TRAINING.

Overview

After participating in this course, you will be able to:

• Understand the principles of soil mechanics, and identify issues and challenges
• Determine appropriate subsurface exploration and laboratory characterization
• Evaluate construction practices
• Understand slope stability, pavement sub-grades, and the use of retaining walls
• Apply your understanding of soil behaviour on your projects where earthworks and foundations are involved

Description:

Engineers responsible for construction work need an understanding of different soils and their behaviour. The depth of knowledge need not equal that of a geotechnical engineer who must use rigorous mathematics, extensive experience, theory and research in design. However, to be effective, the non-geotechnical engineer needs a working understanding of basic concepts to gain confidence in dealing with various subsoil-related problems they may encounter on engineering projects.

This course is designed for participants to better understand soil behaviour and learn from an expert in geotechnical engineering about subsoil problems and their solutions.

Course Outline:

• Basic soil mechanics concepts
• Water in soils: permeability and seepage
• Stress in soil and soil settlement
• Shear strength of soils
• Subsurface investigations
• Foundations
• Stability of earth slopes

Who Should Attend:

Civil and Structural Engineers • Designers • Construction Engineers • Construction Managers and personnel • Project Engineers and Managers • Technologists and Technicians • Engineering Managers • General Contractors

Please note: You can check other time zones here.

Syllabus

Day I: Soils Mechanics: Fundamentals

Welcome, Introduction, Workshop Preview, Learning Outcomes and the Assessment Method

Basic Soil Mechanics Concepts

• Nature of soil, grain size distributions
• Soil composition
• Soil classification
• Stresses in soils
• Total and effective stresses
• Load distribution

Water in Soils: Permeability and Seepage

• Groundwater flow in soils
• Estimating the rate of flow
• Effective drainage and the use of filters
• Flow control

Stress in Soil and Soil Settlement:

• Stress in soil: effective stress, consequences of change in effective stress
• Consolidation: time dependency, Oedometer tests, settlement calculations, effects of over consolidation

Shear Strength of soils

• Measurement of soil strength
• Drained and undrained deformation
• Strength anisotropy
• Mohr-coulomb failure criteria, ‘Clays’ vs ‘Sands’

Day II: Geotechnical Engineering: Applications

Subsurface Investigations

• Scope of work
• Available information and objectives
• Planning and methods of investigations: SPT, CPT and VST
• Understanding and interpreting geotechnical reports

Foundations

• Limit states
• Shallow foundations: bearing capacity, settlement and design considerations, introduction to deep foundations

Stability of Earth Slopes

• Slope failure types and causes
• Determination of slope safety
• Limit equilibrium analysis methods and computer software
• Groundwater effects
• Slope stabilization techniques

Questions and Answers and Feedback to Participants on Achievement of Learning Outcomes

Concluding Remarks and Final Adjournment

Instructor

Mohammad Rayhani, Ph.D., P.Eng.

Dr. M.T. Rayhani, P.Eng., is a Professor of Geotechnical Engineering and the director of Geo-engineering Research Group at Carleton University. He has over a decade of experience in research, teaching and engineering consulting, and has collaborated extensively with industry leaders worldwide. He has received research grants from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council of Canada, Canada Foundation for Innovation, Transport Canada, and other funding agencies. Dr. Rayhani has presented short courses, seminars, and guest lectures on various topics related to frontier research in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering in Canada, the USA, France, Germany, Italy, India, Iran, and other countries. He holds a Ph.D. degree in Geotechnical Engineering from the University of Western Ontario and he is the author of over 50 publications in different areas of geo-engineering. Dr. Rayhani is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Province of Ontario.