This investigation describes the development of a hollow cylinder testing device and the feasibility of using this equipment for determining the tensile properties of compacted cohesive soils. Hollow cylinder tests were conducted on compacted specimens of Vicksburg buckshot clay (CH), Vicksburg lean clay (CL), and a sandy clay mixture (SC) from DeGray Dam. Unconfined compression tests and indirect tension tests were also conducted to provide comparative compressive properties of the materials.

With this hollow cylinder testing device it is possible to measure the radial deformation along the inner and outer surfaces of the specimen; these measurements enable the determination of the modulus of elasticity (E) and Poisson's ratio (v) of the tested soils. The ratio of tensile modulus to the compression modulus, as determined by hollow-cylinder and unconfined compression tests, ranges from 2.6 to 4.4. On the other hand, approximately equal Poisson's ratio values were measured by hollow-cylinder and unconfined compression tests.

Based upon results of this experimental program, the hollow cylinder test is judged to provide a reasonably accurate method for measuring the tensile properties of compacted soils.