To the civil engineer, soil is any uncemented or weakly cemented accumulation of mineral particles formed by the weathering of rocks, the void space between the particles containing water and/or air. Weak cementation can be due to carbonates or oxides precipitated between the particles or due to organic matter. If the products of weathering remain at their original location they constitute a residual soil. If the products are transported and deposited in a different location they constitute a transported soil, the agents of transportation being gravity, wind, water and glaciers. During transportation the size and shape of particles can undergo change and the particles can be sorted into size ranges.

Soil can exist as a naturally occurring material in its undisturbed state, or as a compacted material. Geotechnical engineering involves the understanding and prediction of the behavior of soil. Like other construction materials, soil possesses mechanical properties related to strength, compressibility, and permeability. It is important to quantify these properties to predict how soil will behave under field loading for the safe design of soil structures (e.g. embankments, dams, waste containment liners, highway base courses, etc.), as well as other structures that will overly the soil. Quantification of the mechanical properties of soil is performed in the laboratory using standardized laboratory tests. <...>

Soils are a valuable resource and a critical component in many of the environmental and economic issues facing society today. Understanding soil properties and soil behaviour and interpreting soil data are especially relevant for many environmental and land management issues facing the community. These issues include urban development, control of salinity, clearing of native vegetation, prevention of land degradation, control of water and wind erosion, irrigation development, the management of effluent disposal, contamination and the management of acid sulfate soils.

Proper laboratory testing of soils to detennine their physical properties is an integral part in the design and construction of structural foundations, the placement and improvement of soil properties, and the specification and quality control of soil compaction works. It needs to be kept in mind that natural soil deposits often exhibit a high degree of nonhomogenity. The physical properties of a soil deposit can change to a great extent even within a few hundred feet. The fundamental theoretical and empirical equations that are developed in soil mechanics can be properly used in practice if, and only if, the physical parameters used in those equations are properly evaluated in the laboratory. So, learning to perfonn laboratory tests of soils plays an important role in the geotechnical engineering profession <...>

Soils consist of solid particles, enclosing voids or pores. The voids may be filled with air or water or both. These three soil states (or phases) can be visualized by the enlargement of three small samples of soil.

Soil mechanics is the science of equilibrium and motion of soil bodies. Here soil is understood to be the weathered material in the upper layers of the earth’s crust. The non-weathered material in this crust is denoted as rock, and its mechanics is the discipline of rock mechanics. In general the difference between soil and rock is roughly that in soils it is possible to dig a trench with simple tools such as a spade or even by hand.

В книге на базе точных и приближенных решений краевых задач теории упругости и пластичности рассматриваются основы теории приборов для измерения напряжений в грунтах при кратковременных динамических нагрузках. Результаты теоретических расчетов подтверждаются данными опытов.

В книге рассматриваются современные методы лабораторных исследований физико-механических свойств горных пород. Все методы определения показателей состояния и свойств горных пород изложены в виде инструктивных указаний и сопровождаются описанием новейших приборов и аппаратуры.

Тематика работы посвящена выявлению механизма и закономерностей возникновения и распространения трещин при высокоинтенсивных тепловых и гидромеханических воздействиях на породы различного состава и строения, а также разработке методики прогноза этих процессов.

Характер, кинетика и динамика процессов трещинообразования в породах в общем случае определяется взаимодействием полей: температуры, массы, напряжений и деформаций.