GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING
Soil
➔ oldest and most complex engineering material.
➔ used as construction material to build burial
sites, flood protection, and shelters.
➔ Coulomb (1773) is credited as the 1st person to
use mechanics to solve soil problems. A member
of the French Royal Engineers, who protect the
old fortresses that fell easily from cannon fire.
Coulomb has tacitly defined a failure criterion for
soils. Today, Coulomb’s failure criterion and
method of analysis still prevail. In the early 20th
century, the rapid growth of cities, industry and
commerce required myriad building systems.
◆ These building systems require stable
and economic foundations and new
questions about soils were asked. Some
of these new issues include removing
toxic compounds from soil and water,
designing foundations and earth
structures to mitigate damage from
earthquakes and other natural hazards,
and designing systems to protect the
environment. Because of these issues,
soil mechanics was born.
➔ Karl Terzaghi (1883 – 1963) is the undisputed
father of soil mechanics.
◆ The publication of his book
Erdbaumechanik (1925) laid the
foundation for soil mechanics and
brought recognition to the importance
of soils in engineering activities.
Soil Mechanics/Geotechnics
➔ Application of engineering mechanics to the
solution of problems dealing with soils as a
foundation and a construction material.
Engineering mechanics is used to understand
and interpret the properties, behavior and
performance of soils.
➔ Subset of geotechnical engineering, which
involves the application of soil mechanics,
geology, and hydraulics to the analysis and
design of geotechnical systems such as dams,
embankments, tunnels, canals and waterways,
foundations for bridges, roads, buildings, and
solid waste disposal systems. Experience and
approximate calculations are essential for the
successful application of soil mechanics to
practical problems.
PHYSICAL SOIL PARAMETERS
Determination of Particle Size of Soils
→ Particle Size of Coarse-Grained Soils
Stack of Sieves
CHARACTERIZATION OF SOILS BASED ON PARTICLE
SIZE
Soil Types, Descriptions, and Average Grain Sizes
According to USCS
Essential Points:
➔ Fine-grained soils can exist in one or four states:
solid, semisolid, plastic and liquid.
➔ Water is the agent that is responsible for
changing the states of soils.
➔ A soil gets weaker if its water content increases.
➔ Three limits are defined based on the water
content that causes a change of state.
◆ liquid limit – the water content that
caused the soil change from a liquid to a
plastic state
◆ plastic limit – the water content that
caused the soil to change from a plastic
to a semisolid
◆ shrinkage limit – the water content that
caused the soil to change from a
semisolid to a solid state. All these
limiting water contents are found from
laboratory tests.
➔ The plasticity index defines the range of water
content for which the soil behaves like a plastic
material.
➔ The liquidity index gives a measure of strength.
➔ The soil strength is lowest at the liquid state and
highest at the solid state.
IMPORTANCE OF COMPACTION
–Specifications for earth structures usually call for a
minimum of 95% of Proctor maximum dry unit weight.
–Compaction increases the strength, lowers the
compressibility, and reduces the flow rate of water
(permeability) of a soil by rearranging its fabric. The soil
fabric is forced into a dense configuration by the
mechanical effort used in compaction. It is the most
popular technique of improving soils.
FIELD COMPACTION
–Sheepsfoot roller (compaction of fine-grained soils)
–Drum type roller (compaction of coarse-grained soils)
COMPACTION QUALITY CONTROL
Three popular apparatuses in checking field compaction:
➔ Sand Cone – consists of a glass or plastic jar with
a funnel attached to the neck of the jar. (Most
popular of the three in our country and used
regularly in DPWH)
➔ Balloon Test – consists of a graduated cylinder
with a centrally placed balloon and the cylinder
is filled with water. (Popular next to the sand
cone and is also found at the DPWH)
1
 ➔ Nuclear Density Meter – useful device to 1. Casiguran (1968) - M 7.3
rapidly obtain the unit weight and water content 2. South Cotabato (1976) - M 7.9
of the soil nondestructively. 3. Luzon (1990) - M 7.8
4. Mindoro (1994) - M 7.9
Important points: 5. Negros (2012) - M 6.9
➔ Compaction is the densification of a soil by the 6. Bohol (2013) - M 7.2
expulsion of air and the rearrangement of soil 7. Leyte (2017) - M 6.5
particles. 8. Surigao (2017) - M 6.7
➔ The Proctor test is used to determine the
maximum dry unit weight and the optimum Damage Scenario (MMEIRS 2014)
water content and serves as the reference for → 13% of the residential structures will suffer
field specifications of compaction. heavy damage or collapsed and 26% moderately
➔ Higher compactive effort increases the maximum damage
dry unit weight and reduces the optimum water → 8-10% of public buildings will suffer heavy
content. damage and 27% will suffer moderately damage
➔ Compaction increases strength, lowers → 11% of the 10-30 stories will suffer heavy
compressibility and reduces the permeability of damage while 27% will suffer moderately
soils. damage
➔ A variety of field equipment is used to check the → Of the 30-60 stories, 2% will suffer heavy damage
dry unit weights achieved in the field. Popular and 12% moderately damage
field equipment includes the sand cone
apparatus, the balloon apparatus and the nuclear Unbonded Brace (UBB)
density meter. → for seismic (response) controlled structure
→ absorb seismic energy without buckling
Design Basis Ground Motion → equivalent tension-compression behavior
→ Ground motion that has a 10% chance of being → more than 30 years application result
exceeded in 50 years as determined from a
hazard map.

Design Response Spectrum

→ An electric response spectrum for 5% equivalent
viscous damping
→ May either be a site-specific spectrum based on
geologic, tectonic, seismological and soil
characteristics associated with a specific site or
may be a spectrum constructed in accordance
with the spectral shape.

GEOLOGY
➔ Aka Earth Science

Application of Geology in Civil Engineering

4 Levels of Earthquake Hazard performance-based
earthquake hazard criteria:
1. Frequent – 50% probability of exceedance in 50-
year exposure, mean return interval of 72 years
2. Occasional – 20% probability of exceedance in
50-year exposure, mean return interval of 224
years
3. Rare – 10% probability of exceedance in 50-year
exposure, mean return interval of 475 years
4. Very rare (maximum considered) – 2%
probability of exceedance in 50-year exposure,
mean return interval of 2475 years
MAGNITUDE OF EARTHQUAKES
1. Mapping - best possible route, boundaries
2. Exploration - planning stage, infer geological
structures
3. Project planning - most important in C.E,
feasibility and parameters
4. Surface water - water mapping, determining
overland flow
5. Groundwater - caused by hydrological properties
of rock framework
6. Slope-stability - determine slide regions
7. Geological structure - suitable area, materials for
foundation
8. Earthquake - seismic nature, evaluate active and
inactive faults
Branches of Geology
1. Petrology - study of rocks, occurrence,
composition, origin and evolution.
2
 2. Mineralogy - study of minerals (chemical and
physical composition)
3. Structural Geology - 3D distribution of large
bodies of rocks, surface, and the composition of
their inside
4. Civil Engineering Geology - application of
geological knowledge to engineering.
5. Mining Geology - applied science that works in
development of mineral resource
6. Economic Geology - deals with earth materials
that can be used for creating or development of
the Industry
7. Stratigraphy - rock successions and their
interpretation in terms of general time scale
8. Photo Geology - interpretation of images
obtained by airborne sensors
9. Physical Geology - deals with geological events
and process.
INTERNAL STRUCTURE OF THE EARTH
Atmosphere
➔ The outer gaseous part of earth starting from the
surface and extending as far as 700km.
➔ It only one-millionth part of the mass of earth
because of its gaseous composition.
➔ It shields us from most of the harmful ultraviolet
(UV) radiation coming from the Sun
Lithosphere
➔ It is the solid part of the earth and includes all the
solid materials composing the earth from surface
downwards.
➔ Recent seismic studies show that it is composed
of three well-defined shells: Crust, Mantle, Core.
➔ Broken into large stabs known as plates
Crust
➔ Topmost shell of the earth
➔ Thickness of 30-40 km in the continents and 5-6
km in the oceans.
➔ The oceanic crust is made up of heavier and
darker rocks called basalt
➔ Continental crust light-colored and light-density
called granitic rocks.
Mantle
➔ This zone of materials lying between crust and a
depth of 2900 km
➔ It is made up of extremely basic materials called
ultra-basic rocks, which are believed to be very
rich in iron and magnesium but quite poor in
silica.
➔ Believed to be highly plastic in nature.
Core
➔ It is the third and innermost structure shell of the
earth.
➔ It starts at a depth of 2900 km below the surface
and has a circumference of about 6370 km.
➔ The core is made up of Iron and Nickel alloy
material along with small amounts of other dense
elements like gold, platinum, and uranium.
CONTINENTAL DRIFT THEORY AND PLATE TECTONICS
➔ By Alfred Wegener
➔ It explains how continents shift position on
Earth's surface.
➔ Wegner hypothesized that the continents had all
originally been a part of one enormous landmass
or supercontinent about 240 million years ago
before breaking apart and drifting to their
current locations.
➔ It also explained why the same animal and plant
fossils, and similar rock formations, are found on
different continents.
Plate Tectonics
➔ Plate tectonics is the theory that Earth's outer
shell is divided into several plates that glide over
the mantle, the rocky inner layer above the core.
➔ The relative movement of the plates as they
shifted by the underlying mantle flow.
➔ Each plate are stable unless there are some
disturbances in the plate boundaries that causes
geological processes.
CONTINENTS AND OCEANS
Oceanic crust
➔ Mainly basalt and dolerite, 5–10 km thick,
forming all the ocean floors; it is created and
destroyed at plate boundaries.
Continental crust
➔ Is mainly granite and gneiss, 20–80 km thick; of
lower density than oceanic crust, forms all the
continents and is almost indestructible
Plate Boundary Types:
1. Transform Boundaries - plates slides pass each
other; major strike-slip faults are formed.
2. Convergent Boundaries – two plates collide.
 Oceanic crust – oceanic crust
 Oceanic crust – continental crust
 Continental crust – continental crust
3. Divergent Boundaries – two plates move apart.
3
  On land
 Under the sea
WEATHERING EARTH PROCESS
Weathering
→ Describes the breaking down or dissolving of
rocks and minerals on the surface of the earth.
Process of Weathering and Erosion
→ Depend very much on climate, and there is a
correlation between soil type and local climatic
effects
1. Mechanical Weathering
 Also called as Physical Weathering
 Process of rocks crumbling due to rain,
wind, or other atmospheric conditions.
 Physical disaggregation of the original
rock mass into smaller particles.
Causes of Mechanical Weathering
 Water
 Temperature
 Exfoliation
 Freeze-thaw
2. Chemical Weathering
 Process changes the composition of
rocks.
 Oxidation is a reaction with a rock
constituent and in two typical reactions
produces new iron-bearing minerals.
 Hydration is a reaction in which water
combines with a rock constituent.
 Carbonation is a reaction involving
carbonic acid and limestone.
 Reduction is a reaction that takes place
in environments deficient in oxygen and
the products of such a reaction contain
relatively little oxygen.
3. Biological Weathering
 Takes place when rocks are worn away
by living organisms.
→ Massive rocks that make up the outer layer of the
earth’s surface, and whose movement alone
faults triggers earthquakes
Seismic Waves
→ waves that transmit the energy released by an
earthquake
Types of Earthquakes
1. Tectonic earthquake - occurs when the earth's
crust breaks due to geological forces on rocks
and adjoining plates that cause physical and
chemical changes.
2. Volcanic earthquake - earthquake that results
from tectonic forces which occur in conjunction
with volcanic activity.
3. Collapse earthquake - small earthquakes in
underground caverns and mines that are caused
by seismic waves produced from the explosion of
rock on the surface.
4. Explosion earthquake - earthquake that is the
result of the detonation of a nuclear and/or
chemical device.
Different Kinds of Faults
1. Normal faults - when the hanging wall drops
down. The forces that create normal faults are
pulling the sides apart, or extensional.
2. Reverse faults - when the hanging wall moves
up. The forces creating reverse faults are
compressional, pushing the sides together.
3. Transcurrent or Strike-slip faults - have walls
that move sideways, not up or down.

EARTHQUAKES
Seismograph
→ An intense shaking of Earth’s surface. The
→ a.k.a seismometer, is an instrument used to
shaking is caused by movements in Earth’s
outermost layer (Crust). detect and record earthquakes.
→ Movement builds up elastic strain in rocks; fault
rupture and rock rebound release strain energy
as ground shock waves. Most earthquakes
originate at focus 20 km deep

Anatomy of an Earthquake
Fault
→ A fracture in the rocks that make up the earth’s
crust
Epicenter
→ The point at the surface of the earth directly Modified Mercalli Scale
above the focus
Focus (Hypocenter)
→ The point within the earth where an earthquake
rupture starts
Plates

4

PROSPECTING GROUNDWATER
Groundwater
→ water found underground in the cracks and
spaces in soil, sand and rock. It is stored in and
moves slowly through geologic formations of
soil, sand and rocks called aquifers.
Water Budget
→ an accounting of the rates of water movement
and the change in water storage in all or parts of
the atmosphere, land surface, and subsurface.
Although simple in concept,water budgets may
be difficult to accurately determine.
Rainfall
→ the amount of rain that falls on a particular area
and when it lands on the ground it is dispersed in
three ways:
o Evapotranspiration – it is the process
by which water is transferred from the
land to the atmosphere by evaporation
from the soil and other surfaces and by
transpiration from plants.
o Runoff – it is the flow of water that
occurs when excess storm water, melt
water, or other sources flow over the
Earth's surface.
o Infiltration – it is the process by which
water on the ground surface enters the
soil. The infiltration capacity is defined
as the maximum rate of infiltration.
PERMEABILITY OF ROCKS
Aquifer
→ is an underground layer of water-bearing
permeable rock, rock fractures or
unconsolidated materials such that gravel, sand,
or silt.
Aquiclude
→ A rock with very low values of hydraulic
conductivity which, although it may be saturated
with groundwater, is almost impermeable with
respect to groundwater flow.
Aquifuge
→ a geological formation, which is neither porous
nor permeable. There are no interconnected
openings and hence it cannot transmit water.
Aquitard
→ a zone within the Earth that restricts the flow of
groundwater from one aquifer to another. It
comprises layers of either clay or non-porous
rock with low hydraulic conductivity.
Permeability
→ property of rocks that is an indication of the
ability for fluids (gas or liquid) to flow through
rocks.
Types of Permeability
1. Intergranular - also known as intergranular
attack, is a form of corrosion where the
boundaries of crystallites of the material are
more susceptible to corrosion than their insides.
2. Fracture - is any separation in a geologic
formation, such as a joint or a fault that divides
the rock into two or more pieces. A fracture will
sometimes form a deep fissure or crevice in the
rock.
3. Secondary - permeability developed in a rock
after its deposition, through such processes as
weathering and fracturing. Secondary porosity is
the porosity developed in a rock after its
deposition, through such processes as
dissolution or fracturing.
Porosity
→ The volume of voids or pore spaces in a rock
Specific Yield
→ It is the percentage volume of water that can
drain freely from a rock; it must be less than the
porosity, by a factor related to the permeability,
and indicates the groundwater resource value of
an aquifer volume of water that can drain freely
from a rock.
Aquifer Conditions
1. Water table - is the upper surface of the zone of
saturation. The zone of saturation is where the
pores and fractures of the ground are saturate.
2. Vadose - also termed the unsaturated zone, is the
part of Earth between the land surface and the
top of the phreatic zone, the position at which the
groundwater is at atmospheric pressure.
3. Phreatic - or zone of saturation, is the area in an
aquifer, below the water table, in which relatively
all pores and fractures are saturated with water.
The phreatic zone defines the lower edge of the
vadose zone.
4. Capillary water - water that remains in the soil
after gravitational water is drained out, that is
subject to the laws of capillary movement, and
that is in the form of a film around the soil grains.
5. Hydraulic gradient - provides an indication of
the direction of groundwater flow.
6. Rivers - is a natural flowing watercourse, usually
freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake
or another river.
7. Perched aquifer – is an aquifer that occurs
above the regional water table, in the vadose
zone.
8. Unconfined aquifer - are those into which water
seeps from the ground surface directly above the
aquifer.
9. Confined aquifer - is an aquifer below the land
surface that is saturated with water.
5