Part I Fundamentals of soil mechanics
1 Classification and Physical Properties of Soils
Learning outcomes
Agricultural and engineering soil
Origin of soil
Clay soils
Field identification of soils
Laboratory classification of soils
Activity of a clay
Soil classification and description
Soil properties
Exercises
2 Permeability and Flow of Water in Soils
Learning outcomes
Subsurface water
Flow of water through soils
Darcy’s law of saturated flow
Coefficient of permeability, k
Determination of permeability in the laboratory
Determination of permeability in the field
Approximation of coefficient of permeability
General differential equation of flow
Potential and stream functions
Flow nets
Critical flow conditions
Design of soil filters
Capillarity and unsaturated soils
Earth dams
Seepage through non-uniform soil deposits
Exercises
3 Total and Effective Stress
Learning outcomes
State of stress in a soil mass
Total stress
Pore Pressure
Effective stress
Stresses induced by applied loads
Exercises
4 Shear Strength of Soils
Learning outcomes
Elastic stresses and strains
Friction
Complex stress
The Mohr circle diagram
Cohesion
Coulomb’s law of soil shear strength
Modified Coulomb’s law
The Mohr–Coulomb yield theory
Determination of the shear strength parameters
Determination of the shear strength parameters from triaxial testing
The pore pressure coefficients A and B
The triaxial extension test
Behaviour of soils under shear
Operative strengths of soils
The critical state
Sensitivity of clays
Residual strength of soil
Exercises
Part II Geotechnical codes and standards and site investigation
5 stress paths and critical state
Stress paths in two-dimensional space
Stress paths in three-dimensional space
Isotropic consolidation
Stress paths in the triaxial apparatus
Exercises
6 Eurocode 7
Introduction to the Structural Eurocodes
Introduction to Eurocode 7
Using Eurocode 7: basis of geotechnical design
Geotechnical design by calculation
Ultimate limit states
The EQU limit state
The GEO limit state and Design Approaches
Serviceability limit states
Geotechnical design report
7 Site Investigation
EN 1997-2:2007 – Ground investigation and testing
Planning of ground investigations
Site exploration methods
Soil and rock sampling
Groundwater measurements
Field tests in soil and rock
Geotechnical reports
Part III Advanced soil mechanics and applications
8 Lateral Earth Pressure
Learning outcomes
Earth pressure at rest
Active and passive earth pressure
Rankine’s theory: granular soils, active earth pressure
Rankine’s theory: granular soils, passive earth pressure
Rankine’s theory: cohesive soils
Coulomb’s wedge theory: active earth pressure
Coulomb’s wedge theory: passive earth pressure
Surcharges
Choice of method for determination of active pressure
Backfill material
Influence of wall yield on design
Design parameters for different soil types
Exercises
9 Retaining Structures
Learning outcomes
Main types of earth retaining structures
Gravity walls
Embedded walls
Failure modes of earth retaining structures
Design of gravity retaining walls
Design of sheet pile walls
Braced excavations
Reinforced soil
Soil nailing
Exercises
10 Bearing Capacity and Shallow Foundations
Learning outcomes
Bearing capacity terms
Types of foundation
Ultimate bearing capacity of a foundation
Determination of the safe bearing capacity
The effect of groundwater on bearing capacity
Developments in bearing capacity equations
Designing spread foundations to Eurocode 7
Non-homogeneous soil conditions
Estimates of bearing capacity from in situ testing
Exercises
11 Pile Foundations
Learning outcomes
Introduction
Classification of piles
Method of installation
Pile load testing
Determination of the bearing capacity of a pile
Designing pile foundations to Eurocode 7
Pile groups
Exercises
12 Foundation Settlement and soil compression
Learning outcomes
Settlement of a foundation
Immediate settlement
Consolidation settlement
Application of consolidation test results
General consolidation
Eurocode 7 serviceability limit state
Isotropic consolidation
Two-dimensional stress paths
Exercises
13 Rate of Foundation Settlement
Learning outcomes
Analogy of consolidation settlement
Distribution of the initial excess pore pressure, ui
Terzaghi’s theory of consolidation
Average degree of consolidation
Drainage path length
Determination of the coefficient of consolidation, cv, from the consolidation test
Determination of the permeability coefficient from the consolidation test
Determination of the consolidation coefficient from the triaxial test
The model law of consolidation
Consolidation during construction
Consolidation by drainage in two and three dimensions
Numerical determination of consolidation rates
Construction pore pressures in an earth dam
Numerical solutions for two- and three-dimensional consolidation
Sand drains
Exercises
14 Stability of Slopes
Learning outcomes
Planar failures
Rotational failures
Slope stability design charts
Wedge failure
Slope stability analysis to Eurocode 7
Exercises
15 Compaction and Soil Mechanics Aspects of Highway Design
Learning outcomes
Field compaction of soils
Laboratory compaction of soils
Specification of the field compacted density
Field measurement tests
Highway design
Exercises
16 An introduction to geomechanical modelling
Learning outcomes
Constitutive models and their use in geotechnical engineering
Micro and macro models
Elastic models: linear, on-linear, isotropic and anisotropic
Applications and limitations of elastic models
Introduction to plasticity theory
Elasto-plastic models
Applications of elasto-plastic models
Examples
References
Index
