Shear strength of soil

Necessity of studying Shear Strength of soils : • Soil failure usually occurs in the form of “shearing” along internal surface within the soil. Shear Strength: • Thus, structural strength is primarily a function of shear strength. • The strength of a material is the greatest stress it can sustain • The safety of any geotechnical structure is dependent on the strength of the soil • If the soil fails, the structure founded on it can collapse Thus shear strength is “The capacity of a material to resist the internal and external forces which slide past each other” Significance of Shear Strength : Engineers must understand the nature of shearing resistance in order to analyze soil stability problems such as; Bearing capacity Slope stability Lateral earth pressure on earth-retaining structure