SOIL MECHANICS LECTURES-KCE3241

FOR 3rd CLASS – CIVIL ENG. DEPT.

Asst. Prof. Dr. Mohammed Shaker Al Shakerchy

Ph.D. in Geotechnical Engineering
Faculty of Engineering / University of Kufa
SOIL MECHANICS LECTURES – 3RD CLASS – CIVIL ENG. DEPT.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
 SOIL MECHANICS- KCE3241
INTRODUCTION
The main items in this lecture are:
Definitions

Historical Background

Soil Problems In Civil Engineering

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Special Soil Engineering Problems

The Solution of Soil Engineering Problems

Complicating Characteristics of Natural Soil Deposits

Role of Phases (Soil Behavior)

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INTRODUCTION
 Soils consist of grains (mineral
grains, rock fragments, etc.) with
water and air in the voids between
grains. The water and air contents
are readily changed by changes in
conditions and location: soils can
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be perfectly dry (have no water

content) or be fully saturated
(have no air content) or be partly
saturated (with both air and water
present). Although the size and
shape of the solid (granular)
content rarely changes at a given
point, they can vary considerably
from point to point.

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INTRODUCTION
 First of all, consider soil as a engineering material - it is not a
coherent solid material like steel and concrete, but is a particulate
material. It is important to understand the significance of particle
size, shape and composition, and of a soil's internal structure or
fabric.
 Soils may be described in different ways by different people for their
different purposes. Engineers' descriptions give engineering terms
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that will convey some sense of a soil's current state and probable
susceptibility to future changes (e.g. in loading, drainage, structure,
surface level). Engineers are primarily interested in a soil's
mechanical properties: strength, stiffness, permeability. These
depend primarily on the nature of the soil grains, the current stress,
the water content and unit weight. So the fundamental principles of
soil mechanics divide naturally into two parts:-
a- a description of the basic soil properties,
b- The application of these properties to the solution of soil
engineering problems, such as slope stability, bearing capacity
and settlement. SOIL MECHANICS LECTURES by Dr. Mohammed Sh. M. Al Shakerchy 5
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INTRODUCTION

The Definition of an Engineering Soil and Rock

(After Terzaghi & Peck, 1948):-
“Soil is a natural aggregate of mineral, rains that can
be separated by such gentle mechanical means”
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"Rock is a natural aggregate of minerals

connected by permanent cohesive forces”

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INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
 Geotechnical engineering has been practiced since antiquity. The first known building code was the Sumerian
Code, found in present day Iraq, and written between 1868 to 1857 BC. It was soon followed by the code written
by emperor Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC), the founder of the Babylonian Empire. In the Code, there were detailed
punishments prescribed for poorly built foundations and buildings.
 Chinese engineers developed stone mat foundations 5,000 years ago for buildings placed upon marshy soils of
the Yangtze River by linking the stones with lead keys.
 Egyptian thinking was deeply rooted to their soil. In fact, the word “Egypt” meant “dark soil” in the ancient
Coptic language.
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 In Persia, aqueducts (“kanats”) were dug into mountains 10,000 years ago that are still in daily use today. They
supply endless water without pumps.
 In Peru, steep slopes were stabilized with terraces for cultivation 8,500 years ago. The Inca’s developed their
famous road system (the Qhapaq Ñan) extending from Columbia to present day Argentina.
 In 1729, Bernard Forest de Belidor published a textbook for military and civil engineers in France. In the book,
he proposed a theory for lateral earth pressure on retaining walls that was a follow-up to Gautier's (1717)
original study.
 In 1776, French scientist Charles Augustin Coulomb used the principles of calculus for maxima and minima to
determine the true position of the sliding surface in soil behind a retaining wall.
 In 1856, French engineer, Henri Philibert Gaspard Darcy published a study on the permeability of sand filters.
He defined the term "coefficient of permeability" or "hydraulic conductivity" of soil.
 In 1908, Albert Mauritz Atterberg, a Swedish chemist and soil scientist, defined clay-size fractions, in 1911, he
explained the consistency of cohesive soils by defining liquid, plastic, and shrinkage limits and the plasticity
index.
 After 1927, Karl Terzaghi became as the father of modern soil mechanics. He was the president of International
Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ISSMFE) from 1936 to 1957. ISSMFE became ISSMGE IN
1997.
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INTRODUCTION

SOIL PROBLEMS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

To an Engineer it is a material that can be:

.built on: foundations to buildings, bridges

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.built in: tunnels, culverts, basements

.built with: roads, runways, embankments, dams

.supported: retaining walls, quays

So, he must design structures to protect soils from excavations

and underground openings and face a number of special
problems as follow:
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SOIL PROBLEMS EXAMPLES
Foundation:-
 Every civil engineering structure (Buildings, BUILDING

Bridges, highways, tunnels, walls, tower, Soft

canal, or dam) must be founded in or on the Soil

surface of the earth. To satisfy each structure Firm Soil

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must have foundation.

 When firm soil is near the ground surface, so

BUILDING
using the shallow foundation to transfer the
concentrated loads, from the walls or columns
Piles
of a building, to the soil as spread footings. Soft
When firm soil is not near the ground surface, Soil
the transferring of weight of structure to
ground is through vertical members such as
piles or piers or deep foundation.
Firm Soil

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SOIL PROBLEMS EXAMPLES
Soil as a Construction Material: -
 When the civil engineer uses soil as
construction material, he must select: -
◦ type of soil Pavement
Reservoir
◦ method of placement, and then control
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the actual placement Rock Face

 Where: - CLAY CORE
◦ Clay core: impermeable clay keeps Gravel Gravel
Filter
Rock
Toe
leakage low. Bed

◦ Rock toe: heavy, highly permeable rock

adds considerable stability to the dam.
◦ Gravel bed: prevents large rocks on the
face from sinking into the clay.
◦ Gravel filter: prevent washing of soil
particles from the core into the voids of
the rock toe.
◦ Rock facing: prevents erosion of the core
by rain or water in the reservoir.
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SOIL PROBLEMS EXAMPLES

Slopes and Excavations: -

 When a soil surface is not
horizontal, there is component of
gravity tending to move the soil
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Slip Surface
downward. If along a slip surface
Overlying Structure
in the soil, the shear stress from
gravity or any other source (such
as moving water, weight of an
overlying structure, or an
earthquake) exceeds the shear
strength of the soil along the Natural Slope
surface, a shear rupture and
movement can occur.
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SOIL PROBLEMS EXAMPLES
Underground and Earth
Retaining
Retaining Structure: - Wall
 Any structure built bellow
ground surface has forces A
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applied to it by the soil in nchor

contact with the structure.
The design and
construction of
underground and earth
retaining structures Passive Side Active Side
constitute an important Earth Retaining
phase of civil engineering. Structure

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SOIL PROBLEMS EXAMPLES
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SPECIAL SOIL ENGINEERING PROBLEMS: -

Vibrations
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Explosions
and
The Storage of
Earthquakes
Industrial
Fluids in Earth
Reservoirs
Frost

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SPECIAL SOIL ENGINEERING PROBLEMS: -
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COMPLICATING CHARACTERISTICS OF NATURAL

SOIL DEPOSITS
Dose not has a linear or unique stress-strain
relationship.
The behavior depends on pressure, time, and
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environment.

Different types of soil at every location.

Can not be seen underground soil.

Disturbance from sampling.

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THE SOLUTION OF SOIL ENGINEERING PROBLEMS

 Soil Mechanics
- :Includes
stress-strain
properties, theoretical analysis
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for soil masses

 Geology, Exploration Solutions to +
Engineering +
Composition of actual soil Engineering
Judgment
masses Problems
 Experience
What designs have worked
?well under what conditions
 Economics

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SOIL PHASES
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ROLE OF PHASES (SOIL BEHAVIOR

Role of Solid Phase Role of Pore Phase

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Chemical Physical Sharing

Interaction Interaction the Load

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ROLE OF PHASES (SOIL BEHAVIOR)

The soil is multiphase material consists of
solid phase and pore phase.

1- Role of Solid Phase (The Particular Nature CRUSHING

of Soil)
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 The soil is composed of discrete particles; the

discrete particles that make up soil are not
strongly bonded together in the way that the soil BENDING
particles are relatively free to move with respect to
one another.
 The soil particles are solid and cannot move
relative each other as easily as the element in a
fluid. It is basic fact that distinguishes soil SLIDING
mechanics from solid mechanics and fluid
mechanics.
 As show in figure, the individual particles deform
as the result of contact forces. The most usual
type of deformation is an elastic or plastic strain
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in the immediate, and close to contact points.
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ROLE OF PHASES (SOIL BEHAVIOR)

2- Role of Pore Phase: -

 The spaces among the soil particles are “pore spaces”.
These pore spaces are usually filled with air or/and water
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(with or without dissolved material).

 The effect of water in pores divided into the followings: -

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ROLE OF PHASES (SOIL BEHAVIOR)

2- ROLE OF PORE PHASE

A- Chemical Interaction: -
The nature of pore fluid will
influence the magnitude of Fluid
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shear resistance existing

between two particles by
introducing chemical matter
to the surface of contact. Particle
The constituents of the pore
phase will influence the
nature of the mineral
surfaces and hence affect the
processes of force
transmission at the particle
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INTRODUCTION
Supply Tank

ROLE OF PHASES (SOIL BEHAVIOR)

HYDROSTATIC
2- ROLE OF PORE PHASE CONDITION Soil

(NO FLOW)
B- Physical Interaction: -
 Consider a soil whose pore spaces are completely filled
with water (simulate a saturated soil): - Supply Tank

First, we assumed that the water pressure is hydrostatic

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that means the pressure in the pore water at any point SMALL FLOW Soil
below the water surface is equal to (gw * h). For such a OF WATER
condition there will be no flow of water, as in the figure.
 Next, we suppose that the water pressure at the base of
the box is increased while the overflow holds the level of
the water surface constant, as in the figure, now there Supply Tank

must be an upward flow of water. The amount of water

that flows will be depended on:
 If the excess water pressure at the base is increased by
raising the supply tank, a pressure will be reached where QUICK Soil

the sand is made to boil by the upward flowing water, as CONDITION

in the figure. That is a quick condition.

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ROLE OF PHASES (SOIL BEHAVIOR)

Porous Piston

2-ROLE OF PORE PHASE

C- Sharing the Load: -
Because soil is a multiphase system, it
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Spring
may be expected that a load applied
to a soil mass would be carried on
part by the mineral skeleton and in
part by the pore fluid.
The figure shows a hydro-mechanical

analogy in which the properties of the

soil have been lumped, the resistance
of the mineral skeleton to Spring

compression is represented by a
spring.

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ROLE OF PHASES (SOIL BEHAVIOR)

ROLE OF PORE PHASE
Sharing the Load
 In actual problems there will be the

Force
same process of a graded change in the in Soil
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way that the load is shared. This

process of gradual squeezing out of
In Water
water is called “consolidation”, and the
time interval involved is the
hydrodynamic time lag.
 When the load applied to a soil is

Settlement
suddenly changed, this change is
carried jointly by the pore fluid and by
the mineral skeleton. The change in
pore pressure will cause water to move
through the soil, hence the properties Time
Soil
of the soil will change with time, as
shown in the figure.
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