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'''Geotechnical engineering''' is the field of engineering concerned with earth materials, such as soils and rocks.
==Soil mechanics==
Soil mechanics is a key area of geotechnical engineering. Soils are made up of solid rock or mineral particles, water, and air. These three are known as the phases of soil. There are a number of standard properties of soil which are used in geotechnical engineering:
*Unit weight: the weight of a unit volume of soil.
*Voids ratio: the ratio of the volume of voids (V<sub>v</sub>) to the volume of solids (V<sub>s</sub>).
**Porosity: the ratio of the volume of voids (V<sub>v</sub>) to the volume of the soil.
*Shear strength: the shear stress which causes the soil to fail.