Chapter 1: Geotechnical Engineering—  Classical Soil Mechanics–Phase I (1776

From the Beginning 1856)

 Classical Soil Mechanics–Phase II (1856
Soil - Uncemented aggregate of mineral 1910)
grains and decayed organic matter with  Modern Soil Mechanics (1910-1927)
liquid and gas in the empty spaces between  Geotechnical Engineering after 1927
the solid particles.  End of an Era

Soil Mechanics - Branch of science that

deals with the study of the physical Chapter 2: Soil Deposits Origin, Grain
properties of soil and the behavior of soil Size, and Shape
masses subjected to various types of forces.
 The mineral grains that form the solid
Soil Engineering - The application of the phase of a soil aggregate are the product
principles of soil mechanics to practical of rock weathering
problems.  rocks can be divided into three basic
types: igneous, sedimentary, and
Geotechnical Engineering - Subdiscipline metamorphic.
of civil engineering that involves natural  Weathering: Process of breaking down
materials found close to the surface of the rocks by mechanical/chemical processes
earth. to smaller pieces.
 In chemical weathering, the original rock
The natural slope is what we now refer to as minerals are transformed into new
the angle of repose. minerals by chemical reaction.
 Residual Soils: Soils formed by the
SCIENTIST OF THIS PROFESSION weathered products at their place of
French scientist Charles Augustin origin.
Coulomb (1736–1806) used the principles  Igneous rock originates from magma.
of calculus for maxima and minima  Cementing agents are generally carried
William John Macquorn Rankine (1857, by groundwater. The cementing agents
end of classical soil mechanics period) on fill the spaces between particles and form
his notable theory on earth pressure and sedimentary rock.
equilibrium of earth masses  Sedimentary rock may undergo
French engineer Henri Philibert Gaspard weathering to form sediments or may be
Darcy published a study on the subjected to the process of
permeability of sand filters metamorphism to become metamorphic
Wolmar Fellenius developed the stability rock
analysis of undrained saturated clay  Chemical sedimentary rock: Sedimentary
slopes rock formed by chemical processes.
Karl Terzaghi focused on effective stress,  Metamorphism: The process of changing
shear strength, consolidation, and the composition and texture of rocks by
centrifuge testing Erdbaumechanik auf heat and pressure.
Bodenphysikalisher Grundlage on new
era TRANSPORTED SOILS
Ralph B. Peck (last early giant) provided 1. Glacial Soils – Formed by transportation
consulting on Rapid transit systems, and deposition of glaciers.
Alaskan pipeline system and Dead Sea 2. Alluvial Soils – Transported by running
dikes water and deposited along streams.
3. Lacustrine Soils – Formed by deposition
in quiet lakes.
ERA 4. Marine Soils – Formed by deposition in
 Geotechnical Engineering Prior to the the seas.
18th Century 5. Aeolian Soils – Transported and
 Preclassical Period of Soil Mechanics deposited by wind.
(1700 1776) 6. Colluvial Soils – Transported and
deposited by gravity.
 3. Needle shaped - Needle-shaped grains
 Gravels are pieces of rocks with occasional are much less common than the other two
grains of feldspar and other minerals. grain types.
 Sand grains are made of mostly quartz and
feldspar. Other mineral grains may be there.  Soils are formed by chemical and
 Silts are the microscopic soil fractions that mechanical weathering of rocks.
consist of very fine quartz grains and some  Based on the size of the particles, soil
flake-shaped grains that are fragments of can be classified as gravel, sand, silt,
micaceous minerals. and clay.
 Clays are mostly flake-shaped microscopic  Clays are flake-shaped microscopic
and submicroscopic grains of mica, clay and submicroscopic particles of mica,
minerals, and other minerals. Defined as clay minerals, and other minerals.
“which develop plasticity when mixed with a  Clay minerals are complex aluminum
limited amount of water.” silicates.
 Non-clay soils can contain grains of quartz,  Clay particles carry a net negative
feldspar, or mica that are small enough to charge on their surfaces. When water
be within the clay size classification. is added, a diffuse double layer of
water is developed around the clay
Specific gravity of a material says how heavy particles that is responsible for
that material is compared to water. It is the providing plasticity to clay soils.
ratio of the density of the material to the
density of water.

Mechanical analysis is the determination of Chapter 3: Weight-Volume

the size range of grains present in a soil, Relationships and Plasticity
expressed as a percentage of the total dry
weight.  Soils are three-phase systems consisting
1. Sieve analysis—for grain sizes of soil solids, water, and air.
larger than 0.075 mm in diameter.  The weight-volume relationships for soils
Once the percent finer for each sieve are the relationships between unit
is calculated, the calculations are weight, void ratio, porosity, moisture
plotted on semilograrithmic graph content, and the specific gravity of soil
paper with percent finer as the solids.
ordinate and sieve opening size as the  The volume relationships commonly used
abscissa. This plot is known as the for the three phases in a soil element are
grain-size distribution curve. void ratio, porosity, and degree of
2. Hydrometer analysis—for grain saturation.
sizes smaller than 0.075 mm in  The common weight relationships are
diameter. Based on the principle of moisture content and unit weight
sedimentation of soil grains in water.

THE THREE SOIL PARAMETERS ARE: Void ratio (e) is the ratio of the volume of
1. Effective grain size voids to the volume of solids
2. Uniformity coefficient
3. Coefficient of gradation Porosity (n) is defined as the ratio of the
volume of voids to the total volume
THE GRAIN SHAPE GENERALLY CAN
BE DIVIDED INTO THREE MAJOR Degree of saturation (S) is the ratio of the
CATEGORIES: volume of water to the volume of voids
1. Bulky - formed mostly by mechanical
weathering of rock and minerals. Moisture content (w) is the ratio of the
2. Flaky - have very low sphericity, usually weight of water to the weight of solids in a
0.01 or less. These grains are predominantly given quantity of soil
clay minerals.
Unit weight (γ) is the weight of soil per unit
volume
 crumbles. The plastic limit is the lower
Relative density (Dr) is used to indicate the limit of the plastic stage of soil.
in-situ denseness or looseness of granular  The plasticity index (PI): difference
soil. between the liquid limit and plastic
limit of a soil
 Soil mass shrinks as moisture is
 At very low moisture content, soil gradually lost from the soil
behaves more like a brittle solid.  The moisture content at which the
 When the moisture content is very volume change of the soil mass ceases
high, the soil and water may flow like is defined as the shrinkage limit (SL)
a liquid. which performed in the laboratory with
 Soil behavior can be broken down into a porcelain dish
four basic states: solid, semisolid,  The plasticity index of a soil increases
plastic, and liquid linearly with the percent of clay-size
 The moisture content at which the fraction present in it and is called
transition from solid to semisolid state activity.
takes place is defined as the shrinkage  Activity is the slope of the line
limit correlating PI and percent finer than 2
 The moisture content at the point of micrometers.
transition from semisolid to plastic  The relative consistency of a cohesive
state is the plastic limit soil in the natural state can be defined
 The moisture content at the point of by a ratio called the liquidity index (LI)
transition from the plastic to liquid  The in-situ moisture content of a
state is the liquid limit. sensitive clay may be greater than the
 For a liquid limit test, a soil paste is liquid limit
placed in the cup. A groove is cut at  Soil deposits that are heavily over
the center of the soil pat, using a consolidated may have a natural
saturated grooving tool. The cup is moisture content less than the plastic
then lifted and dropped from a height limit
of 10 mm. The moisture content
required to close a distance

of 12.7 mm along the bottom of the

groove after 25 blows is defined as the
liquid limit.
 The relation between moisture content
and log N is approximated as a
straight line. This is known as the flow Chapter 4: Soil Classification
curve
 Another method of determining liquid
limit that is popular in Europe and Asia Two elaborate classification systems
is the fall cone method. In this test the that use the grain-size distribution and
liquid limit is defined as the moisture plasticity of soils are commonly used by
content at which a standard cone of soils engineers. These are:
apex angle 30° and weight of 0.78 N 1. The American Association of State
will penetrate a distance of d = 20 mm Highway and Transportation Officials
in 5 seconds when allowed to drop classification systems, which are mostly used
from a position of point contact with by state and county highway departments.
the soil surface. 2. The Unified Soil Classification System,
 Plastic limit is the moisture content at which is preferred by geotechnical engineers.
which the soil, when rolled into
threads of 3.2 mm in diameter, AASHTO Classification System
  The systems work by classifying the o Coarse-grained soils that are
major groups as A-1 through A-7. gravelly and sandy in nature
 A-1 through A-3 are granular with less than 50% passing
materials, where 35% or less of the through the No. 200 sieve. The
particles pass through the No. 200 group symbols start with a
sieve. prefix of either G or S. G stands
 A-4 through A-7 are soils where more for gravel or gravelly soil, and S
than 35% pass through the No. 200 for sand or sandy soil.
sieve. o Fine-grained soils with 50% or
 1. Grain Size Gravel: Fraction passing more passing through the No.
the 75 mm sieve and retained on the 200 sieve. The group symbols
No. 10 U.S. sieve. Sand: Fraction start with a prefix of M, which
passing the No. 10 U.S. sieve and stands for inorganic silt, C for
retained on the No. 200 U.S. sieve. Silt inorganic clay, or O for organic
and Clay: Fraction passing the No. 200 silts and clays. The symbol Pt is
U.S. sieve. used for peat, muck, and other
 2. Plasticity: The term silty is applied highly organic soils.
when the fine fractions of the soil have  Other symbols are also used for the
a plasticity index of 10 or less. The classification:
term clayey is applied when the fine o W – well graded
fractions have a plasticity index of 11 o P – poorly graded
or more. o L – low plasticity (liquid limit
 3. If cobbles and boulders are less than 50)
encountered, they are excluded from o H – high plasticity (liquid
the portion of the soil sample on which limit more than 50)
classification is made. However, the  For proper classification according to
percentage of such material is this system, some or all of the
recorded. following information must be known:
 For the evaluation of the quality of a o Percent of gravel – that is, the
soil as a highway subgrade material, a fraction passing the 76.2 mm
number called the group index is also sieve and retained on the No. 4
incorporated with the groups and sieve.
subgroups of the soil. o Percent of sand – that is, the
 GROUP INDEX RULES:
fraction passing the No. 4 sieve
o If the previous equation yields a
and retained on the No. 200
negative value for GI, it is taken sieve.
as zero. o Percent of silt and clay – that is,
o The group index calculated from
the fraction finer than the No.
the previous equation is 200 sieve.
rounded off to the nearest o Uniformity coefficient (Cu) and
whole number.
the coefficient of gradation (Cc).
o There is no upper limit for the
o Liquid limit and plasticity index
group index.
of the portion of soil passing the
o The group index of soils
No. 40 sieve.
belonging to groups A-1-a, A-1-  The group symbols for coarse-
b, A-2-4, A-2 5, and A-3 is grained gravelly soils are GW, GP,
always 0. GM, GC, GC-GM, GW-GM, GW-GC, GP-
o When calculating the group GM, and GP-GC
index for soils that belong to  Similarly, the group symbols for fine-
groups A-2-6 and A-2-7, use the grained soils are CL, ML, OL, CH, MH,
partial group index for PI OH, CL-ML and Pt
Unified Soil Classification System  Using the previous figures, one needs
 The system classifies soils into two to remember that in a given soil,
broad categories: o Fine fraction = % passing No.
200 sieve
 o Coarse fraction = % retained on
No. 200 sieve
o Gravel fraction = % retained on
No. 4 sieve
o Sand fraction = (% retained on
No. 200 sieve) – (% retained on
No. 4 sieve)
 Coarse-grained soils are relatively
easier to identify, and the visual
description can include the following
information:
o Grain size distribution (well
graded or poorly graded)
o Grain size (e.g., fine, medium,
or coarse sand)
o Grain shape (e.g., angular, sub-
rounded)
o Color
o Presence of any fines – are the
fines clayey or silty?
o Homogeneity
 Fine grained soils are identified by
their dry strength by crushing a dry
lump of soil.
 Silts have low dry strength, and clays
have high dry strength.
 Fines can also be identified as clays or
silts based on their dilatancy.
 The test for dilatancy involves placing
a moist pat of fines in the palm and
shaking it vigorously to see how
quickly the water rises to the surface
of the soil pat.
 Dilatancy is quick in silts and slow in
clays.