Direct shear test is a basic experiment for geotechnical engineering investigation, which is widely used for measuring the shear strength of soil in engineering investigation for its simple and easy operation. In view of the characteristics of long duration and large amount of measurement data in direct shear test, a data collection and management system based on VB6.0 and USB7660 multifunction data acquisition modules was designed. The paper introduces this system about its design principle and realization method, and details the design ideas and realization process of each module. The experimental results show that this system can meet the requirements of measurement data acquisition and analysis in the earthwork direct shear test for geotechnical engineering investigation.