INVESTIGATION OF THE SHEAR STRENGTH OF REINFORCED SILTY SAND

Introduction: This paper presents an experimental investigation that aims to study the influence of silt content, glass fiber content, and their combined effect on the shear behavior of silty sand. For this purpose, a series of tests using direct shear apparatus (as methods) were carried out on sand mixed with various silt and fiber contents. Samples were prepared with a relative density of 50 %, and each mixture was tested at three different normal stresses. The experimental results indicated an increase in shear strength at 10 % silt content, followed by a decrease in shear strength with increasing silt content from 10 % to 30 %. It was also found that 0.5 % is the optimal content that can be added to sand-silt mixtures to enhance their shear strength and friction angle, although the mixtures become more contractive.