Mekdela Amba

University
Department of Geology

Fundamentals of Soil & Rock Mechanics (Geol 4111)

By: Alemnew A.(MSc.)

Karl Terzaghi (1883–1963)

Part I: Soil Mechanics
Chapter One: Origin and Properties of Soils
1.1 Introduction
• The term Soil Mechanics was coined by Dr. Karl Terzaghi, 1925.
• According to Terzaghi, Soil Mechanics is the application of the laws of
mechanics and hydraulics to engineering problems dealing with sediments
and other unconsolidated accumulation of solid particles produced by the
mechanical and chemical disintegration of rock, regardless of whether or not
they contain mixture of organic constituents.

Soil Mechanics: is therefore a 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 when it is used either as a construction material or as a
foundation material.
 1.2. Soil Mechanics and its Applications
 Branch of mechanics which deals with the action of forces on soil and with
the flow of water in the soil.

 It is a foundation for Geotechnical Engineering (studying behaviour of soil

and rock).

 It is the subject concerned with the deformation and strength of bodies of

soil.

 It deals with the mechanical properties of the soil materials and with the
application of the knowledge of these properties to engineering problems.
The objectives of Soil Mechanics are:
o To understand the relationships between physical characteristics and
engineering properties of soils.
o To introduce the principles that govern the use and application of soil as an
engineering material in civil engineering projects,
o To gain proficiency in the classification and quantitative evaluation of soil
engineering properties, and
o For the selection and application of design parameters for a constructed facility.
Importance of Soil Mechanics:
 The life of any structure naturally depends upon its foundations and since the
foundation has either to rest directly on the soil surface or come in contact with
the soil in one way or the other, knowledge of the properties of soils in general
is very important.
 Cont.…
These all are the fields in which the
knowledge of soil mechanics is
Foundations essential.
Embankmen
ts and Undergrou
Dams nd
Fields of structures
Application of
Soil Mechanics
Earth
Excavations retaining
structures
Pavements
1.3. Definition and formation of soil
1.3.1 Definition of Soil?

Soil is unconsolidated deposits of solid particles or sediments that have

resulted from the disintegration of rocks and minerals.

• It is un-cemented aggregates of inorganic minerals and decayed organic

mater along with liquid and gas that occupy the empty spaces between solid
particles.

• It can be vary from place to place, but generally consists of organic (from
decaying of organic material) and inorganic (from weathering of rocks)
materials, water and air.
 Cont.…
• The definition given to the word soil differs from one discipline to another
• From geologist point of view: Soil may be considered as the superficial
unconsolidated sediments(regolith) disintegrated, and decomposed rock material,
overlying rocks.

• From agriculture viewpoint: Soil is the top thin layer of earth with in which
organic forces are predominant and which is responsible for the support of plant
life.

• From an engineering viewpoint: Soil is considered to include all naturally

occurring loose or soft deposit overlying the solid bedrock that can be removed by
gentle mechanical means and excavated without blasting.
 Cont.….
1.3.2 Formation of soil
 The formation of soil happens over a very long period of time from the
weathering of rocks and minerals and mixed with organic matter.

 Weathering is the alteration of rocks and minerals while soil formation is the
production of layers or horizons of weathered material.

 Weathering is disequilibrium processes that disintegrate the rocks while soil

formation is equilibrium processes that form the soil by mixing weathered
material with organic matter.

 It is associated with rock cycle(weathering, transportation, deposition,

compaction, then again disturbances, and weathering) etc.
 Cont.…

Fig 2: Rock cycle

 1.3.3 Factors controlling the soil formation
• Soils develop as a result of the interplay of 5
factors; nature of Parent material, climate,
relief/topography, time, and organisms.
• [Link] material
• It is the parent rock from where the soil is
formed.
• Soils are formed from the interaction of
weathering(physical, chemical, and biological)
activity on the parent material or underlying hard
rock.
• The properties of the soil materials depend upon
the properties of the rocks from which they are
derived.
• The extent to which a parent rock changes to a
soil is a function of the rate and overall time of
the prevailing reactions and processes.
 Cont.….
• It can affect the soil texture, porosity, permeability, mineral composition, &
structure etc
• E.g
- basic igneous rocks results in clay soil while the acidic igneous rock result in
sandy soil
- Permeable parent rock form deep soil while impermeable parent rock form
thin soil.
2. Climate
• It show the rainfall and temperature condition of the site.

• It affect the availability of water, freezing condition, wetting and drying condition
and type of organism acting on soil .
 Cont.…
3. Organisms: both plant and animals play a significant role in soil formation.
• E.g at high vegetated area form thick black organic soil while non-vegetated areas
form thin red non-organic soil
• Burrowing animals can form new soil profile by loosing and mixing the soil
4. Relief/Topography
• It is the altitude or relief that control the environment of soil formation.
• It can affect the rate of weathering and erosion which can affect the soil
formation
• E.g steep slope has a little soil or no soil cover because of high erosion rate at
the site
5. Time
• The longer time the rock exposed to the weathering agents the more soil
developed.
• E.g a newly deposited lava flow has no soil while the older lava flow covered by
thick soil.
 1.4. Types of soils 2. Transported soils
[Link] soil deposits □ If the products are transported and
 If the products of weathering remain at deposited in a different location.
their original location/place. □ The particle sizes of transported
 The top layer of rock is decomposed soils are selected by the
into residual soils due to the warm transportation agents such as
climate and abundant rainfall . streams, wind, etc..
 The thickness of residual soil
formation is generally limited to a few □ Deposits of transported soils are
meters quite thick and uniform.
 The eng’g properties of these soils □ Interstratification of silts and clays.
vary considerably from top layer to □ Geotechnical engineer has to deal in
bottom layer. depth with transported soils.

~ The engineering properties of residual soils are different with those of transported
soils.
~ The knowledge of "classical“ geotechnical engineering is mostly based on
behavior of transported soils.
~ The understanding of residual soils is insufficient in general.
 Cont.…
 Based on the transporting agency and methods of deposition transported soil can
be classified in different classes as:
Alluvial soil: it transported by running water (rivers) and typically made up of a
variety of materials, including fine particles of silt and clay and larger particles of
sand and gravel.
Lacustrine soil: it deposited in the lakes. This soil material is well sorted and fine-
textured, having finer silts and clays. Due to this high clay content it has low
permeability.
Marine soil: it is deposited in the sea water. This is formed from materials carried
into the seas by streams and material eroded from the beaches by the tidal action of
the waves.
Aeolian soil: it is transported by wind. In this if the deposited soil contain material
larger than sand size it form sand dune while the finer deposited particles are form
Loess
Glacial soil: it is unsorted material by size and deposited with a moving ice sheet.
 Cont.….
.
Colluvium soil:
 Deposited through action of land slide and slope wash.
 It consists of mixed deposits of rock fragments and soil materials accumulated at
the bases of steep slopes through the influence of gravity.
 The grain size can vary from clay and silt to boulder-size.
 A Coarse deposits due to rock fall at a cliff base are called talus

Different types of soil based on their grain size

• Cobble and boulders soil > 75mm
• Gravel soil 4.75mm-75mm
• Sandy soil 0.075mm-4.75mm
• Silty soil 0.002mm-0.075mm
• Clay soil < 0.002mm
• Based on this gain size variation the soil mass engineering properties can be vary.
 1.5 Soil Profile
• A soil profile is a vertical cross-section of a soil.

• It is divided into a number of distinct layers.

• The different soil layers are called soil horizons and are differentiated on the
basis of color, structure, chemistry, texture, organic content, etc

Reading Assignment
• Soil profiles

• Types of weathering

• Bowen’s Reaction Series and rate of weathering

 1.6. Structure of soils
• The ‘structure’ of a soil may be defined as the manner of arrangement and state of
aggregation of soil grains or geometric arrangement of soil particles with respect
to one another.
• The process of sedimentation or rock weathering creates the initial soil structure.
• Among the many factors that affect soil structure are the shape, size, and mineral
composition of the soil particles, and the nature and composition of soil water.
• Structural composition of sediment soils influences, many of their important
engineering properties such as permeability, compressibility and shear strength.
Hence, a study of the structure of soils is important.
• The basic terminologies used to define the soil structure are single-grained,
honeycombed, and flocculated structure
 Cont.…..

A. Single-grained Structure
• Single-grained structure is
characteristic of coarse grained
soils; with a particle size greater
than 0.02mm.
• Gravitational forces pre-dominate
than surface forces and hence
grain to grain contact results.
 Cont.…
B. Honey-comb Structure
• This structure can occur only in fine-grained
soils, especially in silt.
• Due to the relatively smaller size of grains,
besides gravitational forces, inter-particle
surface forces also play an important role in
the process of settling down.
• Each cell of a honey-comb being made up of
numerous individual soil grains.
• The structure has a large void space.
• The structure can be broken down by
external disturbances.
 Cont.…
C. Flocculent Structure
 This structure is characteristic of
fine-grained soils such as clays.
 Inter-particle forces play a
predominant role in the deposition.
 Mutual repulsion of the particles may
be eliminated by means of an
appropriate chemical; this will result
in grains coming closer together to
form a ‘floc’.
 Formation of flocs is ‘flocculation’.
1.7. Introduction to clay mineralogy
• Clay minerals are layer silicates that are formed usually as products of chemical
weathering of other silicate minerals at the earth's surface.

• All clay minerals are the philosilicates made of from two distinct building blocks
of tetrahedrons and octahedrons.

• The tetrahedron has four oxygen atoms at the corners, and there is a silicon in the
center while the Octahedron has six oxygen or hydroxyl atoms in the corners, and
an aluminum or magnesium ion at the center.

• Several silicon tetrahedron units can form a silicon tetrahedron layer(sheet ) while
several Aluminum Octahedron units form alumina octahedral layer (sheet)
 Cont.…
• Two fundamental building blocks are involved in the formation of clay mineral
structures.
• They are: Silica Tetrahedron
Alumina octahedron
Cont.…
 Cont.….

 Here the Silica tetrahedral sheet and Alumina octahedral sheet join together to
form the fundamental structure of different clay minerals.
 Cont.…
• Clays can be divided into three general groups on the basis of their crystalline
arrangement and it is observed that roughly similar engineering properties are
connected with all the clay minerals belonging to the same group.
• An initial study of the crystal structure of clay minerals leads to a better
understanding of the behavior of clays under different conditions of loading.
• Table 2.3 gives the groups of minerals and some of the important minerals under
each group.
 Kaolinite clay mineral
• This clay mineral is the weathering product of feldspars and common in the
residual soil of tropical and subtropical.
• It is formed by 1:1 ratio of silicate and alumina sheet (to form one elementary
layer of kaolinite).
• Shared oxygen bind sheets in to layer
• Due to the strong hydrogen bond between hydroxyls of alumina and silicate
sheets it has littlie tendency to inter the water in to the interlayer and swell.
• Sine it is electrically balanced, its ability to adsorb ions is less than that of other
clay minerals.
• It is extensively used in the ceramics industry and also in paper, paint and in
pharmaceutical industry.
Cont.….
 Montmorillonite clay mineral:
• This clay mineral is the weathering product of mafic silicates and common in transported
soil under poor drainage area of arid environment.

• It is 2:1 ratio clay minerals (one alumina sheet sandwiched by two silicate sheet to form
one elementary layers of montmorillonite).
• They are more complicated and tend to be more active.

• Since they are electrically not neutral they have the ability to attract the negative or
positive charge i.e they have high cation exchange capacity.
• Due to ion substitution in the layers, some of these clay minerals have a negative charge
on the surface and will attract water or hydrated cations.
• The two elementary layers are bonded by weak van der Waal‟s bond so it have high
swelling and shrink capacity.
Cont.…
..
 Illite clay mineral
• It is the weathering product sedimentary rocks such as shale in arid region.
• It is the 2:1 ratio clay mineral like the Montmorillonite except the two
elementary layers are bonded by potassium ion.
• Due to this potassium ion it is less affinity to water.
End of Chapter one