How does water content affect clay?

The properties of artificial clay–sand mixtures are highly influenced by the clay content and the moisture content. For other values of water content, cohesion increases with increasing clay content, and it also increases with increasing water content to a certain limit, above which it decreases.

What happen to the clay in shear stress?

Shear strength partitioning between clay and coarse grains is expected when the amount of clay is such that contact between grains is possible. The shear resistance of water within the pores is almost zero, but the water can enable particle-to-particle contact and help in compactness of the clay.

What is water content for clay soil?

2.4 Available water content

Does clay have a high water content?

Clay can hold far more water than sand and would thus have a higher % moisture content compared to sand. Organic matter is complex of chemical substances that has a great variability in their specific surface – SS(among many other properties that are related with water holding capacity).

What are the normal stresses for clay sand?

Normal stresses applied to each sample were 0.5, 1.0, and 1.5 gm/cm 3. All samples were prepared at the maximum dry density as obtained in a standard compaction tests. The moisture range considered for the clay sand mixtures is 15%, 17.5%, and 20% whereas for the sand alone 7,10, and 13% were selected.

How does adding clay affect the moisture content?

The test results of dry density moisture content relationships are shown in Figure 4. It can be observed that adding clay contributes in increasing the dry density of the mixture and rendered the optimum moisture content increase and shift towards the right of the curve.

How is stress anisotropy related to clay strength?

Mayne (1985) reviewed published data for over 40 different normally consolidated and overconsolidated clays subject to isotropic or anisotropic consolidation before shearing. He found that the anisotropic undrained shear strengths for triaxial compression and extension were respectively about 87% and 60% of the respective isotropic strengths.

What is the shear strength of clay loam?

The anisotropic shear strength of clay loam soils was more significant than that of sandy soils, however, its quantified response to water content needs a further investigation. The results will guide decisions on stability analysis and facilitate the understating of unsaturated shear strength mechanism of granitic soils. 1. Introduction