7CE1-GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING – I                                           L 3

Unit 1

Soil and soil-mass constituents, water content, specific gravity, void ratio, porosity, degree of

saturation, air void and air content, unit weights, density index etc. Inter-relationships of the

above. Determination of index properties of soil: water content, specific gravity, particle size

distribution, sieve and sedimentation analysis, consistency limits, void ratio and density index.

Classification of soil for general engineering purposes: particle size, textural, H.R.B. Unified and

I.S. Classification systems.

Unit 2

Clay mineralogy: Soil structure; single grained, honeycombed, flocculent, and dispersed,

structure of composite soils, clay structure; basic structure, mineral  structures, structures of Illite

Montmorilinite and kaolinite and their characteristics. Soil water absorbed, capillary and free

water, Darcy’s law of permeability of soil and its determination in laboratory. Field pumping out

tests, factors affecting permeability, permeability of stratified soil masses.

Unit 3

Stresses in soil mass: total, effective and neutral pressure, calculation of stresses, influence of

water table on effective stress, quicksand phenomenon.  Seepage and Seepage Pressure, Laplace’s

equation for seepage. Flow net and its construction. Uplift pressure, piping, principle of drainage

by electro Osmosis, phriatic line, Flow net through earth dam.

Unit 4

Mohr’s circle of stress, shearing strength of soil, parameters of shear strength, Coulomb’s failure

envelope, determination of shear parameters by Direct Shear Box. Triaxial and unconfined

compression test apparatuses. Typical stress-stain curves for soils. Typical failure envelopes for

cohesion less soils and normally consolidated clay soils.

Unit 5

Principles of soil compaction, laboratory compaction tests; Proctor’s test Modified Proctor tests,

Measurement of field compaction, field methods of compaction and its control, dry and wet of

optimum, factors affecting compaction. Soil stabilization, Mechanical Stabilization. Stabilization