Considering that testing facilities at large scales are not usually available for coarse granular materials, it is necessary to develop an alternative methodology for estimating the shear strength parameters by means of conventional testing equipment. Consequently, it is proposed the use of soil samples obtained from the original material. These soil samples have smaller maximum particle size according to the available testing facilities and a grain size distribution curve parallel to the original soil. It is postulated that this type of soil sample keeps the main features associated to the shear strength of the original coarse material as, gradation, particle shape, mineralogy, texture and hardness. The experimental results obtained in two different granular materials show that the mobilized strength is the same in all the samples created with parallel grain size distribution curve of smaller particles.
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