Soil Mechanics
INTRODUCTION
JIA HE (何稼)
College of Civil and Transportation Engineering
Hohai University
1
Outline
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: Physical Properties of Soil
• Chapter 2: Permeability of Soil
• Chapter 3: Stresses of Soil
• Chapter 4: Compressibility of Soil
• Chapter 5: Shear Strength of Soil
• Chapter 6: Lateral Earth Pressure
• Chapter 7: Slope Stability
• Chapter 8: Bearing Capacity for Shallow Foundations
2
INTRODUCTION
• What is soil?
• What is soil mechanics?
• The importance of soil mechanics
• Brief history of soil mechanics
• Structure of the course
3
What is soil?
• In general, soils are the loose aggregates of mineral
particles formed by weathering of rocks.
weathering, transportation,
deposition
Rocks Soils
Compaction, cementation,
crystallization
• Before building design, site investigation should be
carried out to find out the geological conditions of the
site, including formation and engineering properties of
ground soil, potential geological hazards, and
groundwater condition, etc.
4
Mechanical weathering of rock Transportation by gravity Transportation by running water
Deposit at Yellow River mouth (1989) Deposit at Yellow River mouth (2009)
5
Soils encountered in engineering projects
Ground soil Slope
Clay particles
Silt particles
Sand particles
Earth fill 6
Characteristics of soils in engineering projects
• Soils are granular materials. Their strength are
relatively low. The deformations are relatively large
under external load.
• Soil is composed of solid particles, pore water and
pore gas. The external load is undertaken by one or
more of these three components. There are also
complex interactions among these three
components.
• Natural soils also have other complex characteristics,
such as heterogeneity, anisotropy, and time-
dependent properties.
7
INTRODUCTION
• What is soil?
• What is soil mechanics?
• The importance of soil mechanics
• Brief history of soil mechanics
• Structure of the course
8
What is soil mechanics?
• Soil mechanics is a branch of science that deals with
the study of the physical properties of soils and the
behavior of soils masses subjected to various types of
forces.
• 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 serves to solve the engineering
problems in ground and foundation of buildings, earth
structures, and underground structures in soil ground.
9
Building foundation Earth dam
on soil ground
Road Excavation in
embankment soil ground 10
Ground and foundation
• Building ground: strata
Load
(soil or rock) that bear the
load of buildings.
• Building foundation:
Structures that transfer Foundation
loads to grounds.
Ground
11
Methodologies of soil mechanics
Experimental studies
mechanics of Mechanics of
and engineering
continuous media granular materials
experiences
Soil mechanics
Seepage Deformation Strength
problems problems problems
12
INTRODUCTION
• What is soil?
• What is soil mechanics?
• The importance of soil mechanics
• Brief history of soil mechanics
• Structure of the course
13
The importance of soil mechanics
• Field of applications: building engineering, hydraulic
engineering, transportation engineering, port and waterway
engineering, environmental engineering, municipal
engineering, etc.
• Knowledges of soil mechanics are used at site investigation,
design, construction, and maintenance stages of projects.
• Foundation engineering is related to the safety, usability and
durability of buildings. In construction engineering, the cost
of foundation engineering accounts for 1/4 to 1/3 of the
total investment, or even half of the total investment. These
are closely related to soil mechanics.
• Three types of problems of soil mechanics: strength
problems, deformation problems, and seepage problems.
14
Strength problems
16
15
Transcona Grain Elevator accident
Background and failure process: Transcona Grain Elevator in Canada, 59.44m long north-south,
23.47m wide east-west, 31.00m high. The foundation was reinforced concrete raft foundation
with a thickness of 61 cm and an embedded depth of 3.66 m. The construction started in 1911
and completed in 1913. The structure weighed 20,000 tons, which was equivalent to 42.5% of
the total weight after filling the grain. In September 1913, when grain was loaded to 3,1822 m 3,
it was found that the settlement reached 30.5 cm in an hour, and titled to the west side. The
structure overturned 24 hours later. The west side subsided 7.32 m, the east side rised 1.52 m,
and the inclination was 27 degrees. Although the soil ground was destroyed, the structure was
safe and sound. After correction with 388 50t jacks, the grain elevator continued to use, but the
elevation was 4 m lower.
Reasons for the accident: The bearing capacity of the ground was not investigated before design.
Instead, 352 kPa bearing capacity of an adjacent building ground was adopted in the design. The
accident investigation in 1952 showed that there was a soft clay layer with a thickness of 16 m
below the foundation. The actual bearing capacity was 193.8-276.6 kPa.
16
Po Shan Road landslide in Hong Kong 1972
Po Shan Road landslide, which
had a volume of about 40,000
cubic meters, induced the
collapse of two large buildings,
killing 67 people and injuring a
further 20.
The strength of the residual soil
on the slope was low, and the
strength of the soil was further
reduced by rainwater
infiltration, which made the
sliding force of the soil exceed
the strength of the soil.
17
Before sliding
After sliding
18
Soil liquefaction
Liquefaction: Under earthquakes and other cyclic or static loads, non-
cohesive soils (e.g. sand and silt) may lose their strength and behave
like a fluid. Liquefaction may cause catastrophic consequences to the
buildings and structures.
Loss of bearing capacity Lateral deformation
(1964 Niigata Earthquake) (2011 Christchurch Earthquake)
Failure of retaining structures Uplift of buried structures
19
(2010 Haiti Earthquake) (2004 Chuetsu Earthquake)
Deformation problems
20
Uneven settlement
Pisa Tower Hu Qiu Tower
21
The settlement of Mexico City
Mexico City is situated on top of a former lake
surrounded by volcanos. A large number of
volcanic ash were transported and deposited
into the lake, and chemically formed into clay
and silt minerals. These newly deposited soils
have high water content, high compressibility
and easy to produce large settlement.
Groundwater exploitation which began in the
mid-19th century worsened the problem of
subsidence.
At present, the settlement of Mexico City is 7-
10 cm/year, but at some places near well the
settlements are more than 30 cm/year. Over
the past 100 years, some parts of Mexico City
have settled more than 8 meters. Up to now,
groundwater exploitation still accounts for 2/3
of Mexico City's water consumption, and the
settlement problem will continue.
22
The settlement of Mexico City
23
Settlement of Kansai Airport, Japan
Kansai Airport in Japan was built on an artificially reclaimed island.
1987：land reclamation started
1994：the airport started operation
Dec 2016：total settlement was 13.19 m
Current settlement rate：7 cm/year
Source：[Link]
24
Seepage problems
25
Teton Dam Failure
Background: In Idaho, USA, the dam was built in 1975. It is 93 meters high,
940 meters long and 520 meters wide.
On the morning of June 5, 1976, the leakage point was found. The leakage
expanded rapidly and brought out earth fill. The dam collapsed at 11:55.
The accident resulted in 11 deaths and economic losses of about $2 billion.
Cause: The filling material of dam body includes loess, which has high
permeability. Piping erosion occurred in dam body.
26
Jiujiang Dike Failure in 1998 Yangtse River Flood
On August 7, 1998, a dangerous piping
erosion occurred, and a breach with a width
of 62 m was quickly formed.
Reasons: piping of embankment subsoil,
long-term high-water immersion of
embankment body, untreated embankment
foundation, improper maintenance and
management.
27
28
Leachate Collection and Anti-seepage System of Landfill
29
INTRODUCTION
• What is soil?
• What is soil mechanics?
• The importance of soil mechanics
• Brief history of soil mechanics
• Structure of the course
30
• 1773 Coulomb: Strength theory, lateral earth pressure
• 1856 Darcy: Darcy’s flow law
• 1869 Rankine: Earth pressure theory
• 1885 J. Boussinesq: Stress calculation in elastic infinite half-space
• 1922 [Link]: Slope stability analysis
• 1925 Terzaghi : Effective stress theory, consolidation theory
• 1963 Roscoe et al. : Plasticity Theory of Soil
31
Coulomb
• Strength theory of granular materials
f = c + tan
32
Darcy
Flow of water through
porous media
q = kiA
33
Rankine
• Later earth pressure calculation
34
Boussinesq
• Stress calculation in elastic infinite half-space
F (kN)
地表
0.2F
0.1F
0.05F
0.01F (kPa)
35
Fellenius
Slope stability analysis
36
Karl Terzaghi
Effective stress theory
consolidation theory
Founder of soil mechanics
37
Roscoe et al
Plasticity Theory of Soil
Critical state soil mechanics
Cam Model
38
Hohai University
Prof. Huang Wenxi Prof. Qian Jiahuan
39
INTRODUCTION
• What is soil?
• What is soil mechanics?
• The importance of soil mechanics
• Brief history of soil mechanics
• Structure of the course
40
Structure of this course
Fundamental knowledges Core theories
Physical Properties of Soil (Ch1) Permeability of Soil (Ch2)
Stresses of Soil (Ch3) Compressibility of Soil (Ch4)
Shear Strength of Soil (Ch5)
Applied knowledges
Lateral Earth Pressure (Ch6)
Slope Stability (Ch7)
Bearing Capacity for
Shallow Foundations(Ch8)
41
