This means they need to know what fraction of the normal

stress at a given depth in a soil mass is carried by water in

the void spaces and what fraction is carried by the soil
skeleton at the points of contact of the soil particles.

This is also known as the effective stress concept.

2
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website, in whole or in part.
It is necessary to estimate the net increase of vertical stress
in soil that occurs as a result of the construction of a
foundation so that settlement can be calculated.

The engineer also needs to know the vertical stress increase

in soil caused by various types of loading, based on the
theory of elasticity and treating soil as a continuum.

3
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website, in whole or in part.
Thus

= unit weight of water

= saturated unit weight of the soil
= height of water table from the top of the soil column
= depth of point A below the water table

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5
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
1. A portion is carried by water in the continuous void
spaces. The portion acts with equal intensity in all
directions.

2. The rest of the total stress is carried by the soil grains at

their points of contact. The sum of the vertical components
of the forces developed at the points of contact of the solid
particles per unit cross-sectional area of the soil mass is
called the effective stress.

6
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website, in whole or in part.
Let P1, P2, P3,….Pn be the forces that act at the points of
contact of the soil particles.

7
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website, in whole or in part.
8
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website, in whole or in part.
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website, in whole or in part.
With the above equation we can now write

Where  '   sat   w is the submerged unit weight of soil.

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website, in whole or in part.
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
12
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
14
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
15
© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.
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© 2017 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible
website, in whole or in part.