Tikrit University

College of Engineering
INTRODUCTION Civil engineering Department

Soil
Mechanics
3rd Class
Lecture notes
Up Copyrights 2016
 Contents

Course Outlines

Lab Schedule

Text Book and Recommended Readings

Activities

Assessment

Definitions

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 2
 Course Outline
First Semester
week Topics Covered
1 Introduction
2 Soil Formation, Composition and Description of Individual Soil Particle,
Forces on Soil Particle
3,4,&5 The Physical State of a Soil Sample
Nature of Water in Clay, Consistency and Atterberg Limits
Particle Size Distribution
Unified Soil Classification System

6&7 Stresses Within a Soil Mass, Total and Effective Stresses, Capillarity

8,9&10 Fluid Flow in Soils, One Dimensional Flow

11,12&13 Two Dimensional Flow
14&15 Shear Strength of Soils,

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 3
 Course Outline
Second Semester
week Topics Covered
16&17 Coulomb Shear Strength Equation

18&19 Mohr-coulomb Failure Criterion

20,21, &22 Shear Tests (direct, triaxial, unconfined)

23 Stress Path

24 Soil Compaction

25 Compressibility of Soils, Consolidation

26 Consolidation Settlement

27&28 Introduction to unsaturated soil

29&30 Use of Plaxis software in soil mechanics

Return
College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 4
 Course Outline (Lab Schedule)
First Semester

week Lab. Experiment Assignments

1 Introduction
2 How to write report, Type of soils
3 Water content
4 Specific gravity
5 Liquid limit
6 Plastic and Shrinkage limit
7 Sieve analysis
8 Hydrometer Analysis
9 Falling head permeability
10 Constant head permeability
11&12 Triaxial test
13&14 Consolidation drained
15 exam

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 5
 Course Outline (Lab Schedule)
Second Semester

week Lab. Experiment Assignments

16&17 Consolidated undrained

18&19 Unconsolidated undrained

20&21 Unconfined compression test

22&23 Direct shear test

24&25 Fielded density

26& 27 Compaction

28&29 Consolidation

30 Exam

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 6
 TEXT BOOK

Soil Mechanics
Lambe, T and Witman, R
1979
John Wiley and Sons

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 7
 Recmmended Readings
R. F. Craig
Soil Mechanics
Seventh Edition
2004
Spon Press

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 8
 Activities
Lectures

Theory and Principles

Examples

Homework

Quizzes

Applications

Lab
18 tests

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 9
 Assessment

Exams 25%

Quizzes 5%

Homework and Assignments 5%

Lab evaluation 15%

Final Exam 50%
100%

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 10
 Definitions
SOIL AND SOIL ENGINEERING
* The term Soil has various meanings, depending upon
the general field in which it is being considered.

*To a Pedologist ... Soil is the substance existing on the

earth's surface, which grows and develops plant life.

*To a Geologist ..... Soil is the material in the relative

thin surface zone within which roots occur, and all the
rest of the crust is grouped under the term ROCK
irrespective of its hardness.

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 11
 Definitions
To an Engineer .... Soil is the un-aggregated or un-
cemented deposits of mineral and/or organic particles
or fragments covering large portion of the earth's
crust. **
Soil Mechanics is one of the disciplines of Civil
Engineering involving the study of soil, its behavior
and application as an engineering material.
*According to Terzaghi (1948): "Soil Mechanics is the application of
laws of mechanics and hydraulics to engineering problems
dealing with sediments and other unconsolidated accumulations
of solid particles produced by the mechanical and chemical
disintegration of rocks regardless of whether or not they contain
an admixture of organic constituent."

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 12
 Definitions
Geotechnical Engineering ..... Is a broader term for
Soil Mechanics.
* Geotechnical Engineering contains: -
• Soil Mechanics (Soil Properties and Behavior)
• Soil Dynamics (Dynamic Properties of Soils,
Earthquake Engineering, Machine Foundation)
• Foundation Engineering (Deep & Shallow
Foundation)
• Pavement Engineering (Flexible & Rigid Pavement)
• Rock Mechanics (Rock Stability and Tunneling)
• Geosynthetics (Soil Improvement)

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 13
 Definitions
Soil material is the product of rock
• The geological process that produce soil is
WEATHERING (Chemical and Physical).
* Variation in Particle size and shape depends on: -
Weathering Process - Transportation Process
• Variation in Soil Structure Depends on:
• Soil Minerals
• Deposition Process
* Transportation and Deposition

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 14
 Definitions
What type of soils are usually produced by the
different weathering & transportation process
- Boulders
- Gravel Cohesionless
- Sand (Physical)
- Silt Cohesive
- Clay (Chemical)

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 15
 Definitions
* These soils can be - Dry
- Saturated
-Fully
-Partially
* Also they have different shapes
and textures

College of Eng. Civil Eng. Dept Soil Mechanics Dr. Ahmed Al-Obaidi 16