Introduction to Geotechnical

Engineering

ground

N. Sivakugan
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 Typical Geotechnical Project

Geo-Laboratory soil properties Design Office

~ for testing ~ for design & analysis

ils
eta
d
soi

ign
l sa

s
de
mp
s le

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 Shallow Foundations
~ for transferring building loads to underlying ground
~ mostly for firm soils or light loads

firm
ground

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bed rock 4
 Shallow Foundations

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 Deep Foundations
~ for transferring building loads to underlying ground
~ mostly for weak soils or heavy loads

P
I
L
E
weak soil

bed rock 6
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 Deep Foundations

Driven timber piles, Pacific Highway 7

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 Retaining Walls
~ for retaining soils from spreading laterally

retaining
wall

Road
Train

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 Earth Dams
~ for impounding water

reservoir
clay
core shell

soil

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 Concrete Dams

reservoir
concrete dam

soil

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 Concrete Dams

Three Gorges Dam, Hong Kong

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 Concrete Dams

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 Earthworks
~ preparing the ground prior to construction

Roadwork, Pacific Highway 13

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 Construction hazard
~ an unwelcome visitor at an earthwork site.

What does it have

to do with Geo?#!

A dead Anaconda python (courtesy: J. Brunskill) 14

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 Geofabrics
~ used for reinforcement, separation, filtration and
drainage in roads, retaining walls, embankments…

Geofabrics used on Pacific Highway 15

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 Reinforced Earth Walls
~ using geofabrics to strengthen the soil

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 Soil Nailing
~ steel rods placed into holes drilled into the walls
and grouted

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 Sheet Piles
~ sheets of interlockingsteel or timber driven into
the ground, forming a continuous sheet

warehouse

ship

sheet pile

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 Sheet Piles
~ resist lateral earth pressures
~ used in excavations, waterfront structures, ..

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 Sheet Piles
~ used in temporary works

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 Sheet Piles
~ interlocking sections

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 Cofferdam
~ sheet pile walls enclosing an area, to
prevent water seeping in

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 Landslides

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 Shoring
propping and supporting the exposed walls to
resist lateral earth pressures

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 Tunneling

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 Blasting

For ore recovery in mines

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 Ground Improvement

Impact Roller to Compact the Ground

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 Ground Improvement

Sheepsfoot Roller to Compact Clay Soils

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 Ground Improvement

Smooth-wheeled Roller
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 Ground Improvement
Big weights dropped
from 25 m, compacting
the ground.

Craters formed in compaction 30

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 Environmental Geomechanics

Waste Disposal in Landfills

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 Instrumentation
~ to monitor the performances of earth and
earth supported structures

~ to measure loads, pressures, deformations,

strains,…

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 Soil Testing

Cone Penetration Test Truck – Lavarach Barracks, Townsville

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 Soil Testing

Vane Shear Test Standard Penetration Test

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 Soil Testing

Triaxial Test on Soil Sample in Laboratory 35

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 Soil Testing

Variety of Field Testing Devices 36

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 Soil Testing
Purdue University, USA

Being Pushed around by my Supervisors 37

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 Typical Safety Factors
Type of Design Safety Probability of
Factor Failure

Earthworks 1.3-1.5 1/500

Retaining 1.5-2.0 1/1500

structures
Foundations 2.0-3.0 1/5000

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 Some unsung heroes of Civil Engineering…

foundations soil
exploration

tunneling

… buried right under your feet. 39

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Great Contributors to the Developments in
Geotechnical Engineering
 WJM Rankine
1820-1872 A.Casagrande
C.A.Coulomb
Karl Terzaghi 1736-1806 1902-1981
1883-1963 Siva’s
Siva’steacher
teacherininUSA
USA––
deserves
deservesgold
goldframe
frame

L. Bjerrum A.W.Skempton G.F.Sowers G.A. Leonards

1918-1973 1914- 1921-1996 1921-1997
Geotechnical Engineering Landmarks
 Leaning Tower of Pisa
Our blunders become monuments!

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 Hoover Dam, USA

Tallest (221 m) concrete dam 44

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 Petronas Tower, Malaysia

Tallest building in the

world
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 Monuments

and….

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 Geo-engineering at JCU
CS2005
Geo-engineering I

CS3002
Geo-engineering I

CS4001 Postgrad
Geo-engineering I MEngSc/PhD

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 Practicals
~ five practical sessions
~ closed footwear must be worn in the lab

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 Laboratory Staff

Neville Hines & Rudd Rankine

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 Quizzes
How?  about 4-6, 50 minutes each
 open book

Why?
 to reinforce main points
 provides a wake up call
 form of assessment

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 Past CS2005 Grades

1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002

HD 5 1 1 3 3 0
D 4 2 3 2 9 6
C 15 12 6 7 7 2
P
P-
12
6
8
0
8
2
6
4
10
1
8
5
?
N 12 10 12 14 9 13
X 0 0 3 3 3 1
Total 54 33 35 39 42 35
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 Some Suggestions

Attend the lectures.

It
It takes
takes longer
longer to
to understand
understand
from
from the
the lecture
lecture notes
notes

Develop a good feel for the subject.

It
It isis practical,
practical, interesting
interesting and
and
makes
makes lot lot of
of sense.
sense.
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 Some Suggestions

Work in groups.
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 Some Suggestions

Thou shall not wait till the last minute.

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 Exams

My mama always said, “Exam is like a box

of chocolates; you never know what you
are gonna get”

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