From bridges and tunnels to nuclear waste repositories, structures require that soils maintain their design engineering properties if the structures are to reach their projected life spans. The same is true for earth dams, levees, buffers, barriers for landfills, and other structures that use soils as engineered materials. Yet soil, a natural resource, continues to change as a result of natural and anthropogenic stresses. As the discipline of soil properties and behaviours matures, new tools and techniques are making it possible to study these properties and behaviours in more depth. What Happens to Soil Under Weathering, Aging, and Chemical Stress? Environmental Soil Properties and Behaviour examines changes in soil properties and behaviour caused by short- and long-term stresses from anthropogenic activities and environmental forces. Introducing new concepts of soil behaviour, soil maturation, and soil functionality, it integrates soil physics, soil chemistry, and soil mechanics as vital factors in soil engineering. The book focuses on environmental soil behaviour, with particular attention to two main inter-related groups of soil–environment issues. The first is the use of soil as an environmental tool for management and containment of toxic and hazardous waste materials. The second is the impact of ageing and weathering processes and soil contamination on the properties and behaviour of soils, especially those used in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering projects. A Transdisciplinary Look at Soil-Changing Processes To determine short- and long-term soil quality and soil functionality, the authors emphasize the need to be aware of the nature of the stressors involved as well as the kinds of soil-changing processes that are evoked. This book takes a first step toward a much-needed transdisciplinary effort to develop a broader and deeper understanding of what happens to soil and how we can determine and quantify the effect of biogeochemical processes. It offers a timely resource for the study of soil properties and behaviours, effects of environmental changes, and remediation of contaminated soil.

Soil Properties and Behavior defines the structure of the soil-water system. This book provides the background of the nature of mineral particles and the existing forces between the particles in the soil system. It also examines the structure and fabric of soil, as well as their relationship with water. Furthermore, the book explores water movement and soil performance, which are related to the physics of soil-water movement and volume changes. This book illustrates the common clay minerals in soils and discusses the methods for their identification. It also reviews the theory of one-dimensional consolidation and discusses the soil structure in consolidation and compression. The book also presents the concepts of yield and failure in soils, yield criteria, and failure theories. It also focuses on granular and cohesive soil strength, including friction properties, the intrinsic friction angle, the volumetric strain, and pore-water pressure. The last part of the book discusses soil freezing and permafrost.

Explains the factors which determine and control the engineering properties of soils--particularly volume change, deformation, strength and permeability. New to this edition: expanded coverage of residual and tropical soils, environmental aspects of soil behavior, material on partly saturated soils, revised treatment of direct or coupled hydraulic, chemical, thermal and electrical flows through soil.

Wildland fires are occurring more frequently and affecting more of Earth's surface than ever before. These fires affect the properties of soils and the processes by which they form, but the nature of these impacts has not been well understood. Given that healthy soil is necessary to sustain biodiversity, ecosystems and agriculture, the impact of fire on soil is a vital field of research. Fire Effects on Soil Properties brings together current research on the effects of fire on the physical, biological and chemical properties of soil. Written by over 60 international experts in the field, it includes examples from fire-prone areas across the world, dealing with ash, meso and macrofauna, smouldering fires, recurrent fires and management of fire-affected soils. It also describes current best practice methodologies for research and monitoring of fire effects and new methodologies for future research. This is the first time information on this topic has been presented in a single volume and the book will be an important reference for students, practitioners, managers and academics interested in the effects of fire on ecosystems, including soil scientists, geologists, forestry researchers and environmentalists.

Integrating and blending traditional theory with particle-energy-field theory, this book provides a framework for the analysis of soil behaviour under varied environmental conditions. This book explains the why and how of geotechnical engineering in an environmental context. Using both SI and Imperial units, the authors cover: rock mechanics soil mechanics and hydrogeology soil properties and classifications and issues relating to contaminated land. Students of civil, geotechnical and environmental engineering and practitioners unfamiliar with the particle-energy-field concept, will find that this book's novel approach helps to clarify the complex theory behind geotechnics.