Direct Shear Box

This equipment is used for saturated/unsaturated testing.

Description

Direct shear box consists of a shear box body for testing specimens of 60mm or 100mm square, a shearbox carriage running on roller bearings, and a step-motor drive unit to apply horizontal displacements at constant rate (for displacement-controlled tests) or a dead-weight loading system to apply constant shear stress (for load-controlled tests).

It is equipped with a load cell for measuring the horizontal shear force up to 5 kN and two potentiometer displacement transducers for measuring the horizontal and vertical displacements (15 mm travel). Vertical load is applied with a lever-arm loading system with 10:1 beam ratio.

Tests can be carried out on saturated samples (by submerging the sample with water) under drained conditions or on unsaturated samples at constant water content (water-undrained conditions) with the facility to monitor suction using high-capacity tensiometer.

Access

We can carry out direct shear tests on your samples under saturated and unsaturated conditions. We can process the data to derive the peak, ultimate, and residual shear strength. We are keen to tailor experimental procedures to your needs.