Drained and Undrained Strength Interpretation for Low-Plasticity Silts

Abstract

The engineering behavior of low-plasticity silts is more difficult to characterize than is the behavior of clay or sand. Due to their tendency to dilate during shear, establishing a consistent and practically useful failure criterion for low-plasticity silts can be very difficult. Consideration of how the undrained shear strength of silt is related to changes in pore pressure provides a more useful and practical framework for understanding the undrained strengths of these materials and for characterizing undrained strengths for practical purposes. Using a value of Skempton’s