The
schedule for 2009 will be redesigned.
Lectures are now on Monday and Wednesday (1:10-2:15 pm), and Lab on
either
Tuesday or Thursday (9:25-10:25 am).
Textbooks? I do not assign any compulsory textbook to this class. I do not find the best fit for you (it is best to come to all lectures). However, for further reading, you may look at the following two books for the lecture and lab, respectively:
Lectures: An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering (Holtz and Kovacs)
Lab: Engineering Properties of Soils and Their Measurement (Bowles) <-- this one will be available in the Columbia Bookstore
List of books that are reserved in the Engineering Library for this course
Textbooks? I do not assign any compulsory textbook to this class. I do not find the best fit for you (it is best to come to all lectures). However, for further reading, you may look at the following two books for the lecture and lab, respectively:
Lectures: An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering (Holtz and Kovacs)
Lab: Engineering Properties of Soils and Their Measurement (Bowles) <-- this one will be available in the Columbia Bookstore
List of books that are reserved in the Engineering Library for this course
SOIL MECHANICS (E 3141) 2009
This is an introductory course on geomaterials. Students majoring in civil engineering, environmental engineering, architecture/archietctural engineering, construction engineering, geology/geological engineering, and even biomedical engineering (those interested in biomechanics and fluid flow in tissues) may like to take this course. This course is a must for those preparing for the Professional Engineer (P.E.) examination. Geomaterials are very complicated because they can stand alone under solid mechanics, fluid mechanics or combination of solid-fluid mechanics with the two componenets interacting with each other - called poromechanics.
Tentative Schedule
|
Lectures |
Contents (Monday,
Wednesday) |
Assignments
|
Laboratory
(Tues,Thurs) 9:25-10:25 Rm 706 |
|
|
1 |
1/21 |
Introduction |
||
| 2 |
1/26 |
1. Basic Definitions 1.1 Soil Formation - Geology 1.2 Soil Sampling 1.3 Phase Diagram |
||
| 3 |
1/28 |
1.4 Definitions 1.5 Relations between Unit Weight and Other Basic Properties |
Assignment 1 (due 2/4) |
|
| 4 | 2/2 | 1.5 Relations between
Unit Weight and Other Basic Properties (cont.)
1.6
Soil Mixtures
2. Index Properties and Their Measurements 2.1 Grain Size Distribution |
|
2/3
Lab 1a |
| 5 |
2/4 |
2.1 Grain Size
Distribution 2.2 Relative Density (Burmister's) 2.3 Soil Consistency - Atterberg Limits 2.4 Liquid Limit Test, Plastic Limit Tests |
Assignment 2 (due 2/16) and handouts |
2/5
Lab 1b |
| 6 |
2/9 |
3. Soil Classification
Systems 3.1 US Dept of Agriculture System
3.2 Unified Soil Classification System3.3 AASHTO Classification System 3.4 Burmister Soil Identification System |
2/10
Lab 2a |
|
| 7 |
2/11 |
4. Soil Compaction 4.1 Soil Improvement 4.2 Process of Compaction 4.3 Compaction Tests 4.4 Relative Compaction |
2/12
Lab 2b |
|
| 8 |
2/16 |
4.5 Zero-Air-Void Curve 5. Flow of Water in a Soil Mass 5.1 Head and Hydarulic Gradient |
Assignment 3 (due 2/23) |
2/17
Lab 3a |
| 9 |
2/18 |
5.2 Darcy's Law 5.3 Permeability Tests Quick review |
2/19
Lab 3b |
|
| 10 |
2/23 |
Exam 1 |
2/24
Lab 4a |
|
| 11 |
2/25 |
5.3 Permeability Tests 5.4 In-situ (Field) Tests and Empirical Relationships 5.5 Factors Affecting Permeability 5.6 Flow in Multi-layer Strata |
2/26
Lab 4b |
|
| 12 |
3/2 |
5.6 Flow in Multi-layer
Strata 5.7 Two-Dimensional Flow: Laplace Equation and Solution |
Assignment 4 | 3/3
Lab 5a |
| 13 |
3/4 |
5.8 Flow Net | 3/5
Lab 5b |
|
| 14 |
3/9 |
6. Stress States in a
Soil Mass 6.1 Definition of Stress 6.2 In-Situ Stresses and Pore Water Pressure 6.3 Principle of Effective Stress |
||
| 15 |
3/11 |
Exam 2 |
||
| 16 |
3/16 |
spring recess |
||
| 17 |
3/18 |
spring recess |
||
| 18 |
3/23 |
6.4 Effective Stress
Distributions 6.5 Stress Increments and Excess Pore Pressure 6.6 Stress Increments due to Surface Loading Point Load, ... |
Assignments 5+6 | 3/24
Lab 7a |
| 19 |
3/25 |
.... Uniformly Distributed Load (Boussinesq Solution, Osterberg's Chart, Newmark Chart, 2:1 Method)) | 3/26
Lab 7b |
|
| 20 |
3/30 |
7. Stress States and
Shear Strength of Soils 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Shear Strength 7.3 Direct Shear Test and Coulomb Failure Criteria |
|
|
| 21 |
4/1 |
7.4 Mohr's Circle 7.5 Pole Method 7.6 Stresses in a Plane |
Assignment 7 (due 4/8) |
|
| 22 |
4/6 |
7.7 Drained and Undrained
Conditions 7.8 Triaxial Compression Test |
4/7 Lab 8a |
|
| 23 |
4/8 |
7.10 Stress and
Deformation
Characteristics of Soils 8. Consolidation/Poromechanics of Soil 8.1 Mechanism of Consolidation |
Assignment 8 (due 4/15) |
4/9 Lab 8b |
| 24 |
4/13 |
8.2 Consolidation Test 8.3 Consolidation (e-log p) Curve: compression index, swelling index 8.4 Mechanism of Preconsolidation, Determination of Preconsolidation Stress |
4/14 Lab 9a |
|
| 25 |
4/15 |
8.5 Consolidation Settlement | 4/16 Lab 9b |
|
| 26 |
4/20 |
review
session |
||
| 27 |
4/22 |
Exam 3
|
||
| 28 |
4/27 |
8.6 Terzaghi's equation of consolidation
8.7 Degree of consolidation |
||
| 29 |
4/29 |
8.7 Degree of consolidation 8.8 Coefficient of consolidation |
||
| 30 |
5/4 |
Summary |
||
| 5/11 |
Exam 4 (1:10-4:00 pm) |
|||