
The shear Vane testing is used to determine the total shear resistance of normally cohesive, un-drained soils (especially soft clays) by fast shearing and is mostly useful for soils with low shear strength.
The fully automatic lab vane was developed and designed according to scientific and research insights and requirements so that undisturbed soil samples (e.g., core cutters) as well as treated samples (e.g., Proctor samples)or artificial mixtures can be tested for practical applications as well as for research purposes.
The test is relatively easy to set up, quick, and provides an economical way of soil shear strength estimation and due to the variable sample container attachment and the height-adjustable vertical cross bar, the shape and size of sample containers which can be used are virtually unrestricted.
Fully automatic controlled laboratory vane tester is including of main device, data acquisition and evaluation software. The data acquisition has a high quality displayer with membrane keys for monitoring of measured values and test procedures and also manual operation of the test.
The working principle of the laboratory vane shear test consist of pressing a vane (four bladed type)into the soil (undisturbed tube sample or remolded sample) and rotating the vane with a constant rate to shear the cylindrical surface. The torque required for this purpose is measured and then the Undrained Shear Strength (Su) is calculated by a formula by dividing the applied Torque (T) by a constant (K). The K directly depends on the dimension/height of the chosen vane.

The torque is measured by a calibrated torque transducer which is implemented inside the device and attached directly to Vane. This test is a cheaper option compared to the other methods of testing shear strength of clay such as triaxial shear test or direct shear test.


System Geography
① Hand knob for adjusting the vertical cross bar
② Vane
③ Clamping device for holding sample containers
④ Stiff base plate
⑤ Data acquisition system
⑥ Front panel including of displayer, function keys and Control buttons
⑦ ftware
Data Acquisition
The data acquisition system is integrated with a high-quality digital display and membrane keypad for monitoring of measured values and test procedures direct, semi-automatic operation of test via keyboard. The displayer of data acquisition system shows the important values during the test and has a green backlighting to ensure readability even in adverse lighting conditions.
The data logger connects by an ethernet connection to PC and the software and enable user to operate the test fully automatic with our GEOsys software.
The operator panel includes three main parts:
• LCD display:The displayer of data acquisition system shows the important values during the test and has a green backlighting to ensure readability even in adverse lighting conditions
• Function keys (F1-F10)
• Control buttons(Arrow keys, ENTER, ESC, HELP, etc.)

Vane Sizes
The vane for the device is made of four rectangular bladed stainless-steel vane attached to a short steel rod and the blades have different diameter and heights. The choice of the vane depends to soil strength which would be tested. The larger vanes are mostly used for the soils which are expected to have low strength values.
• 10104-A5-001 VaneA 12,7 x 12,7mm
• 10104-A5-002 VaneB 12,7 x 19,0mm
• 10104-A5-003 VaneC 12,7 x 25,4mm
• 10104-A5-004 VaneD 20,0 x 30,0mm
• 10104-A5-005 VaneE 30,0 x 60,0mm
• 10104-A5-006 VaneF 40,0 x 80,0mm
• 10104-A5-007 VaneG 25,4 x 50,8mm
Holding Sample Tube Attachement
The apparatus has a suitable attachment to hold firmly sampling tube or cylindrical container at the base part of device.
The based part of the device is U shape type to enable the operator to use longer sample containers, but the device can be delivered with solid plate which is suitable to attach short sample tube if it is required.
