CE5604 UNSATURATED SOILS

Course Code:5625604
METU Credit (Theoretical-Laboratory hours/week):3 (3.00 - 0.00)
ECTS Credit:8.0
Department:Civil Engineering
Language of Instruction:English
Level of Study:Graduate
Course Coordinator:Assoc.Prof.Dr. NABİ KARTAL TOKER
Offered Semester:Fall and Spring Semesters.

Course Objectives

The course aims to equip geotechnical engineers with theorethical knowledge and thought framework for handling problems that involve partially saturated soils in research and practice. The course does not directly provide design tools and practical calculations.


Course Content

Interfacial tension, cavitation, capillarity. Soil suction, water retention and drainage of porous media. Micromechanics/microhydraulics of unsaturated soil. Testing of unsaturated soils: suction measurement and control, volume measurement. Flow and balance laws, hydraulic conductivity function, 1-D flow, infiltration and evaporation. Shear strength; effective stress and independent state variables approaches. Deformation and consolidation; expansive and collapsing of soils. Constitutive modeling.


Course Learning Outcomes

Become familiar with air-water interface physics

Extend existing soil mechanics knowledge to problems with partial saturation

Establish theoretical backgroung for unsaturated soil research

Gain ability to perceive geotechnical problems through unsaturated soil framework

Improve researcher abilities related to literature review, article writing and presentation