Shear strength of compacted Chlef sand: effect of water content, fines content and others parameters

Abstract

This paper presents a laboratory study of the combined effect of the water content and fines content on the mechanical behaviour of Chlef sand in a medium dense state (RD = 65%) and dense state (RD = 80%). Several mechanical parameters were evaluated such as shear strength, cohesion and friction angle at different water content w = 0, 1, 2 and 3% and different fines content Fc = 0, 10, 20, 30 and 40%. The test results showed that the shear strength of Chlef sand decrease with the increase fines content Fc = 0 to 40%, our tests result also showed that the water content has a significant influence on the shear strength which decreases with the increase in the water content w = 0 to 3%. The fines content and the water content have a significant influence on the mechanical parameters c and φ. Cohesion increases with the percentage of fines and decreases with the increase of the water content while the friction angle decreases with the increase the fines content and the water content.

Keywords

• fines content
• water content
• direct shear test
• friction angle
• cohesion