Geotechnical Problem Solving

Geotechnical Problem Solving

Released April 2012
Publisher(s): Wiley
ISBN: 9781119992974

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Book description

Devised with a focus on problem solving, Geotechnical Problem Solving bridges the gap between geotechnical and soil mechanics material covered in university Civil Engineering courses and the advanced topics required for practicing Civil, Structural and Geotechnical engineers. By giving newly qualified engineers the information needed to apply their extensive theoretical knowledge, and informing more established practitioners of the latest developments, this book enables readers to consider how to confidently approach problems having thought through the various options available. Where various competing solutions are proposed, the author systematically leads through each option, weighing up the benefits and drawbacks of each, to ensure the reader can approach and solve real-world problems in a similar manner

The scope of material covered includes a range of geotechnical topics, such as soil classification, soil stresses and strength and soil self-weight settlement. Shallow and deep foundations are analyzed, including special articles on laterally loaded piles, retaining structures including MSE and Tieback walls, slope and trench stability for natural, cut and fill slopes, geotechnical uncertainty, and geotechnical LRFD (Load and Resistance Factor Design).

Table of contents

  1. Cover
  2. Title Page
  3. Copyright
  4. Preface
  5. 1: General Topics
    1. 1.1: How to Use this Book
    2. 1.2: You Have to See it to Solve it
      1. 1.2.1 Introduction to Problem Solving
      2. 1.2.2 Advanced and Expert Practice
      3. 1.2.3 Theories Can Be Wrong…
      4. 1.2.4 Seeing is Better than Not Seeing …
      5. 1.2.5 Why is Standard Engineering Practice Changing?
      6. 1.2.6 An Example of Increasing Complexity of Standard Practice …
      7. 1.2.7 Helping You See …
    3. 1.3: My Approach to Modern Geotechnical Engineering Practice – An Overview
      1. 1.3.1 Introduction
      2. 1.3.2 Summary of Problem-Solving Approach
      3. 1.3.3 Geotechnical Overview and Approach
      4. 1.3.4 What Do I Do? Answer: The Graded Approach
      5. 1.3.5 Geotechnical Investigations for $15 per Foot
      6. 1.3.6 Geotechnical Problems
      7. 1.3.7 Bearing Capacity
      8. 1.3.8 Summary
      9. 1.3.9 Additional Material
    4. 1.4: Mistakes or Errors
      1. 1.4.1 Mistakes
      2. 1.4.2 Errors
      3. 1.4.3 Mistakes and Errors – Closing Remarks
  6. 2: Geotechnical Topics
    1. 2.1: Soil Classification – Why Do we Have it?
      1. 2.1.1 Introduction to Soil Classification
      2. 2.1.2 Soil Properties Suggested by Classification Tests
      3. 2.1.3 Examples of Soil Classification Problems
      4. 2.1.4 A Word about Units and Normalization
      5. 2.1.5 Soil Classification – Concluding Remarks
      6. 2.1.6 Additional Reading Material
    2. 2.2: Soil Stresses and Strains
      1. 2.2.1 Introduction to Soil Stresses
      2. 2.2.2 Isotropic and Linearly Elastic versus Anisotropic and Non-Linearly Elastic
      3. 2.2.3 Anisotropic Materials and Anisotropic Stresses
      4. 2.2.4 Soil Strains
      5. 2.2.5 Additional General Information on Soil Stresses and Strains
      6. 2.2.6 Additional Specific Information on Stresses and Strains
    3. 2.3: Soil Shear Strength
      1. 2.3.1 Introduction to Soil Shear Strength
      2. 2.3.2 Soil Cohesion and Friction
      3. 2.3.3 Soil Shear Strength
      4. 2.3.4 Additional Soil Shear Strength Information – General
      5. 2.3.5 Additional Information and Second-Order Terms
      6. 2.3.6 Additional Information – Non-Linear Failure Envelopes
    4. 2.4: Shear Strength Testing – What is Wrong with the Direct Shear Test?
      1. 2.4.1 Introduction to Direct Shear Testing
      2. 2.4.2 Direct Shear Rotation of Principle Stresses
      3. 2.4.3 Use of the Direct Shear Test to Determine Internal Friction Angle, ϕ
      4. 2.4.4 The Direct Shear Test – Details
      5. 2.4.5 How Can the Direct Shear Test Go Wrong?
      6. 2.4.6 Evaluating Results of Direct Shear Tests
      7. 2.4.7 Concluding Remarks about the Direct Shear Test
    5. 2.5: What is the Steady State Line?
      1. 2.5.1 Introduction to the Steady State Line
      2. 2.5.2 Hydrostatic Stresses and Volume Changes
      3. 2.5.3 Shearing Stresses and Volume Changes
      4. 2.5.4 Clays – SSL versus CSL
    6. 2.6: Static Equilibrium and Limit States
      1. 2.6.1 Introduction to Static Equilibrium and Limit States
      2. 2.6.2 What Are Limit States?
      3. 2.6.3 Competition between Rankine and Coulomb Equations
    7. 2.7: Unsaturated Soils
      1. 2.7.1 Introduction to Unsaturated Soils
      2. 2.7.2 Unsaturated Soil Mechanics – Soil Suction and Soil Tension
      3. 2.7.3 Analysis of Unsaturated Soils
      4. 2.7.4 Expansive and Collapsible Soils
      5. 2.7.5 Depth of Wetting
      6. 2.7.6 The Soil Water Characteristic Curve
      7. 2.7.7 Additional Study of Unsaturated Soils
  7. 3: Foundations
    1. 3.1: Settlements of Clays
      1. Introduction
      2. 3.1.1 A Brief Geotechnical History and Overview of Clay Settlement
      3. 3.1.2 Time Rate of Consolidation Issues
      4. 3.1.3 Time Rate of Consolidation Corrections – The Asaoka Method
      5. 3.1.4 A Few Lessons Learned from Field Measurements of Settlement
      6. 3.1.5 Closing Remarks on Clay Settlement Calculations
    2. 3.2: Settlement of Sands
      1. 3.2.1 Introduction
      2. 3.2.2 Settlement of Sands – General
      3. 3.2.3 The Granular Soil Identification Problem
      4. 3.2.4 Identification of Loose Granular Soils
      5. 3.2.5 Identification of Dense Granular Soils
      6. 3.2.6 Analyzing the Sand Settlement Problem
      7. 3.2.7 Janbu Method of Settlement Calculation
      8. 3.2.8 Estimating Settlements – Why Did We Over-Estimate the Settlement?
      9. 3.2.9 Additional Sand Settlement Information – Specific
    3. 3.3: Self-Weight Settlement of Sandy Soils
      1. 3.3.1 Introduction to Collapsible Soils
      2. 3.3.2 Soil with a Metastable Collapsible Structure
      3. 3.3.3 Collapse Settlement of Dry Loose Sandy Soil with a Stable Structure
      4. 3.3.4 Standard Laboratory Testing of Collapsible Soils
    4. 3.4: Bearing Capacity of Shallow Foundations
      1. 3.4.1 Background and History of Bearing Capacity
      2. 3.4.2 Allowable Bearing Pressure
      3. 3.4.3 How Structural Engineers Use Allowable Bearing Pressures
      4. 3.4.4 Advanced Bearing Capacity Material
    5. 3.5: Load Capacity of Deep Foundations
      1. 3.5.1 Deep Foundations – What Are They?
      2. 3.5.2 Allowable Load Capacity of Deep Foundations
      3. 3.5.3 Case Histories and Full-Scale Load Tests
    6. 3.6: Laterally Loaded Piles and Shafts
      1. 3.6.1 Introduction of Laterally Loaded Piles and Shafts
      2. 3.6.2 L-Pile Program Use – A Few Pointers
      3. 3.6.3 L-Pile Soil Input Parameters
      4. 3.6.4 Lateral Pile/Shaft Group Reduction Factors
  8. 4: Retaining Structures – Lateral Loads
    1. 4.1: Lateral Earth Pressure
      1. 4.1.1 Lateral Earth Pressure Introduction
      2. 4.1.2 Lateral Earth Pressure – The Problem
      3. 4.1.3 Coulomb Earth Pressure Equations
      4. 4.1.4 Rankine Earth Pressure Equations
      5. 4.1.5 Including Cohesion into Active and Passive Earth Pressures
      6. 4.1.6 Equivalent Fluid Pressure
      7. 4.1.7 Lateral Earth Pressures for Wet Soil versus Submerged Soil
      8. 4.1.8 Friction between Retained Fill and Wall – Curved Failure Surfaces
      9. 4.1.9 Seismic Earth Pressure
      10. 4.1.10 Suggested Further Reading
    2. 4.2: Retaining Walls – Gravity, Cantilevered, MSE, Sheet Piles, and Soldier Piles
      1. 4.2.1 Introduction to Retaining Walls
      2. 4.2.2 Design of Gravity Retaining Walls
      3. 4.2.3 Issues with Static Equilibrium Analyses of Walls
      4. 4.2.4 Design of Cantilevered Retaining Walls
      5. 4.2.5 Design of MSE Retaining Walls
      6. 4.2.6 Design of Sheet-Pile Walls
      7. 4.2.7 Design of Soldier-Pile Walls
      8. 4.2.8 What Kind of Wall Would You Use Here?
    3. 4.3: Tieback Walls
      1. 4.3.1 Introduction to Tieback Walls
      2. 4.3.2 Retaining Structures with One Row of Tiebacks
      3. 4.3.3 Retaining Structures with Multiple Rows of Tiebacks
  9. 5: Geotechnical LRFD
    1. 5.1: Reliability, Uncertainty, and Geo-Statistics
      1. 5.1.1 Introduction – Why Not Just Pick the Best Number?
      2. 5.1.2 How Do we Know that Our Designs Are Safe?
      3. 5.1.3 What is Reliability and How is it Used in Design?
      4. 5.1.4 Certainty and Uncertainty
      5. 5.1.5 Factors of Safety and Reliability
    2. 5.2: Geotechnical Load and Resistance Factor Design
      1. 5.2.1 Limit State Design – General
      2. 5.2.2 Let's Stop and Think about this for a Moment
      3. 5.2.3 Geotechnical LRFD Design
    3. 5.3: LRFD Spread Footings
      1. 5.3.1 LRFD and ASD Spread Footing Analyses – An Overview
      2. 5.3.2 A Spread Footing LRFD Design Approach
      3. 5.3.3 Development of Spread Footing Load-Settlement Curves
      4. 5.3.4 Development of a Spread Footing Service and Strength Resistance Chart
      5. 5.3.5 Other Spread Footing LRFD Considerations – Eccentricity and Sliding
    4. 5.4: LRFD Pile Foundations
      1. 5.4.1 LRFD Piles – Overview
      2. 5.4.2 Geotechnical LRFD Codes for Piles and Drilled Shafts
      3. 5.4.3 Development of a Driven-Pile Axial Strength Resistance Chart
      4. 5.4.4 Development of a Driven-Pile Axial Service Resistance Chart
    5. 5.5: LRFD Drilled-Shaft Foundations
      1. 5.5.1 LRFD Drilled Shafts – Overview
      2. 5.5.2 Development of a Drilled-Shaft Axial Strength Resistance Chart
      3. 5.5.3 Development of a Drilled-Shaft Axial Service Resistance Chart
      4. 5.5.4 Drilled-Shaft Load-Settlement Curves
    6. 5.6: LRFD Slope Stability
      1. 5.6.1 Introduction
      2. 5.6.2 Slope Stability by the Beam Analogy Method
      3. 5.6.3 Slope Stability – ASD and LRFD Analysis Methods
      4. 5.6.4 Three Basic Slope-stability Problem Types
      5. 5.6.5 Closing Thoughts on LRFD Slope-Stability Analyses
  10. 6: Closing
    1. 6.1: The Big Picture
      1. 6.1.1 How Do Geotechnical Engineers Miss the Big Picture?
      2. 6.1.2 The Big Picture – What a Soils Engineer Should Know about the Geologic Setting before Going to the Job Site
      3. 6.1.3 Bedrock
      4. 6.1.4 Structural Problems
      5. 6.1.5 Previous Land Usage
      6. 6.1.6 Paleo Channels
      7. 6.1.7 Jerry's Closing Comment and a Thought from Ralph Peck
    2. 6.2: V and V and Balance
      1. 6.2.1 Have Hand Calculations Died?
      2. 6.2.2 What about the Graded Approach and Balance?
    3. 6.3: The Biggest Problem
      1. 6.3.1 What is the Biggest Problem?
      2. 6.3.2 How do We Solve the Biggest Problem?
    4. 6.4: Topics Left for Later
      1. 6.4.1 Geotechnical Engineering Topics are Endless
      2. 6.4.2 Closing
  11. Index

Product information

  • Title: Geotechnical Problem Solving
  • Author(s):
  • Release date: April 2012
  • Publisher(s): Wiley
  • ISBN: 9781119992974