Geotechnical Engineering 1 (Soil Mechanics)
Module 1: Introduction
A. Foundation Engineering and Soil Mechanics
Soil is defined an uncemented aggregate of mineral grains and decayed
organic matter (solid particles) with liquid and gas in the empty spaces
between the solid particles, and it supports structural foundations.
Soil Mechanics is the branch of science that deals with the study of the
physical properties of soil and the behavior of soil masses subjected to
various types of forces.
Soils Engineering is the application of the principles of soil mechanics to
practical problems.
Geotechnical Engineering is defined as sub discipline of civil engineering
that involves natural materials found close to the surface of the earth. It
includes the application of the principles of soil mechanics and rock
mechanics to the design of foundations, retaining structures and earth
structures.
Foundation Engineering is the branch of engineering which deals with
design, construction and maintenance of shallow footings and deep
foundations and other structural members which comprise foundation
of buildings and other engineering structures. It also includes
investigation of sites for foundation purposes.
Karl Terzaghi is known as the “Father of Soil Mechanics.”
B. Definition of Soil and Rock
Rock Cycle and the Origin of Soil
Soil is defined as a natural aggregate of mineral grains, loose or
moderately cohesive, inorganic in nature, that have the capacity of being
separated by means of simple mechanical process, e.g. by agitation in
water. This definition is not the same by the agriculturist or the geologist.
To the agriculturist loose mantle at the surface of the earth which is
capable of supporting plant life consists of soil; and similarly to the
geologist, the soil is that material found in the relatively thin surface zone
with in which roots occur.
Rock is defined as hard and compact natural aggregates of mineral grains
cemented by strong and more or less permanent bonds.
2. Soil Formation and Rock
Soils are formed from the physical and chemical weathering of rocks.
Physical weathering involves reduction of size without any change in the
original composition of the parent rock. The main agents responsible for
this process are exfoliation, unloading, erosion, freezing, and thawing.
Chemical weathering causes both reduction in size and chemical alteration
of the original parent rock. The main agents responsible for chemical
weathering are hydration, carbonation, and oxidation. Often, chemical and
physical weathering takes place in concert. Soils that remain at the site of
weathering are called residual soils or transported soils.
A civil engineer is concerned mainly with 10 meter to 15 meter top mantle
of soil in dealing with small and medium sized projects.
All soils are derived from igneous, secondary or metamorphic rocks. The
rocks are weathered because of process of mechanical disintegration,
chemical decomposition and solution. The process of rock weathering is
affected by climatic and other conditions surrounding the rock undergoing
alteration. Soil may also vary from large size boulders to small crystals of
clay minerals.
The sands (coarse particles), silts and clays (fine particles) resulting from
the disintegration of rock may stay at the place of their formation. These
are known as residual soils. If these soils are carried away by forces of
gravity, water, wind and ice deposited at another location, they are known
as transported soils.
3. Three (3) Basic Types of Rocks
Igneous rocks are formed by solidification of molten magma ejected from
deep within the earth’s mantle.
Sedimentary rocks are deposits of gravel, sand, silt and clay formed by
weathering may become compacted by overburden pressure and
cemented by agents like iron oxide, calcite, dolomite and quartz.
Metamorphic rocks are either igneous or sedimentary rocks that have
undergone considerable in their constitution, in their shape, structure and
sometimes even in their mineral composition.
Rock Cycle Process
Weathering is the process of breaking down rocks by mechanical and
chemical processes into smaller pieces.
Two types of Weathering
Mechanical weathering may be caused by the expansion and contraction of
rocks from the continuous gain and loss of heat, which results in ultimate
disintegration.
Chemical weathering, the original rock minerals are transformed into new
minerals by chemical reaction.
5. Products of Weathering or Residual Soils
a. Glacial soils – formed by transportation and deposition of glaciers.
b. Alluvial soils or Fluvial soils – transported by running water and
deposited along streams.
c. Lacustrine soils – formed by deposition in quiet lakes.
d. Marine soils –formed by deposition in the seas.
e. Aeolian soils – transported and deposited by wind.
f. Colluvial soils – formed by movement of soil from its original place by
gravity, such as during landslides.
Metamorphism is the process of changing the composition and texture of
rocks, without melting by heat and pressure; and chemical fluids.
Mechanical analysis of soil is the determination of the range of particles
present in a soil, expressed as a percentage of the total dry weight.
Soil refers to all solid particles with or without organic constituents which
are produced by the disintegration of rocks found overlying the solid rock
crust of the earth.
In general soil is composed of solid, liquid and gaseous matter.
Solid phase maybe mineral organic or both.
Liquid phase is usually the soil water that fills part or all of the open
spaces between the solid particles.
Gaseous phase usually air, occupies part of the space between particles not
filled with water.
6. Major Division of Soil
A soil is considered as coarse grained if its individual particle is visible to
unaided eyes.
A soil is said to be fine grained if its individual particle is not visible to
unaided eyes.
Organic soils are those which contain an amount of decayed animals and/
or plant matter.
Principal Types of Soil, Description, and Average Grain Sizes According to
Unified Soil Classification System (USCS)
Particle Size U.S. Standard Sieve U.S. Standard Sieve
Description Average Grain Size (mm)
Classification Passing Retained
Rounded and/or angular bulky Coarse: 75mm-19mm
Gravel #8 #10
rock Fine: 19mm-4mm
Coarse: 4mm-1.7 mm
Rounded and/or angular bulky
Sand Medium:1.7mm-0.380mm #10 #200
hard rock
Fine: 0. 380mm-0. 075mm
Particles smaller than 0.075
Silt mm, exhibit little or no strength 0. 075mm-0. 002mm Can’t be Separated by sized
when dried.
Particles smaller than 0.002 mm
exhibit significant strength Determine by
Clay < 0.002 mm Sieving by wet
when dried, water reduces analysis
strength
A soil is called gravel if its particles are bigger than 2 mm; the upper limiting diameter is usually 8
inches or 203 mm standard. But in highway engineering it is only 3 inches. All particles smaller than
0.005 mm is called clay those smaller than 0.001 mm is called colloids.
Principal Types of Soil
7. The following are the simple visual and manual tests used for the
identification of fine grained soils in the field.
Dry strength. The wet soil sample is molded to any convenient shape and
allowed to dry in the air or by heating. A small fragment of the dried sample is
obtained and passed between the thumb and forefingers.
Plasticity. If a sample of moist soil can be molded and rolled into threads
without breaking or crumbling the soil. A thin thread of clay or foot or more
can supports its own weight or will not break when held.
Water mobility. A soil sample is mixed with water to the consistency of a thick
paste, then it placed and shaken in palm of the hand.
Dispersion. A small quantity of soil is dispersed with water in a glass cylinder
or tests tube and allowed to settle. The coarse particle will fall and the finer
particles will remain in suspension, sand will settle 3 inches in about 10
seconds.
8. Significant Properties of Soils
The properties of soils are important for a project depend upon the nature
of the project. The following properties are important for different types of
engineering projects.
Permeability is a measure of the ability of soil to let water pass through its
pores. This property is of importance in earth dams and drainage
problems.
Consolidation and compressibility deal with changes in volume of pores in
a soil under load. This property is made use of computing settlement of
structures.
Shear strength is a measure of the ability of soil to sustain stresses without
failure. This property is of interest in computation of stability under load,
stability of fills behind earth retaining structures and stability of earthen
embankments.
Other simple physical properties are Atterberg limits, moisture content,
void ratio, relative density, grain size and sensitivity.
Base Exchange is the property of the soil to bind exchangeable base from a
solution onto its surface. This property is exhibited by some clay minerals.
C. Mineralogical Composition and Structure of Soils
The structure of soils means arrangements of soil particles and the
electrical forces acting between adjacent particles.
1. Two (2) Methods of particle Size Distribution
The distribution of particle sizes or average grain diameter of coarse
grained soils – gravels and sands – is obtained by screening a known
weight of the soil through a stack of sieves of progressively finer mesh
size.
a. Sieve analysis consists of shaking the soil sample through a set of sieves
that have progressing smaller openings.
a. Hydrometer analysis is based on the principle of sedimentation in water.
The particle shape can generally be divided into three major categories.
∙ Bulky particles are mostly formed by mechanical weathering of rocks
and minerals. Shapes: Angular, sub angular, rounded and sub rounded.
∙ Flaky particles have very low sphericity – usually 0.01 or less. These
particles are predominantly clay minerals.
∙ Needle – shape particles are much less common than the other two
particle types. Examples of soils containing needle-shaped particles are
some coral deposits and attapulgite clays.
Bulky Particles
Flaky Particles
Needle - Shape Particles
2. Soil Types
Sand and gravel are cohesive soils. These may be angular, sub - angular,
sub-rounded, rounded and well-rounded in shape and are composed of
usually unaltered mineral grains.
Silt is a fine grained soil with little or no plasticity. The non-plastic variety
consists usually equidimensional grains of quartz; it is sometimes called
rock flour. The plastic variety of silt is composed of appreciable
percentage of flakes taped particles.
Organic silt is a fine grained, more or less plastic soil. It contains an
admixture of finely divided particles of organic matter. Particles of partly
decayed vegetable matter and shells may also be present.
Clay is composed of microscopic and sub-microscopic particles of
weathered rocks.
Organic clay contains some finely divided organic particles and is highly
compressible when saturated and their dry strength is very high. The
color is usually gray or black and it may have a characteristics odor.
Bentonite is clay with high percentage of clay mineral. Most of the
bentonite is derived from chemical alteration of volcanic ash.
Black cotton soils are inorganic in nature. These soils exhibit high
compressibility and shrinkage and extremely high swelling
characteristics under low loads. They are dark gray or black in color.
Peat is composed of fibrous particles of decayed vegetable matter. It is light
brown to dark in color. Peat is so compressible soil and is considered entirely to
support any type of foundation.
Varved clay is a particular type of lacustrine deposit consisting of alternating
layers of medium gray inorganic silt and darker silty clay. The clay fractions
being fine remain larger in suspension and settle during winter. The thickness
of each is centimeter.
Hard pan is any stratum of hard and cohesive soil which offers exceptional
resistance to penetration by normal drilling tools used in practice.
Glacial till is composed of material deposited by glacier and is a soil that consists
mainly of coarse particles. The water did not have an opportunity to transport
and sort out the material and it is a heterogeneous mixture of soil and rock
particles.
Boulder soils are mixture of boulders, large or small in size and matrix of
soil. Depending upon the percentage of matrix (rock – main substance is
crystal) in a boulder soil and its properties are affected.
Calcareous soil contains calcium carbonate and effervesces when treated
with hydrochloric acid.
Caliche consists of gravel, sand and clay cemented together by calcium
carbonate.
Expansive soils are clays that undergo large volume changes from cycles
of wetting and drying.
Glacial soils are mixed soils consisting of rock debris, sand, silt, clays and
boulders.
Glacial clays are soils that were deposited in ancient lakes and
subsequently frozen. The thawing of these lakes reveals a soil profile of
neatly stratified silt and clay, sometimes called varved clay. The silt layer is
light in color and was deposited during summer periods while the thinner,
dark clay layer was deposited during winter periods.
Gypsum is calcium sulphate formed under heat and pressure from
sediments in ocean brine.
Laterite soils are residual soils that are cemented with iron oxides and are
found in tropical regions.
Loam is a mixture of sand, silt and clay that may contain organic material.
Loess is a windblown, uniform fine-grained soil.
Mud is clay and silt mixed with water into a viscous fluid.
Essentials points:
Soils are derived from weathering of rocks and are commonly described
by textural terms such as gravels, sands, silts, and clays.
Particle size is used to distinguish various soil textures.
Clays are composed of three main types of mineral – kaolinite, illite, and
montmorillonite.
The clay minerals consist of silica and alumina sheets that are combined to
form layers. The bonds between layers play a very important role in the
mechanical behavior of clays. The bond between the layers in
montmorillonite is very weak compared with kaolinite and illite. Water
can easily enter between the layers in montmorillonite, causing swelling.
A thin layer of water is bonded to the mineral surfaces of soils and
significantly influences the physical and mechanical characteristics of fine-
grained soils.
Fine-grained soils have much larger surface areas than coarse-grained
soils and are responsible for the major physical and mechanical differences
between coarse-grained and fine-grained soils.
The engineering properties of fine-grained soils depend mainly on
mineralogical factors.
References:
1. Images are Retrieved from [Link]
2. Geotechnical Engineering (Revised Third Edition) by C. Venkatramaiah,
2012
3. Principles of Geotechnical Engineering (Seventh Edition) by Braja M.
Das, 2010
4. Soil Mechanics and Foundations (Third Edition) by Muni Budhu, 2011
5. Soil Mechanics 7th Edition, R.F. Craig, 2004
6. Basic Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering by Venancio L.
Besavilla Jr., 1998
7. Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering by Diego Inocencio T.
Gillesania, 2006