COURSE TITLE
COTM 2002 SOIL MECHANICS
• Goals of the Course
• The course deals with the study of physical properties
of soils, and their relevance in soil mechanical
behaviour as strength, compressibility, stability and
drainage.
• It is intended to give the students a fundamental
insight in basic soil mechanical properties and
processes, and how these are used in geotechnical
engineering practice and in construction works.
• Objective
• Students will obtain a basic understanding of
geotechnical engineering principles including soil
classification, seepage, consolidation, shear strength,
and bearing capacity. Students will also learn how to
perform and apply fundamental laboratory tests on
soils.
• Evaluation
• Mid –Semester Exam 40%
• Laboratory 10%
• Final Exam 50%
• Total 100%
• COURSE OUTLINE
• 1. GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF SOILS AND TYPES
• 2. SIMPLE SOIL PROPERTIES
• 3. CLASSIFICATIONS AND FIELD IDENTIFICATION OF SOILS
• 4. SOIL MOISTURE, PERMEABILITY AND STRESSES
• 5. CONSOLIDATION OF SOILS
• 6. STRESS DISTRIBUTION IN SOILS AND SETTLEMENT ANALYSIS
• 7. SHEARING RESISTANCE AND STRENGTH OF SOILS
• 8. LATERAL EARTH PRESSURE
• 9. COMPACTION OF SOILS
• 10. SLOPE STABILITY
Time Schedule
Final exam
chapter 10
chapter 9
chapter 8
chapter 7
Chapters
chapterMid-semester
6 exam
chapter 5
chapter 4
chapter 3
Chapters 1and 2
0 1 2 3
Weeks
DEFINITIONS OF SOILS AND SOIL MECHANICS
• SOIL
• soil is defined as a natural aggregate of mineral
grains, loose or moderately cohesive, with or
without organic constituents that have the capacity
of being separated by means of simple mechanical
processes e.g. by agitation in water.
• Soil Mechanics
• Soil Mechanics is one of the youngest disciplines of Civil
Engineering involving the study of soil, its behaviour and
application as an engineering material.
• According to Terzaghi (1948): "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."
• GEOLOGICAL FORMATION OF SOILS
• The materials that constitute the earth’s crust are rather
arbitrarily divided into two categories, soil and rock
• Rock is a natural aggregate of mineral grains connected by
strong and permanent cohesive forces.
• Rocks are classified according to their mode of formation
as follows:
Igneous Rocks: - are formed by cooling and solidification of
magma within or on the surface of the earth’s crust
e.g. granite, basalt, dolerite, gabbro, andesite, rhyolite,
pegmatites, peridotite, syenite.
Sedimentary Rocks: - are formed by consolidation
and cementation of sediments deposited under
water
e.g. limestone, sandstone, shale, dolomite, mudstone,
conglomerate.
Metamorphic Rocks: - are formed from older rocks
when they are subjected to increased temperature,
pressure and shearing stresses at considerable
depth in the earth’s crust
e.g. slate, schist, marble, quartzite, gneiss.
•All soils originate, directly or indirectly, from solid rocks by the
process of weathering.
Mechanical/ Physical and chemical weathering of parent rocks
Reduction in size
Reduction in size
and change in
without change in
Composition of
composition of
Parent rocks
•parent rocks
Temperature Changes
•Freezing action of water •Oxidation
•Spreading of roots of •Carbonatio
plants n
•Abrasion •Hydration
•Leaching
AGENTS AGENTS
• Residual and Transported soils.
• Soils, which are formed by mechanical or chemical
weathering, may be classified as residual or transported
soils.
• Residual soils are soils, which are still located in the place
of their origin.
• Transported soils are soils which have been transported by
water, wind, ice and deposited in an area different from
their place of origin.
• Residual soils are usually homogeneous and stiff while
transported soils are loose, soft and non-homogeneous.
• Transported soils may be classified according to the mode of
their transportation and deposition such as
• Alluvial soils are those soils that have been transported by
running water and deposited along a stream.
• Aeolian soils are those soils that have been transported and
deposited by wind.
• Lacustrine soils are those soils that have been deposited
from suspension in quite fresh water lakes.
• Colluvial soils are those soils that have been
deposited by movement of soil by gravity such as
landslides.
• Marine soils are those soils that have been
deposited from suspension in seawater.
• Glacial soils are those soils that have been
deposited as a result of glacial activities
COMMON SOIL TYPES
• Sand, gravel, cobbles and boulders are coarse-grained
cohesionless soils.
• Grain- size ranges are used to distinguish between them.
• Sand 0.06 to 2mm
• Gravel 2 to 60mm
• Cobbles 60 to 200mm
• Boulders > 200mm
• Organic silt is a fine-grained soil somewhat plastic, highly
compressible, and relatively impervious. It is a very poor
foundation material because of compressibility.
• Inorganic silts (rock flour) contain only mineral grains and
are free from organic material. They are mostly coarser
than 0.002 mm.
• Clay is composed of microscopic particles of weathered
rock within a wide range of water content, clay exhibits
plasticity.
• Organic clay contains some finely divided organic particles.
Organic clays are highly compressible when saturated and
their dry strength is very high.
• Black cotton soil is clay characterized by its high expansive
and shrinkage properties. Its colour varies from dark grey
to black. Great care is required when structures are to be
built on black cotton soil.
• Hardpan is a term often used to describe any hard
cemented layer, which are not softening when wet.
• Peat is composed of fibrous particles of decayed
vegetable matter. It is so compressible that it is
entirely unsuitable to support any type of
foundation.
• Loam is a mixture of sand, silt and clay.
