Question

The failure condition for a soil can be expressed in terms of limiting shear stress, called __________

(a) Principal stresses and Shear strength

(b) Shearing resistances

(c) None of the mentioned

(d) All of the mentioned

This question was addressed to me at a job interview.

The doubt is from Mohrs Stress Circle in chapter Shear Strength of Geotechnical Engineering I

Answer 1

Right answer is (a) Principal stresses and Shear strength

The explanation is: The failure conditions for a soil may be expressed in terms of limiting stress, called shear strength or as a function of the principal stresses.