The residual shear strength of tropical soils

Abstract

The paper discusses the residual shear strength of tropical soils. Ring shear tests have been performed with tropical soils from southern Brazil using the Bromhead apparatus. The data from the study are compared with data obtained in a comprehensive literature review of the subject. The residual friction angle of tropical residual soils from sedimentary formations decreases with increasing plasticity index following a general trend presented in the literature. Most of the residual soils described herein have also shown this trend. However, some of these residual soils, particularly basalt saprolitic soils, have shown quite low residual friction angles despite having low plasticity index and clay fraction values. It has been confirmed that the residual shear strength of tropical soils depends chiefly on mineralogy, particle size distribution, effective stress, parent rock, weathering degree, pedogenetic evolution and - when partly weathered minerals are present - degradation upon shearing. The substantial range of new data shown in the paper has allowed the definition of general boundaries of different soil behaviour in a chart of residual friction angle versus plasticity index. Each region has been associated with a different type of tropical soil.Key words: tropical soils, residual soils, residual shear strength, laboratory tests.