Shear strength of remolded soils at consistency limits

Abstract

The undrained shear strength of remolded soils is of concern in certain geotechnical engineering applications. Several methods for determining this parameter exist, including the laboratory vane test. This study proposes a new method to estimate the undrained shear strength, particularly at the plastic and liquid limits. For 30 inorganic soil samples of different plasticity levels, we determined the Atterberg limits, then performed a series of reverse extrusion tests at different water contents. The plastic and liquid limits are derived from the linear relationship between the logarithm of the extrusion pressure and water content. The tests show that the average undrained shear strength determined from the extrusion pressures at the plastic limit is about 180 kPa, whereas the average undrained shear strength at the liquid limit is 2.3 kPa. We show that the undrained shear strength of remolded soils at any water content can be estimated from the Atterberg limits alone. Although the laboratory vane test provides a reasonable undrained shear strength value at the plastic limit, it overestimates the undrained shear strength at the liquid limit and thus, care must be taken when the laboratory vane test is used to determine undrained shear strengths at water contents near the liquid limit.