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STUDY GUIDE · GKU 2

Geotechnical engineering study guide (Civil Engineering)

Geotechnical engineering deals with the ground as an engineering material. Soil is a three-phase mixture of grains, water and air, so its behaviour is described first by ratios of mass and volume — water content, void ratio, saturation, unit weight — and then by the tests that measure them. Those index properties classify the soil and predict how it will drain, compress and resist shear. The effective-stress principle, , is the single idea that ties the subject together: it explains why a sand loses strength when water flows upward through it, why a retaining wall feels a push that depends on wall movement, and why a slope fails after heavy rain. The second half applies these ideas to foundations: bearing capacity, the choice between shallow and deep foundations, and the settlement that continues long after construction. Every section opens with a quick-revision card, and the worked examples run from easy to exam level.

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Structured by the official ETEC subject standard for this topic: every listed topic and learning outcome, with formulas, figures and worked examples. The full sections are available to members in the app.

SKU 2.1 · Geotechnical engineering

  1. Index properties and soil classification

    Grading curves, uniformity and curvature, Atterberg limits and the plasticity chart: how a sample is described, classified and compared before any strength test is run.

  2. Phase relations

    Water content, void ratio, porosity, saturation and the four unit weights, all derived from one three-phase block and linked by .

  3. Laboratory and field tests

    Compaction control, the sand cone and the standard penetration test: what each test measures, how it is corrected, and which number a specification actually controls.

  4. Effective stress

    Terzaghi's principle: total stress minus pore pressure, why the water table changes everything, and how upward seepage can reduce the effective stress to zero.

  5. Lateral earth pressure

    At-rest, active and passive pressure, the Rankine coefficients, and the thrust on a retaining wall from a backfill and its surcharge.

  6. Shear strength

    The Mohr–Coulomb envelope, cohesion and friction, and how drained and undrained tests give different parameters for the same soil.

  7. Slope stability

    Factor of safety as resisting over driving force, the infinite-slope equation for shallow failures, and why seepage turns a stable slope into a marginal one.

SKU 2.2 · Foundation engineering

  1. Bearing capacity

    The three-term bearing-capacity equation, its factors, the effect of the water table, and the factor of safety that turns an ultimate capacity into an allowable pressure.

  2. Foundation types

    Spread, combined, wall and mat foundations, pile capacity from shaft friction and end bearing, and the efficiency of a pile group.

  3. Consolidation and settlement

    Primary consolidation from the – curve, the overconsolidation ratio, and the time factor that converts a laboratory coefficient into a settlement history.

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