UNIVERSITY

UNIVERSITY OF
OF ZAMBIA
ZAMBIA
DEPARTMENT
DEPARTMENT OF
OF CIVIL
CIVIL && ENVIRONMENTAL
ENVIRONMENTAL
ENGINEERING
ENGINEERING
CE 425 SOIL MECHANICS & FOUNDATION ENGINEERING

Eng. Peter Mashumba,

MSc Hydraulic Structures(Rus), BSc(Hons) Civil Eng. (Rus), MZIE

Office 211 School of Engineering Building

 Minimum Requirements
Item Minimum Quantity Hours
Laboratory 7 @ 3hrs 21
Tutorial/Assignments 6@3hrs 18
Mid Semester test 1 2
Final Examination 1 2hrs

Distribution of marks
Item %
Course work Mid SemesterTest 20
Laboratory works 15
Tests/Assignments 5
Final Examination 60

Attendance-80% minimum
 Course Content
INTRODUCTION
• The origin of soils, principle types of soils.
• Particle size properties and classification.
• Particle size analysis, consistency limits,
soil classification, phase relationship,
compaction
 Course Content cont.
HYDRAULIC PROPERTIES OF SOIL
• Permeability, Darcy’s law,
permeability tests.
 Course Content cont.
STRESSES IN SOILS
• Stress calculations and diagrams, normal, shear
and principle stresses, Mohr’s circle.
• Compressibility of soils, one dimensional
consolidation theory, settlement and degree o.f
consolidation, laboratory consolidation tests.
• Shear strength
• Shear strength tests, skempton’s pore pressure
coefficients, behaviour of soils under shear
 Course Content cont.
SEEPAGE
• Two dimensional seepage theory, flow nets,
seepage through earth dams, flow through
anisotropic and non homogeneous media.
SOIL PRESSURES LATERAL FORCES
• Active and passive earth pressures, design
of earth retaining walls
 Course Content cont.
STABILITY
• Stability of slopes of granular and
cohesive frictional material, stability
criteria for earth dams.
BEARING CAPACITY
• T he ultimate bearing capacity, in-
situ tests on bearing capacity.
 Course Content cont.
FOUNDATION
• Types of foundation, design of simple
footings.
SITE INVESTIGATION
• Site investigation, foundation
problems in Zambia.
 1. Origin of soils
Def
• Loose sedimentary deposit
• Weathered organic material on the
surface
 Principle types of soils

Cobble, Gravel, Sand, Clay, Silt

 Physical properties are influenced by
particle size
 Field Identification
• Distinquish btn the main types of
soils
• Assess the strength and structure of
the soil
Soil classification
• Ways of classifying soil
– Geological origin, mineral content, grain
size and plasticity
Soil classification cont.
 Particle size distribution
• Mechanical analysis
– Sieving for coarse-grained material
– Measuring rate of settlement in water

Type Range of sizes, mm

cobbles 200-60

gravel 60-2

sand 2-0.06

silt 0.060.002

clay < 0.002

 Particle distribution conti.
Type of gravel
Coarse gravel 60-20
Medium gravel 20-6
Fine gravel 6-2

Type of sand Size, mm

Coarse sand 2-0.6
Medium sand 0.6-0.2
Fine sand 0.2-0.006
Type of silts Size, mm
Coarse silts 0.06-0.02
Medium silts 0.02-0.006
Fine silts 0.006-0.002
 Textural Triangle

ay

Pe
Clay
Cl

rce
40
nt
55

nt
ce

Si
Silty
r
Pe

lt
Sandy Clay
60
35 Clay Silty Clay
Sandy Clay Clay Loam Loam
Loam 75
20
Loam Silt Loam
10 Sandy Loam 90
Loamy
Sand Sand
Silt
70 50 20

Percent Sand
 Clayey Soil
(fine textured)

Clay
40
55
Silty
Sandy Clay
60
Clay Silty Clay
Clay Loam Loam
 Loamy/Silty
Soils
(medium textured)

60
35 Silty Clay
Sandy Clay Loam
Loam 75
20
Loam Silt Loam 90
Silt
70 50 20
 Sandy Soils
(coarse textured)

20
10 Sandy Loam
Loamy
Sand Sand
70 50
 Coarse analysis (sieve tests)
• Wet or dry seiving
– Oven dried sample of soil is weighed and passed
thru a batch of seives
– Weight of dry soil retained in each seive is
recorded
– % of total sample passing eacg of the sieves is
calculated
– % passing is plotted on sand gravel fractions of a
semi-logarithmic chart
 Fine analysis
• Based on Stoke’s law of settlement
– ‘small spheres in a liquid settle at
different rates according to size of the
sphere”
– Terminal velocity

γs-density of soil particle

γw-density of water
μw-viscosity of water
D- diameter of the spherical
particle
 Procedure of fine analysis
• Pre-treat to remove organic matter,
record weight of soil
• Add a dispersing agent to prevent
floculation
• Remove coarse particles by washing
through a 62μm seive
• Retained material is dried up and treated
as sands and gravel
• Subject the washing water to
sedimentation
Sedimentation analysis
Pipette method
 Sedimentation
• Pipette method
– make up the washing water (Wb)to 500ml with distilled
water & place in a water bath in a const. temp.
– when suspension reaches bath temp, take out tube,
shake well to disperse particles and replace in the water
bath & start the stop watch immidiately.
– after time t (3-4mins) a 10ml sample is taken by pipette
to a depth of 100mm and weight of solids (WD) found
– repeat the procedure after 40-50mins & again after a
further 6-7hrs
 Pipette method
• From Stoke’s law v=kD2
• After t1 all the particles D1, will have
settled from surface to depth of
100mm
• Velocity of particles v=h/t1
• KD12=h/t1
• D12 =h/Kt1
• Concentration
N1=(WD1/10)/(Wb/500)*100%
(b)Hydrometer method
 Hydrometer method
• 1000ml of suspension is prepared as
in (a) and the specific density at
depth h is measured at given
intervals of time
• A reading of 12 a specic
density of 1.012
• In original suspension of 1000ml:
– weight of solids=Wb
– volume of solids: Vb=Wb/Gsγw
Hydrometer method cont.
– weight of solids =Wb
– volume of solids - Vb=Wb/Gsγw
– volume of water - Vw=1000-Wb/Gsγw
– weight of water =1000 γw -Wb/Gs
– initial density of suspension γi=(Wb +
1000 γw -Wb/Gs)/1000
Particle-size distribution
• Soil can be described according to of
curve and where it fit on the chart
• A uniform soil has an almost vertical
curve
• A well graded soil spreads evenly on
across the chart
• A poorly graded soil stretch across
the chart but is deficient in
intermediate sizes
Fig 1.0
 Effective size
• Maximum particle size of the
smallest 10%, D10
– Curve 1, D10 =
– Curve 2, D10 =
– Curve 3, D10 =
 Allen Hazen’s uniformity
coefficient
• Ration of the maximum particle size of
the smallest 60% to the effective
size, U
U=D60/D10
- A uniform soil have U→1 while a well
graded soil have a higher value of the
coefficient
– Curve 1, U =D60/D10
– Curve 2, U=D60/D10 =
– Curve 3, U =D60/D10 =
 Plasticity

• Consistency limit
– Fine-grained soil
– liquid ↔ plastic ↔ semi-solid ↔ solid
– Moisture content at point it pastes from one
stage to another is called consistency limit
Liquid limit(LL)- minimum moisture content at
which soil will flow under its own weight
 Plastic limit (PL)-minimum soil moisture
at which soil can be rolled into tread
3mm diameter without breaking
 Shrinkage limit(SL)-maximum moisture
content at which further moisture loss
does not cause a decrease in volume of
the soil
 Plastic index-(Ip)-range of moisture
content over which soil is plastic.
Basic definitions
 Va
Vw
Solid

Water Vs
Air

• Soil is generally a three phase material

• Voids can contain liquid and gas phases
• Contains solid particles and voids
Phase Volume Mass Weight
Air Va 0 0
Water Vw Mw Ww
Solid Vs Ms Ws
 Units
• Length metres
• Mass tonnes (1 tonne = 103 kg)
• Density t/m3
• Weight kilonewtons (kN)
• Stress kilopascals (kPa) 1 kPa= 1 kN/m2
• Unit weight kN/m3

• Accuracy Density of water, rw = 1

t/m3
• Stress/Strength to 0.1 kPa
 Weight and unit weight

• Force due to mass (weight) more important than mass

• W = Mg
• Unit weight

• γ = ρg
 Specific Gravity

• This is defined by
Density of Material 
G  
Density of Water w
Unit Weight of Material 
G  
Unit Weight of Water w
• Gs @ 2.65 for most soils

• Gs is useful because it enables the volume of solid

particles to be calculated from mass or weight
 Voids ratio
• It is not the actual volumes that are important but
rather the ratios between the volumes of the
different phases. This is described by the voids ratio,
e, or porosity, n, and the degree of saturation, S.

• The voids ratio is defined as

- and the porosity as

• The relation between these quantities can be simply
determined as follows
• Vs = V - Vv = (1 - n) V
• Hence
 Degree of Saturation
• The degree of saturation, S, has an important influence
on soil behaviour
• It is defined as

• The phase volumes may now be expressed in terms of e,

S and Vs

• Vw = e S V s Va = Vv - Vw = e Vs (1 - S)
• Assuming Vs = 1 m3, the following table can be produced
•
 Unit Weights
• The bulk unit weight

• The saturated unit weight (S = 1)

 Unit weights continues

• The dry unit weight

• The submerged unit weight

 Moisture Content
• The moisture content, m, is defined as

• In terms of e, S, Gs and gw

• W w = g w Vw = g w e S V s

• W s = g s V s = g w Gs V s

• hence
 Example 1
• Distribution by mass and weight
Phase Trimmings Mass Sample Mass, M Sample Weight, Mg
(g) (g) (kN)
Total 55 290 2845  10-6
Solid 45 237.3 2327.9  10-6
Water 10 52.7 517  10-6

• Distribution by volume (assume Gs = 2.65)

Total Volume V = p r2 l
Water volume

Solid volume

Air Volume Va = V - Vs - Vw
• Moisture content

• Voids ratio

• Degree of Saturation

• Bulk unit weight

• Dry unit weight

• Saturated unit weight

• Note that gdry < gbulk < gsat

 Example 2

• Volume and weight distributions

Phase Volume Dry Weight Saturated Weight
(m3) (kN) (kN)
Voids 0.7 0 0.7  9.81 = 6.87
Solids 1.0 2.65  9.81 = 26.0 26.0

Solution

• Dry unit weight,

 Solution

• Saturated unit weight

• Moisture content (if saturated)