CE-209: Geotechnical Engineering-I

Lecture 1

Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering and its

importance

Dr. Muhammad Safdar, PhD, P.E (Geotechnical Engineering)

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 Contents

 Course Aims
 Introduction to Soil Mechanics
 Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering
 History of Geotechnical Engineering
 Importance of Geotechnical Engineering

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 Course Aims
 To introduce civil engineering students to soil mechanics,
surface/subsurface soil, its formation, mineralogy, classification,
basic physical/index properties and their use for engineering
purposes.
 Enabling civil engineering students to solve fundamental
problems related to permeability, seepage, compaction and
vertical stresses.
 To introduce civil engineering students to soil exploration and
various field and laboratory tests needed for soil exploration.

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Course Aims

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 What is soil?
 For engineering purposes, soil is defined as the uncemented
aggregate of mineral grains (from weathering of rocks) and decayed
organic matter with liquid and gas in the empty spaces between the
solid particles.
 If the products of weathering remain at their original location they
constitute a residual soil. If the products are transported and
deposited in a different location they constitute a transported soil,
the agents of transportation being gravity, wind, water and glaciers.
 Soil is used as a construction material in various engineering
projects, and it supports structural foundations.
 Thus, Civil Engineers must study the properties of soil, such as its
origin, grain-size distribution, ability to drain water,
compressibility, shear strength and load bearing capacity.

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 Introduction to Soil Mechanics

 Soil Mechanics is the branch of science that deals with the study
of the physical properties of soil and the behavior of soil masses
subjected to various types of forces.
 Soils Engineering is the application of the principles of soil
mechanics to practical problems.

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 Introduction to Geo-Technical Engineering

 Geotechnical Engineering is the subdiscipline of civil

engineering that includes the application of principles of soil
mechanics and rock mechanics to the design of foundations,
retaining structures, and earth structures.

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 History of Geotechnical Engineering
 Geotechnical Engineering prior to the 18th Century.
 (Ancient civilizations flourished along the banks of rivers, such as Nile (Egypt), Tigris and
Euphrates (Mesopotamia), Huang Ho (Yellow River China).
 Dykes were built for protection of town of Mohenjo Daro (Indus Basin, Pakistan) and for
irrigation purposes (Chan Dynasty, China).
 Ancient Greek Civilizations used isolated pad footings, strip and raft foundations for
building structures.
 Egyptians built pyramids which posed formidable challenges regarding foundations, stability
of slopes, and construction of underground chambers.
 Pagodas were built during Eastern Han dynasty with the arrival of Buddhism in China.
 Leaning tower of Pisa in Italy is one of the most famous examples of problems related to soil
bearing capacity in the construction of structures proper to 18 th Century.

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 History of Geotechnical Engineering
 Pre-classical (1700 to 1776 A.D)
 This period concentrated on studies relating to natural slope, unit weights of various soils
and semiempirical earth pressure theories.
 Theory for lateral earth pressure on retaining walls, soil classification based on unit
weights, and model tests on retaining walls were conducted.

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 History of Geotechnical Engineering
 Classical soil mechanics – Phase I (1776 to 1856 A.D.)
 In this period, a French Scientist Charles Augustin Coulomb determined the true position of
the sliding surface in soil behind a retaining wall.
 Coulomb used the laws of friction and cohesion for solid bodies.
 Francais and Navier studied the special cases of Coulomb’s work related to inclined backfills
and backfills supporting surcharge respectively.

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 History of Geotechnical Engineering
 Classical soil mechanics – Phase II (1856 to 1910 A.D.)
 Several experimental results from laboratory tests on sand appeared in the literature in this
phase.
 Darcy published a study on the permeability of sand filters. Based on these tests, Darcy
determined the term coefficient of permeability ( or hydraulic conductivity) of soil.
 Boussinesq proposed the theory of stress distribution under loaded bearing areas in a
homogeneous, semiinfinite, elastic, and isotropic medium.
 Reynolds demonstrated the phenomenon of dilatancy in sand.

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 History of Geotechnical Engineering
 Modern soil mechanics (1910 to 1927 A.D.)

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 Geotechnical Engineering after 1927
The publication of Erdbaumechanik auf Bodenphysikalisher Grundlage
(Soil mechanics on a basis of soil physics) by Karl Terzaghi in 1925
gave birth to a new era in the development of soil mechanics. Karl
Terzaghi is known as the father of modern soil mechanics.

 He worked on the behavior of soils and settlement of clays.

 Failure due to piping in sand under dams.

The first conference of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering
(ISSMFE) was held at Harvard University in 1936 with Karl Terzaghi presiding. It was through
the inspiration and guidance of Terzaghi over the preceding quarter-century that papers were
brought to that conference covering a wide range of topics, such as shear strength, effective
stress, in situ testing, Dutch cone penetrometer, centrifuge testing, consolidation settlement,
elastic stress distribution, preloading for soil improvement, frost action, expansive clays,
arching theory of earth pressure, soil dynamics, and earthquakes.

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 Importance of Geotechnical Engineering
 The civil engineer has many diverse important encounters with
soil. Few applications are:
1) Foundation design.
2) Pavement design.
3) Design of earth retaining structures and underground.
4) Design of embankments and excavation.

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 Foundation design

 Foundation is a very important element

of all civil engineering structures. All civil
engineering structures like buildings,
dams, bridges, retaining walls, walls,
canals, tunnels or pillars are founded in
or on the surface of the earth. It is
necessary to understand the bearing
capacity of the soil, effect of ground
water and vibration.
ground

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Foundation design

 Foundation Type
P
I
L
E

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 Foundation design
 Foundation Type

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 Foundation design
 Foundation Type

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Foundation design

 Foundation Type
P
I
L
E

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Foundation design

 Foundation Type

 (1) Boring
 (2) Steel Placement
 (3) Concreting

1 2 3

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 Pavement design

 Cover with a material such as stone or concrete to make suitable for

vehicle traffic Pavement can be either flexible or rigid, and its
performance depends upon the subsoil on which it rests. The
thickness of pavement and its component parts depends upon
certain characteristics of the subsoil, which should be determined
before the design is made.

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 Design of earth retaining structures and

underground
The design and
construction of
underground and earth-
retaining structures
constitute an important
phase of engineering.
 The underground
structures include tunnels,
underground buildings,
drainage structures and
pipelines. A thorough
knowledge of geotechnical
engineering is essential to
design gravity-retaining
walls, tunnels,
underground buildings,
etc. subjected to soil
loadings.

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 Design of embankments and excavation
 When the surface of the soil
structure is not horizontal, the
component of gravity tends to
move the soil downward, and
may disturb the stability of the
earth structure.
 The possibility of seeping
groundwater reducing the soil
strength while excavating must
also be taken into account.
Sometimes, it is required to
drain the subsoil water to
increase the soil strength and
to reduce the seepage forces.
 Deep excavation requires
lateral braces and sheet walls
to prevent caving in.

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 Design of Earth Dams
 The construction of an earth dam requires a very thorough
knowledge of geotechnical engineering.
 As soil is used as the only construction material in an earth dam,
which may be either homogeneous or of composite section.
 Its design involves the determination of the physical properties of
soil such as the index properties, such as density, plasticity
characteristics and specific gravity, particle size distribution and
gradation of the soil etc.,

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 Importance of Geotechnical Engineering

 In-situ Tests
• Standard Penetration Testing (SPT)

• Cone Penetration Testing (CPT)

• Plate Load Test (PLT)

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 Importance of Geotechnical Engineering

 Laboratory Tests
• Determination of Moisture content of soil

• Determination of specific gravity of soil

• Determination of liquid limit of soil
• Determination of Plastic limit and Plasticity Index of soil

• Determination of shrinkage limit of soil

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 Importance of Geotechnical Engineering

 Slope Failure

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 Importance of Geo-Technical Engineering

 Erosion of Soil

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 Importance of Geo-Technical Engineering

 Erosion of Soil

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Importance of Geotechnical Engineering

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 Thank You

Any Question(s) ?

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