This document provides information on the Geotechnical Engineering I course offered at the University of Hawassa, Faculty of Technology. The 5 ECTS credit, compulsory course is offered in the 4th semester to B.Sc. in Civil and Urban Engineering students. The course objectives are for students to gain knowledge in geotechnical engineering topics and skills in identifying soil properties and analyzing soil behavior. The course consists of 7 units covering topics such as soil formation, physical properties, classification, permeability, effective stress concept, compressibility, and consolidation over 15 weeks. Student assessment includes assignments, lab work, midterm and final exams.

1. Department of Civil Engineering
University of Hawassa, Faculty of Technology
Course Number CEng 2322
Course Title Geotechnical Engineering I
Degree Program B.Sc. in Civil and Urban Engineering
Module (No. & Name) 7 - Geotechnical Engineering
Module Coordinator M. U. Jagadeesha
Lecturer M U Jagadeesha
ECTS Credits 5
Contact Hours (per week) Lecture Tutorial & Lab. & Home Total
Seminars workshop Study contact
practice Hrs.
2 0 3 5 5
Course Objectives & The student will be able to:
Competences to be Acquired (a) Knowledge
• Appreciate the necessity / scope / importance of
Geotechnical engineering for civil and Urban Engineering.
• Identify and appreciate the material soil
• Understands soil’s physical and plasticity characteristics.
• Understand the profound impact of presence of water in
soil on its behavior.
• Able to calculate quantum of flow through soil and energy
dissipation across soil medium – (confined and unconfined
flow through soil).
• Have knowledge of compressibility of soils- immediate
and time bound. Time rate analysis of consolidation and
magnitude of compression, Mechanical compaction.
(b) Skills
• Identifies the general engineering behavior of soil knowing
some basic soil properties.
• Able to categorize soil into particular group knowing
gradation and plasticity characteristics of soil.
• Calculate effective stresses in soil mass on which
engineering behavior of soil depends.
• Capable of identifying the flow path of water particle
through soil medium and quantify flow of water through
soil.
• Able to quantify the magnitude of consolidation and work
out its time dependency.
• Able to design and carry out field compaction of soil by
mechanical means.
Course Description/Course • History and development of Geotechnical Engineering.
Contents • Geotechnical engineering problems in Civil & Urban
Engineering.
• Three phase system of soil, physical and index properties.
• Unified soil classification, AASHTO soil classification and
field identification of soils.

2. • Effective stress concept and Capillarity in soils.
• Permeability of soils and flow through soils, flow nets for
confined and unconfined flow. Infiltration – rate, extent,
equilibrium.
• Consolidation of soils. Terzaghi’s one dimensional
consolidation theory, time rate of consolidation and
magnitude of consolidation. Laboratory test for determining
consolidation characteristics.
• Mechanical compaction. Methods of compaction.
Pre-requisites CEng 2411 (Hydraulics I)
Semester 4
Status of Course Compulsory
Teaching & Learning Methods - lectures, Laboratory, assignments
Assessment/Evaluation & - Assignment, laboratory and Mid Exam 50%
Grading System - Final Examination 50%
Attendance Requirements - Minimum of 80% during lectures & 100% during laboratory
sessions
Literature
Budhu M. (2000), Soil Mechanics and Foundations, Wiley and
Sons.
Lambe, T. W., Whitman, R. V. (1999), Soil Mechanics, John
Wiley & Sons Inc
COURSE OUT LINE
Unit ONE Introduction and soil formation
Objective: To be able to identify the necessity of study of soil mechanics for civil
engineers.
Topics: Introduction to soil mechanics, the study & role of soil mechanics, some typical
problems, historical development of soil mechanics, soil failures. (1 week)
Unit TWO Soil formation
Objective: To be able to identify the processes behind formation of various soil deposits.
Topics: Rocks, the sources of soil, rock forming minerals, types of rocks, structural
geology, rock weathering, soil formation, transport and deposition. (1 ½ weeks)
Unit THREE Physical and Index properties
Objective: To be able to identify various terms and properties related to soil and their
inter relationship. To be able to identify grain size distribution and it’s bearing on soil
behaviour.
Topics: Soil composition, three phase model of soil, basic definitions, weight / mass –
volume relationships, void ratio, porosity, water content, Degree of saturation, sp. gravity
of soil solids, In-situ density, relative density. Examples.
Soil texture, grain size distribution, Soil moisture, Atterberg limits/ consistency indices,
specific surface, and clay mineralogy. (3 weeks)

3. Unit FOUR Soil classification
Objective: To be able to identify soil types in lab and field and thereby its behaviour.
Topics: General, systems of soil classification, the unified soil classification system
(USCS), HRB classification system (AASHTO), field identification tests. (1 ½ weeks)
Unit FIVE Hydraulic properties of soil
Objective: To be able to identify permeability of soil, co efficient of permeability for
homogeneous and layered soils, calculate seepage quantity & construction of flow net.
Topics: Water in soil, permeability, one dimensional flow, permeability of layered soils,
capillarity, seepage forces and quick conditions, seepage flow through soil, two
dimensional flow, Laplace equation. Flow nets for sheet pile cut off walls and earth
dams. Flow net construction, computation of seepage quantity, filters in dams, sudden
draw down and seepage forces, piping and its control. (3 weeks)
Unit SIX Effective stress concept
Objective: To identify the difference among total, effective and neutral stresses.
Topics: Geo-static stresses, Total, effective and neutral stresses, capillary rise in soils.
(1 week)
Unit SEVEN Compressibility and consolidation of soils
Objective: To identify the phenomenon of consolidation of soil. To be able to calculate
pre consolidation pressure, primary and secondary consolidation settlement, rate of
consolidation and be able determine MDD & OMC for different soils. To be able to
control field compaction.
Topics: Soil consolidation, Odometer test, Interpreting consolidation test, correction of
compression curve, preconsolidation and estimation of pre consolidation pressure. The
compression parameters, soil structure and consolidation. Computation of primary
consolidation settlement and secondary consolidation settlement. Controlling
consolidation settlements, the co efficient of consolidation, percentage of consolidation,
Rate of consolidation.
Soil compaction and compaction theory, standard and modified compaction test. Field
compaction and its control. (3 weeks)
EVALUATION:
Assignment and quiz………………………… 08 %
Laboratory……………………………………. 12 %
Mid. Examination……………………………… 35 %
Final Examination……………………………… 45 %

4. REFERENCES:
a. Geotechnical engineering – principles and practices by Donald P.
Cuduto
b. Essentials of soil mechanics and foundations by David F. Mc
Carthy
c. Basic and Applied Soil Mechanics by Gopalranjan
and ASR Rao
d. Soils & Foundations by Cheng Liu
& Jack B. Evett
e. Geotechnical engineering by Renato
Lancellotta
f. Geotechnical Engineering by Gulati and
Datta
g. Craig’s Soil Mechanics by Craig
h. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering by V.N.S.Murty
i. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering by S.K. Garg
j. Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering by Arora
k. Soil mechanics by M.J.Smith
l. Experimental soil mechanics by Cheng Liu &
Jack B. Evett
m. Soil Mechanics by Powrie