Geotechnical and Foundation Engineering

October 19, 2016

Experiment#4
DETERMINATION OF UNCONFINED COMPRESSIVE
STRENGTH OF COHESIVE SOILS
4.1 OBJECTIVE:

To perform unconfined compression test on cohesive soils to determine their

unconfined compressive strength (qu) and undrained shear strength (Su).

For soils, the undrained shear strength (Su) is necessary for the determination
of the bearing capacity of foundations, dams, etc.

This test method provides an approximate value of the strength of cohesive

soils in terms of total stresses.

4.2 APPARATUS

Unconfined Compression Device

(Electrically driven strain controlled)

Re-molding Device

Deformation Dial Gage

Balance (L.C. = 0.01 gm)

Spatula

Moisture tins

4.3 RELATED THEORY:

The unconfined compression test is by far the most popular method of soil shear
testing because it is one of the fastest and cheapest methods of measuring shear
strength. The method is used primarily for saturated, cohesive soils recovered from
thin-walled sampling tubes. The unconfined compression test is inappropriate for dry
sands or crumbly clays because the materials would fall apart without some land of
lateral confinement.
4.3.1 UNCONFINED COMPRESSIVE STRENGTH OF COHESIVE SOIL:
Unconfined compressive strength of cohesive soil, qu, is defined as the load per unit
area at which an unconfined cylindrical specimen of soil will fail in a simple
compression test.
It is taken as the maximum load attained per unit area or the load per unit area at 15%
axial strain, whichever is secured first during the performance of a test.

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The unconfined compression test is perhaps the simplest, easiest and least expensive
test for investigation of the shear strength of a cohesive soil. This test procedure is
usually limited to cohesive soils, since there is no lateral support and the soil sample
must be able to stand alone. A non-cohesive soil (such as sand) cannot generally
stand alone in this manner without lateral support. The cohesion C is taken to be onehalf the unconfined compressive strength (i.e., C = qu/2).
A cohesive soil gets most of its shear strength from its cohesion. Hence, for most
cohesive soils, the cohesion (and therefore the shear strength) maybe estimated from
the results of unconfined compression test. However, for soft and/or sensitive clay, the
cohesion is commonly obtained instead from the results of field or laboratory vane
tests.
This compression is based on the fact that the minor principal stress ( = zero)
(atmospheric), and the angle of internal friction of the soil is assumed zero. To give
the unconfined compression test more dignity, it is often called an un-drained or U
test. With more knowledge concerning soil behavior available, it became evident that
the unconfined compression test does not generally provide a very reliable value of
soil shear strength for at least three reasons.

The effect of lateral restraint provided by the surrounding soil mass on the
sample is lost when the sample is removed from the ground. There is, however,
some opinion that the soil moisture provides a surface tension (or confining)
effect so that the sample is somewhat confined. This effect should be more
pronounced if the sample is saturated or nearly so. This effect will depend on
the relative humidity of the testing area, making a quantitative evaluation of it
rather difficult.
The internal soil conditions like degree of saturation, the pore water pressure
under stress deformation and the effects of altering the degree of saturation)
cannot be controlled.
The friction on the ends of the sample from the loading platens provides a lateral
restraint on the ends which alters the internal stresses by an unknown amount.

Errors from the first two factors cited above can be eliminated or at least reduced by
using the confined (or tri-axial) compression tests. The third term has undergone
considerable research and the indication is that this factor is not as important as one
might at first suppose.
Special end plates or platens can be fabricated to reduce the friction effects if more
refined test results are desired.

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October 19, 2016

4.3.2 LIMITATIONS:

The test has been found to be somewhat sensitive to the rate of strain, but a
strain rate between and 2 percent/min appears to yield satisfactory results.
Since the unconfined compression test specimens are exposed to the usually
dry laboratory air (low humidity), specimen should reach failure within about
min; otherwise, the change in water content may affect the unconfined
compressive strength (increase it, usually).
The length to diameter ratio of the test specimens should be large enough to
avoid interference of potential 45 failure planes and short enough that we do
not obtain a Column failure. The length/diameter ratio to satisfy this criterion
is 2 < L/d < 3.

4.3.3 AREA CORRECTION

It is conventional practice in soil mechanics to correct the area on which the load P
is acting. The original area is corrected by considering that the total volume of the soil
is unchanged. The initial total soil sample volume is
Total Volume=

But after some change in specimen length of L

=

Equating both equations for corrected area A we obtain,

)
=

By solving we get

Where

= Corrected Area

= Total Area

Strain= =

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4.4 PROCEDURE:

If density and moisture content of the soil is known, calculate the weight of the
dry soil needed for preparation of three soil samples of 1.5 diameter and 3
height.
Add specified moisture to the dry soil and mix thoroughly. Put some of the soil
for moisture content determination.

4.4.1 PREPARATION OF SAMPLE

We have pressure at sample
= 18

= 11 %
Volume =
Volume =

3 = 5.3014

=0.0000868 m3
W o =180.0000868 = 1.56

= 160
= 1600.11 = 17.6
= 160 17.6 = 142.4

Prepare three soil samples of required density by packing the soil in the
specimen mold.
If the sample specimen crumbles easily or a good bearing surface for the plate
cannot be obtained. It is permissible to cap the end using Plaster of Paris.
If evaporation from the soil is expected, the samples should be sealed by
encapsulating the specimens in a thin latex membrane immediately following
specimens preparation.
Carefully align the specimen in the compression machine.
Set the load dial gage to zero and set the deformation dial to zero. At this time
a very small load should be on the sample (order of ideal 1 unit of a loading
gage).
Turn on machine and take load and deformation dial readings as follows 10,
20, 30, 40, 50 divisions thereafter, until of the following:

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I.

Load decreases on sample significantly.

II.

Load holds constant for 4 readings.

III.

Deformation is significantly past 15% strain.

October 19, 2016

Remove the specimen from compression machine and sketch the failed
specimen. If an obvious failure plane is observed, measure the angle of the
failure plane with respect to the horizontal and record this angle as .

Determine the water content of the sample.

Test at least two more samples by repeating steps 6 to 10.

Compute the unit strain, corrected area, and the unit stress, for all readings to
define the stress-strain curve adequately. Plot the results on the graph paper
from the test results, show qu as the peak stress of each test and calculate the
average value of qu for three tests. Be sure to plot strain as the abscissa.

Draw a Mohrs Circle using average qu and draw three circles for three
specimens and measure cohesion factor.

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October 19, 2016

4.5 OBSERVATIONS& CALCULATIONS

Height of specimen=

= 3" = 76.2

Diameter of specimen=

= 1.5" = 38.1

Area of specimen
=

38.1
4

= 1140
Volume of Specimen=AreaHeight= 114076.2

= 86875

Proving Ring Constant= PRC = 0.8 lb/div.

Deformation dial gage constant=0.01 mm
Weight of soil sample= 160 gram
Initial Moisture Content= 11 %
4.5.1 CALCULATIONS
Sr#

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18

Deformation
Dial Gauge
Reading
0.00
10.00
20.00
30.00
40.00
50.00
60.00
70.00
80.00
90.00
100.00
110.00
120.00
130.00
140.00
150.00
160.00
170.00

Load Dial
Gauge
Reading
lb./Div.
0.00
4.00
7.00
10.00
12.00
14.00
16.00
18.00
19.00
20.00
21.00
20.00
19.00
18.00
17.00
16.00
15.00
14.00

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Sample
Deformation

Unit
Strain

Axial
Strain

Corrected
Area

mm
0.00
0.10
0.20
0.30
0.40
0.50
0.60
0.70
0.80
0.90
1.00
1.10
1.20
1.30
1.40
1.50
1.60
1.70

mm/mm

%
0.00
0.13
0.26
0.39
0.52
0.66
0.79
0.92
1.05
1.18
1.31
1.44
1.57
1.71
1.84
1.97
2.10
2.23

mm2
1140.00
1141.50
1143.00
1144.51
1146.02
1147.53
1149.05
1150.57
1152.10
1153.63
1155.16
1156.70
1158.24
1159.79
1161.34
1162.89
1164.45
1166.01

0.00
0.00
0.00
0.00
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.01
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02
0.02

Axial Load

Axial
Stress

lb.

kN

kPa

0.00
3.20
5.60
8.00
9.60
11.20
12.80
14.40
15.20
16.00
16.80
16.00
15.20
14.40
13.60
12.80
12.00
11.20

0.00
0.01
0.02
0.04
0.04
0.05
0.06
0.06
0.07
0.07
0.07
0.07
0.07
0.06
0.06
0.06
0.05
0.05

0.00
12.47
21.79
31.09
37.26
43.42
49.55
55.67
58.69
61.69
64.69
61.53
58.38
55.23
52.09
48.96
45.84
42.73

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October 19, 2016

4.5.2 Graphs
Graph between Axial Stress vs Axial Strain

Axial Stress vs Axial Strain

70.00

qu =64.69 Kpa

60.00

Axial Stress (Kpa)

50.00
40.00
30.00
20.00
10.00
0.00
0.00

0.50

1.00

1.50

2.00

2.50

Axial Strain (%)

Shear Stress

Graph between normal stress and shear stress

=0

C=

3 =0

1 =

Normal Stress

=64.69 Kpa

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October 19, 2016

4.6 RESULTS
=64.69 kPa

(From graph)
Su = Cu =

= 32.34

Plot the Mohrs circle between normal stress and shear stress and obtain
corresponding undrained shear strength Su of cohesive soil.

4.7 REFERENCE

ASTM D2166-06

Standard Test Method for Unconfined Compressive Strength of Cohesive Soil

4.8 COMMENTS
The primary purpose of this test is to determine the unconfined compressive strength,
which is then used to calculate the unconsolidated undrained shear strength of the
clay under unconfined conditions.
In this experiment, the unconfined compressive strength is taken as the maximum load
attained per unit area, or the load per unit area at 15% axial strain, whichever occurs
first during the performance of a test.
This test can be performed on both types of sample i.e. (Disturbed and Undisturbed)
the strength of the material can be determined. This method of determining strength
is suitable only for soils that can retain a stable specimen shape in the remoulded
state. For soils that will not retain a stable shape, a vane shear test is performed.

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