ARCH 552 - Soil Mechanics and Foundations

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Spring 2018

Instructor Pouyan Asem, Ph.D., A.M. ASCE, M. JGS

Contact information B213 Newmark Civil Engineering Laboratory

Email: assem1@illinois.edu

Prerequisite ARCH 452 and ARCH 551

Course Credit 3 credit hours

Instructional materials Course materials will be available on the class Compass2g website.

Supplemental textbooks

1. Coduto, D. P. (2001). Foundation design: principles and practices (2nd ed.): Prentice
Hall.
2. Peck, R. B., Hanson, W. E., and Thornburn, T. H. (1974). Foundation Engineering (2nd
ed.). New York: John Wiley and Sons.
3. Holtz, R.D. and Kovacs, W.D. (1981). Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering,
Prentice Hall.
4. Bowles, J.E. (1988). Foundation Analysis and Design, 4th Ed., McGraw-Hill.

Expectations

1. Students must attend every class. Only absences caused by health, family, or medical-
related reasons are justified.
2. Class participation will be actively sought by the Instructor at all times, as individual
students are asked questions and calculations are checked by all.
3. Cell phones, alarms, and pagers must be turned off for the duration of class, including
exams.
4. Students are required to comply with all pertinent University Student Code requirements.

Homework assignment requirements

Please note the following in relation to homework assignments in this class:

1. Homework assignments are due at the beginning of the class and will be collected in
class. Late homework assignments are subjected to 10% late-submittal penalty.
2. All calculations must be properly documented. Undocumented calculations will not be
accepted for credit. All graphs and tables must be clearly labeled. Programs such as Excel

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 or any other equivalent program may be used to perform calculations, however, at least
one sample calculation must be shown. If iterations are required for the solution to a
problem, at least two sample trials/hand calculations must be shown. Homework
submittals that do not meet these requirements may receive partial credit. All results must
show units, unless dimensionless. Results are limited to 4 significant figures.
3. Final answers must be noticeably framed.
4. All homework assignment submittals should reflect your own original work and thoughts.
Submitting another student’s work or ideas for credit is plagiarism and will be dealt with
in accordance to the Student Code.
5. Each new problem, within each homework, must start on a new page.
6. Write legible large script. Use pencil for completing your homework assignments.
7. Use of engineering paper is required. Write only on one side of the paper.
8. Graded homework assignments are returned in class. Students are responsible to submit
and collect their own homework assignments. You cannot collect or submit someone
else’s homework assignment under any circumstances.
9. Homework regrade requests must be submitted within 7 days after graded homework
assignments are returned in class. After this period, regrade requests will not be accepted.

Examinations

1. A midterm exam, open-book style, will be given during a class period halfway into the
semester.
2. A comprehensive final exam, open-book style, will be given on the date indicated in the
University calendar.

Grading

Class participation 10%

Homework 40%
Mid-term exam 20%
Comprehensive final exam 30%

Office hours

Tuesday 1:00 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. in NCEL B213

Academic integrity

“The University has the responsibility for maintaining academic integrity so as to protect the
quality of education and research on our campus and to protect those who depend upon our
integrity. It is the responsibility of the student to refrain from infractions of academic integrity,
from conduct that may lead to suspicion of such infractions, and from conduct that aids others in
such infractions.” (Code of Policies and Regulations Applying to All Students, Academic
Integrity - Preamble, 1-402). In this course, you are expected to submit your own, original work
that has not been previously submitted for credit.

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Tentative Course Outline

Topic Reference
Coduto (2001) Peck (1974)
Engineering properties of soils and rocks Ch. 1

Seepage analysis Ch. 2

Consolidation settlement Ch. 3:pp 64-80 Ch. 3
Time rate of consolidation Ch. 7:pp 207-224
Shear strength of sands Ch. 3 Art. 4.1 to 4.8
Drained and undrained shear strength of clays Ch. 3 Art. 4.8 to 5.1
Subsurface investigations Ch. 4 Ch. 5 and 7
Shallow foundations Ch. 5 Ch. 10 to 15, 17, 18
Contact pressure
Bearing capacity of shallow foundations on sand and clay Ch. 6 Ch. 19
Foundation settlement Ch. 3:pp 64-80 Ch. 10 to 15, 17, 18
Elastic stress distribution theories Ch. 7 Ch. 10 to 15, 17, 18
Foundation settlement on sand Ch. 7:pp 231-244
Differential settlement Ch. 7: pp 244-249
Shallow foundations, geotechnical design Class material Ch. 23 to 26
Art. 14.2, 26.5 to 27.1
Calculation of lateral earth pressures Ch. 22 and 23 Art. 26.1 to 26.5
Retaining wall design Class material Ch. 23 to 26
Art. 14.2, 26.5 to 27.1
Deep foundations Ch. 11 Ch. 10 to 15, 17, 18, 19
Static load tests Ch.13
Deep foundations on sand and clay: predictive methods for axial Ch. 14 Ch. 10 to 15, 17, 18, 19
capacity
Deep foundations on sand and clay Ch. 14 Ch. 10 to 15, 17, 18, 19
Ch. 15
Dynamic formulas for piles Ch. 14 Ch. 10 to 15, 17, 18, 19
Analysis of pile groups Ch. 15