Author: Ibrahim

The concept of effective stress is one of Carl Terzaghi’s most important contributions to soil mechanics. It is a measure of the stress on the soil skeleton (the collection of particles in contact with each other), and determines the ability of the soil to resist shear stress. It cannot be measured in itself, but must…

Sieve analysis is the process of determining the size of soil particles by passing a soil sample through a number of different sieves with different apertures (pore sizes).

Soils generally consist of three phases: solid, liquid, and gas. The mechanical properties of soil depend directly on the interaction of these phases with each other and on the applied potential (e.g. stress, hydraulic head, electrical potential and temperature difference).The solid phase of soils contains various amounts of crystalline clay and non-clay minerals, non-crystalline clay…

Soil mechanics is a discipline that applies the principles of engineering mechanics, such as kinematics, kinematics, fluid mechanics and mechanics of materials, to predict the mechanical behavior of soils. Together with rock mechanics, it is the basis for solving many engineering problems in civil engineering (geotechnical engineering), geophysical engineering and engineering geology. Some of the…

A civil engineer has many different important encounters with soil. In addition to testing and classifying different types of soil, knowledge of soil mechanics to determine its physical properties is particularly helpful in the following problems in civil engineering: Geotechnical engineers are typically graduates of a four-year civil engineering programme and often hold a masters…

Knowledge of the use of clay stretches back to prehistoric times, when man began building houses for habitation and roads for transportation. In more ancient civilizations, clay was used by man as a building material for the foundations of structures and for the construction itself. Knowledge of soils for foundations, embankments and roads was acquired…

Soil engineering, soil mechanics or geotechnical engineering is one of the youngest disciplines of civil engineering that involves the study of soil, its behavior and as an engineering material. The laws of geotechnical engineering mechanics and hydraulics apply to engineering problems involving sediments and other unstable accumulations of solid particles resulting from the mechanical or…