Soil Mechanics (土壤力學 )

 Instructor: Prof. Chia-Ming, Lo ( 羅佳明 )

 Teaching assistant : Mr. Yu Chen, Wu ( 吳宇宸 )& Rui Peng, Lee ( 李瑞朋 )
 Meeting time: Mon 1:20 - 3:10 pm & Free time (instructional video)
 Office Hours: Mon: 10 am-12 am
 Office: EB317
 Class notes: Please download from New-e3
 Text book: Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, 9th Ed.
Braja M. Das and Khaled Sobhan,
 Email: [email protected]; Contact number: 03-5712121 ext: 54950

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 An important part of geotechnical engineering …

Soil Mechanics

1. Material supporting the upper foundation

2. Geotechnical and civil Engineer required exam item

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Outline

Textbook
Grading
Course Schedule

Chapter 1
Chapter 2

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 Soil Mechanics - Text book

Professor Braja Das

Professor Khaled Sobhan

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Grading

2 Midterm Examinations 25% each

Final Examination 25%

Homework, Attendance 25%

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Course Schedule I
Week Subjects Dates
Origin of Soil & Grain Size
1 Weight-Volume Relationships
02/14

Weight-Volume Relationships
2 Plasticity, & Soil Structure
02/21

Eng. Classification of Soil 02/28

3 Soil Compaction
(Peace Memorial
Day)

4 Soil Compaction 03/07

Permeability
5 Seepage
03/14

First Examination (Origin of Soil - Soil Compaction)

6 Seepage
03/21

7 In-situ Stress 03/28

In-situ Stress 04/04

8 Stresses in a Soil Mass (Spring Break) 6
 Course Schedule II
Week Subjects Dates
Stresses in a Soil Mass
9 Compressibility of Soil
04/11

10 Compressibility of Soil 04/18

11 Compressibility of Soil 04/25

Second Examination (Permeability - Compressibility of Soil)

12 05/02
Shear Strength of Soil

13 Shear Strength of Soil 05/09

14 Shear Strength of Soil 05/16

15-16 Lateral Earth Pressure 05/23-05/30

17 Final Examination  (Shear Strength of Soil- Lateral Earth Pressure) 06/06

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Principles of Geotechnical Engineering, SI, 9E Das/Sobhan

Chapter 1

Geotechnical
Engineering –
A Historical Perspective

© 2018 Cengage Learning®. May not be scanned, copied or duplicated, or posted to a publicly accessible website, in whole or in part.
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 Introduction and Definition
 Rock Crust – 10- 40 km thick near the earth’s surface
 Soil – above rock crust, un-cemented aggregate R = 6378 km
 contents: mineral grains, organic matters, liquid, gas, …
 Soil Mechanics –
 Science deals with the study of the physical properties of soil and
the behavior of soil subjected to various types of forces.
 Rock Mechanics –
 Science deals with the study of the physical properties of rock
and discontinuities and the behavior of rock masses subjected to
various types of forces.
 Soil Engineering –
 Application of the principles of soil mechanics, and foundation
engineering (involving natural materials near the earth’s surface)
 Geotechnical Engineering –
 Application of the principles of soil mechanics, rock mechanics,
foundation engineering, slope engineering, and tunnel
engineering, engineering geology …
(involving natural materials near the earth’s surface)
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 Deep foundation Slope Stability
Shallow foundation

Deep excavation

Dam or Levee
Tunnel

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Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy

Built began 1173 A.D.

Height : 54m
Weight : 15700 tons
Foundation
11 base : 20m
 A Historic Perspective of Soil Mechanics Development
 Prior to 18th Century
 Ancient cultures in Egypt, China, India,
 Pre-classical Soil Mechanics (1700-1776)
 Natural slope, Unit weight, Semi-empirical earth pressure theory
 Classical Soil Mechanics – Phase I (1776-1856)
 Earth pressure theory, Bearing Capacity theory
 Classical Soil Mechanics – Phase II (1856-1910)
 Permeability, Seepage & Uplift pressure
 Boussinesq theory about stress distribution, Shear dilatancy
 Modern Soil Mechanics (1910-1927)
 Consistency of clay, Double shear test
 Lateral earth pressure theory, Bearing capacity theory
 Geotechnical Engineering after 1927
 Terzaghi’s consolidation theory, Effective stress concept
 Multi-phased material
 and a lot more
 New Development and Theories
 Soil dynamics, Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering
 Computer application, Probability, Statistics, and Reliability
 Soil Improvement & Geosynthetics
 In-situ test, Instrumentation
 and a lot more
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 Important Contributors
 C. A. Coulomb (1736-1806)
 H. P. G. Darcy (1803-1858)
 W. J. M. Rankine (1820-1872)
 Albert M. Atterberg (1846-1916)
 Karl Terzaghi (1883-1963)
 Arthur Casagrande
 D. W. Taylor
 R. B. Peck
 G. P. Tschebotarioff
 A. W. Skempton
 Laurits Bjerrum
 Harry Bolton Seed
 James Mitchell
 …

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