Course Details in 2024/25 Session

Module Title	LI Geotechnical Engineering 1
School	School of Engineering
Department	Civil Engineering
Module Code	04 29651
Module Lead	Esdras Ngezahayo
Level	Intermediate Level
Credits	20
Semester	Semester 1
Pre-requisites
Co-requisites
Restrictions	None
Contact Hours	Lecture-50 hours Tutorial-13 hours Supervised time in studio/workshop-8 hours Guided independent study-129 hours Total: 200 hours
Exclusions
Description	Engineering Soil: Geology for engineers, 3-phase model of soil, soil descriptions and classification. Compaction: compaction theory, compaction testing, earthworks. Stress in soils:vertical and horizontal stresses, states of shear, Mohr's circles of stress, effective stress. Seepage: Hydraulic head, Darcy's law, permeability and its measurement, flow through layered soil, flownets, piping, drainage and groundwater control Compression and consolidation: Compression and consolidation, Consolidated states, laboratory testing, 1-D theory of consolidation, settlement predictions Shear strength: Shear failure (Peak, ultimate and residual), Mohr-Coulomb criterion, undrained vs. drained shear, laboratory testing. Site Investigation: Stages of a SI desk study, exploratory investigations (trial pits and boreholes), soil samples, Field tests (plate bearing tests, SPT, cone penetration test and their uses, SI reports).
Learning Outcomes	By the end of the module students should be able to: explain the geotechnical properties of soils and rocks for civil engineers, and how soil/rock can be described for engineering purposes assess effective stress on the engineering behaviour of soil and how changes can be determined during different loading and ground water environments explain why water flows through soils, how seepages affects the behaviour of a soil measure permeability and understand what controls the permeability of a soil identify volume changes that occur in soils by using theoretical prediction, laboratory measurements and their use in settlement predictions estimate the response of a soil to shear stresses through the Mohr-Coulomb criterion, un-drained and drained responses, laboratory measurements and considering peak, ultimate and residual strengths value site investigations and the various stages undertaken, including desk study, exploratory investigations, field and laboratory testing and reporting
Assessment	29651-01 : Assessment : Coursework (30%) 29651-02 : Exam : Exam (Centrally Timetabled) - Written Unseen (70%)
Assessment Methods & Exceptions	Assessment: Main assessment: (30%) Assessment 1 – Online assessment (70%) Assessment 2 – 2-hour closed book written unseen examination Reassessment: 100% Written closed book unseen examination (2-hr)
Other
Reading List