Mohr Circles, Stress Paths and Geotechnics




Preface

On turning the pages of the many textbooks which already exist on soil mechanics

and rock mechanics, the important roles of Mohr circles and stress paths in

geotechnics becomes readily apparent. They are used for representing and

interpreting data, for the analysis of geotechnical problems and for predicting soil

and rock behaviour. In the present book, Mohr circles and stress paths are explained

in detail – including the link between Mohr stress circles and stress paths – and

soil and rock strength and deformation behaviour are viewed from the vantage

points of these graphical techniques. Their various applications are drawn together

in this volume to provide a unifying link to diverse aspects of soil and rock

behaviour. The reader can judge if the book succeeds in this.

Past and present members of the Cambridge Soil Mechanics Group will see

much in the book which is familiar to them, as I have drawn, where appropriate,

on the accumulated Cambridge corpus of geotechnical material in the form of

reports, handouts and examples. Thus, a number of people have influenced the

contents of the book, and I must take this opportunity to express my gratitude to

them. I am particularly grateful to Ian Johnston and Malcolm Bolton for looking

through the first drafts and coming up with many useful suggestions. Similarly my

thanks must go to the anonymous reviewers to whom the publishers sent the first

draft for comments, and who also came up with some very useful suggestions. The

shortcomings of the book are entirely of my own making.



Download
*