CIVL 4151 - Soil Mechanics

Course Content

This course will introduce you to the subject of soil mechanics and the field of geotechnical engineering and provide you with the necessary background for later courses in geotechnical design. You will learn about the physical properties of soil (including their identification and classification), the engineering properties of soil (including permeability, deformation, strength), and the behavior of soil as a structural foundation and a building material.

Student Learning Outcomes

Through classroom discussions, reading assignments, laboratory sessions and assignments, case studies, field trips, and homework assignments, you will learn the skills needed to

1. Classify soils using the Unified Soil Classification System (USCS) and the AASHTO soil classification system.

2. Determine the compaction properties of soils and evaluate if adequate compaction has been achieved in the field.

3. Determine the permeability of soils and evaluate the one-dimensional flow of water through soils.

4. Determine the consolidation properties of soils and estimate the one-dimensional consolidation settlement of fine-grained soils.

5. Determine the short-term and long-term shear strength of soils from laboratory tests.

Textbooks

The required textbooks for this course are Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering 4th Edition by Braja M. Das (Cengage Learning, 2013) and Soil Mechanics Laboratory Manual 8th Edition by Braja M. Das (Oxford University Press, 2013).

Additional readings (typically from technical journals, trade magazines, technical manuals, and standards) will be made available on this website or distributed in class.

Student Expectations

In this course, as in most introductory engineering courses, you will learn best by doing lots of problems. Therefore we will spend a lot of the class time working example problems. If you have not done the assigned reading prior to class, you will not be able to work the problems nor learn from watching others work the problems, so please come to class prepared. To minimize disruptions, I do not allow students into the room after class begins, so please be on time.

Lab attendance is MANDATORY. Five points will be deducted from your final grade for each laboratory missed. That includes field trips and guest lectures held during the lab period. At the end of each laboratory session, you are expected to leave the lab as clean as or cleaner than you found it and put all equipment back where it belongs (as opposed to where you found it). If the lab is not kept clean, we'll have to devote a laboratory period to cleaning it up. This will probably mean canceling a field trip.

Accommodations

Any student who may need class or test accommodations based on the impact of a disability is encouraged to speak with me privately to discuss your specific needs during the first week of classes. Students with disabilities should also contact Disability Resources for Students (DRS) at 110 Wilder Tower, 678-2880. DRS coordinates reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.

Homework Assignments

Homework problems will be assigned after nearly every class. Unless otherwise stated, these assignments will be due at the beginning of the next lecture period (which means 1:00, not 1:05 or 1:10). LATE HOMEWORK WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES. If you cannot complete an assignment due to illness or a family emergency, contact me before the assignment is due to make arrangements.

Homework should be neatly written on engineering paper using one side only. Use the heading format shown in the example below. If a solution procedure involves a series of calculations (as they usually do), all of the steps must be included and must be clearly identified. As shown below, the calculations should flow in a logical order down the page with just one calculation on each line. The final answer should be boxed or underlined. Write all equations symbolically before substituting in values and cite the source of all equations (e.g., Equation 10.1).

All problem answers must be reported using the proper number of significant digits. Just because your calculator shows you seven digits doesn’t mean you know the answer to seven significant digits. We will adhere to ASTM D6026 Standard Practice for Using Significant Digits in Geotechnical Data throughout this class. Because units are a critical part of any measurement, all calculations must include proper units. Any values that lack proper units or have the wrong units will be marked as wrong.

All graphs and charts must be done on a spreadsheet or a software program such as SigmaPlot. No free-hand drawings will be accepted. Use a straightedge for making straight lines and a flexible curve for drawing curves.

If you use a program such as Excel for your homework, use the following guidelines:

1. Provide a complete description of the contents of each item (rows, columns, etc.) It is not my job to dig into your spreadsheet to determine what you did.

2. Provide a sample calculation in your homework showing all of the steps involved in obtaining the spreadsheet solution.

3. Provide a copy of your spreadsheet file to me by e-mail before you turn in the assignment.

4. Provide a readable hard copy of your spreadsheet solution. The hard copy is what will be graded, not the electronic file, so the hard copy needs to be easily readable and understandable.

I encourage you to work together on your homework, but you must do your own work. If what you hand in is simply a handwritten copy of another student’s homework, both will be returned with a grade of zero.

Laboratory Assignments

Because this course uses a laboratory manual, most of the laboratory assignments will be to perform the data reduction and analysis called for in the manual and submit the results. You will receive more detailed instructions at the beginning of each laboratory.

All laboratory homework will be due one week from the day it is assigned unless you are told otherwise. It will be due at the beginning of the Tuesday lecture period following the lab. LATE LAB ASSIGNMENTS WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES.

Examinations

There will be two one-hour examinations plus a two-hour final exam. The final exam will be comprehensive. Each section of the course builds upon the information presented in the earlier sections, so you really can't afford to forget any of what you've learned during the semester.

Grading

The laboratory homework counts as 15% of the final grade and homework problems assigned from the textbook count as 15% of the final grade. Each one-hour examination is 20% of the final grade and the final examination is 30% of the final grade.

I will not be using plus/minus grading in this class. Everyone with a final grade of 90 or above will have earned an A; 80 to 90, a B; 70 to 80, a C; and 60 to 70, a D. Remember, you are required to get at least a C in this course for it to count toward graduation.