The University of Arizona
Civil Engineering and Engineering Mechanics Department
Instructor:
Office hours :
Class Hours
Credit:
Location:
Saeed Ahmari, CEEM Bldg., Room 318B
Email: ahmari@email.arizona.edu
Tuesdays 2:00 PM- 3:30 PM
Thursdays 11:00 AM-12:00 PM
Section A (experiment: room CE318): Mondays 2-4:50 PM
Section B (experiment: room CE318): Wednesdays 3- 4:50 PM
Lecture (both sections: room CE201): Wednesdays 2-3:00 PM
1 unit
CE Building, Room 318
Prerequisite(s)
References
Course Description
Co-Requisite: CE 343
Michael Kalinski “Soil Mechanics Lab Manual” wiley
Budhu M. “Soil mechanics and foundation engineering” wiley
These tests will be performed in this lab: Moisture content, Specific gravity, Liquid and plastic limit, Analysis of grain size distribution including both sieve analysis and hydrometry test, Hydraulic conductivity test including both constant and falling head tests, One dimensional consolidation test, Direct shear test, Unconfined compressive strength and
UU triaxial test.
In addition, every meeting time includes a lecture of 30 to 45 minutes that addresses the related theoretical concepts.
Course Objectives
This course is aimed to perform common soil mechanics tests in order to better understand soils behavior.
By taking this course, one is expected to be able to run common geotechnical tests, analyze lab test data, and describe mechanical behavior of soils.

Topics
Moisture content and specific gravity (1 day)
Liquid and plastic limit (2 days)
Particle size analysis (Mechanical sieving and hydrometer analysis) (2 days)
Compaction (1 day)
Sand cone test (1 day)
Permeability through the constant-head and falling-head methods (2 days)
Consolidation (1 day)
Uniaxial and triaxial compressive strength (2 days)
Direct shear test (1 day)
Grading Policy
Mid-term exam: 15%
Final exam: 20%
Mutual evaluation 15%
Lab reports and attendance: 50%
Regular grades are awarded for this course:
90 – 100 = A
80 – 89.9 = B
65 – 79.9 = C
50 – 64.9 = D
< 50 = E
Important dates January 19, 2012 Last day to use UAccess for adds, changing classes or sections changes to or from pass/fail grade
February 7, 2012 Last day to DROP courses resulting in deletion
of course enrollment from record
February 8, 2012 Change of Schedule form with instructor's permission is required to drop a class
March 10-18, 2012 Spring recess
May 02, 2012 Last day of classes
May 04,2012 Final exam
Assignments students are required to turn in seven lab reports during the semester. Lab
#1 (moisture content& specific gravity), #2 (Atturberg limits), #3
(preliminary report) will be submitted individually and the rest will be as group reports. Normally, the reports are due two weeks from the date a set of tests are performed unless it is announced in the class.
Remarks Students are required to clean the lab after each experiment.
Students are required to attend for some tests at a different time schedule.
This syllabus may be subject to slight changes in the future with the prior notice.