Shear strength of soils containing amorphous clay-size materials in a slow-moving landslide

Abstract

The shear behavior of soils rich in amorphous clay-size materials was not well reported in the literature. This study analyzed the direct shear and ring shear test data of soil samples containing 55–74% amorphous materials in the clay fraction from a slow-moving landslide in eastern Honolulu, HI. The direct shear test results showed that the undisturbed soil samples when not sheared internally had peak cohesion ( c) of about 50 kPa and internal friction angle ( Ø) of about 10°. This implies that the amorphous clay-size materials provided strong interparticle bonds for the soils. Breaking of the bonds during the softening process and redistribution of the amorphous clay-size materials were primarily responsible for the drop from the peak strength to the residual strength ( c=0, Ø=10° from back calculation with SLOPE/W and c=0, Ø=5–7° from the ring shear test). The drained residual failure envelope is stress dependent due to the interaction of the gel-like amorphous clay-size materials with crystalline silt- and sand-sized particles. The amorphous clay-size materials act as the contact between crystalline particles. The contact increases with increasing consolidation stress, resulting in a decrease in the shear strength and the residual friction angle.