31018 - Fundamentals of Soil Mechanics T

Academic Year 2011/2012

  • Docente: Laura Govoni
  • Credits: 6
  • SSD: ICAR/07
  • Language: Italian
  • Moduli: Laura Govoni (Modulo 1) Laura Govoni (Modulo 2)
  • Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures (Modulo 1) Traditional lectures (Modulo 2)
  • Campus: Ravenna
  • Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Building Engineering (cod. 0921)

Learning outcomes

The course is an introduction to soil mechanics and applications of its principles to the engineering practice.


Course contents

Soil analysis and classification. Origins of soils. Nature of soils. Soil mineralogy and structure.  Phase relationship. Particle size distribution. Atterberg limit. Soil description and Soil classification systems. Water in the ground. Soil water properties. Fundamental hydrostatic. Effective stress principle. Capillary rise, frost heave. Vertical stresses against depth. Bernoulli equation. Seepage through a porous medium, definition and evaluation of the hydraulic potential. Darcy law and the permeability coefficient. Seepage force and critical hydraulic gradient.  Soil stresses. Soil as continuum medium. Stress analysis, sign conventions, Mohr circle of stress. Earth pressure coefficient. Soil history: normal consolidated and over consolidated soils. Peconsolidation pressure and reasons of overconsolidation. Stresses distribution in an elastic homogenous half-space. One dimensional compression and consolidation. The oedometer test: aim, apparatus, experimental procedure, data processing and presentation of results. One dimensional consolidation. Oedometric parameters and calculation of soil settlement. Secondary compression. Shear strength. Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion. Shear strength parameters and experimental determination. Direct shear strength test and triaxial test. Strength and strain of cohesionless and clay soil. Residual shear strength. Stability analysis in terms of effective and total stress. Site investigation. Objectives and experimental set up. Borehole logs and sampling. Cone penetrometer and piezocone tests. Site measurements. Lateral heart pressure. Active and passive Rankine's stress state. Coefficients of active and passive earth pressure. Lateral heart force diagrams. Stability analysis of earth-retaing structures. Foundation. Shallow and deep foundation systems: types and technology. Bearing capacity of a shallow foundation (Terzaghi and Rankine). Stabilty in terms of total and effective stress. Calculation of settlements. Driven and installaed piles. Static and dynamic bearing capacity formulae for piles, base and shaft resistance.

Readings/Bibliography

P. COLOMBO e F. COLLESELLI: Elementi di Geotecnica, Zanichelli, 1996.
J. ATKINSON: Geotecnica , McGraw Hill, 1997
L. TONNI E GUIDO GOTTARDI: Esercizi di Geotecnica, Esculapio, 2010.

Teaching methods

The course conten will be covered by the lectures.

Assessment methods

An oral examination will assess the knowledge achieved throughout the course.

Teaching tools

The teaching tools are projector and PC. Slides Download at the Alma Mater Digital Library website (https://campus.cib.unibo.it/) subscribing to the l.govoni.EGT list at https://www.dsa.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Laura Govoni