Fundamentals of Soil Behavior

Discussing the behavior of soils as engineering materials, this book combines principles of geology, mineralogy, soil science, chemistry and physics. It provides a basis for a fundamental understanding of the engineering properties of soils, the factors controlling their magnitude, and the influences of environment and time. Part I, The Nature of Soil, takes up such topics as soil mineralogy, sedimentary processes, soil composition (including soil water), soil fabric, and the behavior of the soil-water-electrolyte system. Much of the material found in this section has previously been available only in scattered books and papers in various disciplines. Part II, Soil Behavior, treats fabirc-property relationships, soil structure stability, and the three major mechanical property classes applicable to engineering problems--volume change, strength and deformation, and conduction phenomenaé The books features: - Comprehensive coverage. - Chapters on Soil Structure and its Stability and Fabroc-Structure and Property Relationships synthesize the results of over 20 years' research. - A chapter on conduction phenomena establishes the parrallels between hydraulic, electrical, chemical, and thermal flows through soils. It then examines coupled flows such as electro-osmosis and chemico-osmosis and their practical significance. - Another key chapter provides a perspective on the fundamentals of stregnth, deformation, and time-dependent deformation in soils--material not available in conventional texts. - An extensive bibliography, many photomicrographs of clay particles and fine-grained soil fabrics, data for determination, and extensive illustrations.