ENGR 2832

ENGINEERING GEOLOGY AND GEOMECHANICS

Overview

Dr Hongyu Qin

Civil Engineering
College of Science and Engineering
Flinders University
Bachelor of Engineering (Civil) (Honours)
 ENGR7941 Advanced Foundation
Analysis and Design (4.5 units)
Electives

 ENGR3831 Geotechnical
Engineering (4.5 units) (Core)
 ENGR2832 Engineering Geology
and Geomechanics (4.5 units)
(Core)

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 Overview of Geotechnical Engineering
• What is Geotechnical Engineering?

• What type of work does a geotechnical engineer do? (the ‘book’ description)

• What geotechnical engineering companies do? (the ‘real life’ description)

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 Geotechnical Engineering
Geotechnical engineering is the branch of civil engineering that deals with
rocks, soils and underground water, and their relation to the design,
construction, and operation of engineering projects (e.g., onshore and
offshore engineering projects). It may include:

• Soil mechanics

• Rock mechanics

• Foundation engineering

• Geoenvironmental engineering

• Earthquake geotechnical engineering

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 The Geotechnical Engineer Work
Typical work carried out by geotechnical engineers involves dealing with:

• Geotechnical aspects of structures.

• Geotechnical failures.
• Determination of physical and mechanical properties of rocks and soils.
• Physical modelling and in situ testing in geotechnics
• Geotechnical construction, soil remediation and ground improvement.
• Preservation of monuments and historic sites.

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 The Geotechnical Engineer Work
Typical work carried out by geotechnical engineers involves dealing with:

• Geotechnical aspects of structures.

For example, analyse and design foundations and walls and assess
stability of slopes, design and construction of embankments,
excavation, tunnels.

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The Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai,
United Arab Emirates

The 829.8 m tall Burj Khalifa in Dubai,

United Arab Emirates, is the tallest
building in the world. It needs massive
foundations to transmit the structural
loads into the ground. Some of the
design issues and requirements:
 Structure must be supported safely
and without excessive settlement.
 Choose and design appropriate
foundation systems.
 Assess the performance of the
foundation under working load and
extreme conditions, such as
earthquake.

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 South Australia
Adelaide Grange
sea bridge

The design and construction of foundation for a large bridge is the task of
the geotechnical engineer. The type of and size of foundations needed in a
large bridge depend very much on the conditions of soil and rock on which
the foundations are going to rest on. Assessing the characteristics of the
soil and rock for designing the foundations is also the task of a
geotechnical engineer.

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 Open pit mining
Sunrise Dam Gold
Mine, Western Australia

Some of the construction issues:

• Risk analysis and Assessment on
• Excavation method and likely rate of
excavatability
progress.
• Development and implementation
• Stability of the slopes and benches
of optimal mining strategies
• Effect of groundwater and rainfall

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 The Geotechnical Engineer Work
Typical work carried out by geotechnical engineers involves dealing with:

• Geotechnical failures.
Although the purpose of sound geotechnical designs is to avoid failures,
when geotechnical failures have occurred, geotechnical engineers have
learnt from past mistakes, and have advanced developments in the field
of geotechnical engineering. Examples include
 development of proper draining and retaining systems to stabilize soils
that are prone to develop erosion and landslide problems;
 development of proper compaction techniques to avoid failure of dams
and road sub-grades;
 development of proper drainage techniques to avoid liquefaction
failures.

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 Leaning Tower of Pisa

http://simple.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leaning_Tower_of_Pisa http://madridengineering.com/case-study-the-leaning-tower-of-pisa/

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Geotechnical failures

http://english.sina.com/china/p/2009/0805/261106.html
Foundation failure of a building in Shanghai, China June 2009

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 Geotechnical failures

http://house.shm.com.cn/2009-07/01/content_2583418.htm http://www.fjsen.com/h/2009-07/28/content_196164.htm

Foundation failure of a building in Shanghai, China June 2009

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Geotechnical failures

Chai et al. (2014)

Foundation failure of a building in Shanghai, China June 2009

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Geotechnical failures

http://www.energyandresources.vic.gov.au/
Yallourn open cut slope collapse – Nov 2007
6,000,000 m3 of material, 500m long, 80m high
Collapse diverted Yallourn river into the mine
$200M cost, 20% loss of Victoria’s power supply

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 The Geotechnical Engineer Work
Typical work carried out by geotechnical engineers involves dealing with:

• Determination of physical and mechanical properties of rocks and soils.

For example, site investigation, field and laboratory testing

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Mayne et al. (2009)

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A Large Scale Triaxial Apparatus

Xiao et al. (2014)

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Mayne et al. (2009)

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 Cone Penetration Testing

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cone_penetration_test

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 The Geotechnical Engineer Work
Typical work carried out by geotechnical engineers involves dealing with:

• Physical modelling and in situ testing in geotechnics

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Laboratory modelling of soil pile interaction

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Laboratory modelling of soil pile interaction

Qin (2010) Qin and Guo (2016)

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 The Geotechnical Engineer Work
Typical work carried out by geotechnical engineers involves dealing with:

• Geotechnical construction, soil remediation and ground improvement:

when working for contractors, geotechnical engineers can also become
actively involved in construction projects.

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Construction of Palm Island Dubai UAE

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Construction of Palm Island Dubai UAE

Watch youtube to know more about Dubai's Palm Islands construction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGOs7MDiM0M

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 Expansive soils

http://www.propertyhere.com/australia/au-warm-weather-low-
rainfall-causing-cracks-in-adelaide-homes

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http://www.propertyhere.com/australia/au-warm-weather-
low-rainfall-causing-cracks-in-adelaide-homes 28
Sheard and Bowman (1996)

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Residential Building Damaged by Expansive Soil Movement
Caused by Tree Root Drying Melbourne, Australia
Li & Guo (2016)
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Residential Building Damaged by Expansive Soil Movement
Melbourne, Australia Li & Guo (2016)

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Residential Building Damaged by Expansive Soil Movement
Melbourne, Australia Li & Guo (2016)

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Residential Building Damaged by Expansive Soil Movement
Melbourne, Australia Li & Guo (2016)

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Residential Building Damaged by Expansive Soil Movement
Melbourne, Australia Li & Guo (2016)

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Residential Building Damaged by Expansive Soil Movement
Melbourne, Australia Li & Guo (2016)

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Cracking of the Art Gallery of South Australia

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Considine (1984)

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• Built in the 1890s, stood intact until the early 1960s, when
trees were planted along the eastern wall.

• In the 1960s, the Gallery began to fracture. whereupon the

CSIRO team headed by Dr Gordon Aitchison drew up profiles
of the soil suction at points near and away from the trees.
They found that suction was much greater at points near and
under the trees than away from them. The soil around the
trees had been dried, causing the building to settle.
• After the trees were removed in 1971, on advice from the
scientists, the ground nearby regained moisture and 'heaved',
leading to a partial recovery of the sagging caused by tree
roots.
Considine (1984)

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fv1fRJYcHoE

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N7YJGd23vHQ

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Ground Improvement

www.menard-asia.com
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Culvert Design

Transport
How to determine CBR?

What about the ground profile?

What is the bearing

capacity of the culvert ?

What are the mechanical

properties of the aggregates?
e.g. strength, stiffness,
permeability

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 ENGR 2832
Engineering Geology and Geomechanics

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 Topic Description

This topic provides an introduction to Engineering Geology and

Geomechanics, and fundamentals necessary for the study of
Geotechnical Engineering. This topic aims to provide an introductory
of geological process and engineering geology; origins and
composition of soils; characteristics and classification of soils; soil
permeability and seepage; stresses in soils; principle of effective
stress; consolidation, and the stress-strain-strength responses of
soils.

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 Educational Aims

All civil engineers, and others working with soils and rocks must
understand the range of techniques available for identifying various
materials and for determining their physical and mechanical
properties. The aim of this topic is to present an introduction to
geology, soil mechanics and geological processes as they affect civil
engineering.

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 Expected Learning Outcomes
At the completion of this topic, students are expected and develop the ability
to be able to:
• Understand geological process and the significance of engineering
geology for ground engineering
• Describe and classify soils based on their basic physical characteristics
• Understand the behaviour of soil during compaction, compression,
consolidation, direct shear and triaxial compression
• Understand the importance of water in the soil and the effects of water
movement
• Understand the difference between total stress and effective stress
• Apply the principle of effective stress to calculate the stresses causing
soil deformation
• Calculate the settlements and rates of settlement with the understanding
of one-dimensional consolidation theory
• Interpret data and determine parameters from a laboratory experiment
and report the results at a professional standard

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 Topic Outline*
Lecture Lecture Subject Tutorial Tutorial Activity Workshop

week 10:00 - 12:00 Time: 12:00 - 13:00 Thursday

Tonsley_1.08 Location: 1.02 Time: 9:30 - 11:00

week1 Wednesday Introduction, Engineering geology Location: Ton_G.08

Visiting SA Drill Core
week2 Wednesday Phase relationships etc. library
†

week3 Wednesday Compaction Wednesday Phase relationships Sieve analysis

week4 Wednesday Soil permeability Wednesday Compaction Atterberg limits

week5 Wednesday Flow of water through soils Wednesday Seepage Compaction

week6 Wednesday Effective stress Wednesday Flow of water through soils Seepage
#

week7 Wednesday Stress in soils Wednesday Stress calculation

week8 Wednesday Compressibility Wednesday Stress in soils due to applied load

week9 Wednesday Consolidation (1) Wednesday Compressibility

week10 Wednesday Consolidation (2) Wednesday Consolidation theory Consolidation

Rate of consolidation and
week11 Wednesday Shear strength of soils Wednesday settlement

week12 Wednesday Stress strain responses Wednesday Shear strength

week13 Wednesday Revision Wednesday

* Subject to change # Demonstration only † Site visiting

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 Assessment Summary
ENGR2832

Assessment Task Given Due Date Weighting

Monday of Weeks
Monday (5 PM) of Weeks
2,4,6,8,11 35%
Five Assignments 5,7,9,11,14

Monday of Weeks
Four Laboratory Reports 3,4,5,9 Monday (5 PM) of Weeks 20%
6,7,8,13

Examination Period 45%

End-of -Semester Exam

Total Marks 100%

# The marked assignments and lab reports will be returned in ten working
days after the due date.

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 Assessment Summary
ENGR8932
Assessment Task Given Due Date Weighting

Monday of Weeks
Monday (5 PM) of Weeks
2,4,6,8,11 25%
Five Assignments 5,7,9,11,14

Monday of Weeks
Four Laboratory Reports 3,4,5,9 Monday (5 PM) of Weeks 20%
6,7,8,13

Monday of Weeks Monday (5 PM) of Week

Research Report 6 14 10%

Examination Period 45%

End-of -Semester Exam

Total Marks 100%

# The marked assignments and lab reports will be returned in ten working
days after the due date.

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 Assessment Summary

• All Assignments will be made available on

FLO
• Assignments should be submitted to FLO
• Electronic submission through FLO is ok
• Scanned hand written submissions submitted on
FLO ok
• Late penalties do apply
– 5% per day starting immediately from the due
date

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 Successful completion of the topic

The student must

• achieve an aggregate mark of at least 50% overall

• achieve at least 50% for the final end-of-semester exam.

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Textbooks

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 Assumed knowledge

• ENGR1732 Engineering Mechanics

• ENGR2741 Mechanics and Structures

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 Teaching team
• Lecturer: Dr Hongyu Qin
• Contact details:
Flinders at Tonsley | Room 3.17
P: +61 8 8201 2763
E: hongyu.qin@flinders.edu.au
• Consulting times:
Wednesday 15:00am ~ 17:00pm @ Room 3.17, Tonsley
• Laboratory technical support:
Mr Wes Penney
Mr Mark Walford
• All resources are available on the topic FLO site
• Browsing FLO regularly for updated information about the topic.

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 APPOINT A TOPIC REP
BECOME A STUDENT
REPRESENTATIVE AT
FLINDERS

Topic Reps liaise with the Topic Coordinator to provide a

student perspective on learning and teaching within a topic.

Your role as a Topic Rep is to consider and discuss what is

working well and where improvements can be made.

TRAINING BENEFITS

You will be trained NOMINATE Horizon Award points,

and supported in your
role by FUSA. NOW! certificate of recognition,

professional and personal

College of Science growth, and the
& Engineering
opportunity to make a

difference.
 Emergency Procedures and Preparedness

http://www.flinders.edu.au/whs/emergency/

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 Things to do
• What geotechnical engineering companies do? (the `real life’ description)

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