Determining the shear strength of materials in the soil is important for geotechnical engineers to determine the engineering potential and behavior of earth minerals. Geotechnical engineering is a branch of civil engineering which has to do with the design of the physical environment.
The way to determine the shear strength of any kind of mineral is through a shear testing. There are several different machines that are available for determining the shear strength of your materials. It all has to do with what size and shape the specimen that you would like to test is. These testing machines will help determine what the limits of the strength of your material are, and if the material is useful in any of your engineering applications.
Lots of machines that test the shear strength are universal, in that you can test many different materials in them. You will be able to determine what kind of stress the material goes through before it has a complete breakdown because of the forces put upon it. In this video we see the testing of the shear strength in action with metals, and we see how the machine lets the people know how much force was applied to the metal before it started breaking down.
In testing of shear strength, we use a unit of measurement specifically for it. We use ultimate tensile strength which is coded as Su, ultimate shear strength which is SSU, tensile yield strength which is SYP, and shear yield point which is SSYP.
Ultimate tensile strength (SU) is the amount of force an object can withstand while being stretched apart. Ultimate shear strength (SSU) is the ultimate weight a body of the testing material can withstand before it breaks down. Tensile yield strength (SYP) is the maximum amount of tensile stress the test material can withstand. Tensile stress is what happens when you bend a l material in half to break it. Shear yield point (SSYP) os the point in which a material has withstood so much stress thag it becomes deformed.
Given all of these tests of the material that you are testing, you will be able to determine what each engineering feat each material may be suited for. Roads, and bridges, for example, would need to be able to withstand tons of pressure before breaking or buckling underneath the weight of many vehicles and trucks, so the materials to build and construct them must be tested thoroughly. With the technology available, testing these things can be a simple process so that you do not use a material that isn’t suited towards your next engineering job. This will help cut costs and save lives on your future projects.
In addition to geotechnical engineering, shear strength is also useful in mechanical and technical engineering as a way to determine which nuts, bolts, and other materials will behavior under the rigors of their uses. For example, things like aluminum have a low shear strength, while things like iron have low tensile strength. Both materials have their uses, and machines that determine tensile and shear strength help you to find out what those uses might be.
Knowing The Adaptable Strength of Your Materials
