Nature and composition of soil. Physical properties of soils. Grain size distribution. Atterberg limits. Relationships among physical properties. Description and classification of soil. Classification systems. Principe of effective stresses. In situ stress state. Effect of ground water flow in effective stress. Determination of parameters of mechanical behavior of soils. Mohr circle. Shear strength parameters. Unconfined compression test. Direct shear test under drained and undrained conditions. Triaxial test. 1D consolidation test.
Stresses in a soil mass. Stress state due to external loads. Influence depth of external loads. Superposition principle. Saint-Venant principle. Ground water flow through soil. Soil strains. Stress – strain relationships. Constitutive laws: linear isotropic elasticity, nonlinear stress – strain relations. Stress paths. Theory of 1D compression (consolidation). 2D and 3D consolidation. Failure criteria. Shear strength. Mechanical behavior under drained and undrained loading conditions.
