Journal of the Korean Geo-Environmental Society ISSN:1598-0820(Print) 2714-1233(Online) 한국지반환경공학회 논문집

As the behavior of the debris flow due to the torrential rains in mountain is affected by shear strength and rheological properties of the fine fraction in the ground, the evaluation of both properties is necessary to estimate the behavior of the debris flow. The objective of this study is to evaluate the shear strength and rheological properties using the direct shear apparatus. The direct shear tests are conducted for two kinds of fine-grained soil specimens, which are in dry state and liquid limit state. From the direct shear tests, shear strengths are measured according to the normal stresses applied on the specimens to evaluate the cohesion and internal friction angle. In addition, reversal shear tests are performed for the fine-grained soil specimens in liquid limit state according to the shear rate to evaluate the residual shear strength. The results of direct shear tests show that the specimen at the liquid limit state has lower internal friction angle and higher cohesion compared to the dry stated, and the residual friction angle and cohesion at the residual state are lower than those at the peak state. In the result of reversal shear test, the residual shear strength is directly proportional to the shear rate and viscosity is calculated as 73.60 Pa･s. This study demonstrates that the direct shear apparatus can be effectively used for the evaluation of the shear strength and rheological properties of the fine-grained soils related with the debris flow.