Factors Influencing Crack-Induced Tensile Strength of Compacted Soil

Mode I (tensile) fracture is the most commonly observed failure in geostructures resulting from cracks in soil. Direct or indirect tensile tests have been used to evaluate the tensile strength of geomaterials. In this paper, the unconfined penetration device and experimental procedure were modified to reduce measurement errors. It was then used to determine the tensile strength of compacted soil. Factors influencing the tensile strength of the compacted soil, including the plasticity index, rate of loading, and size of specimen were discussed in detail, as well as its reliability. Experimental results indicated that the modified, unconfined penetration technique is sufficiently reliable and operator-friendly for determining the tensile strength of compacted soil.