Principles of Geotechnical Engineering 7th Edition

Book Preface

Principles of Geotechnical Engineering was originally published with a 1985 copyright and was intended for use as a text for the introductory course in geotechnical engineering taken by practically all civil engineering students, as well as for use as a reference book for practicing engineers. The book was revised in 1990, 1994, 1998, 2002, and 2006. This Seventh Edition is the twenty-fifth anniversary edition of the text. As in the previous editions of the book, this new edition offers an overview of soil properties and mechanics, together with coverage of field practices and basic engineering procedures without changing the basic philosophy in which the text was written originally.

Unlike the Sixth Edition that had 17 chapters, this edition has 18 chapters. For better understanding and more comprehensive coverage, Weight-Volume Relationships and Plasticity and Structure of Soil are now presented in two separate chapters (Chapters 3 and 4). Most of the example and homework problems have been changed and/or modified. Other noteworthy changes for the Seventh Edition are

• New scanning electron micrographs for quartz, mica, limestone, sand grains, and clay minerals such as kaolinite and montmorillonite have been added to Chapter 2.
• A summary of recently published empirical relationships between liquid limit, plastic limit, plasticity index, activity, and clay-size fractions in a soil mass have been incorporated in Chapter 4.
• The USDA Textural Classification of Soil has now been added to Chapter 5 (Classification of Soil).
• Additional empirical relationships for hydraulic conductivity for granular and cohesive soils have been added, respectively, to Chapter 7 (Permeability) and Chapter 17 (Landfill Liners and Geosynthetics).
• The presentation of the filter design criteria has been improved in Chapter 8 (Seepage).
• In Chapter 11 (Compressibility of Soil), the procedure for estimating elastic settlement of foundations has been thoroughly revised with the inclusions of theories by Steinbrenner (1934) and Fox (1948). A case study related to the consolidation settlement due to a preload fill for construction of the Tampa VA Hospital is also added to this chapter.

• The presentation on estimation of active force on retaining walls with earthquake forces in Chapter 13 (Lateral Earth Pressure: At-Rest, Rankine, and Coulomb) has been improved.
• Chapter 14 (Lateral Earth Pressure: Curved Failure Surface) now includes the procedure to estimate the passive earth pressure on retaining walls with inclined backface and horizontal granular backfill using the method of triangular slices. It also includes the relationships for passive earth pressure on retaining walls with a horizontal granular backfill and vertical backface under earthquake conditions determined by using the pseudo-static method.
• Chapter 15 (Slope Stability) now includes a case history of slope failure in relation to a major improvement program of Interstate Route 95 in New Hampshire.
• A method to calculate the ultimate bearing capacity of eccentrically loaded shallow strip foundations in granular soil using the reduction factor has been added to Chapter 16 (Soil-Bearing Capacity for Shallow Foundations). I am grateful to my wife Janice for her help in getting the manuscript ready for publication.

Finally, many thanks are due to Christopher Carson, Executive Director, Global Publishing Programs; Hilda Gowans, Senior Development Editor; and the production staff of Cengage Learning (Engineering) for the final development and production of the book.

Braja M. Das
Henderson, Nevada