421-306 Geotechnical Engineering

421-209 Geomechanics 1

Students completing this unit should understand how to make simplifications to complex soil conditions, how to establish strength/deformation characteristics of the soil and how to apply fundamental geomechanics knowledge learned in earlier units to solve problems involving the stability of an earth mass.

Topics covered include design of earth retaining structures; stability of slopes, seepage analysis, settlement and bearing capacity of shallow footings; site investigation and limit state design in geotechnical engineering.

One 3-hour written examination (60%), together with three assignments of 2000 words each (40%). A pass of 40% out of the 60% written examination must be attained in order to pass the subject.