Course outline (click here to obtain course information)

 

Lecture Notes:

Before you download lecture notes please read my following philosophical wishes/arguments: some (and only some) of the ideas that I deliver face-to-face will be added continuously and sometimes modified below. Only some. A date will be added next to the links, in the case of alterations. I'd much rather prefer that you'll attend each and every lecture and tutorial, challenge me with your questions, listen through writing and write through listening. This is why I am intentionally not planning to include everything I originally wish to say in the lecture notes: during the lectures, as it goes, I often realise that what I wish to say is not necessarily what I should say.  This helps me to handle the nitty-gritty of the concepts in a flexible manner, that depends on your level of understanding (that generally tends to vary from year to year). Sometimes the things that are missing are more important to me than those the I write. Sometimes it's the other way around. That is why the lecture notes should only be seen as supplementary material, to help you to revisit.

 

Now, after reading the disclaimer, here goes:

Soil Characterisation: stresses, strains, invariants, and some others (notes, 07-Aug-2008)

Soil Models: elasticity, plasticity (notes, 12-Aug-2008)

Soil Models: CSSM, Breakage (presentation, 19-Aug-2008)

Slope stability (22-Sept-2008): Notes.

Retaining walls (16-Sept-2008): Notes on Limit Equilibrium, Notes on Earth Pressure Methods, power point presentation.

Foundations: power point presentation (13-Oct-2008), lectures incl. piles (28-Oct-2008)

 

Tutorial questions:

Tutorial 1, stresses, strains and strength. (download, 07-Aug-2008)

Solution to question 5 in tutorial 1 (download, 19-Aug-2008) [the rest was actually provided in the class]

Tutorial 2, elasticity. (download, 19-Aug-2008)

Tutorial 3, cssm and breakage. (download, 22-Aug-2008)

Assignment #2, foundation & retaining walls. (hand in on 27-Oct-2008)

 

Tutorial questions:

View your marks as of 13 Oct 2008.

 

Reference books:

Atkinson J.H., Bransby P.L. 1978. The mechanics of soils: An introduction to critical state soil mechanics.  McGraw-Hill

Budhu M. 2007. Soil mechanics and foundations. 2nd Edition. John Wiley & Sons

Smith G.N. 1982. Elements of soil mechanics for civil and mining engineers. 5th Edition. Granada Publishing.

 

Other course links, just to have a look:

Mini centrifuge video (click here to view)

Breakage soil mechanics, journal paper (click here to download)

 

Important dates this semester (adjusted, 12-Aug-2008)

Final Exam Quiz Assignment 1 Assignment 2 Centrifuge Lab Report Penalty for missing tutorials

50 % 10 % 15 % 15 % 10 % 1 % per miss

At end of semester Tuesday, week 6 (note, changed from 5) At end of week 8 27-Oct-2008 2 weeks after receiving Missing 4 or more tutorials may result in failing the course

 

Selected Links Useful in this course

For some spectacular geotechnical photos, which often involve failures, plus other GEO (click here)

Additional geotechnical photo album (click here)

Information on careers in Geotechnical Engineering (click here)

Swedish Geotechnical Institute publication database (good coverage of recent geotechnical research) (SGI-Line)