Evaluation of shear strength of cohesionless soil due to excess pore water pressure

The shear strength of cohesionless soil is reduced as the water pressure inside the pores of the soil mass increases. The mathematical relationship between the shear strength and the pore water pressure was derived using Mohr-Coulomb failure criteria as a function of the confining pressure and the effective angle of friction. Experimentally, a series of consolidated drained triaxial tests with back pore water pressure was run on samples of saturated uniform dense sand. The tests were conducted at different confining pressures in the range of 100-400 kPa with an increment of 100 kPa. At each level of confining pressure, the tests were repeated at different values of back pore water pressure in the range of 0-100 kPa with an increment of 25 kPa. For each test, the initial applied back pore water pressure was kept constant during the test for comparing the results at the same effective confining pressure. This study concludes that the mathematical relationship gives accurate results at any level of confining pressure and/or pore water pressure as a function of the effective angle of friction that can be evaluated using single consolidated drained triaxial test at zero back pore water pressure.