1. Introduction to geotechnics. Short history. Soil composition and classification: Soil as a three-phase system. Solid phase. Soil structure and texture. Soil grading curve.
2. Physical and mechanical soil properties. Liquid phase (water in soil). The effect of surface phenomenon on the behavior of clayey soils. Capillary water. Free water.
3. Water mechanical action on soils. The prevention of hydrodynamic water effect. Iced water.
4. Soil compressibility: General information. Elastic compressibility. The principle of effective pressures and compaction law. One-dimension compression. Unconfined compression.
5. The influence of stress history. The influence of cycling loading. The anisotropy influence. The linear deformation modulus determination by on-site tests.
6. Soil shearing resistance. Soil shearing resistance. Soil shearing resistance determination.
7. Soil shearing resistance tests. Factors influencing soil shearing resistance. Soil shearing resistance determination by on-site tests.
8. E. Stresses in the soil massif. General information. Vertical stress generated by soil self-weight. Stresses due to a vertical point load on the surface of elastic semi-space. Stresses due to a linear load on the surface
of semi-space. Distributed pressures on a continuous strip having B width. Distributed pressures on a closed surface. Vertical stress distribution in layered soils.
9. The anisotropy influence. The influence of the limited thickness of the deformable soil layer. Contact pressure distribution on the foundation bottom.
10. Foundation soil settlement. Deformations. Methods to calculate settlements. Semi-theoretic computation methods. Consolidation settlement computation. Construction deformations types. The effect of foundation displacements and deformations (settlements) on the construction.
11. Soil lateral pressure. General information. Lateral pressure at rest lateral pressure. Lateral soil pressure calculation: Definition of limit equilibrium state; Active lateral pressure; Passive lateral pressure.
12. Methods based on wedge theory: Active lateral pressure –Coulomb’s theory. Active pressure distribution on retaining structures. Active pressure calculation for layered soils. External loads influence. Passive lateral pressure –Coulomb’s theory.
13. Considerations on computation methods for soil lateral pressure. The effect of retaining structure displacement on soil lateral pressure.
14. Soil lateral pressure on retaining structures. Retaining walls. Soil lateral pressure on simple timbered retaining structures. Soil lateral pressure on diaphragm walls. Soil lateral pressure on anchored diaphragm walls
