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Shear strength is one of the most important properties of soil that is used for the analysis and design of almost all geotechnical engineering projects. Shear strength of soils is a very complicated topic and performing more sophisticated shear strength tests require a lot of training. However, unconfined compressive strength test is a quick and simple test that can be used to determine the shear strength of clay samples under undrained conditions. This video presents basics discussion on shear strength of soils, common laboratory tests to estimate shear strength of soils, step-by-step procedure to perform unconfined compression strength test, and interpretion of data.

Learning Objectives:

• Shear strength of soils
• Shear failure in soil based on real life examples
• Determination of shear strength of soil using unconfined compression strength test
• Understanding stress, strain and strain rate
• Various types of sample failure during the test
• Understanding the results and estimating tangent and secant modulii
• Possible errors associated with the test

Instructor Information: Sanjeev Kumar, P.E.

Course Length: 43 Minutes