Difference between revisions of "Geotechnical engineering"
From Conservapedia
Charlie123 (Talk | contribs) |
m |
||
| Line 1: | Line 1: | ||
| − | '''Geotechnical engineering''' is the field of engineering concerned with earth materials, such as soils and rocks. | + | '''Geotechnical engineering''' is the field of [[engineering]] concerned with earth materials, such as soils and rocks. |
==Soil mechanics== | ==Soil mechanics== | ||
Revision as of 16:22, June 27, 2009
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 (Vv) to the volume of solids (Vs).
- Porosity: the ratio of the volume of voids (Vv) to the volume of the soil.
- Shear strength: the shear stress which causes the soil to fail.