Soil engineering: testing, design and remediation

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A true Renaissance man, Fu Hua Chen was educated in both China and the United States. Returning to his homeland to contribute to its struggle against Japanese attrition, he was chief engineer on the Burma Road. That artery held together the victorious Allied campaign to end World War II on the Asian mainland.After the Tibet Highway, the Ho Chi Minh Trail, and other large China projects, Dr. Chen brought his family to the U.S. to build a better life. Successful in that, he then devoted his remaining years to returning to his community, his society, and his profession some of the benefits American life had provided for him.Acknowledged as the world’s authority on expansive soils, Dr. Chen published books on that and other aspects of geotechnical engineering, and a riveting autobiography. He wanted the top rung of his career ladder to be his guide for constructors and consultants to demystify soils and foundation engineering. It is a plain-talk effort to help builders understand and deal with that complex facet so vital to construction.With the publication of this book, Dr. Chen has achieved that goal, to top off a monumental career that ended peacefully among his family in his 87th year.When I was at the University of Michigan in 1935, I took a course on soils with Professor Hogentogler. He had just completed a book entitled The Engineering Properties of Soil. At that time, soil mechanics was not known. I talked to Dr. Terzaghi at Vienna in 1938; he assured me that he had nothing to do with the term “soil mechanics.” We all realized that the term “mechanics” is associated with mathematics. By using the term “mechanics” with soil, the academicians firmly linked engineering with mathematics. It appears that in order to understand soil, one must understand “elasticity,” “diffusion theory,” “finite element” and other concepts. After several years of dealing with foundation investigation, most consultants realize that soil engineering is an art rather than a science as the academicians depicted.In the last 40 years, no fewer than 50 books have been written on the subject of soil mechanics. Most of them were written for use in teaching. Only a few touched on practical applications. When engineers dealt with major complicated projects, such as the failure of the Teton Dam or the Leaning Tower of Pisa, high technology was required. However, 90% of the cases in which consulting engineers are involved do not require mathematical treatment or computer analysis; they mostly need experience. Consulting soil engineers are involved primarily with the design of foundation for warehouses, schools, medium-rise buildings, and residential houses. With such projects, the complete answers to soil engineering problems cannot be resolved solely with textbook information.The purpose of this book is to provide consulting engineers with the practical meaning of the various aspects of soil mechanics; the use of unconfined compression test data; the meaning of consolidation tests; the practical value of lateral pressure; and other topics.In addition to the technical aspect of foundation investigation, in the real world one should be aware that the shadow of litigation hangs over the consultant’s head. A careless statement may cost the consultant a great deal of time and money to resolve the resulting legal involvement.It is expected that the academicians may find many inconsistencies in this book. However, at the same time, I expect that the book will find its way to the consulting engineer’s desk.