Soil Mechanics : Properties and Behavious of Soil

Soil Mechanics deals with the study of soil, its behavior and application as an engineering material.

Karl Terzaghi (1948) is regarded as father of soil mechanics. He defined soil Mechanics as "the application of laws of mechanics and hydraulics to engineering problems dealing with sediments and other unconsolidated accumulations of solid particles produced by the mechanical and chemical disintegration of rocks regardless of whether or not they contain an admixture of organic constituent."

What is soil and how is it formed?

Soil is defined as the un-aggregated or un-cemented deposits of mineral and/or organic particles or fragments covering large portion of the earth's crust.

Soil is formed by weathering of rocks.

Soil Classification

On the basis of the grain size of the soil particles. 

Gravel: particles larger than 2 mm, but smaller than 63 mm as gravel. The particles larger than 63 mm  are denoted as stones.

Sand: particles smaller than 2 mm, but larger than 0.063 mm.

Silt: particles smaller than 0.063 mm and larger than 0.002 mm

Clay or Luthum: particles smaller than 0.002 mm,

 

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Quiz in Geotechnical Engineering