APPLIED SCIENCE UNIVERSITY
CIVIL ENGINEERING DEP.
SOIL MECHANICS 0805332
Dr. Ahmed Ashteyat
Course Description
This course provides an elementary introduction to Geotechnical Engineering, and provides the
basic mechanics necessary for the detailed study of Geotechnical Engineering. This course aims to provide
an understanding of: the nature of soils as engineering materials; common soil classification schemes; the
importance of water in the soil and the effects of water movement; methods of predicting soil settlements,
the stress-strain-strength response of soils, and earth pressures.
Course Outline
 Physical Characteristics of Soils:
Soil formation, soil types, clay minerals, soil structures, soil properties, phase relation ship, soil
classifications, and compaction
 Soil permeability and Seepage
Heads, Darcy's law, flow parallel and normal to soil layers
 Two-Dimensional Flow of Water through Soils
Flow net sketching, flow under sheet pile wall, flow under concrete dam, flow through earth dams,
anisotropic flow, non homogenous flow.
 Stresses, Strain and Deformations of Soils
Normal and shear stresses and strains, principal stresses, Mohr circle, total and effective stresses,
geostatic stresses, and stress increments due to different applied loads.
 Consolidation Theory
Basic Concepts, Excess Pore Pressure Distribution, e-log curve, Consolidation Parameters,
Normally and Over Consolidated soils, Consolidation theory, one-dimension consolidation
settlement, time-rate of settlement, two and three dimensional settlement, secondary compression.
 Shear Strength of Soils
Interpretation of shear strength of soils, Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, undrained and drained
shear strength, laboratory and field tests to determine shear strength, pore water pressure.
 Lateral Earth Pressure
Basic concepts, at rest condition, Rankine theory, active and passive earth pressures, lateral earth
pressures for a sloping backfill.
Text book
Braja M. Das "Principles of Geotechnical Engineering "
REFERENCE BOOKS
There are many books in the library that cover the material included in this course. These generally have
titles similar to those listed below.
Holtz R. and W. Kovacs “An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering”
Budhu M. (1999)
Soil Mechanics and Foundations, Wiley
Lambe T.W. & R.V. Whitman (1979) Soil Mechanics, Wiley
GRADING
First Exam
20%
Second Exam
20%
Home Works and Quizzes
10%
Final Exam
50%