100 



kaye. PRINCIPLES OF SOIL MECHANICS 



TABLE 2 



Some of the More Common Soil Mechanics Tests l 



[Ch. 5 



1 See textbooks in bibliography for description of tests. 



primarily on the experience and the sensitivity of the soils engineer 

 to differences in soil types. The recognition of similar soils as ex- 

 pressed in classification tests is often sufficient to recommend similar 

 soil treatment for different projects. 



More interesting from the standpoint of soil mechanics techniques 

 are the properties tests. These are tests to determine isolated soil 

 properties which have a direct bearing on soil behavior. It is noted 

 that they are simulative, which means that they attempt to repro- 

 duce, on a reduced and measurable laboratory scale, phenomena which 

 occur or will occur in the prototype soil mass. The triaxial shear test is 

 a good example. Here a cylindrical sample of soil is stressed axially 

 under controlled lateral confinement. This is a close approximation of 

 an unbalanced stress system operating on a buried cylindrical element 

 of soil. This type of soil test yields strength moduli (cohesion and 

 angle of internal friction) which ^re then applied to the analysis of 

 the full-scale stability problem. The triaxial shear test is, therefore, 

 a basic properties test. 



The empirical properties tests are also simulative. The usefulness of 



