GATE CE 2014 Set 1 — Question 24
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Geotechnical Engineering → Shear Strength of Soils → Drained & Undrained Strength
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Question
For a saturated cohesive soil, a triaxial test yields the angle of internal friction () as zero. The conducted test is
Correct answer
(D) Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) test
Solution
In an Unconsolidated Undrained (UU) test on a saturated cohesive soil, the total stress friction angle () is zero. This occurs because the increase in confining pressure is entirely balanced by an equal increase in pore water pressure, meaning the effective stress remains constant. Since the effective stress does not change, the shear strength remains constant regardless of the cell pressure, resulting in a horizontal Mohr-Coulomb failure envelope (). While the Unconfined Compression (UC) test also yields , it is a specific case of the UU test where the confining pressure is zero, whereas the question refers to the general triaxial test category.
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