Introduction to Soil Mechanics

Prof. Chen, Yao-Chung

• Introduction to soil mechanics

• Geotechnical Engineering
– Soil Mechanics, including behaviour
(physical property), strength (mechanical
property), design (engineering application)
– Rock Mechanics

• A Historical Perspective

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• Soil is used as a construction material in various civil engineering
projects, and it supports structural foundations . Thus, civil engineers
must study the properties of soil, such as its origin, grain-size
distribution, ability to drain water, compressibility, shear strength, and
load-bearing capacity.
• "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. "
Terzaghi (1948).

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 • Geotechnical Engineering is a broader
term for Soil Mechanics. It is the branch of
Civil Engineering concerned with the
engineering behavior of earth materials. It
includes the application of the
principles of soil mechanics and rock
mechanics to the design of foundations,
retaining structures, and earth structures.

Geotechnical engineering is a branch of civil engineering,

whereas engineering geology is a branch of geology. These
two disciplines are closely related, and the discipline
combining the two is sometimes called geotechnics.
Note: This illustration is not a complete listing of the branches
of either discipline. 4
Geotechnical Engineering Prior to the 18th Century
• The record of the first use of soil as a
construction material by mankind is lost in
antiquity. In true engineering sense, there is
no ‘Geotechnical Engineering’ prior to the
18th Century.
• For years, the art of geotechnical engineering
was based on only past experiences through a
succession of Experimentation without any real
scientific character. Based on those
experimentations, many structures were
built—some of which have crumbled, while
others are still standing.

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Geotechnical Engineering Prior to the 18th Century

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 Geotechnical Engineering Prior to the 18th Century
• One of the most famous examples of problems related
to soil bearing capacity and foundations in the
construction of structures prior to 18th century is the
Leaning Tower of Pisa in Italy. The construction of the
Tower began in 1173 and last over 200 years.
• The tower has tilted in the past to the east, north,
west and, finally, to the south.
• Recent investigations showed that a weak clay layer
exists at a depth of about 11 m below the ground
surface, its compression caused the tower to tilt.

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The leaning tower of Pisa. (Adapted from
Terzaghi 1934a.)

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Pre-classical Period of Soil Mechanics (1700 –1776)
• This period concentrated on studies relating to natural slope and unit weights of
various types of soils, as well as the semi- empirical earth pressure theories.
• Henri Gautier (1660–1737) studied the natural slopes of soils when tipped in a
heap for formulating the design procedures of retaining walls.
• Bernard Forest de Belidor (1671–1761) proposed a theory for lateral earth
pressure on retaining walls specified a soil classification system.
• Francois Gadroy (1705–1759) observed the existence of slip planes in the soil at
failure.

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 Classical Soil Mechanics
• Classical Soil Mechanics began in 1773 with Charles Coulomb’s (a physicist, 1736–
1806) introduction of mechanics to soil problems. Using the laws of friction and
cohesion to determine the true sliding surface behind a retaining wall, Coulomb
inadvertently defined failure criteria for soil. By combining Coulomb's theory
with Christian Otto Mohr’s theory of a 2D stress state, the Mohr- Coulomb theory
was developed.
• Henry Darcy (1803–1858) defined the hydraulic conductivity.
• Joseph Boussinesq, a mathematician and physicist (1842–1929), developed the
theory of stress distribution.
• William Rankines (1820–1872) simplified Coulomb's earth pressure theory.
• Osborne Reynolds (1842–1912) demonstrated the phenomenon of dilatency in
sand.
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Charles Augustin Coulomb

(1736-1806)
Modern Soil Mechanics (1910 - 1927)
This period was marked by a series of important studies and publications
related to the mechanic behavior of clays:
• Albert Atterberg (1846–1916), a Swedish chemist and soil scientist, explained the
consistency of cohesive soils by defining liquid, plastic, and shrinkage limits.
• Arthur Bell (1874–1956), a civil engineer from England, developed relationships
for lateral pressure and resistance in clay as well as bearing capacity of shallow
foundations in clay.
• Wolmar Fellenius (1876–1957), an engineer from Sweden, developed the
stability analysis of saturated clay slopes.

• Karl Terzaghi (1883–1963), a civil engineer and geologist from Austria,

developed the theory of consolidation for clays as we know today.

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Geotechnical Engineering after 1927
• The development of modern Geotechnical Engineering as a
branch of Civil Engineering is absolutely impacted by one single
professional individual – Karl Terzaghi.
• Generally recognized as the father of modern soil mechanics
and geotechnical engineering.
• He started modern soil mechanics with his theories of
consolidation, lateral earth pressures, bearing capacity, and
stability.
• His contribution has spread to almost every topic in soil
mechanics and geotechnical engineering covered by the test
book: Effective stress; Elastic stress distribution; Consolidation
settlement; Shear strength; in situ testing.

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Karl Terzaghi in 1951. (Photograph
courtesy of Margaret Terzaghi-Howe.)

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• The first conference of the International Society of Soil
Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ISSMFE) was held at
Harvard University in 1936 with Karl Terzaghi presiding.
• Some of the topics brought to the conference include:
• Effective stress
• Shear strength
• Testing with Dutch cone penetrometer
• Consolidation
• Centrifuge testing
• Elastic theory and stress distribution

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Geotechnical Engineering after 1927

• By the early 1950s, computer-aided finite difference and

finite element solutions were applied to various types of
geotechnical engineering problems.
• The dominance of numerical modeling for sophisticated
projects with complex boundary conditions will continue for
decades to come.
• The American Society for Testing and Materials provides
standards that cover a wide range of materials which include
soils, rocks, and aggregates.

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• Arthur Casagrande (1902-1981) – Professor at Harvard
University. He made contributions to soft clay analysis, soil
compaction and classification, seepage and soil dynamics.
• Sir Alec Skempton (1914-2001) – Understanding of
effective stress and pore pressure, bearing capacity and
slope stability analysis.
• H. Bolton Seed (1922-1989) – father of geotechnical
earthquake engineering. Soil liquefaction and analyzing the
safety of earth dams during earthquakes.
• K. H. Roscoe – Critical soil mechanics.

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End of an Era

• History will remember Karl Terzaghi,

Arthur Casagrande, Donald Taylor, Alec
Skempton, and Ralph Peck as the
pioneers of modern soil mechanics.
• The last of the early giants of the
profession, Ralph Peck(1912~2008),
passed away in 2008 at the age of 95.

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• We work with soil and rock which are natural geologic
material

• Economic constraints limit the number of exploratory

borings we can drill and the number of laboratory tests
we can perform.

• Engineering judgement needed based on experiences.

• Frequently revised our design recommendations if

conditions encountered during construction is different
from those anticipated.
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We have come a long way in understanding soil
behaviour since its fatherhood by Terzaghi in
1925. We continue to learn more daily through
research on and experience from failures.

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• In reality, the actual behaviour often varies from the
predicted behaviour by 50% or more. Therefore, it is
best to perform most geotechnical analyses to no more
than two or three significant figures.

• More precise analyses may also be appropriate for very

sophisticated projects that have a correspondingly
intense site exploration and characterization programs.
However, it is very important to avoid placing too much
confidence in the results.

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Buildings—the Sears Tower in Chicago is
one of the tallest buildings in the world. It
needs massive foundations to transmit the
structural loads into the ground. The design
of these foundations depends on the nature
of the underlying soils. Geotechnical
engineers are responsible for assessing
these soil conditions and developing suitable
foundation designs.

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Bridges—the foundation for the south pier of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco
had to be built in the open sea. It extends down to bedrock, some 30 m (100 ft) below
the water level and 12 m (40 ft) below the channel bottom. This was especially difficult
to build because of the tremendous tidal currents at this site.
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Dams—Oroville Dam in California is one of the largest earth dams in the world. It is made of
61,000,000 m3 (80,000,000 yd3) of compacted soil. The design and construction of such
dams require extensive geotechnical engineering.

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Tunnels—the Ted Williams Tunnel is part
of the Central Artery Project in Boston.
This prefabricated tunnel section was
floated to the job site, and then sunk into
a prepared trench in the bottom of the
bay. Its integrity depends on proper
support from the underlying soils.

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This house was built near the top of a slope and had a beautiful
view of the Pacific Ocean. Unfortunately, a landslide occurred
during a wet winter, undermining the house and causing part of
its floor to fall away.
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Teton Dam in Idaho failed in 1976, only a few months after the embankment had
been completed and the reservoir began to be filled. This failure killed 11–14 people
and caused about $400 million of property damage. (Courtesy of the Bureau of
Reclamation.)
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The 1964 Niigata Earthquake in Japan caused extensive liquefaction in this port city.
These apartment buildings rotated when the underlying soils liquefied. (Courtesy of
Earthquake Engineering Research Center Library, Berkeley, California.)
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The approach fill to this highway bridge has settled because the underlying soils are soft clays
and silts. However, the bridge has not settled because it is supported on piles. Although this
“failure” is not as dramatic as the others, it is a source of additional maintenance costs, and
can be a safety hazard to motorists and pedestrians.
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Performing a field reconnaissance.
This is the top of a recent landslide,
and the man in the photograph is
examining the soil and rock exposed
in the scarp.

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Drilling exploratory borings to obtain soil and rock samples.
This rig drills holes up to 30 m (100 ft) deep

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Testing samples in a soil mechanics
laboratory. These tests help us
determine the engineering
properties of the soil or rock.

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Monitoring geotechnical instruments. These
instruments measure groundwater levels
and pressures, soil movements, and other
similar attributes.

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This rig is drilling a hole in the ground that will be filled with
reinforced concrete to form a drilled shaft foundation.
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This 11 m (35 ft) deep excavation extends 10 m (30 ft) below the groundwater table. In
addition, a river is present just beyond the excavation on the left side of the photograph.
Therefore, it was necessary to first install an extensive dewatering system to draw down
the groundwater table.
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This rig is installing a series of wick
drains, which help accelerate the
settlements that will occur as a
result of a proposed fill.

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The fill for this highway near Fort St. John, British Columbia is
being reinforced with geogrids, thus allowing the side slopes to
be steeper than would be possible with an unreinforced fill.
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Proposed cut slopes in a bedded
sedimentary rock. Cut A is much more
likely to fail than cut B because it
undermines the bedding planes, a
condition called daylighted bedding.

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Geomaterial structure
and scale effects

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 Geotechnical Engineering
• Geotechnical Engineering is the branch of Civil Engineering concerned with the engineering
behavior of earth materials. It includes investigating existing subsurface conditions and materials;
determining their physical/mechanical and chemical properties; assessing risks posed by site
conditions; designing earthworks and structure foundations; and monitoring site conditions. It
includes:

• Soil Mechanics (Soil Properties and Behavior).

• Rock Mechanics (Rock Stability and Tunneling).
• Foundation Engineering (Shallow & Deep Foundations).
• Soil Dynamics (Dynamic Properties of Soils, Earthquake Engineering).
• Earthworks Engineering (Embankments, Slops Stability, Dams).
• Earth Retaining Structures.
• Pavement Engineering (Flexible & Rigid Pavements).
• Ground Improvement ( Soil Reinforcement, Geosynthetics).
• Coastal and Ocean Engineering.