ABSTRACT
The importance of the determination of shear strength parameters is well recognized by all geo-technical engineers. In case of sufficient amount of high quality undisturbed soil samples are not available from a particular location, multistage triaxial tests appeared to be an attractive alternative. Experimental investigation on the applicability of a rational multistage triaxial test method on Hong Kong marine clay has been carried out. The linear plots of the conventional undrained triaxial test results confirmed the applicability of Kondner’s hypothesis on the soil being investigated. Multistage triaxial tests were conducted at a ratio of confining pressures equal to two. The axial strain in each successive stage was restricted to 4%. Deviator stress and pore-water pressure at failure in each stage was predicted at a strain value previously determined. Comparable strength parameters and stress paths were obtained similar to those from conventional undrained triaxial tests.
