Correlation of undrained shear strength and liquidity index of fine-grained soils in West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

The undrained shear strength of fine-grained soils is an important property in geotechnical engineering. However, the process of determining undrained shear strength can be challenging. Hence, the correlation of undrained shear strength with other soil properties needs to be established. Several studies have estimated undrained shear strength using the liquidity index. In the current study, we aim to find the best correlation of undrained shear strength and liquidity index of fine-grained soils in West Java, Indonesia at various water contents using the form of correlation of undrained shear strength and liquidity index and also factors influencing the undrained shear strength. The values of undrained shear strength and liquidity index are obtained by laboratory test and data collection from previous studies of soils in West Java. Results show a good linear relationship between the logarithmic value of undrained shear strength and liquidity index for 173 variations of soil samples. We also can conclude that the undrained shear strength of fine-grained soils is controlled by the proportion of finer grains presence and also the plasticity of the soils.