Soil Mechanics by Roberto Nova

Preface

Atque neque, uti docui, solido cum corpore mundi naturast, quoniam admixtumst in rebus inane …

Titus Lucretius Caro De Rerum Natura

According to the engineering nomenclature, soil mechanics is concerned with the behavior of clastic rocks, or “soils”, under different loading conditions: external loading, such as that transmitted by the foundations of any structure, or generated by the seepage of water, and also by its own weight as a consequence of geometric changes, induced for instance by excavation or tunneling.


Knowledge of soil mechanical behavior is, in fact, an essential element for the prediction of the displacements and internal actions of a structure founded on or interacting with it. Soil Mechanics is, therefore, the fundamental subject of geotechnical engineering, the branch of civil engineering concerned with soil and with the interacting soil structure, dealing with the design and the construction of civil and industrial structures and environment defense works against geological hazards.


Aristotle said “Φαντασία δέ πᾶσα ᾕ λογιστική ᾕ αίσθητική”: any prediction is based either on a rational calculation or on intuitive perception. Although the latter has been for a long time the starting-point of any construction and still plays a relevant role in design, it is the former that allows the definition of the structure’s dimensions and safety assessment. In fact, it allows rational prediction of the structure’s behavior in the different construction phases and during its life.

This calculation must be based on a mathematical model of the structure and the soil. This should schematize the geometry of the problem, the mechanical behavior both of materials and structures, as well as the loading. The definition of an overall mathematical model of the structure and the soil is a very complex problem that is


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