Syllabus

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aim is to build the understanding of soil behaviour needed for advanced geotechnical design. It is a preparatory course and a required pre-requisite for GEO-E2020 Numerical Methods in Geotechnics

After taking the course you should:

1. Be familiar with the real soil behaviour, and how this behaviour is influenced by soil structure and microstructure. [Study material 1, parts of chapters 8, 10, 11, 12]
   
2. Be familiar with field and laboratory soil tests, their meaning and limitations (Study material 2, parts of chapters 6, 7, 9)
3. Understand the principles and limitations of elasto-plastic constitutive models, including MohrCoulomb and critical state soil models (e.g. Modified Cam Clay). You should be able to predict how the given model will approximate soil behaviour on various stress paths (Study material 2, chapters 12, 15)
4. Know how water flow affect soil behaviour. (Study material 1, chapter 9, Study material 2, Chapter 13)

Improve:

1. your ability to communicate the outcomes of your work both in written and oral forms,
2. your ability to work in a group,
3. critical thinking abilities,
4. the ability to self-learn, supporting life-long learning.

Credits: 5

Schedule: 24.02.2025 - 09.04.2025

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 introduces the concept of critical state and discusses critical state soil mechanics theory.

  The course compares classical constitutive models for soil: Mohr-Coulomb and Modified Cam Clay. The course will compare those constitutive model predictions of laboratory tests and discuss how they should be parametrised for different use cases.

  The course will also present laboratory experiments, as well as gradually introduce more advanced calculation methods.

  The course participants should gain a 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.The course also gives the understanding of soil behaviour necessary for accurate design of geotechnical structures.

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:
  Exercises:
  Lectures:
  Each part must be passed.
  

  The assessment of the lecture part will be discussed during the course.

Workload

• valid for whole curriculum period:

  The course covers 5 ECTS and approximately 135h

  Laboratory and associated activities (21 h):

  - laboratory exercises: 6 h
  

  - laboratory report: 15 h
  

  Exercises and associated activities (52 h):

  - exercises: 11 x 2 h =22 h
  

  - additional work: 6 x 5 = 30 h
  

  Lectures and associated activities (62 h)

  - lectures: 20 h

  - exam 2 h

  - preparation for exam 40 h

DETAILS

Study Material

• valid for whole curriculum period:

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

  1. . Fundamentals of Soil Behavior (3rd Edition), Soga Kenichi ; Mitchell James K
  2. Geotechnical engineering : unsaturated and saturated soils, Briaud, J.-L.
  3. 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: 2024-2025 Spring IV
  2025-2026 Spring IV

  Registration:

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

Description