A study on soil interface interaction

Abstract

Interfaces between soil-concrete, soil-steel, soil-root, soil-wood, soil-polymer frequently stumble upon various geotechnical engineering applications. Several studies agree that the material properties interfacing with the soil, the properties and the performance of the soil at the interface makes it even more multifaceted and interesting. Highly plastic, over consolidated clays, crushable calcareous sands, soft marine clays, clays with organic content etc., show unusual complications related to cast in situ and driven pile shaft capacity calculations, functioning of various infrastructural projects that comes in contact with soil. Several testing methodologies have been developed to examine the interface behaviour under different conditions, it substantiates determination of the interface shear strength parameters for design. Such studies involve real time understanding of the frictional anisotropy which is possible through large scale direct shear tests, tilting frames, simple shear tests and radial shear experiments for finding the interface between soil and material. In addition, microstructural investigations are also to be piloted to realize the shearing mechanism of the soil material interfaces. Yet standard testing conditions for evaluating the interface angle simulating the real time environment is not yet available. A systematic review of the study on appropriate mechanisms available for investigating the Soil Material Interface is done, which will aim to suggest improvements by critically identifying their shortcomings.