Soils in Construction

On 21 August 2017 the United States experienced a transcontinental total solar eclipse. It was a “once in a lifetime experience” until the one in 2024. One one side of the continent was W.L. Schroeder, former Professor of Civil Engineering (and at one point Interim Athletic Director) at Oregon State University. On the other was D.C. Warrington, developer of this site and adjunct professor of Civil (and Mechanical) Engineering at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Both authors a) experienced it in its totality and b) were in the last stages of writing the Sixth Edition of this book, Soils in Construction. The two authors thus became the “Eclipse Brothers.”

It is with this background that we are pleased to present this page, designed to assist you, the instructor, student or geotechnical/construction professional, with this book and the courses it was designed to be used with. Here you can find supplementary materials that can be useful in teaching and learning the material this book presents. Some of this material has been borrowed from other geotechnical courses such as Soil Mechanics, Foundation Design and Analysis and Soil Mechanics Laboratory, but some is original to this course.

The outline is here, we’ll be filling in the blanks as we go:

• How to obtain the book, both for teachers and students
  • Or order it on Amazon
• The “Why” and “What” of Soils in Construction
  • Dr. Warrington’s vita, in brief
  • Dr. Warrington’s profile on “Meet the Prof”
• Chapters in the Book
  • Overview of Rocks and Soils
    • Slide Presentation from the Soil Mechanics Course, content very similar to this chapter
    • Specific Surfaces of Soil Materials
  • Soil and Behaviour of Soil Particles
    • Foundation Design and Analysis: Expansive and Collapsible Soils. Includes additional information on montmorillionite soils ways of estimating their swelling
  • Soil Index Properties
    • Weight and Volume Relationships for Soils, from NAVFAC DM 7
    • Soil Mechanics: Soil Composition. Essentially the same presentation as in the book, with author’s video.
    • Breaking Down Sieve Data for both Lab and Textbook Problems
  • Soil Classification
    • Soil Mechanics: Size Gradation and Soil Classification. Similar to what’s in the book, with author’s video. Some of the material reaches back into Chapter 2 (Soil and Behaviour of Soil Particles) and Chapter 3 (Soil Index Properties.)
    • Unified Soil Classification, from NAVFAC DM 7
    • Sorting Out the Coarse Fraction Using Pie Charts, and a Unified Classification Example
    • Ohio DOT’s Rendition of the AASHTO Classification System. A different view from an agency that uses it for more than pavements.
  • Stress Analysis and Engineering Properties
    • From Elasticity to Consolidation Settlement: Resolving the Issue of Jean-Louis Briaud’s “Pet Peeve”
    • Deriving and Solving the Equations of Consolidation
    • Determining the Degree of Consolidation
  • The Contract and Contract Documents
  • Interpretation of Soils Reports
    • An Introduction to Drilling and Sampling in Geotechnical Practice — the “Boring Video”
    • p-q Diagrams and Mohr-Coulomb Failure. Probably a better way of solving the multiple circle triaxial problem.
  • Embankment Construction and Control
    • The “Line of Optimums” Approach for Compaction
  • Dewatering
    • Computing Pore Water Pressure and Effective Stress in Upward (and Downward) Flow in Soil
    • Seepage and Bottom Heave Calculations for Sheet Pile Braced Cut Trenches
    • Getting to the Bottom of Terzaghi and Peck’s Lateral Earth Pressures for Braced Cuts
  • Excavations and Excavation Supports
    • A Quick Preliminary Way to Determine Slope Stability
    • Designing Cantilever Sheet Pile Walls Using a Chart
    • Analyzing Sheet Pile Walls with SPW 2006. This is beyond the treatment in this book, but it’s an introduction to sheet piling software, which these days is almost essential to designing sheet pile walls. Video tutorial included.
  • Shallow Foundations and Pavements
    • The 2:1 Method for Estimating Stresses Under Foundations
    • Getting to the Legacy of B.K. Hough and his Settlement Method
    • Lower and Upper Bound Solutions for Bearing Capacity
  • Deep Foundations
    • The Wave Equation after TAMWAVE: Alternatives and Substitutes
  • Laboratory Testing Exercises. In this edition we used the “DD” forms, some of these can be downloaded below:
    • Sand Cone Test
      • DD-1215
    • Water Content. This isn’t explicitly included in the text, but is part of many soils tests
      • DD-1205
    • Gradation or Particle Size Analyses (Sieve and Hydrometer Analysis)
      • DD-1206
      • DD-1207
      • DD-1794
    • Specific Gravity
      • DD-1208
    • Soil Consistency Tests (Atterberg Liquid and Plastic Limits)
      • DD-1209
    • Compaction Tests
      • DD-1210
      • DD-1211
• Useful Reference Books
  • Soils and Foundations Reference Manual. Material from this book was used extensively in the preparation of this edition. It has taught a generation or more of DOT officials in the finer points of geotechnical engineering as a science.
  • NAVFAC DM 7.01 and 7.02. Another “geotechnical classic,” this was also used extensively. Now dated, it’s still a good reference, even though it’s not recommended as a textbook (that’s from experience.)
    • The “New” NAVFAC DM 7.1, the replacement for the first part of the old NAVFAC documents.
  • Soil Mechanics. An interesting take on the subject.

Other Material

I have presented these type of links over the years to my students.

• Mathematical Resources (because everybody needs help in math)
• Blessed are the Merciful: I keep getting requests to “go light” on the grading. This is how I did it myself.
• My Thoughts on Sleeping in Class
• In Search of the Lost Movado.  Bar hopping has consequences.
• Who’s This Idiot? That’s Me!  It’s easy to get trapped in the system.
• When the Pathfinder Gets Lost: some students like to “follow the lead” of someone else to get the course work done. That can have negative results other than those described in the syllabus, just like this example
• The Last Supper, the Iranians and the Perfect Dissertation: A Maundy Thursday Reflection. Some say the “perfect” dissertation cannot be written, but that isn’t true.
• Taking the Last Voyage with Newton and Pascal: many of you will recognise the name of Saint-Venant from mechanics of materials, but here’s another side of his life and work. With comment from former department head.
• What’s Really Important When You Hit the Field
• The Two Promises I Made to Myself
• Lessons from the Cotter Bridge
• Mirroring Our Creator