Now in its fifth edition, this classic textbook continues to offer a well-tailored resource for beginning graduate students in geotechnical engineering. Further developing the basic concepts from undergraduate study, it provides a solid foundation for advanced study. This new edition addresses a variety of recent advances in the field and each section is updated. Braja Das particularly expands the content on consolidation, shear strength of soils, and both elastic and consolidation settlements of shallow foundations to accommodate modern developments. New material includes: Recently published correlations of maximum dry density and optimum moisture content of compaction Recent methods for determination of preconsolidation pressure A new correlation for recompression index Different approaches to estimating the degree of consolidation A discussion on the relevance of laboratory strength tests to field conditions Several new example problems This text can be followed by advanced courses dedicated to topics such as mechanical and chemical stabilization of soils, geo-environmental engineering, critical state soil mechanics, geosynthetics, rock mechanics, and earthquake engineering. It can also be used as a reference by practical consultants.

This revised edition is restructured with additional text and extensive illustrations, along with developments in geotechnical literature. Among the topics included are: soil aggregates, stresses in soil mass, pore water pressure due to undrained loading, permeability and seepage, consolidation, shear strength of soils, and evaluation of soil settlement. The text presents mathematical derivations as well as numerous worked-out examples.

This accessible, clear and concise textbook strikes a balance between theory and practical applications for an introductory course in soil mechanics for undergraduates in civil engineering, construction, mining and geological engineering. Soil Mechanics Fundamentals lays a solid foundation on key principles of soil mechanics for application in later engineering courses as well as in engineering practice. With this textbook, students will learn how to conduct a site investigation, acquire an understanding of the physical and mechanical properties of soils and methods of determining them, and apply the knowledge gained to analyse and design earthworks, simple foundations, retaining walls and slopes. The author discusses and demonstrates contemporary ideas and methods of interpreting the physical and mechanical properties of soils for both fundamental knowledge and for practical applications. The chapter presentation and content is informed by modern theories of how students learn: Learning objectives inform students what knowledge and skills they are expected to gain from the chapter. Definitions of Key Terms are given which students may not have encountered previously, or may have been understood in a different context. Key Point summaries throughout emphasize the most important points in the material just read. Practical Examples give students an opportunity to see how the prior and current principles are integrated to solve ‘real world’ problems.

The definitive guide to unsaturated soil— from the world's experts on the subject This book builds upon and substantially updates Fredlund and Rahardjo's publication, Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils, the current standard in the field of unsaturated soils. It provides readers with more thorough coverage of the state of the art of unsaturated soil behavior and better reflects the manner in which practical unsaturated soil engineering problems are solved. Retaining the fundamental physics of unsaturated soil behavior presented in the earlier book, this new publication places greater emphasis on the importance of the "soil-water characteristic curve" in solving practical engineering problems, as well as the quantification of thermal and moisture boundary conditions based on the use of weather data. Topics covered include: Theory to Practice of Unsaturated Soil Mechanics Nature and Phase Properties of Unsaturated Soil State Variables for Unsaturated Soils Measurement and Estimation of State Variables Soil-Water Characteristic Curves for Unsaturated Soils Ground Surface Moisture Flux Boundary Conditions Theory of Water Flow through Unsaturated Soils Solving Saturated/Unsaturated Water Flow Problems Air Flow through Unsaturated Soils Heat Flow Analysis for Unsaturated Soils Shear Strength of Unsaturated Soils Shear Strength Applications in Plastic and Limit Equilibrium Stress-Deformation Analysis for Unsaturated Soils Solving Stress-Deformation Problems with Unsaturated Soils Compressibility and Pore Pressure Parameters Consolidation and Swelling Processes in Unsaturated Soils Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice is essential reading for geotechnical engineers, civil engineers, and undergraduate- and graduate-level civil engineering students with a focus on soil mechanics.

This book constitutes the definitive handbook to soil mechanics, covering in great detail such topics as: Properties of Soils, Hydraulic and Mechanical Properties of Soils, Drainage of Soils, Plastic Equilibrium in Soils, Earth Stability and Pressure of Slopes, Foundations, etc. A valuable compendium for those interested in soil mechanics, this antiquarian text contains a wealth of information still very much valuable to engineers today. Karl von Terzaghi (1883 1963) was a Czech geologist and Civil engineer, hailed as the "father of soil mechanics." This book has been elected for republication due to its educational value and is proudly republished here with an introductory biography of the author."

Dirt, soil, call it what you want—it's everywhere we go. It is the root of our existence, supporting our feet, our farms, our cities. This fascinating yet disquieting book finds, however, that we are running out of dirt, and it's no laughing matter. An engaging natural and cultural history of soil that sweeps from ancient civilizations to modern times, Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations explores the compelling idea that we are—and have long been—using up Earth's soil. Once bare of protective vegetation and exposed to wind and rain, cultivated soils erode bit by bit, slowly enough to be ignored in a single lifetime but fast enough over centuries to limit the lifespan of civilizations. A rich mix of history, archaeology and geology, Dirt traces the role of soil use and abuse in the history of Mesopotamia, Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, China, European colonialism, Central America, and the American push westward. We see how soil has shaped us and we have shaped soil—as society after society has risen, prospered, and plowed through a natural endowment of fertile dirt. David R. Montgomery sees in the recent rise of organic and no-till farming the hope for a new agricultural revolution that might help us avoid the fate of previous civilizations.

Soils can rarely be described as ideally elastic or perfectly plastic and yet simple elastic and plastic models form the basis for the most traditional geotechnical engineering calculations. With the advent of cheap powerful computers the possibility of performing analyses based on more realistic models has become widely available. One of the aims of this book is to describe the basic ingredients of a family of simple elastic-plastic models of soil behaviour and to demonstrate how such models can be used in numerical analyses. Such numerical analyses are often regarded as mysterious black boxes but a proper appreciation of their worth requires an understanding of the numerical models on which they are based. Though the models on which this book concentrates are simple, understanding of these will indicate the ways in which more sophisticated models will perform.