What is the effect of water content on the shear strength of clay soils?

What is the effect of water content on the shear strength of clay soils?

Step 1: Understand what shear strength means. Shear strength is the ability of soil to resist sliding or deformation when a force is applied.
Step 2: Know what water content is. Water content refers to the amount of water present in the soil.
Step 3: Learn about effective stress. Effective stress is the stress that contributes to the strength of the soil, which is the total stress minus the pore water pressure.
Step 4: Realize that when water content increases, the amount of water in the soil increases, which raises the pore water pressure.
Step 5: Understand that higher pore water pressure reduces the effective stress in the soil.
Step 6: Recognize that lower effective stress means the soil particles are less tightly packed, which decreases the shear strength.
Step 7: Conclude that as water content increases, the shear strength of clay soils generally decreases.

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