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Determination of failure zone of vane shear test using artificial transparent

soil

Article  in  Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering · September 2015

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 Determination of Failure Zone of Vane
Shear Test Using Artificial Transparent
Soil
Noorsubha binti Hussin
Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai,
Johor, Malaysia
[email protected],

Ahmad Safuan bin A Rashid

Faculty of Civil Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai,
Johor, Malaysia
[email protected]

Hisham bin Mohamad

UTM Construction Research Centre, Institute for Smart Infrastructures &
Innovative Construction, Universiti Teknologi, Malaysia
[email protected]

Abdul Rahman bin Samuri

Faculty of Science, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, 81310 UTM Skudai, Johor,
Malaysia.
[email protected]

ABSTRACT
In this study, a special cylinder testing chamber equipped with vane shear device mounted at the center
of the chamber base was developed to study the failure mechanism during the vane shear test. The soil
was simulated using a mixture of amorphous silica and mineral oil, which becomes transparent when
the refractive indices between the oil and the silica are well matched. One-dimensional consolidation
method was carried out to prepare and determine the consolidation properties of the transparent soil.
The vertical section aligned with the vane blade centerline was illuminated with laser light and
sequence of digital images was recorded using a digital camera. Close range photogrammery and
Particle Image Velocimetry (PIV) were used to determine the failure mechanism during vane shear
test. Based on the contours, it can be revealed that, the failure zone is developed under a approximately
a block pattern (uniform shear stress distribution) in the range 5-30% from the diameter of the blade
which is closed to the conventional assumption of a uniform shear stress distribution of the failure
surface.
KEYWORDS: Failure mechanism; Artificial transparent soil; Vane shear test;
Photogrammetry; Particle Image Velocimetry

- 6515 -
 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6516

INTRODUCTION
The field vane is the most widely used method for the in-situ determination of the undrained
shear strength of soft clays. It is originally developed in Sweden in 1919 and has been employed
extensively on a worldwide basis since the late 1940s, following pioneering development work by
others (Chandler, 1988). The undrained shear strength, su is determined from the torque force applied
on the soil sample by assuming a cylindrical failure surface occurred. However, displacement and
failure mechanism is not easy to observe in natural soil mass whether on the field or laboratory
testing. Figure 1 shows the assumed geometry of the shear surface of a vane shear test (Clayton et al.,
1982). In deducing the undrained shear strength from the vane shear test, it is commonly assumed that
the rectangular blades of the vane shear the soil along a circumscribing cylinder and the mobilized
shear strength is uniform over the surface of rotation at the maximum torque (De Alencar et al.,
1988). However, since the cylinder has different strains along the edge and towards the centre at the
failure, the shear stress distribution may not be uniform (Menzies and Merrifield, 1980). The shear
stress distribution may not be rectangular (which is taken as the standard stress distribution), instead it
can be in triangular or parabolic mode.

Figure 1: Assumed geometry of shear surface for conventional interpretation of the vane test
(Clayton et al., 1982).

Several studies have been conducted to determine the soil failure zone during the vane shear test.
Geotechnical engineers assume the existence of a circular failure surface surrounding the vane when
calculating the undrained shear strength. The assumption is based from observations by Cadling and
Odenstad (1949) who studied the shape of the surface rupture by inserting sheets of wet tissue paper
on which a spider-web like pattern was drawn in between the slabs of soil. By comparing the
disturbance in the patterns on the tissue paper in a series of vane shear tests with increasing rotation
of the vane, it was concluded that the diameter of the cylinder of rupture closely coincided with the
diameter of the vane. The experiment also shows that the effect of progressive failure (failure starting
in front of the edge of the blades and propagating along the cylindrical surface) was negligible in
ultimate strength tests.
Skempton (1948) found that shear strength values measured with the unconfined compression test
were lower than those determine with vane shear test. Reasonable agreement was obtained when the
diameter of the failure surface was multiplied by a factor of 1.05. This correction factor named
‘effective diameter’ by Skempton (1948) was an empirical coefficient based on the assumption that
unconfined compressive test data represented the true in situ shear strength values. Later researchers
 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6517

incorrectly assumed that Skempton (1948) actually observed the diameter of the failure surface to be
5% greater than the diameter of the vane (Veneman, and Edil, 1988).
Wilson (1964) noted through a series of photographs of the shearing planes at the instant of
maximum torque the failure surface is not circular in plan, but almost square. Only after considerable
deformation takes place does a cylindrical surface formed. In a vane shear test, failure can be
expected to start in front of the edge of each wing seemed to be somewhat greater than behind it but
concluded that the effect of progressive failure was only slight and therefore negligible. Aas (1965,
1967) developed a method for assessing the degree of anisotropy of a soil by using rectangular vanes
of different heights. The experiment shows that as the height to diameter ratio decreases, the
assumption regarding the distribution of stresses on the top and bottom of cylindrical shear surface
becomes more important, leading to uncertainties in the interpretation of the data. Menzies and
Mailey (1976) have pointed out that the above method gives strengths in only two modes of shearing,
which are horizontally on the vertical and horizontal planes. In the field, shearing vertically on
vertical plane is normally involved. The stress distribution and the shape of failure zone are essential
in determining the undrained shear strength in vane shear test.
Moreover, the measurement of soil deformation proved to be a challenging process in
geotechnical engineering field and various attempts made to study the displacements in soil to get a
better understanding and solving geotechnical engineering problems. Rapid advancement in
technology creates many methods and new equipments developed that can further investigate the
failure mechanism for a vane shear test. Recent development of transparent synthetic soils (Iskander
et al., 1994; Iskander et al., 2002 and 2003; Sadek et al., 2003; Liu and Iskander, 2010) and Particle
Image Velocimetry (PIV) allows measurement of the displacement of soil (White et al., 2003; White
et al., 2005), non-intrusively, within a body of soil (Hird et al., 2008; Ni et al., 2010). With this
development it is possible to see the movement inside the body of soil in laboratory test (Stanier,
2011). In spite of this, there has been relatively little research concerning the displacement of soil
caused by Vane Shear test using this artificial soil.
Thus, this study attempts to model the failure zone mechanism using artificial soil for vane shear
test. A closer look at the failure mechanism and the impact towards the formulation of the undrained
shear strength was also considered.

EXPERIMENTAL SYSTEM
Transparent Soil Preparation
The transparent soil was created by mixing the fumed amorphous silica with a blend of two mineral
oils and timiron which acted as ‘light-relective’ seeding. The mineral oils used in this experiment are
Paraffin oil (P1000) and Technical White oil (Grade A). The mixing proportion of the materials used
in this experiment will be based on the same proportion used by the previous researchers (Stanier,
2011). The pore fluid was mixed in the proportion of 77: 23 of Technical White oil : Paraffin as this
was the optimum ratio. The fumed amorphous silica content was 6% by mass compared to the pore
fluid and correspondingly the Timiron ‘light-reflective’ seeding proportion was 0.02% by mass
compared to the fumed silica content.
Before the mixing process begin, all the apparatus must be completetly clean and dry as the
contamination can affect the transparency of the material (Welker et al., 1999). The apparatus needed
to perform this experiment are the cylindrical test chamber, beakers, petri dishes, spatula, palette
knife and consolidation piston. The mineral oil components were measured using the measuring
cylinders and the fumed amorphous silica and Timiron using the appropriate balance scale. The two
 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6518

fluids were poured onto the silica powder and stirred together to ensure a thorough mixing of the
material. When the mixing is complete the slurry mix is then poured into a special cylindrical test
chamber.

Model Preparation
A special cylindrical cell equipped with vane shear apparatus was developed to determine the
failure mechanism of vane shear test as shown in Figure 2. A loading frame with pneumatic cylinder
was mounted at the top of the cell to provide a pressure during a consolidation test. A vane shear
device was mounted at the base of the cell to prevent any disturbance induced by inserting the vane
into the artificial soil before the pouring begin (Figure 3). The disturbance caused by vane insertion
can result in displacement of soil particles. When displacement of soil particles happened, the bond
between the interparticle will be disturb and in sensitive clays the undrained shear strength may be
reduced. After the vane is in placed, the slurry was poured into the test chamber. The slurry mix
contained a large volume of air during the mixing process. To remove the air and maximise the
transparency, the sample was vacuumed for 24 hours prior to consolidation (Ni et al., 2010).
An O-ring was used to seal the gap between the vane rod and the cell base to avoid any leakage
problem during the soil preparation and testing. The vane rod was extended out of the cell base to be
connected to the vane shear device in order to apply and measure the torque force on the soil sample.
The distance between the cell base and the end of the vane blade was set at three times the blade
diameter to allow development of the failure mechanism when the torque was applied (Yusoff, 2011).
The same distance was applied between the top of the blade and the final top surface of the ground
model after completion of the consolidation.

Before consolidation process begins, the testing chamber was placed in the consolidation frame and
the consolidation piston was carefully lowered until contact with the slurry mix was achieved. Two-
way drainage was provided through the surface and base of the test chamber and porous plastic sheets
were cut to fit into the base of the test chamber and cover the area of the consolidation piston. This
was done to minimize the aggregate losses and the risk of blockage. Consolidation was then
commenced for a week schedule with loading increment from 3.13 kPa, 6.25 kPa, 12.50 kPa, 12.50
kPa, 25.00 kPa, 50.00 kPa and 100.00 kPa (Head, 2011). A 50-mm LVDT with an accuracy of 0.001
mm was used to measure vertical displacement of the soil sample in the consolidation test. The
measured data were stored in a personal computer and organized using the logging software Winhost
5 for Windows. The consolidation process was completed under the maximum pressure of 100.00 kPa
and the final reading was recorded before starting the unloading stage. The pressure was unload at 50
kPa during the consolidation stage.
Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6519

Pnuematic cylinder

LVDT

Consolidation
piston

Soil Sample

Vane blade
Pore water pressure transducer

O-ring

Figure 2: Schematic diagram of a modified Rowe cell.

 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6520

Figure 3: Photograph of modified Rowe cell base and vane shear blade
A digital camera, Nikon D90 with a lens of DX AF-S (18-55mm) DSLR was used to capture a
series of images during the vane shear test. The camera was mounted on Manfrotto tripod. Digital
images were recorded on a San Disk memory card capable for faster transfer rate about 20mb/s. The
digital camera was set at continous shooting mode to capture about 150 pictures at an average rate of
about 0.8 frames/s. Throughout this study, 55mm zoom length was used since this positioned the
camera at a more convenient distance from the test and reduced the radial and tangential lens
distortion. The digital camera aperture setting used was F8.0 with an exposure time of 1/10th of a
second. To minimize the noise in the image, the sensitivity (ISO) was set to a minimum value of 100.
The digital camera was manually focused before the test to ensure that sharper images were captured.
A set of target marker tagged at the outside cell surface was used to set a control point throughout the
testing to minimize the errors by differential movements between the digital camera and the plane of
interest and camera lens distortion.
The laser light apparatus used in this study was class III with wavelength from 640-660nm and
the maximum output was less than 5mW. The laser light was used to highlight the plane of interest in
the transparent soil by the used of the Timiron as a ‘light-reflective’ material and allow the capture of
movements using a digital camera. After the completion of consolidation and camera and laser setup
(see Figure 4), the cell was rotated and the extension of the vane shear blade was connected with the
hand-operated vane shear device (EL26-2270) to apply the torque force. The vertical section aligned
with the vane blade centerline was illuminated with a laser light and sequence of digital image was
recorded by the digital camera with the required setting. Correct alignment of the laser light was
critical to ensure that the accuracy of the reading during testing. Protective equipment was put on
before using the laser light as direct contact with the laser light can cause harmful effects. The
experiment was done in a dark room and no light was permitted to enter during testing.
The torque was applied through the 12.7 × 12.7 mm vane by spring with a shearing rate of 10º per
minute. The su of the soil model was assessed at the end of the test using Equation 1 (Powrie, 2002).

τ = πsu (1)

where τ is the applied torque and D and H are respectively the diameter and height of the vane blade.
The friction between the rod and the base of the cell was calibrated by applying a torque force on the
 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6521

vane blade without any soil sample. The value of friction between the wall base and rod of the vane
shear test was determined to be 1.96 kPa. During the test, a series of images was captured using the
digital camera using a continuous shooting mode. The deformation during the test was tracked based
on the reflector movement. All the captured images were analyzed using the Particle Image
Velocimetry (PIV) to determine the failure mechanism during the vane shear test by converting the
images from image space (pixel) to object space (mm). A meshing with 100 pixel size was created at
the centre of the vane shear blade to pursue the PIV analysis.

Transparent soil with

timiron

Light
sheet Laser
Vane blade
Prism

Pnuematic Cylinder

(a)

Transparent soil with timiron

Prism
Light
sheet Laser

Vane blade

Digital camera
(b)
Figure 4: Experimental set-up: (a) elevation; (b) plan view

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

Consolidation Test
Based on the consolidation test, the average value of consolidation coefficient cv of the
transparent soil is 11.81 m2/year which within the range typically reported for clay Montmorillonite
(Lambe and Whiteman, 1979). Figure 5 shows the void ratio, e – log p curve, obtained from the
consolidation test. From the test, the compression, cc and swelling, cs indices are 8.8 and 1.3
respectively. The result produced a similar pattern with the result obtained by Stanier (2011) of
similar testing procedure. It is found that the void ratio of the transparent soil is high compared to the
previous research. The difference contributed from the different materials used between the current
 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6522

and previous studies. The average coefficients of compressibility, mv and the hydraulic conductivity, k
are 1.48m2/MN and 8.74E-9 m/s respectively.

Figure 5: Void ratio data derived from the consolidation process and previous research data

Liu and Iskander (2003) stated that during consolidation, the transparent soil will exhibit a high
apparent total void ratio, e due to the internal porosity of silica aggregate as amorphous silica contains
micro and macro pore structures similar like a peat soil. Based from the value of mv and cv obtained
from this experiment, the transparent soil can be categorized as normally consolidated alluvial clays
(mv <1.5E-03 m2/kN) and the compressibility is comparable to high organic content clays and peats, in
agreement with observations made by Ni et al. (2010) and Stanier (2011).
The undrained shear strength, su obtained at 50 kPa consolidation pressure was 18.3 kN/m2. The
transparent soil strength was categorized as soft material and similar behaviour to very organic
alluvial clays as obtained from the consolidation properties obtained where. The su was predicted well
with the Equation 2 proposed by Springman (1989, 2004) under overconsolidation ratio of 2.

= a . OCRb (2)

where a and b are respectively 0.22 and 0.71 respectively (Springman, 1989, 2004). A difference of
2% was obtained between the predicted strength with the laboratory strength.
 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6523

Figure 6 shows the vector of movement during the vane shear test derived from the analyses over
a series of images starting from the initial and ending test. The dotted line indicates the vane blade
position in the sample. The upper right corner shows no movement which represent the centre of the
vane blade. Several wild vector were detected at the left edge of the figure due to search zone tracked
the black colour from the target marker. Figure 7 depicts the corresponding vertical and horizontal
displacement contours obtained from vane shear test. The numbers on the contours represent the
displacement of the soil in millimetres, which indicated that the failure zone developed within 0.1
mm. Based on the contours, it can be revealed that, the failure zone is developed under a block pattern
(uniform shear stress distribution) in between 5-30% from the diameter of the blade.

Figure 6: Displacement vector obtained from the PIV

 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6524

Figure 7: Resultant deformation contour obtained from PIV

CONCLUSION
The results obtained and the observation made during the experiment draw some conclusions.
Several findings can be drawn from this experimental programme; (1) The small-scale physical
modeling experiment was able to maximize the capacity of the transparent soil in modeling clay.
Based from the undrained shear strength obtained and the consolidation properties, the artificial
transparent soil used in this experiment exhibit similar properties to very organic alluvial clays. (2)
Based from the result, it can be said that the shear stress distribution on the vertical sides of the
cylindrical failure surface in vane shear test appeared to be a rectangular or “blocky” that indicates
can be associated with a uniformly stress distribution. It must be noted that further tests have been
planned in the near future (eg. different OCR range, blade diameter, shearing rate) to confirm if other
parameters might have an effect on the deformation pattern observed using the PIV-transparent soil
technique.
 Vol. 20 [2015], Bund. 15 6525

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This research is carried out under the Exploratory Research Grant Scheme by The Ministry of
Education Malaysia (ERGS). R.J130000.7822.4L097 - Assessment of Disturbance Impact of
Hydraulic Jack In Pile Penetration in Clay Using Transparent Soil and Particle Image Velocimetry

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