Soil Mechanics Lectures

ch-1
 Soil and Rock
• The term derived from the Latin word
‘Solium’. Solium is upper layer of earth crust
that may be dug or ploughed
• A natural aggregate of mineral particles
bonded by strong cohesive force is called
rock.
• Soil has different interpretation for scientists
belonging to different disciplines.
• The definition given to soil by an agriculturist or
geologist is different from one used by civil
engineers.
• Agriculturist mean soil as the top layer of earth
which supports plant life.
• Geologist mean soil as thin outer layer of loose
sediments in the crust within which roots occur
and rest of the crust is grouped under the term
rock.
• To the civil engineer, soil is any un-cemented or
weakly cemented accumulation of solid grain
particles, the void space between the particles
containing water and/or air.
 grains(mineral grains, rock fragments etc)
 Void space(water and air)
 The void spaces changed by changes in field
condition
 Engineers assess soil properties, such as its
bearing capacity, compaction
characteristics, permeability, and
settlement potential, to design and
construct structures like buildings, roads,
Fig: Soil grain structure
bridges, and dams that are safe and stable
on the soil beneath them
• Soil consists of a multiphase aggregation of solid
particles, water, and air.
• This fundamental composition gives rise to
unique engineering properties.
• The description of its mechanical
behaviour(strength, permeability, seepage etc.)
requires some of the most classic principles of
engineering mechanics.
• Soil Mechanics is a discipline of civil engineering
involving the study of soil (identification,
behaviour, properties) and application as an
engineering material.
• The scientific study of soil mechanics was first
started by Karl Terzaghi and hence he is known as
father of soil mechanics.
• Soil Mechanics is the application of laws of
hydraulics and mechanics to engineering problem
dealing with soil particles produced by mechanical
and chemical disintegration of rocks.
• So the fundamental principles of soil mechanics
divide naturally into two parts:-
 A description of soil basic properties
 The application of these properties to solution of
soil engineering problems related to seepage,
compaction, consolidation, bearing capacity,
settlement etc.
Soil Mechanics Review

 Soil Behaviour is Complex

 Foundation soil has to be accepted as it is at the site
 Soil is not coherent material but particulate material
 Anisotropic
 Non-Homogeneous
 Non-Linear
 Stress history dependant

 Complexity gives rise to importance of

 Theory
 Lab Tests
 Field Tests
 Empirical Relations
 Computer applications
 Experience, Judgement, FOS
 Soil Mechanics Review
• Soil mechanics equips engineers with scientific tools to
understand behaviour of soil i.e. response of soils to
loads.
• A good understanding of soil behaviour is necessary to
analyse and design support system for roads, bridges,
buildings, reservoirs, water distribution system, hydro
electric power stations, nuclear plants etc.
• The stability and life of these structures depend on
stability, strength and deformation of soils.
• If soil fails the structure founded on or within it will fail
regardless of how well these system are designed.
• Thus successful civil engineering projects are heavily
dependant on understanding of soil behaviour.
SOIL PROBLEMS IN CIVIL ENGINEERING

To a civil Engineer soil is a material that can be:

.built on: foundations to buildings, bridges

.built in: tunnels, cross drainage structure, basements

.built w ith: roads, runways, embankments, dams

supported: retaining walls

 A civil engineer has to deal with soil in diverse roles. An engineer while constructing
various structures must face a number of soil related problems.
 The stability of various construction is affected by engineering properties and
characteristics of soil.
 It is necessary to study behavior of the soil and its interactions with the structure to
ensure its stability.
 Scope of Soil Mechanics

1. Foundations
• All foundations for any structure that a civil engineer
constructs are bound to rest on the soil.
• The bigger the building or structure, the bigger its
foundation
• Consequently the more important it is for a civil
engineer to take into consideration the soil
mechanics of the site.
• Hard soil with sufficient strength allows an engineer
to use shallow foundations, and the weak soil will
need deep foundations to provide robust support for
the structure being constructed.
• The choice of foundation is dependent at the depth
at which suitable stratum is found.

Deep Foundation
Shallow Foundation
2.Earthen D am s
• Dams are among the largest and consequently, some of the
most expensive civil engineering projects in the modern
world.
• Building them usually takes a lot of time and other resources
such as manpower.
• They help provide water for domestic use all year round,
provide fishing grounds, act as scenic parks, support
irrigation and are used for hydroelectric power generation
• A proper design is necessary to ensure that they can
withstand the pressure from water and other elements in
order to serve their purpose for a long time without any
incidents.
• Understanding soil mechanics will ensure that any civil
engineer carrying out such a project takes into consideration
soil properties such as its density, permeability, particle size
distribution, consolidation and compaction characteristics,
and shear strength parameter under to come up with a solid
structure.
– Rock facing: prevents erosion of the core by rain or water in the reservoir.
– G ravel bed: prevents large rocks on the face from sinking into the clay.
– Clay core: im perm eable clay keeps leakage low.
– Rock toe: heavy, highly perm eable rock adds considerable stability to the
dam.
– G ravel filter: prevent washing of soil particles from the core into the voids
of the rock toe.
3.Em bankm ents and Excavations
• Embankment refers to piling and excavation refers to removal
of huge masses of soil.
• When surface of soil is not horizontal, the component of gravity
tends to move soil downward disturbing the soil stability.
• Embankments are usually constructed to raise the level of a
road, railway or land above ground level or flooding level.
• Excavation is carried when it is required to construct
foundation, construct basement, construct roads, construct
canals, lay drainage pipes, construct trench to study soil profile,
construct borrow pit and to extract resources like oil, coal etc.
• Being aware and able to factor things such as slope stability,
consolidation, compaction of soil and the resulting settlement
as well as aspects such as effects of soil seepage, design of
support system like bracing system, sheet pile etc. all
contribute to stability of embankment and excavation slopes.
 Embankment Excavation

Excavation for trench

4.Retaining structure and U nderground structures
 Retaining Structure
• The role of retaining structure is to retain the soil and prevent it
from spreading laterally.
• They are commonly used to accommodate changes in grade,
provide increase in right-of-way and buttress the toe of slopes.
• The various types of retaining walls constructed are Gravity
retaining walls, Cantilever retaining walls, Gabion retaining walls
etc.
• The retaining walls, whether made of compacted soil or concrete,
should also be designed accordingly having taken into consideration
the soil mechanics that will be at play depending on the given
surroundings soil type.
• The foundation of the wall should be capable of
supporting both the weight of the wall and the force
resulting from the earth pressure acting upon it without: -
 Overturning or soil failure
 Sliding of the wall and foundation
 Undue settlement
• The reasons for failures might be due to lack of proper
reinforcement, saturated backfill, improper drainage
behind the wall (lack of weep holes or clogged holes),
foundation footing problems, settlement or expansion of
the soil, overloading of the wall, construction errors, lack
of passive support, and/or other design errors.
 U nderground structures
• Tunnels, shafts and conduits require evaluation of forces
exerted by the soil on these structures.
• Today, most urban centres usually construct their infrastructure
such as gas lines, electricity lines, drainage structures, subways
and internet distribution cables underground.
• For large urban areas and cities, this can mean digging and
tunnelling through miles and miles of heterogeneous soil to be
able to reach the millions of houses that make up the city.
• The need to understand soil mechanics in such civil engineering
works is more pronounced for these underground projects.
• Being able to predict how the soil will behave and affect an
underground pipeline or a subway is important so that the
completed project can withstand the conditions underground
and serve its purpose.
 Formation of soil
• Engineering properties of soils is influenced by how soil is
formed.
• Knowledge of soil forming process greatly facilitate
classification of soil
• Exposed rocks are eroded and degraded by various physical and
chemical processes like mechanical disintegration, chemical
decomposition or biological weathering.
• The products of erosion are picked up and transported to some
other place by wind, water etc.
• The transported soil are deposited under suitable condition.
• Physical and chemical weathering gives two weathering
products
 Mobile ones which are transported over varying distances
under the action of gravity, wind, erosion by water
 Residual products that remain on the site of destruction of the
parents rocks.
 Formation of soil
A . Physical W eathering
• It is natural process of disintegration of rocks into smaller
fragments and particles without including any chemical
change in the end product.
• Physical weathering is a process of fragmentation of rock
due to some physical forces associated with the factors like
fluctuations in temperature, change in the pressure,
growth of crystals, freezing of water, frost action etc.
• The main agents involved are wind, running water and
glacier.
• The products formed are mainly coarse soils.
 Formation of soil
Factors contributing to Physical w eathering
• The periodic contraction and expansion of rock due
to variation in temperature, results flaking off of
the upper layer of rock causing exfoliations of the
rock
• Alternation of light and dark minerals, variation in
expansion leads to development of cracks.
• Freezing and thawing of water
• Roots of plants
• Movement of capillary water
• Crystallizations of minerals
 Formation of soil
B.Chem ical W eathering
• It is the process of alteration of rocks of the earth’s crust by
chemical decomposition of rocks
• It is due to the effect of : carbonation, dissolution, hydrolysis,
oxidation, and hydration.
• The end product invariably has a different chemical
composition and poorer physical constitution as compared to
the parent rock.
• It has been observed that water play as an important role in
chemical weathering as water can dissolve many active gases
from the atmosphere such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen,
hydrogen etc.
• The results of chemical weathering are generally fine soils
with altered mineral grains.
 Carbonation and D issolution
• As rain goes through the air and into the
ground, it grabs carbon dioxide, creating
carbonic acid.
• This weak acid reacts with the calcium
carbonate in rocks and dissolves it when it
seeps into the cracks.
• CO2 + H2O = H2CO3
• CaCO3 + H2CO3 = 2HCO3- + 2Ca2+
 H ydrolysis
• The term hydrolysis combines the prefix hydro, referring to
water, with lysis, which is derived from a Greek word meaning
to loosen or dissolve.
• Hydrolysis is a chemical reaction where water loosens the
chemical bonds within a mineral and produce new
compounds which tend to be softer and weaker than the
original parent rock material.
• This might sound the same as dissolution but the difference is
that hydrolysis produces a different mineral in addition to
ions.
• An example of hydrolysis is when water reacts with potassium
feldspar to produce clay minerals and ions.
2KAlSi3O8 + 3H2O = Al2Si2O5(OH)4 + 4Si02 + 2K+ + 2OH-
 O xidation
• Oxidation is another kind of chemical weathering
that occurs when oxygen combines with another
substance and creates compounds called oxides
• When rocks, particularly those with iron in them,
are exposed to air and water, the iron undergoes
oxidation, which can weaken the rocks and make
them crumble.
• Addition of oxygen results in less stable crystal and
thus subjected to disintegration and
decomposition.
 H ydration
• Hydration is a type of chemical weathering
where water reacts chemically with the rock,
modifying its chemical structure.
• A consequence of hydration is that the resulting
mineral has a greater volume than the original
mineral.
• The increase in volume creates stress thus
applying force to an overlying layer and
breaking it into pieces.
 Formation of soil
C.Biological W eathering
• It is the disintegration or decay of rocks and
minerals caused by chemical or physical agents of
organisms.
• Examples: organic activity from lichen and algae,
rock disintegration by plant or root growth,
burrowing and tunnelling organisms, and acid
secretion.
• Organic soil is formed as a result of biological
weathering which is highly compressible and is
unsuitable for foundation material.
 Types of Soils
• The soil is called Transported soil if the
products of rock weathering are transported
from the place where they originated and re-
deposited to any other place.
• The soil is called Residual soil if the products
of rock weathering are still located at the
place where they originated.
 Types of transported soils
• G lacial soils:
Formed by transportation and deposition of glaciers.
• Alluvial soils:
Transported by running water and deposited along streams.
• Lacustrine soils:
Formed by deposition in quiet lakes
• Marine soils:
Formed by deposition in the seas
• Aeolian soils:
Transported and deposited by the wind
• Colluvial soils:
Formed by movement of soil from its original place by gravity,
such as during landslide
 Residual Soil Vs Transported Soil
Residual Soil Transported Soil
These soils are found at the same location The rock materials are weathered and
where they have originated then they are moved from their original
location to a new place by one or more
erosion agents to form transported soils
The parent material is the original The parent material is different from the
bedrock underlying bedrock
The soil has the minerals similar to those The soil will have a mineral composition
in the bed rock different from that of the bedrock
Rock Cycle
 Soil Formation cycle

• Exposed rocks eroded and degraded by various physical and

chemical process.
• Product of erosion picked up by various agencies of transportation
like wind, water
• The erosion products are carried out to new locations where they
get deposited.
• This shifting of material causes upheavals at the deposited
location after some time.
• The cycle is repeated again