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The knowledge of soil mechanics has application in many fields of Civil Engineering.
1. Foundations
The loads from any structure have to be ultimately transmitted to a soil through the foundation for the structure. Thus, the foundation is an important part of a structure, the type and details of which can be decided upon only with the knowledge and application of the principles of soil mechanics.
2. Underground and Earth-retaining Structures
Underground structures such as drainage structures, pipe lines, and tunnels and earth-retaining structures such as retaining walls and bulkheads can be designed and constructed only by using the principles of soil mechanics and the concept of ‘soil-structure interaction’.
3. Pavement Design
Pavement Design may consist of the design of flexible or rigid pavements. Flexible pavements depend more on the subgrade soil for transmitting the traffic loads. Problems peculiar to the design of pavements are the effect of repetitive loading, swelling and shrinkage of sub-soil and frost action. Consideration of these and other factors in the efficient design of a pavement is a must and one cannot do without the knowledge of soil mechanics.
4. Excavations, Embankments and Dams
Excavations require the knowledge of slope stability analysis; deep excavations may need temporary supports—‘timbering’ or ‘bracing’, the design of which requires knowledge of soil mechanics. Likewise the construction of embankments and earth dams where soil itself is used as the construction material requires a thorough knowledge of the engineering behaviour of soil especially in the presence of water. Knowledge of slope stability, effects of seepage, consolidation and consequent settlement as well as compaction characteristics for achieving maximum unit weight of the soil in-situ, is absolutely essential for efficient design and construction of embankments and earth dams.
The knowledge of soil mechanics, assuming the soil to be an ideal material elastic, isotropic, and homogeneous material—coupled with the experimental determination of soil properties, is helpful in predicting the behaviour of soil in the field.
Soil being a particulate and heterogeneous material, does not lend itself to simple analysis. Further, the difficulty is enhanced by the fact that soil strata vary in extent as well as in depth even in a small area. A thorough knowledge of soil mechanics is a prerequisite to be a successful foundation engineer. It is difficult to draw a distinguishing line between Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering; the later starts where the former ends.
