Soil Mechanics and Foundations 3rd Edition

Book Preface

This textbook is written for an undergraduate course in soil mechanics and foundations. It has three primary objectives. The fi rst is to present basic concepts and fundamental principles of soil mechanics and foundations in a simple pedagogy using the students’ background in mechanics, physics, and mathematics. The second is to integrate modern learning principles, teaching techniques, and learning aids to assist students in understanding the various topics in soil mechanics and foundations. The third is to provide a solid background knowledge to hopefully launch students in their lifelong learning of geotechnical engineering issues.  Some of the key features of this textbook are:

• Topics are presented thoroughly and systematically to elucidate the basic concepts and fundamental principles without diluting technical rigor.
• A large number of example problems are solved to demonstrate or to provide further insights into the basic concepts and applications of fundamental principles.
• The solution of each example is preceded by a strategy, which is intended to teach students to think about possible solutions to a problem before they begin to solve it. Each solution provides a step-by-step procedure to guide the student in problem solving.
• A “What you should be able to do” list at the beginning of each chapter alerts readers to what they should have learned after studying each chapter, to help students take responsibility for learning the material.
• Web-based applications including interactive animations, interactive problem solving, interactive step-by-step examples, virtual soils laboratory, e-quizzes, and much more are integrated with this textbook.

With the proliferation and accessibility of computers, programmable calculators, and software, students will likely use these tools in their practice. Consequently, computer program utilities and generalized equations that the students can program into their calculators are provided rather than charts.

The content of the book has been signifi cantly enhanced in the third edition:

• Reorganization of chapters—Several chapters in the second edition are now divided into multiple chapters for ease of use.
• Enhancement of content—The content of each chapter has been enhanced by adding updated materials and more explanations. In particular, signifi cant improvements have been made not only to help interpret soil behavior but also to apply the basic concepts to practical problems.
• Examples and problems—More examples, with more practical “real-world” situations, and more problems have been added. The examples have been given descriptive titles to make specific examples easier to locate.