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1
2 3 SOIL MECHANICS
gin taking a more scientic-based approach to examining describing the behavior of soil.[7]
the subsurface. The earliest advances occurred in the de- Geotechnical centrifuge modeling is a method of testing
velopment of earth pressure theories for the construction physical scale models of geotechnical problems. The use
of retaining walls. Henri Gautier, a French Royal Engi- of a centrifuge enhances the similarity of the scale model
neer, recognized the natural slope of dierent soils in tests involving soil because the strength and stiness of
1717, an idea later known as the soils angle of repose. soil is very sensitive to the conning pressure. The cen-
A rudimentary soil classication system was also devel- trifugal acceleration allows a researcher to obtain large
oped based on a materials unit weight, which is no longer (prototype-scale) stresses in small physical models.
considered a good indication of soil type.[3][4]
The application of the principles of mechanics to soils
was documented as early as 1773 when Charles Coulomb 2 Practicing engineers
(a physicist, engineer, and army Captain) developed im-
proved methods to determine the earth pressures against
Geotechnical engineers are typically graduates of a four-
military ramparts. Coulomb observed that, at failure, a
year civil engineering program and some hold a masters
distinct slip plane would form behind a sliding retaining
degree. In the USA, geotechnical engineers are typi-
wall and he suggested that the maximum shear stress on
cally licensed and regulated as Professional Engineers
the slip plane, for design purposes, was the sum of the soil
(PEs) in most states; currently only California and Oregon
cohesion, c , and friction tan() , where is the nor-
have licensed geotechnical engineering specialties. The
mal stress on the slip plane and is the friction angle of
Academy of Geo-Professionals (AGP) began issuing
the soil. By combining Coulombs theory with Christian
Diplomate, Geotechnical Engineering (D.GE) certica-
Otto Mohr's 2D stress state, the theory became known
tion in 2008. State governments will typically license en-
as Mohr-Coulomb theory. Although it is now recognized
gineers who have graduated from an ABET accredited
that precise determination of cohesion is impossible be-
school, passed the Fundamentals of Engineering exami-
cause c is not a fundamental soil property,[5] the Mohr-
nation, completed several years of work experience under
Coulomb theory is still used in practice today.
the supervision of a licensed Professional Engineer, and
In the 19th century Henry Darcy developed what is passed the Professional Engineering examination.[8]
now known as Darcys Law describing the ow of u-
ids in porous media. Joseph Boussinesq (a mathemati-
cian and physicist) developed theories of stress distri- 3 Soil mechanics
bution in elastic solids that proved useful for estimating
stresses at depth in the ground; William Rankine, an engi-
neer and physicist, developed an alternative to Coulombs
earth pressure theory. Albert Atterberg developed the Va
clay consistency indices that are still used today for soil Vv
classication.[3][4] Osborne Reynolds recognized in 1885 Vw Mw
that shearing causes volumetric dilation of dense and con-
Vt
traction of loose granular materials. Mt
Modern geotechnical engineering is said to have be- Vs Ms
gun in 1925 with the publication of Erdbaumechanik
by Karl Terzaghi (a civil engineer and geologist). Con-
sidered by many to be the father of modern soil me-
chanics and geotechnical engineering, Terzaghi devel-
A phase diagram of soil indicating the weights and volumes of
oped the principle of eective stress, and demonstrated air, soil, water, and voids.
that the shear strength of soil is controlled by eective
stress. Terzaghi also developed the framework for the-
Main articles: Soil mechanics and Rock mechanics
ories of bearing capacity of foundations, and the theory
for prediction of the rate of settlement of clay layers due
to consolidation.[3][5][6] In his 1948 book, Donald Tay- In geotechnical engineering, soils are considered a three-
lor recognized that interlocking and dilation of densely phase material composed of: rock or mineral particles,
packed particles contributed to the peak strength of a soil. water and air. The voids of a soil, the spaces in between
The interrelationships between volume change behavior mineral particles, contain the water and air.
(dilation, contraction, and consolidation) and shearing The engineering properties of soils are aected by four
behavior were all connected via the theory of plasticity main factors: the predominant size of the mineral parti-
using critical state soil mechanics by Roscoe, Schoeld, cles, the type of mineral particles, the grain size distri-
and Wroth with the publication of On the Yielding of bution, and the relative quantities of mineral, water and
Soils in 1958. Critical state soil mechanics is the ba- air present in the soil matrix. Fine particles (nes) are
sis for many contemporary advanced constitutive models dened as particles less than 0.075 mm in diameter.
3
Geotechnical engineers and engineering geologists per- Main article: Foundation (engineering)
form geotechnical investigations to obtain information on
the physical properties of soil and rock underlying (and A buildings foundation transmits loads from buildings
sometimes adjacent to) a site to design earthworks and and other structures to the earth. Geotechnical engi-
foundations for proposed structures, and for repair of neers design foundations based on the load characteris-
4 5 FOUNDATIONS
4. Design the foundation in the safest and most eco- Example of a slab-on-grade foundation.
nomical manner.
5.1.1 Footings
The primary considerations for foundation support are
bearing capacity, settlement, and ground movement be-
Footings (often called spread footings because they
neath the foundations. Bearing capacity is the ability of
spread the load) are structural elements which transfer
the site soils to support the loads imposed by buildings or
structure loads to the ground by direct areal contact.
structures. Settlement occurs under all foundations in all
Footings can be isolated footings for point or column
soil conditions, though lightly loaded structures or rock
loads, or strip footings for wall or other long (line) loads.
sites may experience negligible settlements. For heavier
Footings are normally constructed from reinforced con-
structures or softer sites, both overall settlement relative
crete cast directly onto the soil, and are typically embed-
to unbuilt areas or neighboring buildings, and dierential
ded into the ground to penetrate through the zone of frost
settlement under a single structure, can be concerns. Of
movement and/or to obtain additional bearing capacity.
particular concern is settlement which occurs over time,
as immediate settlement can usually be compensated for
during construction. Ground movement beneath a struc- 5.1.2 Slab foundations
tures foundations can occur due to shrinkage or swell of
expansive soils due to climatic changes, frost expansion A variant on spread footings is to have the entire structure
of soil, melting of permafrost, slope instability, or other bear on a single slab of concrete underlying the entire area
causes. All these factors must be considered during de- of the structure. Slabs must be thick enough to provide
sign of foundations. sucient rigidity to spread the bearing loads somewhat
Many building codes specify basic foundation design pa- uniformly, and to minimize dierential settlement across
rameters for simple conditions, frequently varying by ju- the foundation. In some cases, exure is allowed and the
risdiction, but such design techniques are normally lim- building is constructed to tolerate small movements of
ited to certain types of construction and certain types of the foundation instead. For small structures, like single-
sites, and are frequently very conservative. family houses, the slab may be less than 300 mm thick;
for larger structures, the foundation slab may be several
In areas of shallow bedrock, most foundations may bear
meters thick.
directly on bedrock; in other areas, the soil may pro-
vide sucient strength for the support of structures. In Slab foundations can be either slab-on-grade foundations
areas of deeper bedrock with soft overlying soils, deep or embedded foundations, typically in buildings with
foundations are used to support structures directly on basements. Slab-on-grade foundations must be designed
the bedrock; in areas where bedrock is not economically to allow for potential ground movement due to changing
available, sti bearing layers are used to support deep soil conditions.
foundations instead.
is placed in horizontal layers throughout the height of the ements which connect across the excavation so that the
wall. Commonly, the soil reinforcement is geogrid, a loads from the soil on either side of the excavation are
high-strength polymer mesh, that provide tensile strength used to resist each other, or which transfer horizontal
to hold soil together. The wall face is often of precast, loads from the shoring wall to the base of the excavation.
segmental concrete units that can tolerate some dieren- Tie-backs are steel tendons drilled into the face of the wall
tial movement. The reinforced soils mass, along with the which extend beyond the soil which is applying pressure
facing, becomes the gravity wall. The reinforced mass to the wall, to provide additional lateral resistance to the
must be built large enough to retain the pressures from wall.
the soil behind it. Gravity walls usually must be a mini-
mum of 30 to 40 percent as deep (thick) as the height of
the wall, and may have to be larger if there is a slope or
surcharge on the wall. 7 Earthworks
13 Notes
[1] Terzaghi, K., Peck, R.B. and Mesri, G. (1996), Soil Me-
chanics in Engineering Practice 3rd Ed., John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. ISBN 0-471-08658-4
[2] Holtz, R. and Kovacs, W. (1981), An Introduction to
Geotechnical Engineering, Prentice-Hall, Inc. ISBN 0-13-
484394-0
[3] Das, Braja (2006). Principles of Geotechnical Engineer-
ing. Thomson Learning.
[4] Budhu, Muni (2007). Soil Mechanics and Foundations.
John Wiley & Sons, Inc. ISBN 978-0-471-43117-6.
[5] Disturbed soil properties and geotechnical design,
Schoeld, Andrew N.,Thomas Telford, 2006. ISBN
0-7277-2982-9
[6] Soil Mechanics, Lambe,T.William and Whitman,Robert
V., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, John Wiley &
Sons., 1969. ISBN 0-471-51192-7
[7] Soil Behavior and Critical State Soil Mechanics, Wood,
David Muir,Cambridge University Press, 1990. ISBN 0-
521-33782-8
[8] Engineering licensure. Retrieved 2017-01-10.
[9] Void Ratio. NPTEL. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
[10] Permeability. NPTEL. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
[11] Shear strength. NPTEL. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
[12] Coduto, Donald; et al. (2011). Geotechnical Engineer-
ing Principles and Practices. New Jersey: Pearson Higher
Education. ISBN 9780132368681.
[13] RAJU, V. R. (2010). Ground Improvement Technologies
and Case Histories. Singapore: Research Publishing Ser-
vices. p. 809. ISBN 978-981-08-3124-0.
[14] Pariseau, William G. (2011). Design analysis in rock me-
chanics. CRC Press.
[15] Dean, E.T.R. (2010). Oshore Geotechnical Engineering
Principles and Practice. Thomas Telford, Reston, VA,
U.S.A., 520 p.
[16] Randolph, M. and Gourvenec, S., 2011. Oshore
geotechnical engineering. Spon Press, N.Y., 550 p.
[17] Das, B.M., 2010. Principles of geotechnical engineering.
Cengage Learning, Stamfort, U.S.A., 666 p.
[18] Atkinson, J., 2007. The mechanics of soils and founda-
tions. Taylor & Francis, N.Y., 442 p.
[19] Floating Oshore Wind Turbines: Responses in a Seastate
Pareto Optimal Designs and Economic Assessment, P.
Sclavounos et al., October 2007.
[20] Koerner, R. M. (2012) Designing with geosynthetics, 6th
Edition, Xlibris Corporation, USA
14 References
10 15 TEXT AND IMAGE SOURCES, CONTRIBUTORS, AND LICENSES
15.2 Images
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