Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering THIRD EDITION

Abstract

Principles of Foundation Engineering and Principles of Geotechnical Engineering were originally published in 1984 and 1985, respectively. These texts were well received by instructors, students, and practitioners alike. Depending on the needs of the users, the texts were revised and are presently in their sixth editions. Toward the latter part of 1998, there were several requests to prepare a single volume that was concise in nature but combined the essential components of Principles of Foundation Engineering and Principles of Geotechnical Engineering. In response to those requests, the first edition of Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering was published in 2000, followed by the second edition in 2004 with a 2005 copyright. These editions include the fundamental concepts of soil mechanics as well as foundation engineering, including bearing capacity and settlement of shallow foundations (spread footings and mats), retaining walls, braced cuts, piles, and drilled shafts. This third edition has been revised and prepared based on comments received from the users. As in the previous editions, SI units are used throughout the text. This edition consists of 14 chapters. The major changes from the second edition include the following: • The majority of example problems and homework problems are new. • Chapter 2 on “Soil Deposits and Grain-Size Analysis” has an expanded discussion on residual soil, alluvial soil, lacustrine deposits, glacial deposits, aeolian deposits, and organic soil. • Chapter 3 on “Weight-Volume Relationships, Plasticity, and Soil Classification” includes recently published relationships for maximum and minimum void ratios as they relate to the estimation of relative density of granular soils. The fall cone method to determine liquid and plastic limits has been added. • Recently published empirical relationships to estimate the maximum unit weight and optimum moisture content of granular and cohesive soils are included in Chapter 4 on “Soil Compaction.” • Procedures to estimate the hydraulic conductivity of granular soil using the results of grain-size analysis via the Kozeny-Carman equation are provided in Chapter 5, “Hydraulic Conductivity and Seepage.”