This book offers a thorough, yet student-friendly,
introduction to the field of geotechnical engineering. t provides a comprehensive treatment of both the
principles of soil mechanics and their applications to
practical engineering problems, with an emphasis on
understanding the physical basis for soil behaviour.
Primarily designed for undergraduate civil engineer-
ing students, this integrated approach gives students
a broader perspective of the subject matter and
provides a solid foundation for future studies.
The material is reinforced with many example
problems, homework problems, end-of-chapter
problems, and easy-to-use Windows software
developed specifically for this book. This software has
been carefully integrated into the text, and is
designed as a tool to enhance learning through
exploration of more difficult problems that would
otherwise be too tedious to solve by hand.

Table of Contents
Preface. Notation and Units of
Measurement. Introduction to Geotechnical
Engineering. Engineering Geology. Site Exploration
and Characterization. Soil Composition. Soil
Classification. Excavation, Grading, and Compacted
Fill. Groundwater—Fundamentals. Ground-water—
Applications. Geoenvironmental Engineering. Stress.
Compressibility and Settlement. Rate of Consoli-
dation. Strength. Stability of Earth Slopes. Dams and
Levees. Lateral Earth Pressures and Retaining
Walls. Structural Foundations. Difficult Soils. Soil
Improvement. Geotechnical Earthquake Engineering.
Appendices: A—Recommended Resources for Further
Study. B—Unit Conversion Factors. C—Computer
Software. References. Name Index. Subject Index.