More than ten years have passed since the first edition was published. During that period there have been a substantial number of changes in geotechnical engineering, especially in the applications of foundation engineering. As the world population increases, more land is needed and many soil deposits previously deemed unsuitable for residential housing or other construction projects are now being used. Such areas include problematic soil regions, mining subsidence areas, and sanitary landfills. To overcome the problems associated with these natural or man-made soil deposits, new and improved methods of analysis, design, and implementation are needed in foundation construction. As society develops and living standards rise, tall buildings, transportation facilities, and industrial complexes are increasingly being built. Because of the heavy design loads and the complicated environments, the traditional design concepts, construction materials, methods, and equipment also need improvement. Further, recent energy and material shortages have caused additional burdens on the engineering profession and brought about the need to seek alternative or cost-saving methods for foundation design and construction.

The Geotechnical Engineering Handbook brings together essential information related to the evaluation of engineering properties of soils, design of foundations such as spread footings, mat foundations, piles, and drilled shafts, and fundamental principles of analyzing the stability of slopes and embankments, retaining walls, and other earth-retaining structures. The Handbook also covers soil dynamics and foundation vibration to analyze the behavior of foundations subjected to cyclic vertical, sliding and rocking excitations and topics addressed in some detail include: environmental geotechnology and foundations for railroad beds.

This report develops and calibrates procedures and modifies the AASHTO LRFD Bridge Design Specifications, Section 10-Foundations for the Strength Limit State Design of Shallow Foundations. The material in this report will be of immediate interest to bridge engineers and geotechnical engineers involved in the design of shallow foundations.

The contributions contained in these proceedings are divided into three main sections: theme lectures presented during the pre-workshop lecture series; keynote lectures and other contributed papers; and a translation of the Japanese geotechnical design code.

The "Red Book" presents a background to conventional foundation analysis and design. The text is not intended to replace the much more comprehensive 'standard' textbooks, but rather to support and augment these in a few important areas, supplying methods applicable to practical cases handled daily by practising engineers and providing the basic soil mechanics background to those methods. It concentrates on the static design for stationary foundation conditions. Although the topic is far from exhaustively treated, it does intend to present most of the basic material needed for a practising engineer involved in routine geotechnical design, as well as provide the tools for an engineering student to approach and solve common geotechnical design problems.

This report has been prepared in the framework of the Co-operation in Science and Technology (COST) Action C7 for Soil-Structure Interaction in the Urban Civil Engineering. Based on a survey in 13 European countries and with additional input from the COST C7 members, the report focuses on several aspects effecting the interaction between structural and geotechnical engineers. As the theoretical foundation for the interaction between both disciplines is laid during education, the civil engineering education system of several European countries are described and evaluated.