The following types of Shear tests are covered;

Direct/Residual Shear Test:

A soil sample is placed in a shear box consisting of two parallel blocks. The lower block is fixed while the upper block is moved parallel to it in a horizontal direction. The soil fails by shearing along a plane assumed to be horizontal. This test is relatively easy to perform. Consolidated-drained tests can be performed on soils of low permeability in a short period of time as compared to the triaxial test. The Residual Shear Test is similar to the Direct Shear test but with the specimen brought to the point of Shear a number of times.

Ring Shear Test:

A torsional test, where the specimen is subjected to rotational shear displacement whilst a consolidation load is applied.

Simple Shear Test:

The specimen is contained within confining rings and a horizontal force is applied whilst a consolidation load is applied.

VJ Tech supplies both manual (dead weight) and automatic Direct/Residual Shear equipment, a large Direct Shear apparatus, a Ring Shear machine with automatic data logging and a Simple Shear machine. We also supply a Laboratory Vane Apparatus (which can easily be motorised) as a quick and easy way to determine the Shear strength in soft soils of undisturbed or remoulded samples.

The Clisp Studio modules csShear, csRingShear and csSimple Shear cover all the Shear tests.