Soil Mechanics Fundamentals: Imperial Version

This accessible, clear and concise textbook strikes a balance between theory and practical applications for an introductory course in soil mechanics for undergraduates in civil engineering, construction, mining and geological engineering.

Soil Mechanics Fundamentals lays a solid foundation on key principles of soil mechanics for application in later engineering courses as well as in engineering practice.  With this textbook, students will learn how to conduct a site investigation, acquire an understanding of the physical and mechanical properties of soils and methods of determining them, and apply the knowledge gained to analyse and design earthworks, simple foundations, retaining walls and slopes.

 The author discusses and demonstrates contemporary ideas and methods of interpreting the physical and mechanical properties of soils for both fundamental knowledge and for practical applications.

 The chapter presentation and content is informed by modern theories of how students learn: 

Learning objectives inform students what knowledge and skills they are expected to gain from the chapter. Definitions of Key Terms are given which students may not have encountered previously, or may have been understood in a different context. Key Point summaries throughout emphasize the most important points in the material just read. Practical Examples give students an opportunity to see how the prior and current principles are integrated to solve real world problems.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

PREFACE     

NOTES FOR STUDENTS AND INSTRUCTORS

chapter 1     COMPOSITION AND PARTICLE SIZES OF SOILS

1        Introduction

Learning outcomes

2        Definition of key terms

3        Composition of soils

               Soil Formation

               Soil Types

               Soil Minerals

               Surface Forces and Adsorbed Water

               Soil Fabric   

4         Determination of Particle Size

         Particle Size of Coarse–Grained Soils

               Particle Size of Fine–Grained Soils 

5        Characterization of Soils Based on Particle Size 

6        Comparison of Coarse–Grained and Fine–Grained Soils for Engineering Use

7         Summary

         Exercises     

chapter 2 PHASE RELATIONSHIPS, PHYSICAL SOIL STATES AND SOIL CLASSIFICATION

1        Introduction

Learning outcomes

 

2        Definition of key terms

3        Phase Relationships

4        Physical States and Index Parameters of Fine–Grained Soils

5        Determination of the Liquid, Plastic, and Shrinkage Limits

Casagrande Cup Method ASTM D 4318

Plastic Limit Test ASTM D 4318

Shrinkage Limit ASTM D 427 and D 4943        

6.       Soil Classification Schemes

American Society for Testing and Materials and the Unified Soil Classification System (ASTM–CS)

               AASHTO Soil Classification System

               Plasticity Chart

7.       Engineering Use Chart     8.      Summary

Practical Examples           

Exercises

chapter 3 SOILS INVESTIGATION

1        Introduction

Learning outcomes

2        Definition of key terms

3        Purposes of a Soils Investigation

4        Phases of a Soils Investigation

5        Soils Exploration Program

Soils Exploration Methods

      Geophysical methods

      Destructive methods

      Soil Identification in the Field

      Number and Depths of Boreholes

      Soil Sampling

      Groundwater Conditions

Types of In Situ or Field Tests

Vane Shear Test (VST) ASTM D 2573

The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) ASTM D 1586

The Cone Penetrometer Test (CPT) ASTM D 5778

 Pressuremeter ASTM D 4719–87

Types of Laboratory Test

Soils Laboratory Tests

6         Soils Report

7        Summary

            Exercises

 

CHAPTER 4 ONE– AND TWO–DIMENSIONAL FLOW OF WATER THROUGH SOILS          

1        Introduction

Learning outcomes

2        Definition of key terms

3        One–Dimensional Flow of Water Through Saturated Soils

4        Flow of Water Through Unsaturated Soils

5        Empirical Relationships for k

6        Flow Parallel to Soil Layers

7        Flow Normal to Soil Layers

8        Equivalent Hydraulic Conductivity         

9        Laboratory Determination of the Hydraulic Conductivity

Constant–Head Test

Falling–Head Test

10    Two–Dimensional Flow of Water Through Soils

11    Flownet Sketching

Criteria for Sketching Flownets

Flownet for Isotropic Soils

12    Interpretation of Flownet

Flow Rate

Hydraulic Gradient

Critical Hydraulic Gradient

Porewater Pressure Distribution

Uplift Forces        

13    Summary  

Practical Examples     

Exercises 

CHAPTER 5 SOIL COMPACTION

1        Introduction

Learning outcomes

2        Definition of key terms

3        Benefits of Soil Compaction

4        Theoretical maximum Dry Unit Weight

5        Proctor Compaction Test ASTM 1140 and ASTM 1557

6        Interpretation of Proctor Test Results

7        Field Compaction

8        Compaction Quality Control

Sand Cone ASTM D 1556

Balloon Test ASTM D 2167

Nuclear Density Meter ASTM D 2922, ASTM D 5195

Comparison Among the Popular Compaction Quality Control Tests

9         Summary

Practical Example      

Exercises

 

chapter 6        STRESS FROM SURFACE LOADS AND THE PRINCIPLE OF EFFECTIVE STRESS

1         Introduction

Learning outcomes

2        Definition of key terms

3        Vertical Stress Increase in Soils from Surface Loads

Regular shaped surface loads on a semi–infinite half–space

How to use the charts

Infinite Loads

      Vertical stress below arbitrarily shaped area

4        Total and effective stresses

      Total and effective stresses due to geostatic stress fields

      Effects of Capillarity

      Effects of seepage

5         Lateral earth pressure at rest

6        Field monitoring of soil stresses

7        Summary  

Practical Example 

Exercises   

chapter 7      SOIL SETTLEMENT 

1        Introduction

Learning outcomes

2        Definition of key terms

3        Basic concept

4        Settlement of free draining coarse–grained soils

5        Settlement of non–free draining soils

6        The one–dimensional consolidation test

Drainage path

Instantaneous load  

Consolidation under a constant load primary consolidation

Effective stress changes

Effects of loading history

Effect of soil unit weight or soil density

Determination of void ratio at the end of a loading step

Determination of compression and recompression indices

Determination of the modulus of volume change

Determination of the coefficient of consolidation

         Root time method (square root time method)

         Log time method

Determination of the past maximum vertical effective stress

                                 Casagrande s method

                                 Brazilian method

                                 Strain energy method

Overconsolidation ratio      

Determination of the secondary compression index           

 

7            Relationship Between Laboratory and Field Consolidation

8        Calculation of primary consolidation settlement

Effects of unloading/reloading of a soil sample taken from the field

Primary consolidation settlement of normally consolidated fine–grained soils

Primary consolidation settlement of overconsolidated fine–grained soils

Procedure to calculate primary consolidation settlement

9        Secondary compression

10    Settlement of thick soil layers

11    One–dimensional consolidation theory

12    Typical values of consolidation settlement parameters and empirical relationships

13    Monitoring soil settlement

14    Summary

        Practical Example          

       Exercises 

chapter 8      SOIL STRENGTH     

1        Introduction

Learning outcomes           

2        Definition of key terms

3        Basic concept

4        Typical response of soils to shearing forces

        Effects of increasing the normal effective stress

        Effects of overconsolidation ratio and relative density

        Effects of drainage of excess porewater pressure

        Effects of cohesion

        Effects of soil tension and saturation

        Effects of cementation          

5         Three models for interpreting the shear strength of soils

Coulomb s failure criterion

Mohr–Coulomb failure criterion

Tresca failure criterion

6        Factors affecting the shear strength parameters

7        Laboratory tests to determine shear strength parameters

              A simple test to determine the critical state friction angle of clean coarse–grained soils

              Shear box or direct shear test ASTM D 3080

              Conventional triaxial apparatus

              Direct simple shear

8        Specifying laboratory strength tests        

9        Estimating soil parameters from in situ (field) tests

         Vane Shear Test (VST) ASTM D 2573

         The Standard Penetration Test (SPT)– ASTM D 1586

         Cone Penetrometer Test (CPT)– ASTM D 5778

10     Some empirical and theoretical  relationships for shear strength parameters

11    Summary

Practical Examples     

Exercises

appendix A    DERIVATION OF THE ONE–DIMENSIONAL CONSOLIDATION THEORY

Appendix B   MOHR CIRCLE FOR FINDING STRESS STATES

Appendix C  FREQUENTLY USED TABLES OF SOIL PARAMETERS AND CORRELATIONS

Appendix D COLLECTION OF EQUATIONS

REFERENCES          

INDEX           

 

Muniram (Muni) Budhu is Professor of Civil Engineering & Engineering Mechanics at the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.  He received his BSc (First Class Honors) in Civil Engineering from the University of the West Indies and his PhD in Soil Mechanics from Cambridge University, England. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, Dr. Budhu served on the faculty at the University of Guyana; McMaster University, Canada and the State University of New York at Buffalo. He spent sabbaticals as visiting Professor at St. Catherine s College, Oxford University;  Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich(Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zurich), and theUniversity of Western Australia.