Abstract: Taking two types of silty clays from Nanjing and Wuxi as the research object, the static strength of these two kinds of soil in saturated and unsaturated states was measured using the TSZ-2 automatic triaxial instrument. The difference in shear strength between the original and disturbed samples of the soil in the saturated state, and the influence of the initial water content of the soil in the unsaturated state on the shear strength are studied. The comparison of test results shows that Wuxi soil has the characteristics of smaller water content, higher density, smaller void ratio, smaller compressibility, and higher static strength than Nanjing soil. However, the disturbance effect has a greater impact on Wuxi saturated soil compared to Nanjing soil. The shear strength of unsaturated cohesive soil is related to the particle gradation, resulting in a difference in the shear strength of the two types of soil.