Download Specialisation modules for Soil Mechanics

Specialisation modules for Soil Mechanics & Environmental Geotechnics
ENGINEERING GEOMORPHOLOGY
SUBJECT CO-ORDINATOR: Dr R Ghail (Room 335)
INTRODUCTION
This course describes the geological characteristics of soils and rocks, as materials and
en-masse, and explains their influence upon the engineering behaviour of these
materials.
COURSE STRUCTURE
27 hours of lectures and tutorials in nine 3-hour blocks. The course starts by setting out
the fundamental characteristics of soils and rocks, and continues by dealing with each
of the main types commonly encountered. Soils and rocks are studied further in the
field during two field trips organised in the First Term.
LECTURE CONTENTS
Lectures
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
Week 5
Week 6
Week 7
Week 8
Week 9
Week 10
Lecturer
RG
RG
RG
RG
RG
RG
RG
RG
RG
Topics
Importance of Engineering Geology
Volcanic and Igneous Processes
Weathering and Soil
Aeolian and Fluvial Processes
Glacial and Marine Environments
Sedimentary and Metamorphic Rocks
Geological Structures
Active tectonics
Putting It All Together
FIELD WORK
There are three field trips. The first visits the Mesozoic strata of S E England to study
the response of soils and weak rocks to changed produced by engineering work and the
natural process of erosion. The second visits the Palaeozoic strata of S W England to
study the character and behaviour of stratified rock. The third visits another European
country to consider the links between construction, geology and the environment. Field
work normally comes to a total of ten working days. Trips one and two are held in Term
1 and Trip three is held immediately after the exams in Term 3.
PARTIALLY SATURATED SOIL BEHAVIOUR
LECTURER: Dr J R Standing (Room 528B)
18 lectures and additional discussion sessions
This course has been developed to address current issues relating to the behaviour of
partly saturated soils.
Fundamental behaviour of partly saturated soils in terms of soil suction, water content,
volume change and shear strength. Pore pressure profiles in the partly saturated zone:
appropriate stress variables for partly saturated soils; the application of effective stress
to partly unsaturated soils, direct suction measurement; indirect suction measurement;
laboratory testing techniques; soil-water relationships; the influence of suction on the
volume of reconstituted and compacted soils and the influence of suction on shear
strength. The course is illustrated with recent test data and case histories.
ENVIRONMENTAL GEOTECHNICS
SUBJECT CO-ORDINATORS Dr S Kontoe (Room 535) & Dr A P Butler (Room 306)
LECTURERS
Dr C R Cheeseman (Room 393), Visiting Fellow Dr R Jones (Golder Associates Ltd),
Professor R J Chandler
COURSE STRUCTURE
The courses comprise 30 hours of lectures and tutorials.
INTRODUCTION
This series of courses is designed to introduce environmental matters to geotechnical
students. Though considerable reference is made to the various codes and guidance
notes, so far as possible the emphasis is on basic principles and the major geotechnical
environmental problems.
Autumn Term Lectures:
Landfill Engineering
•
Introduction to Waste Management
•
Chemistry and Biology of Waste Decomposition Processes
•
Mining Tailings Dams
•
Engineering design of Landfills I
•
Engineering design of Landfills II
•
Properties of natural and synthetic liners
•
Hydrogeology of landfill sites
•
Gas generation and control in landfills
•
Monitoring emissions from landfills
•
Case studies and presentation on landfill design
Recommended Texts
Comprehensive lecture notes are issued, together with various codes and guidance
notes.
Spring Term Lectures:
.
Hydrogeology of Contaminated Land
The Hydrology of Contaminated Land Course deals with problems arising from
managed and unmanaged disposal of contaminants and waste to the subsurface
environment. It covers the use of landfill as a means of waste disposal and the
problems of design, management, monitoring and regulation. It also deals with the
problems of contaminated land arising from the unmanaged release of pollutants into
the environment. The processes which govern the movement and behaviour of subsurface contamination, methods of site investigation and remediation techniques.
30 hours of lectures over 10 sessions, accompanying problem sheets, and one piece of
course work.
1.
Introduction
Problems of waste management and environmental regulation.
2.
Landfill
Hydrogeology of landfill sites. Gas generation and control in landfills. Monitoring
emissions from landfills. Water balance modelling. Case study and coursework
presentation.
3.
Contaminated Land
Contaminant behaviour and governing equations for contaminant hydrogeology.
Site investigation techniques - methods, data analysis, case histories.
Remediation - objectives, decision making, risk assessment, ex-situ & in-situ
methods, remediation design exercise.
Recommended Texts
Veilson, D M & Sara, M N - Current Practices in ground water and vadose zone
investigations, ASTM, 1992.
McBean, E A, Rovers, F A & Farquhar, G J - Solid Waste Landfill Engineering and
Design, Prentice-Hall Inc, 1995.
GEOTECHNICAL PROCESSES
SUBJECT CO-ORDINATOR Dr J R Standing (Room 528B)
LECTURERS: Dr J R Standing (Room 528B), Professor R J Jardine (Room 530).
INTRODUCTION
This course aims to stimulate interest and encourage reading round various subjects
within the geotechnical field. Depending on the subject and the lecturer you will be
presented with: the theory behind geotechnical processes; the design processes; and
the construction processes. In all instances you will be exposed to state-of-the-art
thinking, and supporting case studies.
COURSE STRUCTURE
21 contact hours
The course has 21 hours of time-tabled contact time. This is divided into seven 3 hour
sessions. The sessions will be used for lecturing, group projects, discussion and
investigation. There will be a course-work element to the course.
The subjects to be covered are:
Soft ground tunnelling.
Ground improvement.
Driven piles and offshore foundations.
Bored piles and pile testing.
Reinforced earth and soil nailing.
Deep excavations.
ADVANCED CONSTITUTIVE MODELLING
LECTURER Dr Lidija Zdravkovic (Room 532)
INTRODUCTION
This lecture course extends the basis of soil modelling presented in the Analysis course,
by considering additional concepts of soil plasticity:
1.
double yield surface models
2.
3.
bounding surface plasticity models
‘bubble’ models
The objective of the course is to further demonstrate to students the ability of finite
element analysis in modelling real boundary problems and make them aware of the fact
that for complex problems simple models of soil behaviour may not be appropriate.
This course is assessed by coursework only.
RECOMMENDED TEXT
Potts D M and Zdravkovic L (1999). Finite element analysis in geotechnical
engineering: Theory. Thomas Telford, London.
A full set of lecture notes will be provided.