Effect of Varying Moisture Content on Shear Strength Properties of Soil

The effect of varying moisture content on the shear strength properties of soil was conducted in this study by varying the soil natural moisture content to 2% and then 4% increment at various depth. The soil sample was cored out using drilling method at different depth below the ground surface starting from 400mm to 24.75m for point 1 and 400mm to 11.25m for point 2. Its grain distribution was found by wet sieve analysis, The natural moisture content of each soil sample was determined, other basic experiments that was carried out are specific gravity, Atterberg limit test, sieve analysis. The result from the findings showed that the soils at point 1 and 2 are composed of silt and clay and the soil at point 2 have high plasticity than the soil in point 1. Also from the findings, it was found that soil shears faster at higher moisture content and that the angle of internal friction and cohesion index are inversely related.