CE 4321: GEOTECHNICAL ENGINEERING DESIGN

Fall Semester 2008
 
INSTRUCTOR:            P.W. Jayawickrama, Ph.D., Office: Room 161, CE Building
                                      Phone: (806) 742-3471 ext. 245
                                      Email: priyantha.jayawickrama@ttu.edu
SCHEDULE:                 Tue-Thu 8:00 - 9:20 am
ROOM:                         Room No.205, CE Building
OFFICE HOURS:         Tue-Thu 9:30am - 11:00pm; Otherwise Open Door Policy
PREREQUISITES:       CE 3321 and CE 3121
 
TEXTBOOK:      Foundation Design; Principles and Practices (Second Edition) by Donald P. Coduto,  
                            Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 2001.

To download a copy of the syllabus click here.

COURSE PURPOSE:

The purpose of this course is: (a) to provide the students with an in-depth knowledge and understanding of the principles governing the design of foundation systems for structures (b) to provide them with an opportunity to apply the design procedures to a "real life" foundation design project.

 

COURSE OUTCOMES & OBJECTIVES:

Upon completion of this course the student will be able to do the following:

  1. Identify the essential steps involved in a geotechnical site investigation and specify appropriate laboratory test procedures for the characterization soil materials with respect to strength and compressibility.
  2. Identify the principal types of foundations and describe the factors governing the choice of the most suitable type of foundation for a given situation.
  3. Perform: (a) bearing capacity and, (b) settlement analyses for shallow foundations.
  4. Evaluate (a) end bearing capacity and (b) skin friction for a given type of deep foundations and hence estimate the axial load capacity.
  5. Prepare a geotechnical engineering report documenting procedures used and findings from site investigation, laboratory characterization of subsurface materials, analysis performed and final recommendations with regard to the optimum design of the foundations system.
TOPICS COVERED:
  1. Fundamental soil mechanics principles related to engineering classification of soils, stresses in soil masses, soil compressibility and soil shear strength
  2. Classification of foundations, Historical developments in foundation engineering, Building codes
  3. Performance requirements for foundations, Designing against bearing capacity failure, Total and differential settlements, Allowable differential settlements for various types of structures, Uncertainties in design, Factors of safety
  4. Site Investigation, Borehole layout and borehole depth, Soil sampling techniques, laboratory testing, In-situ testing, Economics of site investigation and testing
  5.  Shallow foundations – Bearing capacity, Bearing pressure versus bearing capacity, Methods for estimation of soil bearing capacity, Plate load tests, Bearing capacity analysis, Selection of soil shear strength parameters, Spreadsheet Program BEARING.XLS
  6. Shallow Foundations – Settlement, Stresses in soil beneath a foundation, Settlement in cohesive soils, Settlement in cohesionless soils, Settlement of footings in stratified soils, Computer Programs SETTLEMENT.XLS and SCHMERTMANN.XLS
  7. Deep Foundations, Types of deep foundations, Pile Foundations, Drilled Shafts, Load transfer mechanisms, end bearing resistance, skin friction, installation methods
  8. Pile foundations – axial load capacity, Full-scale load tests, Analyses based on soil properties, Analyses based on in-situ test results, Analyses based on pile driving dynamics
  9. Pile foundations – Group effects, Settlement of pile groups, Axial load capacity of pile groups, Group efficiency
  10. Drilled shaft foundations – Modern construction techniques, Estimation of axial load capacity, Settlement calculations

DESIGN PROJECT:

The student will be assigned a "real life" problem to solve during the course.  The problem will be assigned approximately 2 weeks into the course and the students are required to submit a final written report and make an oral presentation near the end of the semester.  The design exercise will be completed as a group project. 

Disability Policy:

Any Student who, because of a disability, may require some special arrangements in order to meet the course requirements should contact the instructor as soon as possible to make necessary accommodations.

Religious Holy Days: 

A student who intends to observe a religious holy day (as defined by OP 34.19) should make that intention known to the instructor prior to the absence in order to receive accommodations prescribed by OP 34.19.