Stress-strain States Differences in Specimens during Triaxial Compression and Direct Shear Tests

Abstract This article compares the soil strength parameters obtained from data of triaxial compression and direct shear tests, both with dense samples of fine sand. Direct shear device and triaxial device have significant differences in stress – strain state, which is developed in the specimen during test. In order to evaluate the stress-strain state, the direct shear and triaxial tests were simulated with finite element program PLAXIS 3D.