文档介绍：Chapter 1
Soil
In the general sense of engineering, soil is defined as the uncernented aggregate of mineral grains and anic matter (solid particles) along with the liquid and gas that occupy the empty spaces between the solid particles. Soil is used as a construction material in various civil engineering projects, and it supports structural foundations. Thus, civil engineers must study the properties of soil, such as its origin, grain- size distribution, ability to drain water, compressibility, shear strength, load- be a ring capacity, and so on. Soil mechanics is the branch of science that deals with the study of the physical properties of soil and the behavior of soil masses subjected to various types of forces. Soils engineering is the application of the principles of soil mechanics to practical problems.
The record of a person's first use of soil as a construction material is lost in antiquity, for years, the art of soils engineering was based only on past experience. With the growth of science and technology, he need for better and more economical structural design and construction became critical. This led to a detailed study of the nature and properties of soil as they related to engineering during the early part of the twentieth century. The publication of Erdbaumechanik by Kari Terzaghi in 1925 gave birth to modem soil mechanics. This book presents the fundamental p