A Digital Direct Shear Testing Machine tests the shear strength of soil samples and carries out both the consolidation phase and the shearing phase of a typical direct shear test, for instance. The designed device is divided into an upper part that contains the collected soil sample and a lower part that applies normal stress and horizontal displacement so as to create shear stress. Soil is placed in a shear box that is normally square or circular depending on the test that is being conducted.

Fitted with a micro stepping motor, the machine imposes a horizontal shear load to the specimen at a prescribed rate, with shear force data being displayed on the touch screen. The polarity winding limit sensors are especially used to put a check on the over-travel of the shaft during its test without influencing its centre position.

One is the operation of the control panel with keypad where one can set it manually and the other is big LCD screen to display data. The engineering experts utilize the machine in determining some vital characteristics of geotechnical nature such as shear strength and the internal friction angle, to cater for the structural works such as foundation and retaining walls.

It has multiple levels of specimen size and special facilities like digital stepper motor, forward/ reverse travel limits and is an indispensable tool in soil mechanics.