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Learning

Geotechnical engineering.

Soil, water and the ground models used to understand foundation behaviour.

Available courses

Soil Mechanics

15 modules

Understand soil description, effective stress, water flow, settlement and shear strength.

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  1. What soil mechanics is
  2. Geology, soil formation and fabric
  3. Ground investigation and ground profiles
  4. Particle size, description and classification
  5. Phase relationships and soil states
  6. Soil compaction and earthworks
  7. Water in soil and Darcy's law
  8. Effective stress and stress in the ground
  9. Stress paths, drainage and loading
  10. Consolidation and settlement with time
  11. Shear strength of soils
  12. Laboratory and field testing
  13. Critical-state soil behaviour
  14. Two-dimensional seepage and flow nets
  15. Integrated soil interpretation

Foundation Engineering

18 modules

Examine bearing resistance, settlement and the behaviour of shallow and deep foundations.

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  1. What a foundation has to do
  2. Choosing a foundation
  3. How a footing fails
  4. The bearing capacity equation
  5. Shape, depth and inclination
  6. Eccentric and inclined loading
  7. Groundwater and layered ground
  8. Bearing capacity from field tests
  9. Immediate settlement of shallow foundations
  10. Consolidation settlement and differential movement
  11. Rafts and mat foundations
  12. Why piles, and what kinds
  13. Load transfer: shaft and base
  14. Pile capacity in clay — the α-method
  15. Pile capacity in sand — the β-method
  16. Pile capacity from SPT and CPT; drilled shafts
  17. Pile groups, settlement and negative skin friction
  18. Laterally loaded piles