PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

This book has been written to serve primarily as a fbtmdarjon (165n manual to practising geotechnical and
civil engineers and as a text bookfor postgraduate students in geotechnical engineering. It will also serve as
a reference book on foundation engineering for undergraduate students in civil engineering.
The subjectwmatter of this manual has been divided into six chapters and eleven Annexures. The manual
covers wide range oftopics ofinterest for practising civil engineers as would be evident from the contents. Some
of the topics covered in Axxexures are difficult to find in books on foundation egineering but the knowledge
of which is essential in overall geotechnical recommendations on foundation engineering.
The material in the manual has been treated in Metric System of Units, the system widely used in India at
present; and Si System ofUnits (Le System International de Units), the international system prescribed by the
General Conference of Weights and Measures of 1960.
The subject matter in the manual has been so presented as to fulfil the following objectives:
The manual brings out the various approaches as used in practice of foundation engineering. Both the
rationalised and empirical approaches found valuable have been included in this manual. Geotechnical
engineering, although great strides have been made in it in recent years, is still a less precise science than
structural engineering. It remains, to an important extent, an art based on experience and judgement. The
material in this manual is presented, therefore, as a series ofsuggested ratherthan mandatory procedures which
reflect sound and safe techniques. The limitations and applicability ofeach ofthe approaches have been brought
out. This, it is believed, would guard against the danger ofmisjudgement and mi sapplication by engineers less
experienced in the field of soil mechanics and foundation engineering. '
There can be certain shortcomings in the fulfilment of the above cited objectives. Some of these
shortcomings can result from the limited literature, time and space available; some other limitations result from
the fact that some part of the subject-matter may be over-stressed or under-stressed for some of the readers as
presentation orthe subjeCt—matter is clearly affected by personal views,judgement and experience ofthe author.
The author invites constructive criticism and suggestions as aids to future improvements. a
The author wishes to acknowledge that information for this manual is gathered from maiiy publications.
An attempt is made to acknowledge these publications at appropriate places in the text and under references.
However, there are bound to be omissions, but such omissions are unintentional. Also, the author has used the
material generously from his proposed textbook on SorYMecliam'cs andFowidatron Engr'neen’ngand also from
the Review Paper 011 Erpansz‘ve Soils which are currently under preparation.
The author expresses his sincere thanks to the management of WS Tata Consulting Engineers for their
encouragement in writing such a manual. In this connection the author would particularly express his .
indebtedness to Mr. MR. Ranga Rao and Mr. F. SA. Pavamani, Engineering Managers; Mr. S.N. Manohar,
Additional Chief Civil Engineer; Mr. SP. Joshi, Deputy Chief Civil Engineer of Tata Consulting Engineers
for their continuous encouragement. Their encouragement in using soil mechanics based approaches in solving
geotechnical problems offoundation engineering and also their receptiveness to application ofnew rationalised
ideas on jobs engineered by Tata Consulting Engineers helped greatly in the author’s efforts to bring this
manual.
The author is especially indebted to Prof. Dinesh Mohan, Director, Central Building Research Institute and
Vice President (Asia), International Society Soil of Mechanics and Foundation Engineering for his pains-
taking scrutiny of the manuscript and his Foreword Thanks are also due to Publishers M/s. Dhanpat Rai and
Sons for bringing this manual. Finally, the author thanks his wife Suman. This manual has seen the light of
the day only because of her silent sacrifices during his heavy involvement with writing of this manual.

BOB/EBAY, 1979 N.V. NAYAK