Shear strength of a soil is a unique function of

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BPSC AE Paper V Civil 19 Dec 2024 Official Paper

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Answer 1

Explanation:

The shear strength of soil depends primarily on the effective stress, which is the stress carried by the soil particles themselves, excluding pore water pressure.
Total stress includes pore water pressure, which does not contribute to soil strength.
Effective stress controls the friction and interlocking between soil particles, which governs shear strength.
This principle is central to soil mechanics and is expressed in Terzaghi’s effective stress principle.

Additional Information

Effective stress, $σ^{'} = σ - u$ , where $\sigma$ is total stress and $u$ is pore water pressure.
Shear strength parameters (cohesion $c^{'}$ and angle of internal friction $ϕ^{'}$ ) are based on effective stress.
Understanding effective stress is critical for foundation design, slope stability, and earth pressure calculations.