Salahaddin University – Erbil

College of Engineering
Civil Engineering Department

Soil M echa nics

Ahmed Mohammed Hasan

B.Sc. in Civil Engineering
M .Sc. & P h.D. in Soil M echanics and Geo technical Engineering
ahmed.hasan@su.edu.krd

Theoretical part (3hrs)

Spring semester

2021 - 2022
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Objectives of the course
1- To familiar undergraduate students w i t h c o r e p rinciples of soil Mechanics including origin of
soil, clay minerals, soil classification, permeability, shear strength, consolidation etc….
2- To show and teach undergraduate students how to perform various tests on soils in the laboratory.
3- How to apply these above knowledge in Geotechnical Engineering projects.

A-Theoretical part:
Chapter 1: Basic characteristics of soils
Chapter 2: Soil description and classification.
Chapter 3: Soil phase relationships.
Chapter 4: Compaction of soils
Chapter 5: Permeability and seepage.
Chapter 6: Stress within a soil mass.
Chapter 7: Shear strength of soil.
Chapter 8: Compressibility and consolidation of soil.
Chapter 9: Slope stability
Chapter 10: Lateral earth pressure
Chapter 11: Soil Investigations

References:
1. Craig s Soil Mechanics, 2014. R.F. Craig, 8 Edition
2. Core Principles of Soil Mechanics, ICE textbooks, 2014. Sanjay K. Shukla.
3. Soil Mechanics: Concepts and Applications, 2014. William Powrie, 3rd edition.
4. Principals of Geotechnical Engineering, 2002. Braja M. Das, 5th edition.
5. Soil Mechanics, 1995. G. E. Barens.
6. Soil Mechanics, 1979. T. W. Lambe and Robert V. Whitman.
7. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering, 2002. DR. K. R. Arora
8. Physical and Geotechnical Properties of Soils, 1984. Joseph E. Bowles.
9. An Introduction of Geotechnical Engineering, 1982. R. D. Holtz and W. D. Kovacs.
10. Problem Solving in Soil Mechanics, 2003. A. Aysen.
11. Solving problems in Soil Mechanics, 1986. B. H. C. Sutton.

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Chapter one

1. Basic characteristics of soils

Contents of chapter 1
1.1 Definitions ................................................................................................................................................... 4
1.2 Uniqueness of soils ..................................................................................................................................... 6
1.3 Examples of Soil Mechanics problems ....................................................................................................... 6
1.3.1 Leaning Tower of Pisa ......................................................................................................................... 6
1.3.2 Liquefaction : Sand becomes liquid during Earthquake....................................................................... 6
1.3.3 Quick clay ............................................................................................................................................ 6
1.4 Origin of Soil............................................................................................................................................... 8
1.4.1 Physical factors .................................................................................................................................... 8
1.4.2 Chemical factors ................................................................................................................................... 9
1.5 Clay water ................................................................................................................................................. 12
1.6 Swelling and shrinkage of clays ................................................................................................................ 14
1.7 Activity of soils ........................................................................................................................................ 14

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1.1 Definitions
Soil:
soil to the Civil Engineer is any un-cemented or weakly cemented accumulation of
mineral particles formed by weathering of rocks that can be:
1 built on: foundations to buildings, bridges, wind farms. (see Figure 1.1 )
2 built in: tunnels. (see Figure 1.2 and 1.3)
3 built with: roads, embankments, dams. (see Figure 1.4 and 1.5)
4 supported by: retaining walls, sheet piles . (see Figure 1.6)

Soil Mechanics:
soil mechanics is studying the behaviour of soil such as strength, elasticity, permeability, volume
change. These properties basically depend o n the nature of the soil grains, the current stress,
water content and unit weight.
Soil mechanics differs from other branches of engineering in that generally there is little control
over the material properties. We have to deal with the soil at the site and this is often highly
variable. By taking samples at a few scattered locations we have to determine the soil properties
and heir variability.
Soil mechanics is a relatively new branch of engineering science, the first major conference occurred
in 1936 and the mechanical properties of soils are still incompletely understood. The first
complete mechanical model for soil was published as recently as 1968 (Modified Cam Clay MCC
model). Over the last 40 years there has been rapid development in our understanding of soil
behaviour and the application of this knowledge in engineering practice (Bubble model, Brcelona
Basic Model BBM).

Geotechnical Engineering:
Geotechnical Engineering is studying the behaviour of soil and rock including landfills, Soil-
Structure Interaction, Advances in Offshore Geotechnics, Transportation Geotechnics,
environmental geotechnics (see Figure 1.7)

Figure 1.1 Built on Soil Figure 1.2 Built in Soil

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 Figure 1.3 Built in Soil Figure 1.4 built with soil

Figure 1.5 built with soil

Figure 1.6 supported by: retaining walls,

Figure 1.7 Examples of geotechnical Engineering construction

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1.2 Uniqueness of soils
Soil is a very unique material and complex in nature. The unique characteristics of soils are as
follows:
1. It is not a solid, continuous material, but rather is composed of three different constituents: solid
(grain), water, and air, and is thus an aggregated material.
2. Particle sizes have significant influence on soil behavior from granular soil to clay.
3. The amount of water also plays a very important role in soil behavior.
4. Its stress–strain relation is not linear from the small strain levels.
5. Its pore spaces possess the capability of water flow.
6. It has time-dependent characteristics; that is, it is susceptible to creep.
7. It swells when wetted or shrinks when dried.
8. It is an anisotropic material due to the particle shapes and the depositional direction under gravity.
9. It is also spatially nonhomogeneous

1.3 Examples of Soil Mechanics problems

Engineers have to deal with many challenging soil mechanics problems even at present, as well as
in the past. A few historical and interesting cases are presented in the following subsections.

1.3.1 Leaning Tower of Pisa

This famous building illustrates historical soil mechanics problems. The 56 m high bell tower at Pisa,
Italy (see Figure 1.8), leans about 3.97° or 3.9 m at top toward the south. The construction of the
tower started in 1173 and was completed in 1372. It was reported that the tower started to sink
unevenly after the construction progressed to the third floor in 1178 and more floors were built up to
accommodate for the tilt. The lean is obviously due to uneven settlement of the foundation soil. This
time dependent settlement phenomenon is called consolidation settlement of clay and is discussed
later in chapter 8.

1.3.2 Liquefaction : Sand becomes liquid during Earthquake

Can you believe that soil transforms into liquid? Yes, it does. During Japan’s 1964 Niigata
earthquake, apartment buildings lost their foundation support and sank and tilted (Figure 1.9).
Foundation soil was transformed into viscous liquid due to earthquake vibration. A similar
phenomenon was also observed in the Alaska earthquake that occurred in March 1964. This
phenomenon is called soil liquefaction.

Liquefaction is one of the major geotechnical engineering problems during earthquakes. It causes the
settlement and tilting of buildings, catastrophic slope failures, and massive lateral movement of the
ground. Although this topic is not covered in this course, it is one of the major topics in the advanced
soil mechanics field, soil dynamics, or earthquake engineering.

1.3.3 Quick clay

A very unique type of clay called quick clay is commonly abundant in Scandinavian countries (i.e.,
Norway and Sweden). It has very high value of degree of sensitivity (St) (see Chapter 7) . Figure 1.10
demonstrates a dramatic change of its strength from a solid undisturbed specimen (left) to liquid stage
of remolded specimen (right).

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 Figure 1.8 Leaning tower of Pisa.

Figure 1.9 Building tilt and settlement due to a) Bearing low capacity b) liquefaction (earthquake,
Japan).

Figure 1.10 Quick clay before and after remolding

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Vedio\1 Concrete Retaining Wall failure.mp4
Vedio\2 Building Hanging After Landslide Collapses in Istanbul.mp4
Vedio\3 Retaining wall collapse moment _ Failed civil engineering.mp4
Vedio\4 Slope or retaining wall failure geohazard tank model.mp4
Vedio\ 5 lequifaction

Vedio\ 6 dam failure

1.4 Origin of Soil

Soil is the result of weathering process on rock formations. If the product of weathering remain at
their original place is called residual soil, while if the product of weathering is transported and
deposited in different places then is called transported soil. Weathering process may be by

1.4.1 Physical factors (wind, water, glaciers, freezing and thawing) : resulting practices
materials carrying same properties of parent rock. Grain soils like boulders, cobbles, gravels, sand,
silt are examples of physical weathering products. These soil exist in nature in grain structure as seen
in Figure 1.11 and Figure 1.12. These particles may be angular, sub-angular, or rounded, are
contacted together with bond (structure) or without (fabric) bond between them ,and the
structure or the fabric ( may be very loose, loose, medium dense, dense (see, Figure 1.13 ), very
dense depending on way of packing of the particles together .

Figure 1.11 Soil’s angularity.

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Figure 1.12 product of physical weathering and shape of coarse grains

Figure 1.13 (a) Loose and (b) dense packing of spheres.

1.4.2 Chemical factors: results in change in mineral from parent rock due to action of water, oxygen
and carbon dioxide. Clay minerals (less than 0.002mm) which are the major components of clay
soils are example of chemical weathering production (see Figure 1.14). They are very flaky and
therefore have very large surface areas.

Figure 1.14 Scanned electron microscope (SEM) picture of clay particle assembly

To understand various unique engineering behaviour of clay, it is most beneficial to study

microstructures of clay particles first. The microstructural observation greatly helps to understand
macro-behaviour.

In nature, basically there are three types of clay minerals namely; kaolinite clay, illite clay, and
montmorillonite clay (see Figure 1.16). These clays have different atomic structures and behave
differently and are all made of two basic atomic sheets namely, silica tetrahedral sheets and

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aluminium octahedron sheets, as seen in Figure 1.15. Naturally abundant atom silica (Si) and
aluminium atom (Al) occupy the centre positions of the sheets, and oxygen atom (O2−) and hydroxyl
(OH−) are strongly bonded to those core atoms, respectively (see, Figure 1.15a) . These bonds are
either ionic or covalent, and actual bonds in silica and aluminium sheets are combinations of these
two types of bonds.

Note that the ionic bond is due to exchange of orbiting electrons of two atoms such as Na+ (sodium
ion) and Cl− (chlorine ion) to make NaCl (sodium chloride = salt), and the covalent bond is due to
sharing electrons in their orbits such as two H+ (hydrogen ions) to form H2 (hydrogen gas). These
atomic bonds are very strong and can never be broken by ordinary physical forces. They are called the
primary bonds.
A silica tetrahedral sheet is symbolized with a trapezoid, of which the shorter face holds electrically
unsatisfied oxygen atoms and the longer face holds electrically satisfied oxygen atoms. An aluminum
octahedron sheet is symbolized with a rectangle with top and bottom faces having the same
characteristics of exposed hydroxyl (OH−) (see, Figure 1.15).

In most instances in nature, sheets are further bonded together, basically due to the unsatisfied face of
a silica sheet to form various clay minerals.

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 Figure 1.15 Clay minerals: basic units

As mentioned above, there are three main groups of clay minerals (see, Figure 1.16 ):
Kaolinites formed by the decomposition of feldspar (e.g. in granite); kaolin is the principal
component in china clay see Figure 1.16a.

Illites are the most common clay minerals; formed by the predominant in marine clays and shales
(e.g. London clay) see Figure 1.16b

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Montmorillonites formed by the alteration of basic igneous rocks containing silicates rich in (Ca
and Mg; weak linkage by cations (e.g. Na+, Ca++) results in high swelling/shrinkage potential.

Gibbsite sheet
Silica sheet

(a) (b) (c)

Figure 1.16 Clay minerals: (a) kaolinite, (b) illite and (c) montmorillonite

The clay fabric could be in two main forms dispersed and flocculated (see, Figure 1.17).

Figure 1.17 Clay fabric: (a) flocculated, (b) flocculated and (c) dispersed

1.5 Clay water

Dipolar water is attracted both by the negatively charged surface of the clay particles and by the
cations in the double layer. The cations, in turn, are attracted to the soil particles. A third mechanism
by which water is attracted to clay particles is hydrogen bonding, where hydrogen atoms in the water
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molecules are shared with oxygen atoms on the surface of the clay. Some partially hydrated cations in
the pore water are also attracted to the surface of clay particles. These cations attract dipolar water
molecules. All these possible mechanics of attraction of water to clay are shown in Figure 1.18. The
force of attraction between water and clay decreases with distance from the surface of the particles.

All the water held to clay particles by force of attraction is known as double-layer water. The
innermost layer of double-layer water, which is held very strongly by clay, is known as adsorbed
water. This water is more viscous than free water is.

Figure 1.19 shows the absorbed and double-layer water for typical montmorillonite and kaolinite
particles. This orientation of water around the clay particles gives clay soils their plastic properties.
It needs to be well recognized that the presence of clay minerals in a soil aggregate has a great
influence on the engineering properties of the soil as a whole. When moisture is present, the
engineering behavior of a soil will change greatly as the percentage of clay mineral content increases.
For all practical purposes, when the clay content is about 50% or more, the sand and silt particles float
in a clay matrix, and the clay minerals primarily dictate the engineering properties of the soil.

Figure 1.18 Attraction of dipolar molecules in diffuse double layer

Figure 1.19 Clay water

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1.6 Swelling and shrinkage of clays
When a clay specimen is in the process of increasing water content, clay swells mainly due to weak
secondary bonds between exposed OH− and OH− surfaces of facing sheets as shown in Figure 1.16c, in
particular, in the case of montmorillonite. When water content is decreased, it shrinks due to the
reversed phenomenon of swelling. A large amount of swelling upon wetting or shrinkage upon drying
would cause devastating damages to buildings and foundations. The swelling and shrinkage potentials
are closely related to the types of clays and their activities.

Based on many experimental data, it is observed that the higher the activity and the clay fraction (≤
2 μm) are, the higher the swelling potential is.

Figure 1.20 Damages in floor and walls due to swelling and shrinkage potentials

1.7 Activity of soils

When plasticity index PI (liquid limit – plastic limit, LL-PL, see Chapter 2) and clay fraction (the
percentage of particles less than 2 μm) relations for various types of clays are plotted as in Figure 1.21,
it was found that there were unique linear correlations between them for each of the different clays
(Skempton 1953). The slope of those straight line correlations is defined as the activity, and thus,

where PI and clay fraction are expressed in the percentage. The higher the activity is, the more
influence the clay fraction is to PI. Typical values of activity for various clays are shown in Table 1.1.
Activity is highly related to soils’ swelling and shrinkage potentials.

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 Table 1.1 Activities for various clay minerals

Figure 1.21 Relationship between percentage fraction (≤ 2 mm) of clay and plasticity index.

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