Fundamentals of Soil Mechanics for Sedimentary and Residual Soils




PREFACE

This book was originally planned with the title Soil Mechanics for Geotechnical

Engineers. I mention this because its target readership is indeed

geotechnical engineers, including those who teach and train geotechnical

engineers, and students aiming to become geotechnical engineers. Its name

was changed to the present title following discussions with my publisher;

together we agreed that the current title is preferable as it conveys more

clearly the distinctive content of the book.

My first aim in writing this book has been to give equal coverage to

residual soils and sedimentary soils. I have believed for a long time that

there is a need for such a book, because many graduates are leaving universities

throughout the world without even hearing of residual soils, let alone

having any understanding of their properties. This is despite the fact that in

not a few cases, the universities from which they graduate are surrounded

by residual soils on every side, as far as the eye can see.



All graduates should have a basic knowledge of residual soils, first,

because they are likely to encounter residual soils from time to time during

their working life and, second, because there are important characteristics

of residual soils that do not fit into the conventional concepts or the “theoretical

framework” of classical soil mechanics. The application of these

concepts to residual soils can produce quite misleading conclusions. A prime

example is the use of stress history, and the e-log p graph associated with

it, as an explanation of soil behavior. Stress history and the concepts of

normal consolidation and overconsolidation have little or no relevance to

residual soils.


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