Effect of sand paper grading on the shear behaviour of fine-grained sand

This paper presents the results of direct shear test on sand paper reinforced and un-reinforced poorly graded fine-grained sand obtained from natural costal sand deposits of western shore of Cyprus Island. Mining of sand from natural deposits, including beaches, yields an inexpensive source of sand for construction or industrial uses. Samples prepared in identical densities with and without addition of different grading of discrete sand papers have been tested in order to assess the effect of sand paper grading on the shear strength parameters of soil. Laboratory testing program consisting 41 specimens were performed in circular shear box with 63 mm in diameter which were prepared regarding BS 1377-7. Tests are conducted with four vertical confining pressures: 100, 200, 300 and 400 kPa. The test results reveal that the sand paper grading play important role in the shear strength parameters of the soil. It was observed that the choose of grading close to the major percentage of sand particle size results to achieve increase in shear strength at all confining pressures which also results in increase of cohesion and friction angle