A novel dual stress/strain-controlled direct simple shear apparatus to study shear strength and shear creep of clay

Direct simple shear test is an effective method to measure strength and deformation properties of soil. However, existing direct simple shear apparatus have some shortcomings. The paper has developed a novel dual stress/strain-controlled direct simple shear apparatus. The novel apparatus has the following advantages: A rectangular specimen is used that effectively avoid common issues associated with conventional cylindrical specimens, such as specimen tilting. The utilization of deformation control rods ensures a uniform shear deformation of the specimen. Vertically integrated force transmission structure is improved that avoids issues arising from changes in pivot points due to lever tilting. Incorporating this novel direct simple shear apparatus, shear strength and shear creep tests of clay were performed. Shear strength parameters and shear creep behaviors are analyzed. The results of these experiments show that the novel apparatus can measure accurately the shear rheological properties of soil. This study provides strong guidance for studying the mechanical properties of soil in engineering practice.