Geotechnical Engineering > Foundation Engineering

Geotechnical engineering is one of the five main branches in civil engineering, which can further be categorized into soil mechanics, foundation engineering, retaining structures and excavations. Geotechnical engineering is a branch that interacts with all other branches, after all, every structure needs foundation system. Geotechnical engineering failures are usually among the costliest to fix, if the fix is possible at all in the first place. Before we discuss failures, we should briefly describe how the process works in geotechnical engineering, which is something not many people may be familiar. The process in geotechnical engineering starts with a site investigation, after the site is decided on by the owner of the […] Read More

In this post we will try to summarize design of shallow foundations and highlight some critical points. Read More

Grouting is one of the most common ground improvement methods, which can be applied in various ways for different situations. In this post we will look at grouting methods, try to explain when to chose which method and certain common issues that may be encountered. Read More

It is not possible to describe or even summarize foundation design principles in a single post. So first of all, we refer the readers to other posts we made in Geotechnical engineering and foundations. Below we did not distinguish shallow or deep foundations. We will only list some major points to consider below: Bearing capacity Settlement, such as elastic settlement for all soils and primary and secondary consolidation settlement for clays Potential for deep seated failure, when a weak layer can be present beneath a stronger layer Frost heave cycle The soil parameters are reliable to the degree of the reliability of tests to determine them. The engineer must use […] Read More