state it is not easy to decide whether the strength
of the soil should be the peak state that can be sustained only for relatively
small strains or the critical state.

•The lowest shear stress reached after very large displacements is called
residual strength.
Critical state in shear test

• At the critical state, there is a

unique relationship between the
shear stress, the normal effective
stress and the void ratio.
• The critical state line is given by:

 ' f   ' f tan  'c

e f  e  Cc log  ' f
Critical state strength measured in triaxial test

•In triaxial test a cylindrical sample is subjected to total axial and radial stresses
while the pore pressures and the sample volume can be controlled and
measured independently.
• For direct shear test, the shear and normal stresses and strains are ’, ’,  and
v.
• For triaxial test the equivalent parameters are q’, p’, s, v
• As soils are loaded or unloaded isotropically (equal all-round stresses) or
anistropically they will compress and swell.

• In laboratory tests the sample maybe loaded undrained and then allowed to
consolidate under constant total stress – oedometer test.

• In this case measurement of effective stress can only be made at the end of
consolidation when all the excess pore pressure have dissipated (unless the
excess pore pressures are measured separately).
Isotropic compression and swelling

• Soil compression is primarily

caused by rearrangement of the
grains and so the stiffness will
increase from loose state to dense
state.

• The bulk modulus at any point is the gradient of the curve for first loading
or for unloading or reloading, given by:
p '
K'
 v
Isotropic compression and swelling

v=1+e

Stress

• The conventional representation of soil compression and swelling can be

plotted as specific volume instead of volumetric strain and with p’ plotted
horizontally.
Isotropic compression and swelling

v=1+e

Stress

• Figure (b) shows the stress on a logarithmic scale and the curve become
linear.
• It is a very good approximation for the behaviour of many soils over a wide
range of loadings.
• This idealization is good for most clays and sands.
Isotropic compression and swelling

• The line OACD corresponding to first loading is

known as the normal compression line (NCL) and is
given by:
  N   ln p'
• = gradient
•N = value of  at p’ = 1.0 kPa. Where ln p’ =0

• The line ABC is known as a swelling line and is given

by:
   k   ln p'
• k = the value of  at p’ = 1.0 kPa.
• = gradient
The swelling line ABC meets the normal compression line at C which is a yield point and
the yield stress is p’y.
When you complete this chapter, you should be able to:

• Estimate failure stress for soil

•Estimate strains at failure
•Understand the relationship among soil parameters
•Estimate whether drained or undrained condition would be
critical for practical problems
•Predict stress-strain characteristics of soils from a few
parameters obtained from simple soil tests
•Evaluate possible soil stress state and failure if the loading
condition change.
The basic knowledge of these item is required to understand
this chapter effectively:

• Index properties
•Effective stress and stress path
•Primary consolidation
•Shear strength
Introduction
• If the soil is consolidate to a higher stress state than its
current one, the shear strength of the soil will increase.
• But the amount of increase is depends on the soil type, the
loading conditions (drained or undrained), and the stress
path.
• The critical state is the combination of consolidation and
shear strength behaviour as a tools for us to interpret and
anticipate soil behaviour responses to various loading
Introduction
• The main idea in the Critical State Model (CSM) is that all
soils will fail on a unique failure surface in (p’, q, e).
• Thus CSM incorporates volume changes in its failure
criterion unlike the Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion which
defines only at the maximum stress.
• The CSM is a tool to make estimate of soil responses when
you cannot perform sufficient soil tests to completely
characterize a soil at site or you have to predict the soil’s
response from changes in loading during and after
construction.
 Introduction
• A practical scenario is as follows:
An oil tank is to be constructed on a soft clay. It was decided that the clay
would be preloaded with a circular embankment imposing a stress at least
equal to total applied stress of the tank when filled. Prefabricated vertical
drain are to be used to accelerate the consolidation process. The
foundation for the tank is a circular slab of concrete and the purpose of the
preloading is to reduce the total settlement of the foundation. You are
required to advise the owners on how the tank should be filled during
preloading to prevent premature failure and to achieve the desired
settlement. After preloading, the owners decided to increase the height of
the tank. You are requested to determine whether the soil has enough
shear strength to support an additional increase in tank height, and if so,
the amount of settlement that can be expected. The owners are reluctant
to finance any further preloading and soil testing.
Definitions of key terms
• Preconsolidation ratio, Ro = Pc’/Po’, where Pc is the preconsolidation
stress and Po’ is the current mean effective stress. It is not equal to OCR.
•Compression index () is the slope of the normal consolidation line in a
plot of void ratio versus the natural logarithm of mean effective stress
•Unloading/reloading index or recompression index () is the average
slope of the unloading/reloading curves in a plot of void ratio versus the
natural logarithm of mean effective stress.
•Critical state line (CSL) is a line that represent the failure state of soils. In
(p’, q) space, the critical state line has a slope M, which related to the
friction angle of the soil at the critical state. In (e, ln p’) space, the critical
state line has a slope , which parallel to the normal consolidation line. In
three dimensional (p’ q, e) space, the critical state line becomes a critical
state surface.
THINK?
• What is soil yielding?
•What is the difference between yielding and failure in soils?
•What parameters affect the yielding and failure of soils?
•Does the failure stress depend on the consolidation pressure?
•What are the critical state parameters, and how to determine from soil
tests?
•Are strains important in soil failure?
•What are the differences in behaviour of soils under drained and
undrained conditions?
• Are the results from triaxial tests and direct shear tests the same? If not,
how do you estimate the shear strength of a soil under direct shear from
the results of triaxial compression, or vice versa?
• How do you estimate the shear strength of a soil in the field from the
results of lab tests?
• How do loading (stress) paths affect the response of soils?
Parameter mapping
• In development of basic concepts on critical state the mapping
parameters should be done:
Parameter mapping
• In development of basic concepts on critical state the mapping
parameters should be done:
•
Parameter mapping
• In development of basic concepts on critical state the mapping
parameters should be done:
•
Relationship of One –D Consolidation Parameters and Isotropic
consolidation parameters

Cc C
  c  0.434Cc
ln(10) 2.3
Cr C
  r  0.434Cr
ln(10) 2.3

For many soils, / has a

value within the range of
1/10 to 1/5
Failure surface

• The fundamental concept in CSM is that a unique failure surface

exists in (p’, q, e) space which defines failure of a soil irrespective
of the history of loading or the stress paths followed.
• Failure and critical state are synonymous so failure line is known
as critical state line (CSL).
•
Failure surface

• In stress space (p’,q) the CSL is

a straight line of slope M=Mc for
compression, and M=Me for
extension.
• Extension doesn’t mean
tension but refers to the case
where the lateral stress is
greater than the vertical stress.
Failure surface

• The CSL is parallel to the NCL

Yield surface

•If 3 is set to 0 and increase 1, the material will yield at some
value of 1, at (1)y , and plots as point A.
• If, alternatively, we set 1 =0 and increase 3 , the material will
yield at (3)y and is represented by point B.
Yield surface

•We can subject the soil to various combinations of 1 and 3 and plot
the resulting yield points.
• Linking the yield points results in a curve, AB, which is called the yield
curve or yield surface.
• If the material is subjected to a combination of stress below this
curve, it will respond elastically.
• If loading is continued beyond the yield stress, the material will
respond elastoplastically.
• If the material is isotropic, the yield surface will be symmetrical about
the 1 and 3 axes.
Soil Yielding

•The yield surface of the soil is assumed to be an ellipse and its initial
size or major axis is determined by the preconsolidation stress, P’c.
• The higher the preconsolidation stress, the larger the initial ellipse.
• Expansion of the initial yield surface simulates strain-hardening
materials (loose sands, normally or lightly overconsolidated clay)
• It also simulating strain softening materials (dense send, heavily
overconsolidated clays).
• The intersection of the CSL among initial yield surface and expanded
yield surface are P’c/2 and P’G/2 respectively.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under drained condition (CD test)
• Consolidate the sample up to
maximum effective stress, p’c and
then unload it to mean effective
stress p’o. Ro = p’c/p’o <2.

•On a plot of p’ versus e, the

isotropic consolidation path is
represented by AC and known as
normal consolidation line (NCL) of
slope . The line AC is also called
isotropic consolidation line (ICL).

•As we consolidate the soil

gradually from A to C and unload it
gradually to O, the stress path
followed in the (p’,q) space are
A  C and C  O.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under drained condition (CD test)
• We can also sketch a curve (CO)
to represent the unloading of the
soil in (p’,e) space.

• The preconsolidation mean

effective stress, p’c determines the
size of the initial yield surface. A
semiellipse is sketched in (a) to
illustrate the initial yield surface for
compression.

•We can draw a line AS of slope Mc

from the origin to represent the
critical-state line (CSL) in (p’,q)
space.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under drained condition (CD test)
• In (p’e) space the CSL is parallel to NCL.

•The CSL intersect the initial yield surface

and all subsequent yield surface at p’c/2
and p’G/2.

•Now we will shear the soil at current mean

effective stress, p’o by increasing the axial
stress, keeping the cell pressure, 3
constant and allowing the sample to drain.
Because the soil is allowed to drain, the
total stress = effective stress.

• The effective stress path (ESP) for CD test

has a slope q/p’=3.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under drained condition (CD test)
• The ESP is equal to total stress path (TSP)
because this is a drained test.

• The ESP intersect the initial yield surface

at D. So all stress state from O to D lie
within the initial yield surface on the ESP
the soil behaves elastically.

•We can also draw a line OD in (1,q) space.

• Since the line CO in (p’,e) space represent

the unloading/reloading line (URL), the
elastic response must lie along this line.

•We can also draw the line OD in (1,e)

space.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under drained condition (CD test)
• Further loading from D to F causes the soil
to yield. The initial yield surface expands
and the stress-strain is no longer elastic but
elastoplastic.

• We can continue to add increments of

loading along the ESP until CSL is
intersected. At this stage, the soil fails and
cannot provide additional shearing
resistance to further loading.

•The deviatoric stress, q and void ratio

remain constant. The failure stress are p’f
and qf and failure void ratio is ef.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated (CD test)

•In the case of a normally consolidated soil,

the past mean effective stress is equal to
the current mean effective stress(O). The
point O is on the initial yield surface.

•So upon loading, the soil will yield

immediately. There is no initial elastic
region.

•An increment of effective stress

corresponding to C will cause the initial
yield surface to expand.

•The preconsolidation mean effective stress

is now p’G and must lie at the juncture of
the NCL and URL.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated (CD test)

•Since C is on the expanded yield surface, it

must have a corresponding point on the
URL through G.

•If you unload the soil from C, you will get

an elastic response (C O’. The soil sample
has become overconsolidated

•Continued incremental loading along ESP

will induced further incremental yielding
until failure is attained.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under undrained conditions (CU test)
•The slope of the TSP is 3.

•For undrained condition the soil volume

remains constant (e = 0).

•The ESP of undrained conditioned for a

linear elastic soil is vertical, that’s mean the
change in mean effective stress, p’ is zero.

•Because the change in volume is zero, the

mean effective stress at failure can be
represented by horizontal line in (p’e)
space (OF).

•Projecting a vertical line from the mean

effective stress at failure in (p’,e) space to
intersect the CSL in (p’q) space give the
deviatoric stress at failure)
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under undrained conditions (CU test)

•The initial yield stress (p’y, qy), point D in

(p’q) space are obtained from the
intersection of the ESP and the initial yield
surface.

•Points O and D are coincident in the (p’e)

space because P’=0.

•The ESP (OD) produces elastic response.

Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under undrained conditions (CU test)

•Continue loading beyond initial yield will

cause the initial yield surface to expand. For
example point E between D and F on the
constant void ratio line will be on an
expanded yield surface (AEG) in (p’q) space.

•Point E must be on a URL .

•The ESP from D curves left towards F on

the CSL as excess porewater pressure
increases significantly after initial yield.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under undrained conditions (CU test)

•The TSP has a slope of 3 (OX).

•The Difference in mean stress between the

total stress path and the effective path
gives the change in excess porewater
pressure.

•The excess porewater pressure at initial

yield and at failure are represented by the
horizontal lines DW and FT respectively.

•The intersection of the TSP with the CSL is

not the failure point, because failure and
deformation of a soil mass depend on
effective stress, not total stress.
Prediction of the behaviour of normally consolidated and lightly
overconsolidated soils under undrained conditions (CU test)

•For normally consolidated soils, yielding

begins as soon as the soil is loaded. Point C
on the constant volume line OF in (p’e)
space will be on an expanded yield surface
and also on the corresponding URL.

•The excess porewater pressures at C and F

are represented by the horizontal lines CT
and FW.
Prediction of the behaviour of heavily overconsolidated soils
under drained conditions (CD test)

•Heavily overconsolidated soils when Ro

>2.

• Heavily overconsolidated soils have initial

stress state that lie to the left of the CSL in
(p’e) space.

•The ESP for CD test has a slope of 3 and

intersects the initial yield surface at D. So
from O to D, the soils behaves elastically
(OD).

•The intersection of the ESP with the CSL is

at F, so that the yield surface must contract
as the soil is loaded to failure beyond initial
yield.
Prediction of the behaviour of heavily overconsolidated soils
under drained conditions (CD test)

•From D, the soil volume expands and the

soil strain softens (Figure C) to failure at F.

•Remember that the soil yielding must

occur before failure. So, the soil must follow
the path O  D  F and not O  F D.

• The simulated volumetric response is

shown in Figure (d). From O to D (the
elastic phase) the soils contracts. After
initial yielding, the soil expands (dilates) up
to failure and remains at constant volume
(constant void ratio).
Prediction of the behaviour of heavily overconsolidated soils
under drained conditions (CU test)

•In the case of a CU test, the path to failure

in (p’,e) space is OF (Figure b) because no
volume change occurs.

•In Figure (a) the soil will yield at D and

then fail at F. So the path to failure is O  D
 F.

•All stress states from O to D within initial

yield surface, so the soil behaves like an
elastic material. Any stress state between
D and F must have a corresponding point at
the intersection of a URL line.

•The yield surface from D to F contracts.

Prediction of the behaviour of heavily overconsolidated soils
under drained conditions (CU test)

•The tendency for the soil to contract from

O to D induces positive excess porewater
pressures, while the tendency to expand (D
to F) induces negative excess porewater
pressures.

•The excess porewater pressure at initial

yield uy and at failure uf are shown in
the inset of figure (a).

•The excess porewater pressure at failure is

negative.
 Element of the Critical State Model (CSM)

Yield Surface Critical state parameters

i) Failure Line in (p’q) space

- Axisymmetric Compression
- Axisymmetric Extension
- Plane Strain

i) Failure Line in (p’e) space

Element of the Critical State Model (CSM)

Yield Surface

q 2  M 2 p ' ( p 'c  p ' )

q   M p ' ( p 'c  p ' )
 p 'c 
q   Mp'   1
 p' 
q2
p 'c  p ' 2
M p'

You can draw the initial yield surface

if you know the values of M and P’c
 Element of the Critical State Model (CSM)

Critical state parameters

q f  Mp' f
Axisymmetric compression
6 sin  'cs
Mc  Failure line in (p’q) space
3  sin cs
Axisymmetric extension
6 sin  'cs
Me 
3  sin cs
Plane strain
M  M ps  3 sin  'cs
 Element of the Critical State Model (CSM)
Failure line in (p’e) space
• The CSL is parallel to the NCL and is
represented by
e f  e   ln p' f

• Lets X be the intersection of URL with

the CSL. The mean effective stress at X is
p’c/2.
p 'o
•From URL e X  eo   ln
p 'c
2
•From CSL p'c
eX  e   ln
2
Combine: p'
e  eo  (   ) ln c   ln p'o
2
Example

A clay soil was consolidated to a mean effective stress of 250

kN/m2. If M=Mc =0.94, plot the yield surface.
Solution

Use one of the equation to solve the q using values of p’ from

0 to p’c. For example putting p’ = 50, 100, 150, and 200 by
using this equation.

 p 'c 
q   Mp'   1
 p' 
P’ q
50 94.0
100 115.1
150 115.1
200 94.0
Example

A standard triaxial CD test at a constant cell pressure, 3= ’3 =

120 kN/m2, was conducted on a sample of normally
consolidated clay. At failure, q= = 140 kN/m2.

(a) Calcuate p’f

(b) Calculate Mc
(c) Determine the deviatoric stress at failure if an extension
test were to be carried out so that failure occurs at the
same mean effective stress.
Solution

1. Find the major principal stress at failure

 ' f   '1  '3    '3  140  120  260 kN / m 2

2. Find mean effective stress, p’ f

  '1 2 '3  260  2 x120
p' f      166 .7kN / m 2
 3 f 3

3. Find  cs
 '1  '3 140
sin  'cs    0.37
 '1  '3 260  120
so,  'cs  21.6o
 Solution

4. Find Mc and Me
6 sin  'cs 6  0.37
Mc    0.84
3  sin  'cs 3  0.37

6 sin  'cs 6  0.37

Me    0.66
3  sin  'cs 3  0.37

5. Find qf for extension

0.66
qf  140  110 kN / m 2
0.84
qf 110
; p' f    166 .7 kN / m 2
M e 0.66
Example

A saturated soil sample is isotropically consolidated in a triaxial

apparatus, and a selected set of data is shown in the table.
Determine,  ,, and e.

Condition Cell Pressure Final void ratio

(kN/m2)
Loading 200 1.72
1000 1.20
Unloading 500 1.25
Solution

e 1.20  1.72
   0.32
ln( p'c )  ln( p'1 ) 6.91  5.3

e 1.20  1.25
    0.07
ln( p'c )  ln( p'o ) 6.91  6.21
Solution

e  eo      ln
p 'c
  ln p'o
2
 1.25  0.32  0.07  ln
1000
 0.07 ln 500  3.24
2
Exercise

The following results were obtained from a one-dimensional

consolidation test on a saturated clay of water content, w=72%,
Cc =0.52, Cr = 0.06 and OCR = 4.8. If Ko =0.5, calculate , , eo,
Ro, Mc, and Me.
Exercise

If  =0.2, =0.04, eo=1.1, Ro=1.4 and p’o=40 kN/m2:

(a) Calculate e

(b) Plot the loading and unloading/reloading line in (p’,e) and

(lnp’,e) spaces.
Exercise

The following data were obtained from a consolidation phase of

a standard triaxial CU test on a clay soil. Determine  and .

P’ 25 50 200 400 800 1600 800 400 200

(kN/m2)
e 1.65 1.64 1.62 1.57 1.51 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.47
Exercise

The water content of a saturated soil sample at mean effective

stress of 50 kN/m2 is 80%. The sample was isotropically
consolidated with a mean effective stress of 200 kN/m2. The
water content was 40% at the end of consolidation. Then, the
sample was isotropically unloaded to a mean effective stress of
150 kN/m2, and the water content increased by 5%.

(a) Draw the NCL and URL in (p’,e) and (lnp’,e) spaces.
(b) Calculate  and 
(c) Draw the initial yield surface and the CSL in (p’, q), (p’,e) and
(lnp’,e) spaces if ’cs =25o