Shear strength (soil)

Summary

Shear strength is a term used in soil mechanics to describe the magnitude of the shear stress that a soil can sustain. The shear resistance of soil is a result of friction and interlocking of particles, and possibly cementation or bonding of particle contacts. Due to interlocking, particulate material may expand or contract in volume as it is subject to shear strains. If soil expands its volume, the density of particles will decrease and the strength will decrease; in this case, the peak strength would be followed by a reduction of shear stress. The stress-strain relationship levels off when the material stops expanding or contracting, and when interparticle bonds are broken. The theoretical state at which the shear stress and density remain constant while the shear strain increases may be called the critical state, steady state, or residual strength. The volume change behavior and interparticle friction depend on the density of the particles, the intergranular contact forces, and t

Official source

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shear_strength_(soil)

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2001

A discrete element model is proposed to examine rock strength and failure. The model is implemented by UDEC, which is developed for this purpose. The material is represented as a collection of irregular-sized deformable particles interacting at their cohesive boundaries. The interface between two adjacent particles is viewed as a flexible contact whose constitutive law controls the material fracture and fragmentation properties. To reproduce rock anisotropy, an orthotropic cohesive law is developed for the contacts, which allows their shear and tensile behaviors to be different from each other. Using a combination of original closed-form expressions and statistical calibrations, a unique set of the contact microparameters are found based on the uniaxial/triaxial compression and Brazilian tension test data of a plaster. Applying the obtained microparameters, joint specimens, made of the same plaster, are simulated, where the comparison of the obtained results to laboratory data shows a reasonable agreement.

Springer Vienna2012

, ,

In order to investigate the micro-process and inner mechanism of rock failure under impact loading, the laboratory tests were carried out on an improved split Hopkinson pressure bar (SHPB) system with synchronized measurement devices including a high-speed camera and a dynamic strain meter. The experimental results show that the specimens were in the state of good stress equilibrium during the post failure stage even when visible cracks were forming in the specimens. Rock specimens broke into strips but still could bear the external stress and keep force balance. Meanwhile, numerical tests with particle flow code (PFC) revealed that the failure process of rocks can be described by the evolution of micro-fractures. Shear cracks emerged firstly and stopped developing when the external stress was not high enough. Tensile cracks, however, emerged when the rock specimen reached its peak strength and played an important role in controlling the ultimate failure during the post failure stage.

Elsevier Science Bv2017