Shear-strength characteristics of a residual soil

Abstract

Shallow landslides in natural residual soils slopes are common all over the world. The slip surfaces associated with these landslides are often situated above the groundwater table. Therefore, it is important to quantify the contribution of negative pore-water pressure to the shear strength of soil. The shear-strength characteristics of residual soil from the Jurong Formation in Singapore were assessed using multistage, consolidated drained triaxial tests. These tests involved shearing under either a constant net confining pressure and varying matric suctions or under a constant matric suction and varying net confining pressures. An extended form of the Mohr–Coulomb equation was used to interpret the test results. The test results show that for matric suctions up to 400 kPa, the angle of internal friction associated with the matric suction, [Formula: see text], is similar to the effective angle of internal friction, [Formula: see text], which averages 26° for the residual soil of the Jurong Formation. The residual soil can maintain a high degree of saturation for matric suctions as high as 400 kPa. Examples involving stability analyses of a residual soil slope with varying pore-water pressure profiles indicate that soil suction contributes significantly to the factor of safety, particularly for shallow slip surfaces. Key words : residual soil, unsaturated soil, matric suction, shear strength, multistage triaxial test, slope stability.