CE 425 : Soil-Water Interaction

• Soil water interaction problems: Permeability, Capillary and

Soil suction
• Slopes subjected to water current, wave action etc.
• Theories of filters and revetment design
• Geotechnical design of landfills
 Importance of soil-water
interaction problems

“In engineering practice, difficulties with soils are almost exclusively due
not to the soils themselves, but to the water contained in their voids. On a
planet without any water there would be no need for Soil Mechanics”

– Karl Terzaghi (1939)

 Influences of water on the behavior of soil

In a broad sense water influences the behavior of soil in two ways:

• Chemical interaction - by affecting the way in which soil particles join to
form the mineral skeleton
• Physical interaction - by affecting the magnitude of the forces transmitted
through the mineral skeleton
We can divide the physical interactions in types such as :
 Cases with no flow of water
 Cases with Steady flow of water
 Cases with dynamic/ cyclic loading
 Effects of Water in geotechnical field

• produces buoyancy effects on structures and foundations - affects bearing

capacity
• exerts extra pressure on structures - e.g. hydrostatic pressure on retaining wall
and other earth retaining structures
• changes shear strength - affects bearing capacity
• causes consolidation settlement problems
• causes lubrication between particles - compaction
• causes soil erosion and landslide
• affects stability of slopes (embankment, hill, riverbank)
• problems with seepage flow - piping in dams, embankments
• permeability and filter related problems
• Liquefaction phenomena
• Land subsidence - lowering of water table
Bearing Capacity
Consolidation settlement problems (clay soil)
stability of slopes / land slide / river bank failures
Earth pressure due to
backfill/retained soil
⁺

Earth pressure due to

surcharge
Water pressure on retaining wall

Water pressure
Liquefaction
Seepage problems in dams and embankments
Stability of river bank
Stability of river bank