Kursens beskrivning

LEARNING OUTCOMES

1. Student is familiar with influence of soil structure and microstructure on soil properties and soil behaviour and real soil behaviour.
   
2. Student understand the principles and limitations of elasto-plastic  constitutive models, including Mohr-Coulomb and critical state soil  models (e.g. Modified Cam Clay). Student can predict how the given model  will approximate soil behaviour on various stress paths
   
3. Student understand in detail the principles of flow of water in saturated soils and can calculate simple problems which involve flow of water
4. Student understand the principles of limit analysis and how it has been used in different methods to compute equations for bearing capacity, including these in the Eurocode
5. Student understand the principles of calculating settlements using elastic half-space solution and non-linear stress-strain relations and can calculate settlements of foundations with number of methods
6. Student understand the soil-structure interaction and can compute problems involving soil-structure interaction using iterative solution
7. Student can assess slope stability and earth pressure using number of methods
8. Student are introduced to anisotropic critical state soil model. General understanding of the model, as well as understanding of how anisotropy affects soil behaviour is expected.
9. Student is familiar with soil testing in the laboratory and know limitations of said tests
10. Additionally, students will improve their ability to communicate the outcomes of his/her work both in written and oral forms, their ability to work in a group, develop further their critical thinking abilities, as well as the ability to self-learn and to support life-long learning.

Credits: 5

Schedule: 26.02.2024 - 17.04.2024

Teacher in charge (valid for whole curriculum period):

Teacher in charge (applies in this implementation): Wojciech Solowski

Contact information for the course (applies in this implementation):

CEFR level (valid for whole curriculum period):

Language of instruction and studies (applies in this implementation):

Teaching language: English. Languages of study attainment: English

CONTENT, ASSESSMENT AND WORKLOAD

Content

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course introduces students to advanced geotechnical engineering. Initially, the course will link soil microstructure to the soil behaviour. Furthermore, the course will also show limitations of constitutive models in approximating some aspects of real soil behaviour.
  The course will shortly explain the Mohr Coulomb model within a more general framework for constitutive modelling, building on description given in Finite Element Method course. Moreover, the course will concentrate on Critical State Soil Mechanics. The course will also present number of laboratory experiments, as well as gradually introduce more advanced calculation methods.

  The course participants should gain deeper understanding of the soil behaviour as well as recognise the approximations (and associated limitations) of typical engineering calculations.

  The course is a pre-requisite for the Numerical Methods in Geotechnics course where critical soil mechanics as well as more advanced soil models will be used for more accurate solution of engineering problems.

  Sustainability goals: course is essential for lean and efficient design that involves soil. It also gives background for accurate design involving new materials, as well as design of foundations for structures where vibrations are present, such as wind turbines and high speed trains.

Assessment Methods and Criteria

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The final assessment criteria will be agreed upon during first lecture of the course. The suggestion is:

  Laboratory: 1/6
  Exercises: 1/6
  Design Project: 1/6
  Lectures: 1/2
  Each part must be passed.

  
  Assessment of the lectures will be mainly done during the lectures (partial exams) with 2 or 3 tests. In case the test is not attended or failed, the student has to attend a resit or pass it individually. Number of resits is limited to two.

  The course will have no final exam. This proposed assessment is discussed during the first lecture and may be changed as a result of discussion with the course participants. Changes in assesment rules require an agreement from the responsible teacher and a significant majority of course participants in favour of changes.

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  5cr, 135h

  Laboratory and associated activities (22 h):

  - laboratory exercises: 10h

  - laboratory report: 12 h

  Exercises and associated activities (44 h):

  - exercises: 5 x 2 h

  - homeworks: 12 h

  - design project: 22 h

  Lectures and associated activities (69 h)

  - lectures: 26h

  - tutorials 6h

  - preparation for lectures/ lecture tests: 13h

  - preparations for partial exam tests 3 x 8h or 2 x 12h

   

DETAILS

Study Material

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Will be given during the course. The course will use number of different sources, including:

  1. Geotechnical engineering : unsaturated and saturated soils, Briaud, J.-L.

  2. Smith's Elements of Soil Mechanics. Smith I.M. 

Substitutes for Courses

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Substitutes for Courses

Prerequisites

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Prerequisites

SDG: Sustainable Development Goals

11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

FURTHER INFORMATION

Further Information

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  Teaching Language : English

  Teaching Period : 2022-2023 Spring IV
  2023-2024 Spring IV

  Enrollment :

  Registration for the course will take place on Sisu (sisu.aalto.fi).

Beskrivning