Introduction to Geo-engineering

The course provides an understanding of: the introduction to earth processes; the nature of soils and their variability; and the state and behaviour of a soil. Topics include: Introduction to Earth Processes: How the Earth Works/Plate Tectonics, Minerals, Rocks and Weathering, Structural Geology and Earthquakes; The Origin and Composition of Soils: introduction to geotechnical engineering, processes that form soils, clay mineralogy; phase relationships, Atterberg limits and soil classification: soil state definitions, phase relationships, grain size analyses, Atterberg limits, soil classification and description; Soil Improvement: Compaction - concepts, measurement and field techniques, Overview of other soil improvement techniques; vertical stress in soils: soil suction, total vertical stress, pore water pressure, effective vertical stress; flow of water through soils: water flow, permeability, consolidation: introduction to consolidation theory, oedometer test, overconsolidation ratio, consolidation settlement, strength of soils: shear strength of sands and clays, Mohr-Coulomb failure criterion, direct shear test, triaxial test.