Geotechnical Engineering

Geotechnical Engineering is an application of civil engineering to earthen materials (rock and

soil). Usually, the geotechnical engineer is concerned only with the natural material found at or
near the surface of the earth. It was developed to define the application of soil mechanics
principles to the analysis, design and construction of civil engineering structures which are in
some way related to the earth.

Soil Mechanics

Soil mechanics is the study of the engineering behavior of soil when it is used either as a
construction material or as a foundation material. Examples of these structures include
embankments and cuttings, dams, earth retaining walls, tunnels, basements, sub-surface waste
repositories, and the foundations of buildings and bridges. In addition, Soil mechanic is the
branch of geotechnical engineering concerned with the engineering mechanics and properties of
rock, usually but not necessarily the bedrock. Soil mechanics applies the basic principle of
mechanics including kinematic, dynamics, fluid mechanics, and the mechanics of soils.

Importance of soil mechanics

Soil mechanics holds great importance for various field and disciplines related in civil
engineering such as the use of principle soil mechanics to design foundation, retaining structures,
stability of slopes, underground structures, pavement design, earth dam and miscellaneous soil
problem. Additionally, they use soil mechanics to develop structures that can resist various
situations, such as during an earthquake or a period of heavy rain.

Soil

Soil is an accumulation of unconsolidated sediments and deposits of solid particles as a result of

the integration of rocks. Furthermore, most of the non-organic materials identified as soil has
originated from rocks as the parental materials.
Soil Composition

Soil is a complex physical system; generally, it is a three-phase system, mineral grains of soil,
pore water and pore air, constituting the three phases. When one of the phases such as pore water
or pore air is absent, it is said to be dry or saturated in that order; the system then reduces to a
two-phase. (Diagram)

Phase-diagram is a convenient representation of the soil which facilitates the derivation of useful
for developing the weight-volume relationship for the soil. Void ratio, which is the ratio of the
volume of voids to that of the soil solids, is a useful concept in the field of geotechnical
engineering in view of its relatively invariant nature. Submerged unit weight is the difference
between saturated unit weight and the unit weight of water. Specific gravity of soil solids or
grain specific gravity occurs in many relationships and is one of the most important values for a
soil.

(Soil phase diagram)

‘Porosity’ of a soil mass is the ratio of the volume of voids to the total volume of the soil mass.

‘Void ratio’ of a soil mass is defined as the ratio of the volume of voids to the volume of solids in
the soil mass.

‘Degree of saturation’ of a soil mass is defined as the ratio of the volume of water in the voids to
the volume of voids.

‘Percent air voids’ of a soil mass is defined as the ratio of the volume of air voids to the total
volume of the soil mass.

‘Air content’ of a soil mass is defined as the ratio of the volume of air voids to the total volume
of voids.

Unit weight of solids’ is the weight of soil solids per unit volume of solids alone.

Unit weight of water’ is the weight per unit volume of water.

Impact of Soil study in Civil Engineering

From the earliest civilization up to the present time, soil is the most important material that
influenced mankind in his struggle for survival. The materials where man grows his food, build
his homes, roads, and ultimately his destination. Soil is a material used to build with, or on that
acts in combination with other forces of nature to make structure and landforms. The material
classified under the field of Geotechnics.