Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering 1.1 GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING Geotechnical engineering, as the name implies, concerns the applica- tion of civil engineering technology to some aspect of the earth. Usually, the geotechnical engineer is concerned only with the natural materials found at or near the surface of the earth. Civil engineers call these earthen materials soil and rock. Soil, in an engineering sense, is the relatively loose agglomerate of mineral and organic materials and sediments found above the bedrock. Soils can be relatively easily broken down into their con. stituent mineral or organic particles. Rocks, on the other hand, have very strong internal cohesive and molecular forces which hold the constituent mineral grains together. This is true whether the rock is massive bedrock or a piece of gravel found in a clay soil. The dividing line between soil and rock is arbitrary, and many natural materials encountered in engineering practice cannot be easily classified. They may be either a “very soft rock” for a “very hard soil.” Other scientific disciplines have different meanings for the terms soil and rock. In geology, for example, rock means all the materials found in the earth’s crust, independently of how much the mineral particles are bound together. Soils to a geologist are just decom- posed and disintegrated rocks generally found in the very thin upper part of the crust and capable of supporting plant life. Similarly, pedology (soil science) and agronomy are concémed with only the very uppermost layers of soil, that is, those materials relating to agriculture and forestry. Geotech- nical engineers can learn much from both geology and pedology. Both sciences, especially engineering geology, are important adjuncts to geotech- nical engineering and there is considerable overlap between these fields. But differences in terminology, approach, and objectives may cause some confusion, especially for the beginner.2 Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering Geotechnical engineering has several different aspects or emphases. Soil mechanics is the branch of geotechnical engineering concerned with the engineering mechanics and properties of soil, whereas rock mechanics is concerned with the engineering mechanics and properties of rock. usally but not necessarily the bedrock. Soil mechanics applies the basic principles ‘of mechanics including kinematics, dynamics, fluid mechanics, and the mechanics of materials to soils. In other words, soil rather than water or steel or concrete, for example, now becomes the engineering material whose properties and behavior we must understand in order to build with it or upon it. A similar comment could also be made for rock mechanics. It should be noted, however, that there are significant differences hetween the behavior of soil masses and rock masses, and in principle there is not much overlap between the two disciplines. Foundation engineering applies geology, soil mechanics, rock mecha- nies, and structural engineering to the design and construction of founda- tions for civil engineering and other structures. The foundation engineer must be able to predict the performance or response of the foundation soil or rock to the loads imposed by the structure, Some examples of the kinds of problems faced by the foundation engineer include foundations for industrial, commercial, and residential buildings, and other types of sup- port structures for radar towers, as well as foundations for oil and other kinds of tanks and offshore structures. Even ships must have a dry dock during construction or repairs, and the dry dock must have a foundation. ‘The support of rockets and appurtenant structures during construction and Taunch have led to very interesting and challenging foundation engincering problems. Related geotechnical engineering problems facing the founda- iy OF naiural and excavated siopes, the stability of permanent and temporary earth-retaining structures, problems of con- struction, controlling water movement and pressures, and even the mainte- nance and rehabilitation of old buildings. Not only must the foundation safely support the static structural and construction loads, but it must also adequately resist dynamic loads due to blasting, earthquakes, etc. If you think about it, it is impossible to design or construct any civil engincering structure without ultimately considering the foundation soils and rocks to some extent, and this is true whether the structure is built on the earth or is extraterrestrial. The performance, economy, and safety of any civil engineering structure ultimately is affected or may even be controlled by its foundation. Earth materials are often uscd as a construction material because they are the cheapest possible building material. However, its engineering Properties such as strength and compressibility are often naturally poor, and measures must be taken to densify, strengthen, or otherwise stabilize and reinforce soils so that they will perform satisfactorily in service.4.2. The Unique Mature of Soll and Rock Material 2 Highway and railway embankments, airfields, earth and rock dams, levees, and aqueducts are examples of earth structures, and the geotechnical engineer is responsible for their design and construction. Dam safety and rehabilitation of old dams are important aspects of this phase of geotechni- cal engineering. Also related, especially for highway and airfield engineers, is the design of the final surface layer on the earth structure, the pavement. Here the overlap between the transportation and geotechnical disciplines is apparent. Rock engineering, analogous to foundation engineering for soils, is concerned with rock as a foundation and construction matenal. Because ‘most of the earth’s surface is covered with soil (or water), rock engineering usually occurs underground (tunnels, underground power houses, petro- Jeum storage rooms, mines, etc.). But sometimes rock engineering occurs at the surface, such as in the case of building and dam foundations carried to bedrock, deep excavations to bedrock, stability of rock slopes, etc. In presenting some of the typical problems facing the geotechnical engineer, we wanted you to see, first, how broad the field is and, second, how important it is to the design and construction of civil engineering structures. In a very real sense, geotechnical engineering combines the basic physical sciences, geology and pedology, with hydraulic, structural, transportation, construction, and mining engineering. 1.2 THE UNIQUE NATURE OF SOIL. AND ROCK MATERIALS Geotechnical engineering is highly empirical and is perhaps much more of an “art” than the other disciplines within civil engineering because of the basic nature of soil and rock materials. They are often highly variable, even within a distance of a few millimetres. Another way of saying this is that soils are heterogeneous rather than homogeneous materials. ‘That is, their material or engineering properties may vary widely from point to point within a soil mass. Furthermore, soils in general are nonlinear materials; their stress-strain curves are not straight lines. To further complicate things (as well as to make them interesting!) soils are nonconseroative materials; that is, they have a fantastic memory—they remember almost everything that ever happened to them, and this fact strongly affects their engineering behavior. Instead of being isotropic, soils are typically anisotropic, which means that their material or engineering properties are not the same in all directions. Most of the theories we have for the mechanical behavior of engineering materials assume that the ‘materials are homogeneous and isotropic, and that they obey linear stress- strain laws. Common engineering materials such as steel and concrete do4 Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering not deviate too significantly from these ideals, and consequently we can use, with discretion, simple linear theories to predict their response under engineering loads. With soils and rock, we are not so fortunate. As you shall see in your study of geotechnical engineering, we may assume a linear stress-strain response, but then we must apply large empirical correction or “safety” factors to our designs to account for the real material behavior. Furthermore, the behavior of soil and rock materials in situ is often 7 Med by a other “defects” in the material; yet our laboratory tests and simplified methods of analysis often do not take into account such real characteristics of the soil and rock. That is why geotechnical engineering is really an “art” rather than an engineering science. Successful geotechnical engineering depends on the good judgment and practical experience of the designer, constructor, or consuitant. Put another way, the successful geotechnical engineer must develop a “feel” for sail and rock hehavior hefore a safe and economic foundation design can be made or an engineering structure can be safely built. west linyers nel’ sorte 1.3 SUGGESTED APPROACH TO THE STUDY OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING Because of the nature of soil and rock materials, both laboratory and field testing are very important in geotechnical engineering. One way that student engineers can begin to develop a feel for soil and rock behavior is tw get some experience in the laboratory by performing the standard tests for classification and engineering properties on many different types of soils and rocks. In this way the novice begins building up a “mental data bank” of how certain soils and rocks actually look, how they might behave should, for example, the amount of water present change, how they might behave under different kinds of engineering loads, and what the range of probable numerical values is for the different tests. This is sort of a self-calibration process, so that when you are faced with a new sail deposit or rock type, you will in advance have some idea as to the engineering problems you will encounter at that site, You can also begin to Judge, at least qualitatively, the validity of laboratory and field test results for the materials at that site, So laboratory as well as field experience is important for you ta help develop a “feel” for sail and rock hehavior. Of course. just as with any other subject, this exposure in the laboratory to soil and rock properties and behavior must be complemented by a diligent study of the theoretical, empirical, and design components of geotechnical engineering practice.1.4 SCOPE OF THIS BOOK Rather than attempt an all-inclusive approach to geotechnical en- gineering, the primary emphasis in this text will be on the engineering behavior of soil materials. Soil mechanics and the analysis and design of foundations and earth structures is generally x fairly straightforward, but creative, application of mechanics, strength of materials, and elementary structural engineering, Often the key in the successful practice and applica- tion of geotechnical engineering lies in a sound knowledge and understand- ing of the engineering properties and behavior of soils in situ, when they are subjected to their engineering loads and environmental conditions. ‘Therefore we feel that the beginning student must first develop an appreci- ation for the engineering properties of soils as distinet from other couuuon civil engineering materials before proceeding to instruction in the analysis and design phases of foundation and earthwork engineering. This is an elementary text, and the approach we have tried to follow is to emphasize the fundamentals, with an eye toward the practical ape! ing civil engineer are likely to encaunter in your engineering practice. Finally, we hope you will know enough about soils and suil deposits (0 avoid serious mistakes or blunders in those aspects of your professional career that involve soil and soil materials. In the first part of the book, we introduce some of the basic definitions and index properties of soil that are used throughout the book. ‘Then some common soil classification schemes are presented. Classification of soils is important because it is the “language” engineers nse to com- municate certain general knowledge about the engineering behavior of the soils at a particular site. The rest of the book is concerned with the engineering properties of soil, properties that are necessary for the design of foundations and earth structures. Topics covered include how water affects soil behavior. their shrinkage and swelling characteristics, and their per- meability (how water flows through soils). Then we get into the compressi- bility of soil, which is the important engineering property one needs to predict the settlement of engineering structures constructed on soil masses. Finally, we describe some of the clementary strength characteristics of both granular and cohesive soils. Soil strength is important, for example, for the design of foundations, retaining wails, and siopes. Much of the practice of geotechnical engineering depends on topics that include geology and the nature of landforms and soil deposits. You are strongly encouraged to take a physical- geology or an engineering geology course in connection with your studies of geotechnical engineer- ing.6 Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering tis hoped that with the background of this text, you will be prepared for a follow-up course in foundation and, easthwork engineering; you should know how to obtain the soil properties required for most designs, and you should have a pretty good idea as to the probable range of values for a given property if you know the general classification of the soil. Finally, you should have a fairly good idea of what to look for at a site, how to avoid costly and dangerous mistakes, and be aware of your own limitations and knowledge of soils as an engineering material. 1.5 SOIL FORMATION AND THE NATURE. OF SOIL CONSTITUENTS. We mentioned earlier that soil from a civil engineering point of view ig the relatively loose agglomeration of mineral and organic materials found above the bedrock. In a broader sense, of course, even shallow bedrock is of interest to geotechnical engineers and some of these applica- tions have already been mentioned. You may remember from your basic science courses that the earth has a crust of granitic and basaltic rocks 10 to 40 km thick. Overlying this more or less solid rock is a relatively thin layer of variable thickness of what geologists call unconsolidated materials. These materials can vary in size from sub-microscopic mineral particles to huge boulders. Weathering and other geologic processes act on the rocks at or near the earth’s surface to form these unconsolidated materials, or soil. Weathering, which usually results from atmospheric processes, alters the composition and structure of these rocks by chemical and physical means. Physical or mechanical weathering causes disintegration of the rocks into smaller particle sizes. Physical weathering agents include freezing and thawing, temperature changes, erosion, and the activity of plants and animals including man. Chemical weathering decomposes the minerals in the rocks by oxidation, reduction, carbonation, and other chemical processes. Generally, chemical weathering is much more important than physical weathering, in soil formation. In short then, soils are the products of the weathering of rocks. Soils at a particular site can he residual (that is, weathered in place) or transported (moved by water, wind, glaciers, etc.), and the geologic history of a particular deposit significantly affects its cngincering behavior. The nature of soil constituents is discussed in greater detail throughout this text. For now, we want to make a few points just to set the stage for what we are about to study. You already have a layman’s idea about soil. At least you know in general what sand and gravel are, and perhaps you even have a general idea ahont fine-grained soils such as silts and clays These terms have quite precise engineering definitions, as we shall later4.8 Historical Development of Geotechnical Engineering 7 see, but for now the general concept that soils are particles will suffice. Particles of what? Well, usually particles of mineral matter or, more simply, broken up pieces of rock that result from the weathering processes we spoke of previously. If we just talk for now about the size of the particles, gravels are small pieces of rock that typically contain several minerals, whereas sands are even smaller and each grain usually contains only a single mineral. If you cannot see each grain of a soil, then the soil is either a silt or a clay or a mixture of each. In fact, natural soils generally are a mixture of several different particle sizes and may even contain organic matter. Some soils such as pedat may be almost entirely organic. Futhermore, because soils are a particulate material, they have voids, and the voii ally filled with water and air. Tt is the physical and chemical interaction of the water and air in the voids with the particles of soil, as well as the interaction of the particles themselves, that makes soil behavior so complicated and leads to the nonlinear, nonconservative, and anisotropic mechanical behavior we mentioned previously. Now, if you add the variability and heterogeneity of natural soil deposits due to the capriciousness of nature, you probably can begin to see that soils are indeed complex engineering and construction materials. Helping you put some order into ‘this potentially chaotic situation is our primary objective in this book. 1.6 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING ‘As long as people have been building things, they have used soils as a foundation or construction material. The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Chinese, and Indians knew about constructing dikes and levees out of the soils found in river flood plains. Ancient temples and monuments built all around the world involved soil and rock in some way. The Aztecs con- structed temples and cities on the very poor soils in the Valley of Mexico tong before the Spaniards arrived in the New World. European architects and builders during the Middle Ages learned about the problems of settlements of cathedrals and large buildings. The most noteworthy exam. ple is, of course, the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Scandinavians used timber piles to support houses and wharf structures on their soft clays. The “design” of foundations and other constructions involving soil and rock was by rule of thumb, and very little theory as such was developed until the mid-1700's. Coulomb is the most famous name of that era. He was interested in the problems of earth pressures against retaining walls, and some of his calculation procedures are still in use today. The most common theory for8 Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering the shear strength of soils is named after him. During the next century, the French engineers Collin and Darcy (D'Arcy) and the Scotsman Rankine made important discoveries. Collin was the first engineer to be concerned with failures in clay slopes as well as the measurement of the shear strength of clays. Darcy established his law for the flow of water through sands. Rankine developed a method for estimating the earth pressure against retaining walls. In England, Gregory utilized horizontal subdrains: and compacted earth-fill buttresses to stabilize railroad cut slopes. By the turn of the century, important developments in the field took place in Scandinavia, primarily in Sweden. Atterberg defined the con- sistency limits for clays that are still in use today. During the period 1914-1922, in connection with investigations of some important failures in harbors and railroads, the Geotechnical Commission of the Swedish State Railways developed many important concepts and apparatuses in geotech- nical engineering. Methods for calculating the stability of slopes were developed. They developed subsurface investigation techniques such as ‘weight sounding and piston and other types of samplers. They understood important concepts such as sensitivity of clays and consolidation, which is the squeezing of water out of the pores of the clay. At that time, clays were thought to be absolutely impervious, but the Swedes made field measure- ments to show that they weren't. The Commission was the first to use the word geotechnical (Swedish: geotekniska) in the sense that we know it today: the combination of geology and civil engineering technology. Even with these early developments in Sweden, the father of soil mechanics is really an Austrian, Prof. Karl Terzaghi. He published in 1925 the first modern textbook on soil mechanics, and in fact the name “soil mechanics” is a direct translation of the German word erdbaumechanik, which was part of the title of that book. Terzaghi was an outstanding and very creative engineer. He wrote several important books and over 250 technical papers and articles, and his name will appear many times in this book. He was a professor at Robert College in Istanbul, Technische Hochschule in Vienna, M. I. T., and at Harvard University from 1938 until his retirement in 1956. He continued to he active as a consultant until his death in 1963 at the age of 80. Another important contributor to the advancement of modern soil mechanics is Prof. Arthur Casagrande, who was at Harvard University from 1932 until 1969. You will see his name often in this book because he made many important contributions to the art and science of soil mecha- nics and foundation engineering. Other important contributors to the field include Taylor, Peck, Tschebotarioff, Skempton, and Bjerrum. Since the 1950°s the field has grown substantially and the names of those responsible for its rapid advancement are too numerous to mention.1.7 Notes on Symbols and Unite ° Both Terzaghi and Casagrande began the leaching of soil mechanics and engineering geology in the United States. Before the Second World War, the subject was offered only as a graduate course in very few universities. After the war, it became common for at least one course in the subject to be required in most schools of civil engineering. In recent years graduate programs in all phases of geotechnical engineering have heen implemented at many universities, and there has been a real information explosion in the number of conferences, technical journals, and textbooks published during the past two decades. Important recent developments you should know about include de- velopments in earthquake engineering and soil dynamics, the use of digital computers for the solution of complex engineering problems, and the introduction of probability and statistics into geotechnical engineering analysis and design. 1.7 NOTES ON SYMBOLS AND UNITS ‘At the beginning of each chapter, we list the pertinent symbols introduced in the chapter. As with most disciplines, a standard notation is not universal in geotechnical engineering, so we have tried to adopt the symbols most commonly used. For example, the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM, 1979) has a list of Standard Definitions of ‘Terms and Symbols Relating to Soil and Rock Mechanics, Designation D (653, which was prepared jointly some years ago with the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and the International Society of Rock Mecha- nics (ISRM). Recently the International Society for Soil- Mechanics and Foundation Engineering (ISSMFE, 1977) published an extensive list of symbols. Although there are some deviations from this list because of our personal preference, we have generally tried to follow these recommenda- tions. Units used in geotechnical engineering can be politely called a mess and, less politely, several worse things. There has developed in practice a jumbled mixture of cgs-metric, Imperial or British Engineering units and hybtid European metric units. With the intioduction of the universal and consistent system of units, “Le Systéme International d’Unités” (SI) in the United States and Canada, we believe it is important that you learn to use those units in geotechnical engineering practice. However since British Engineering units are still commonly used, it is important that you become familiar with the typical values of hoth sets of units. To assist you with unit conversion where necessary, we have included a brief explanation of SI units as applied to geotechnical engineering in Appendix A.two Index and Classification Properties of Soils : 2.1 INTRODUCTION In this chapter we introduce the basic terms and definitions used by geotechnical engineers to index and classify soils. The following notation is used in this chapter. 10 Symbol Dimer Unit Definition 4 = Activiy (Ea. 3-23) G - Coefficient of curvature (Eq. 2-20) € = ~ ‘Coetticeat of uniformity (Eq. 2-19) Do L mm Diameter for 10% finer by weight De L mm ‘Diameter for 30% finer by weight Do L mm Diameter for 60% finer by weight . Gecimal) Void tatio q.2-1) erage 7 Liquidity index (Eq. 223) Lhorm, igh ini M, M ke Total mass ™, M te Mass of solids M, M ke Mass of water , - % Porosity (Ea. 2-2) Plorl, = = Plasticity index (Eq. 2-22) PLorw, — = Plastic limit s = @ Degree of saturation (Eq. 2-4) SLorw, = Shrinkage limit ¥, BR = Volume of air ¥, B m Volume of solids ” B = Total volume ¥, B Volume of voids " = w Water content (Eq. 2-5) ° Me kg/m? Total, wet, or moist density (Eq, 2-6) o M/E’ Buoyant density (Eq. 2-11) % m/e Dry density (Eq. 29) a Mie Density of solids (Ey. 2-7) Paw Saturated density (Eq.2.2 Basle Definitions and Phase Relations " In this list, L = length and M = mass. When densities of soils and water are expressed in kg/m", the numbers are rather large. For instance, the density of water p, is 1000 kg/m’. Since 1000 kg = 1 Mg, to make the numbers more manageable, we will usually use Mg/m for densities. If you are unfamiliar with SI metric units and their conversion factors, it would be a good idea to read Appendix A before proceeding with the rest of this chapter 2.2 BASIC DEFINITIONS AND PHASE RELATIONS In general, any mass of soil consists of a collection of solid particles with voids in between, The soil solids are small grains of different minerals, whereas the voids can be filled either with water, air, or filled partly with both water and air (Fig. 2.1). In other words, the total volume V, of the soil ‘mass consists of the volume of soil solids V, and the volume of voids V,. w Fig. 21 Soll skeleton contain- ing Solid particles (S) and voids with air (A) and water (W). The volume of voids is in gencral made up of the volume of water V, and the volume of air V,. We can schematically represent these three phases in 8 phase diagram (Fig. 2.2) in which each of the three phases 1s shown separately. On the left side we usually indicate the volumes of the three phases; on the right side we show the corresponding masses of the phases. Even though only two dimensions are shown in the phase diagram, total volume is any convenient unit volume such as m? or cm. In engineering practice, we usually measure the total volume ¥;, the mass of water M,, and the mass of dry solids M,. Then we calculate the rest of the vaiues und the mass-volume relationships that we need. Most of these relationships are independent of sample size, and they are often dimensionless. They are very simple and easy to remember, especially if