Section 4: Soil and Water Conservation Engineering
Soil Mechanics
Subtopic: Engineering properties of soils
Question Statement:
The pressure that does not have any measurable influence on the void ratio or shearing resistance of the soil mass is
Options:
(A) pore water pressure
(B) intergranular pressure
(C) capillary pressure
(D) surcharge pressure
Official Answer Key:
A
Step-by-Step Solution & Explanation
By Terzaghi's principle of effective stress, shear strength and volume-change (void ratio) behavior of a soil mass are governed by the EFFECTIVE (intergranular) stress, not the total stress. Pore water pressure (neutral stress) is carried entirely by the water in the voids and does not transmit any shear resistance between soil grains, nor does it change the packing/void ratio of the grains — it has no direct measurable influence on either property. Answer: (A) pore water pressure.
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