Geotechnical Engineering
(NCEC201)
Lecture-1: Overview and Soil Types
RAJIB SARKAR
Mobile: 9430351282
E-Mail: rajib@[Link]
Important Rules
To be able to appear in the End Semester
Examination, min. percentage of attendance is 75%
No one will be allowed to enter inside the class
room after 5 min.
Assignments must be prepared in standard A4 sheet
with proper title page (with details like Name,
Student ID, Batch, Subject, Assignment No etc.)
Assignments must be submitted within due date.
Otherwise it will be treated as Null and Void.
Copied/Helped Assignments will be treated as Null
and Void.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Evaluation Scheme
1. Internal Assessment-1 (Before Mid Semester): 10 %
2. Internal Assessment-2 (After Mid Semester) : 10 %
3. Mid Semester Examination : 30 %
4. End Semester Examination : 50 %
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction to Soil Mechanics/ Geotechnical Engineering
The term “Soil”
To a geologist, it is the material in the relative thin zone of the
Earth's surface within which roots occur, and which are formed
as the products of past surface processes. The rest of the crust
is grouped under the term "rock".
To a pedologist, it is the substance existing on the surface,
which supports plant life. Pedologists are interested in the
practical applications of a good understanding of pedogenesis
processes (the evolution and functioning of soils), like
interpreting its environmental history and predicting
consequences of changes in land use.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction to Soil Mechanics/ Geotechnical Engineering
The term “Soil”
To an engineer, it is a material that can be:
a) Built on: Foundations of buildings, bridges
b) Built in: Basements, culverts, tunnels
c) Built with: Embankments, roads, dams
d) Supported: Retaining walls
Soil Mechanics is a discipline of Civil Engineering involving
the study of soil, its behaviour and application as an
engineering material.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Introduction to Soil Mechanics/ Geotechnical Engineering
Soil Mechanics
Soil Mechanics is the application of laws of mechanics and
hydraulics to engineering problems dealing with sediments and
other unconsolidated accumulations of solid particles, which
are produced by the mechanical and chemical disintegration of
rocks, regardless of whether or not they contain an admixture
of organic constituents.
Soil consists of a multiphase aggregation of
solid particles, water, and air. This
fundamental composition gives rise to unique
engineering properties, and the description of
its mechanical behavior requires some of the
most classic principles of engineering
mechanics.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Major Problems in Geotechnical Engineering
Questions for shallow foundations:
1. How deep into the soil?
2. Will the excavation have to be enclosed by
wall to prevent cave-ins of soil?
3. Will it be necessary to lower the water
table? (Dewatering)
4. Will there be a danger to adjacent
buildings?
5. How much would the completed building
settle and would settle uniformly?
6. For what stresses and what stress
distribution should the mat of the building
be designed?
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Major Problems in Geotechnical Engineering
Questions for pile foundations:
1. What type of pile should be used?
2. What is the maximum allowable load for a
pile?
3. At what spacing should the pile be driven?
4. How should the piles be driven?
5. How much variation from the vertical
should be permitted in a pile?
6. What is the optimum sequence for driving
piles?
7. Will the driving of piles have an influence
on adjacent structures?
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Major Problems in Geotechnical Engineering
Questions for Embankment on Soft Soil:
1. How high a fill could be placed?
2. How fast could the fill be placed?
3. What were the maximum slopes of the fill?
4. Can the fill be placed without employing
special techniques to contain or drain the
soft foundation soil?
5. How much would the fill settle?
6. How much should the fill be left in place in
order that the foundation be compressed
enough to permit construction and use of the
tank?
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Formation of Soil
Soils are formed from materials that have resulted from the
disintegration of rocks by various processes of physical and chemical
weathering. In the Earth's surface, rocks extend up to as much as 20 km
depth.
Types of Rocks
• Igneous rocks: Formed from crystalline bodies of cooled magma.
• Sedimentary rocks: Formed from layers of cemented sediments.
• Metamorphic rocks: Formed by the alteration of existing rocks due to
heat from igneous intrusions or pressure due to crustal movement.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Formation of Soil
The nature and structure of a given soil depends on the processes
and conditions that formed the particular soil.
Breakdown of parent rock: weathering, decomposition, erosion.
Transportation to site of final deposition: gravity, flowing water, ice, wind.
Environment of final deposition: flood plain, river terrace, glacial moraine,
lacustrine or marine.
Subsequent conditions of loading and drainage: little or no surcharge, heavy
surcharge due to ice or overlying deposits, change from saline to freshwater,
leaching, contamination.
All soils originate, directly or indirectly, from different
rock types.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Formation of Soil
Physical weathering reduces the size of the parent rock material,
without any change in the original composition of the parent rock.
Physical or mechanical processes taking place on the earth's
surface include the actions of water, frost, temperature changes,
wind and ice. They cause disintegration and the products are
mainly coarse soils.
Chemical weathering not only breaks up the material into smaller
particles but alters the nature of the original parent rock
itself. The main processes responsible are hydration, oxidation,
and carbonation. New compounds are formed due to the chemical
alterations.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Formation of Soil
The effects of weathering and transportation mainly determine
the basic nature of the soil (size, shape, composition and
distribution of the particles).
The environment into which deposition takes place, and the
subsequent geological events that take place there, determine
the state of the soil (density, moisture content) and
the structure or fabric of the soil (bedding, stratification,
occurrence of joints or fissures)
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Formation of Soil
Influence of Transportation Agencies
In water or air, the grains become sub-rounded or rounded, and the grain
sizes get sorted so as to form poorly-graded deposits.
In moving ice, grinding and crushing occur, size distribution becomes
wider forming well-graded deposits.
In running water, coarser particles settle when a decrease in velocity
occurs, whereas finer particles are deposited further downstream.
Wind can erode, transport and deposit fine-grained soils. Wind-blown soil
is generally uniformly-graded.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Soil Types
(1) Residual Soils
Residual soils are found at the same location where they have been
formed. Generally, the depth of residual soils varies from 5 to 20 m.
Chemical weathering rate is greater in warm, humid regions than in
cold, dry regions causing a faster breakdown of rocks. Accumulation of
residual soils takes place as the rate of rock decomposition exceeds the
rate of erosion or transportation of the weathered material.
As leaching action due to percolating surface water decreases with
depth, there is a corresponding decrease in the degree of chemical
weathering from the ground surface downwards. This results in a gradual
reduction of residual soil formation with depth, until unaltered rock is
found.
Residual soils comprise of a wide range of particle sizes, shapes and
composition.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
Soil Types
(2) Transported Soils
Transported soils are classified based on the mode of transportation and
the final deposition environment.
(a) Soils that are carried and deposited by rivers are called alluvial
deposits.
(b) Soils that are deposited by flowing water or surface runoff while
entering a lake are called lacustrine deposits.
(c) If the deposits are made by rivers in sea water, they are called marine
deposits.
(d) Melting of a glacier causes the deposition of all the materials scoured
by it leading to formation of glacial deposits.
(e) Soil particles carried by wind and subsequently deposited are known
as aeolian deposits.
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering
L-1: Geotechnical Engineering