Dependence of tensile strength of soil aggregates on soil constituents, density and load history

SUMMARY The compressive‐tensile stress ratio at failure under unidirectional loading of air‐dry samples of 10 soils was compared with their clay and CaCO 3 contents, and their surface areas. Deviations from the commonly assumed Griffith theory were found for two soils. No special relationships were found between soil constituents and associated compressive tensile stress ratio, even though this ratio tends to decrease slightly with increasing clay percentage.