Shear strength of soils containing amorphous clay-size materials in a slow-moving landslide

The shear behavior of soils rich in amorphous clay-size materials was not well reported in the literature. This study analyzed the direct shear and ring shear test data of soil samples containing 55–74% amorphous materials in the clay fraction from a slow-moving landslide in eastern Honolulu, HI. The direct shear test results showed that the undisturbed soil samples when not sheared internally had peak cohesion (c) of about 50 kPa and internal friction angle (Ø) of about 10°. This implies that the amorphous clay-size materials provided strong interparticle bonds for the soils. Breaking of the bonds during the softening process and redistribution of the amorphous clay-size materials were primarily responsible for the drop from the peak strength to the residual strength (c=0, Ø=10° from back calculation with SLOPE/W and c=0, Ø=5–7° from the ring shear test). The drained residual failure envelope is stress dependent due to the interaction of the gel-like amorphous clay-size materials with crystalline silt- and sand-sized particles. The amorphous clay-size materials act as the contact between crystalline particles. The contact increases with increasing consolidation stress, resulting in a decrease in the shear strength and the residual friction angle.