CEGEOEN

GEOTECHNICAL
ENGINEERING
1

Dr. Jonathan R. Dungca

Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering

´ Geotechnical engineering is the subdiscipline of civil engineering

that involves natural materials found close to the surface of the
earth.
´ It includes the application of the principles of soil mechanics and
rock mechanics to the design of foundations, retaining structures,
and earth structures.
3

SOILS

´ defined as the uncemented aggregate of mineral grains and

decayed organic matter (solid particles) with liquid and gas in the
empty spaces between the solid particles.
4

To an engineer, soil is a material that can be:

´ built on : foundation to buildings, bridges
´ built in : tunnels, culverts, basements
´ built with : roads, runways, embankments, dams
´ supported : retaining walls, quays

All engineering projects that come in

contact with earth require the expertise
of geotechnical engineers.
 Geotechnical Engineering Applications
5

´ Design of shallow and deep foundations for

buildings and offshore structures
´ Design of earth retaining structures such as
basement walls and bridge abutments, road and
railway construction
´ Stability analysis of hillsides and riverbanks, and
engineered slopes such as earth dams, highway
cuts, embankments, and dikes for flood protection
6 Earth-related topics:
´ Geo-environmental engineering deals with preventing
and remediating the effects of industrial and agricultural
wastes
´ Geosynthetics and ground improvement provide
engineered solutions for projects in weak soils and soft
ground
´ Soil-structure interaction of buried lifelines and tunnels
7 The analytical tools we use to perform engineering analyses
are known as soil mechanics and rock mechanics.

´ SOIL MECHANICS, also called geotechnique or

geotechnics or geomechanics, is the application of
engineering mechanics to the solution of problems
dealing with soils as a foundation and as a construction
material.

´ Every application of soil mechanics involves uncertainty

because of the variability of soils—their stratification,
composition, and engineering properties.
in Geotechnical Engineering
 MARVELS OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
9

Beijing National Stadium

world’s largest steel structure

Bailong Elevator
in Zhangjiajie, China
The highest and heaviest outdoor
elevator in the world that is 330 m
high and can carry 50 people in
one trip
 MARVELS OF CIVIL ENGINEERING
10

Eurotunnel
Tunnel start from England
and end in France. The
length is 31 miles and 23
miles of which is in the sea.

Palm Islands
Biggest artificial islands off the
coast of Dubai. Made from
85,000,000 cubic meters of
sand Along with concrete
supports, this sand was used to
shape the complex foundation of a
palm tree and support the hotel.
11

´ A satisfactory foundation design requires the proper

application of soil mechanics principles,
accumulated experience, and good judgment.
´ The stability and life of any structure—a building, an
airport, a road, dams, levees, natural slopes, power
plants—depend on the stability, strength, and
deformation of soils.
´ Thus, successful civil engineering projects are
heavily dependent on geotechnical engineering.
 Our blunders become monuments!
12

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Soil conditions need to be known in advance in
order to properly support structures during their
entire life time.
13

´ The foundation pressures exceeded the bearing

capacity of the underlying clay foundations.
14 GEOTECHNICAL LESSONS FROM FAILURES

Causes of failures on structures:

´ inadequate site and soil investigations
´ unforeseen soil and water conditions;
´ natural hazards;
´ poor engineering analysis, design, construction,
and quality control;
´ damaging postconstruction activities;
´ and usage outside the design conditions
15

´ When failures are investigated thoroughly, we

obtain lessons and information that will guide us
to prevent similar types of failure in the future
16

´ Lessons learn from these failures :

the importance of soil investigations, soils tests, and
the effects of rate of loading
 Great Contributors to the
17 Developments in Geotechnical
Engineering

GEOENG1
18 ´ “The father of soil mechanics”
´ He formulated the Theory of
Consolidation, which is considered as
the one of the most significant
milestones in civil engineering.
´ The year 1925 was considered as the
“birth” of geotechnical engineering
as a widely recognized discipline, for
that was when Terzaghi published the
first comprehensive book “The
Mechanics of Earth Construction
Karl Terzaghi Based on Soil Physics”.
1883-1963

GEOENG1
 ´ A French physicist who is best
19 remembered for his work
electricity and magnetism.
However, he also made
contributions in other fields
including the computation of
lateral earth pressures.
´ He was the first to define soil
strength using both cohesion
and friction, the first to consider
wall friction, and the first to
Charles Augustin analytically search for the
Coulomb orientation of the most critical
1736-1806 failure plane.

GEOENG1
20
´ A disciple of Terzaghi and a
professor at Harvard University, he
made many contributions to the
analysis of soft clays, soil
composition and classification,
and seepage through earth
structures.

Arthur Casagrande
1902-1981

GEOENG1
21 ´ He was an English civil engineer
internationally recognised, along
with Karl Terzaghi, as one of the
founding fathers of the
engineering discipline of soil
mechanics.
´ He has made major contributions
to soil mechanics on the
fundamentals of the effective
stress, pore pressures in clays,
bearing capacity, and slope
Alec Wesley Skempton stability.
1914 - 2001

GEOENG1
Some unsung heroes of Civil Engineering…

foundations soil exploration

tunneling

22
… buried right under your feet.
Watch this video

´ What is Geotechnical engineering - ISSMGE