CHAPTER

INTRODUCTION TO SOIL MECHANICS AND

FOUNDATIONS

1.0 INTRODUCTION

Soils are natural resources. They are necessary for our existence. They provide food,
shelter, construction materials, and gems. They protect the environment and provide
support for our buildings. In this text book, we will deal with soils as construction
materials and as support for structures on and within them.
Soils are the oldest and most complex engineering materials. Our ancestors used soils
as a con struction material for flood protection and shelters. Western civilization credits the
Romans for recog nizing the importance of soils in the stability of structures. Roman
engineers, especially Vitruvius, who served during the reign of Emperor Augustus in the
first century B.C., paid great attention to soil types (sand, gravel, etc.) and to the
design and construction of solid foundations. There was no theoretical basis for
design; experience from trial and error was relied upon.
Coulomb (1773) is credited as the first person to use mechanics to solve soil problems.
He was a member of the French Royal Engineers, who were interested in protecting old
fortresses that fell easily from cannon fire. To protect the fortresses from artillery attack,
sloping masses of soil were placed in front of them (Figure 1.1). The enemy had to
tunnel below the soil mass and the fortress to attack. Of course, the enemy then
became an easy target. The mass of soil applies a lateral force to the fortress that could
cause it to topple over or could cause it to slide away from the soil mass. Coulomb attempted to
determine the lateral force so that he could evaluate the stability of the fortress. He
postulated that a wedge of soil ABC (Figure 1.1) would fail along a slip plane BC, and
this wedge would push the wall out or topple it over as it moved down the slip plane.
Movement of the wedge along the slip plane would occur only if the soil
resistance along the wedge were overcome. Coulomb assumed that the soil
resistance was provided by friction between the particles, and the problem became one
of a wedge sliding on a rough (frictional) plane, which you may have analyzed in your physics
or mechanics course. Coulomb tacitly defined a failure criterion for soils. Today,
Coulomb's failure criterion and method of analysis still prevail.
From the early twentieth century, the rapid growth of cities, industry, and commerce
required myriad building systems-for example, skyscrapers, large public buildings, dams
for electric power generation, reservoirs for water supply and irrigation, tunnels, roads
and railroads, port and harbor facilities, bridges, airports and runways, mining
activities, hospitals, sanitation systems, drainage systems, and towers for
communication systems. These building systems require stable and economic
foundations, and new questions about soils were asked. For example, what is the state
of stress in a soil mass, how can one design safe and economic foundations, how much
would a building settle, and what is the stability of structures founded on or within
soil? We continue to ask these questions and to try to find answers as

Coulomb's failure wedge

Soil mass for protection of the fortress

Slip plane
FIGURE 1.1 Unprotected and protected fortress.
Unprotected fortress that was felled easily by cannon fire
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO SOIL MECHANICS AND
FOUNDATIONS

new issues have confronted us. 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 and be sustainable.
To answer these questions we needed the help of some rational method, and,
consequently, soil mechanics was born. Karl Terzaghi (1883–1963) is the
undisputed father of soil mechanics. The publica tion of his book
Erdbaumechanik in 1925 laid the foundation for soil mechanics and brought
recognition to the importance of soils in engineering activities. Soil mechanics,
also called geotechnique or geotech nics or geomechanics, is the application of
engineering mechanics to the solution of problems dealing with soils as a
foundation and as a construction material. Engineering mechanics is used to
understand and interpret the properties, behavior, and performance of soils.
Soil mechanics is a subset of geotechnical engineering, which involves the
application of soil mechan ics, 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.
Every application of soil mechanics involves uncertainty because of the variability
of soils—their stratifica tion, composition, and engineering properties. Thus,
engineering mechanics can provide only partial solu tions to soil problems.
Experience and approximate calculations are essential for the successful application of
soil mechanics to practical problems. Many of the calculations in this textbook
are approximations.
Stability and economy are two tenets of engineering design. In geotechnical
engineering, the un certainties of the performance of soils, the uncertainties of the
applied loads, and the vagaries of natural forces nudge us to compromise between
sophisticated and simple analyses or to use approximate meth ods. Stability should
never be compromised for economy. An unstable structure compromised to save a few
dollars can result in death and destruction.

1.1 MARVELS OF CIVIL ENGINEERING – THE HIDDEN

TRUTH

The work that geotechnical engineers do is often invisible once construction is

completed. For example, four marvelous structures—the Willis Tower (formerly
called the Sears Tower, Figure 1.2), the Empire State Building (Figure 1.3), the
Taj Mahal (Figure 1.4), and the Hoover Dam (Figure 1.5)-grace us with their engi
neering and architectural beauty. However, if the foundations, which are invisible,
on which these structures stand were not satisfactorily designed, then these
structures would not exist. A satisfactory foundation design requires the proper
application of soil mechanics principles, accumulated experience, and good judgment.
FIGURE 1.2 Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower). (© Bill Bachmann/Photo
Researchers.)
1.2 GEOTECHNICAL LESSONS FROM FAILURES
3

FIGURE 1.3 Empire State Building. (© Rafael Macia/Photo Researchers.)

FIGURE 1.4 Taj Mahal. (© Will & Deni McIntyre/Photo Researchers.)

FIGURE 1.5 Hoover Dam. (Courtesy Bureau of Reclamation, U.S. Department of the
Interior. Photo by E. E, Hertzog.)

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. If the soil fails, structures founded on or within it will fail or be impaired,
regardless of how well these structures are designed. Thus, successful civil
engineering projects are heavily dependent on geotechnical engineering.

1.2 GEOTECHNICAL LESSONS FROM FAILURES

All structures that are founded on earth rely on our ability to design safe and
economic foundations. Because of the natural vagaries of soils, failures do occur.
Some failures have been catastrophic and have caused severe damage to lives
and property; others have been insidious. Failures occur because of
inadequate site and soil
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CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO SOIL MECHANICS AND FOUNDATIONS

investigations; unforeseen soil and water conditions; natural hazards; poor

engineering analysis, design, con struction, and quality control; damaging
postconstruction activities; and usage outside the design conditions. When failures are
investigated thoroughly, we obtain lessons and information that will guide us to prevent
similar types of failure in the future. Some types of failure caused by natural hazards
(earthquakes, hurricanes, etc.) are difficult to prevent, and our efforts must be directed toward
solutions that mitigate damages to lives and properties.
One of the earliest failures that was investigated and contributed to our knowledge of
 soil behav ior is the failure of the Transcona Grain Elevator in 1913 (Figure 1.6). Within
24 hours after loading the grain elevator at a rate of about 1 m of grain height per day,
the bin house began to tilt and settle. Fortu nately, the structural damage was minimal
and the bin house was later restored. No borings were done to identify the soils and
to obtain information on their strength. Rather, an open pit about 4 m deep was
made for the foundations and a plate was loaded to determine the bearing strength of
the soil.
The information gathered from the Transcona Grain Elevator failure and the subsequent
detailed soil investigation was used (Peck and Bryant, 1953; Skempton, 1951) to verify
the theoretical soil bear ing strength. Peck and Bryant found that the applied pressure
from loads imposed by the bin house and the grains was nearly equal to the
calculated maximum pressure that the soil could withstand, thereby lending
support to the theory for calculating the bearing strength of soft clay soils. We also learn
from this failure the importance of soil investigations, soils tests, and the effects of rate
of loading.
The Transcona Grain Elevator was designed at a time when soil mechanics was not yet born.
One eyewitness (White, 1953) wrote: “Soil Mechanics as a special science had
hardly begun at that time. If as much had been known then as is now about the shear
strength and behavior of soils, adequate borings would have been taken and tests made
and these troubles would have been avoided. We owe more to the development of this
science than is generally recognized."
We have come a long way in understanding soil behavior since the founding of
soil mechanics by Terzaghi in 1925. We continue to learn more daily through research
on and experience from failures, and your contribution to understanding soil behavior is
needed. Join me on a journey of learning the funda mentals of soil mechanics and its
applications to practical problems so that we can avoid failures or, at least, reduce the
probability of their occurrence.
FIGURE 1.6 Failure of the Transcona Grain Elevator. (Photo courtesy of Parrish
and Heimbecker Limited.)