The impact of clay structure on their mechanical properties

This article presents the results of investigations that were focused on determining the impact of structure on the reationship between the water content and undrained shear strength in clays. The notion of structure encompasses the texture of clays (grain associationand grain arrangement) and their stability. The latter depends on the type and magnitude of intergrain repulsive and attractive forces, conditioned by the chemical composition of clay grains and pore water. The results of investigations have shown that structure greatly influences the undrained shear strength of clays,which means that structure must also influence other mechanical properties.