Geotechnical Engineer's "Must Have" Library 1

[millerbrun]

Hello everyone,

I am a brand new engineer and have just over a year of experience in the geotechnical field with a geotechnical consulting company. I'm wondering if I could get some feedback as to what books I should stock my shelves with for useful reading/reference material for a consultant like myself?

Because I'm new, the sort of projects that I get my hands on are generally retaining structures and the sort. When I get further in my career and can specialize, I would hope to be involved with geohazards (landslides, debris flows and the like) or possibly specializing in rocks masses for tunnels and such.

The only geotechnical book I have on my shelf at the moment is Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineer by B. M. Das, which I hear is one of the "must have" books already, and I am quite fond of this book.

All feedback is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

P.S. I have seen some other posts with this topic already, I am not incapable of finding them, I was just hoping to get slightly more customized input on my situation. Cheers

 

[FixedEarth]

Any publications by the following authors are a must have:

Fethi Azizi
Alfreds R Jumikis
John Cernica
Leonardo Zeevaert
F.D.C. Henry

Best way is to examine it in a library and then wait for it to be listed on Ebay. This will take you few years but it will give you a chance to become familiar with the books you already own.

 

[Qshake]

I have mentioned this before but will again as it's relevant and potential cost savings....

Powells Bookstore specializes in rare and hard to find technical books. You can visit thier website at Powells.com. Their prices are very reasonable and shipping won't cost an arm and leg as it does on Ebay.

Regards,
Qshake

Eng-Tips Forums:Real Solutions for Real Problems Really Quick.

 

[Ron]

More suggestions...

Classical...
Terzaghi and Peck
Sowers
Bowles
Lambe
Tschebetarioff (sp?)

Contemporary...
Das
Hunt

 

[msquared48]

My same thoughts Ron. Are we dating ourselves or what?

I will also add though Peck and Thornburn...

Mike McCann
MMC Engineering

http://mmcengineering.tripod.com

 

[motorbiketocrank]

In addition to the above textbooks, I'd recommend downloading many of the free excellent federal agency publications. Examples would be:

FHWA -

http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/engineering/geotech/library_listing.cfm

(They're all good but I'd especially point out Geotech Engineering Circular 5 as covering a lot of basic topics)

DOD -

http://www.wbdg.org/ccb/browse_cat.php?o=29&c=4

(In addition to these UFC's, various agencies such as the Corps of Engineers have other engineering publications that you can navigate to through this site). Also, a classic is NAVFAC DM 7.1 and 7.2 which you can google.....it's a little hard to find stuff in the DM but it has lots of good empirical correlations, etc

 

[dgillette]

I also get some mileage out of Winterkorn and Fang's Foundation Engineering Handbook, and the Bureau of Reclamation's Earth Manual:

http://www.usbr.gov/pmts/writing/earth/earth.pdf,

the latter being one those free government publications. Between Reclamation and USACE, you can find all kinds of things to download on canals, stability analysis, lab procedures, dams, waterfront structures, etc.

Occasionally, I am happy to have Fundamentals of Soil Behavior by Jim Mitchell close by, but that's not a high priority, especially if there is a university library nearby (you won't need it terribly often). If you will be doing numerical modeling, it would be good to have either "Soil Behaviour and Critical State Soil Mechanics" by David Muir Wood, or "The Mechanics of Soils, an Introduction to Critical State Soil Mechanics." If you will be working in seismic areas, get ahold of "Soil Liquefaction During Earthquakes" by Idriss and Boulanger. (If your projects will be in east Texas or south Florida, don't bother with that last one.)

Since you mention landslides, consider a fairly recent book on slope stability by Duncan and Wright, or is it Wright and Duncan? I don't recall the title. I have a feeling that seeing the price tag would curl your hair, but maybe you have a well-off grandmother who wants to buy something nice for your birthday. Tell her that it's an investment you'll use long after all those ties and sweaters are out of style.

 

[Ron]

Mike...not quite as old as the dirt we studied (Sowers got extremely indignant when soil was called "dirt").

 

[BigH]

Don't forget to add both of MJ Tomlinson's books (one is on Foundation Design and Construction and the other is on Pile Design and Constrution). Leonards Handbook is also very good - dated but sometimes the "dated" books have the little nuggets of personal information that contemporary books don't contain. Always remember that Geotechnical Engineering in more than design - you need to build things too! @David - Winterkorn and Fang!! (that's the first edition - the second edition was just Fang - different authors. W&F had a great section on Floating Foundations (Chapter 12) by HQ Golder. I second (or is that third) the mention of Tschebotarioff. Mesri (as an added author of T&P for the third edition) does add some quite relevant topics without being detrimental to the classic 2nd Edition. Bell also has some good books (British Geotech). And finally, I would be remiss not to suggest that one have a copy (which can now be downloaded) of Poulos and Davis' Elastic Solutions for Soil and Rock Mechanics.

 

[BigH]

Sorry - also forgot the classic by Cedergren on Flow Nets and Seepage. Also White's book on underpinning and Chellis' book on piles (has a great little titbit about how to get H-piles to "stop" in sands . . .

 

[Ron]

BigH...didn't get back to you on your email response to my question on adjacent structures. As always it was right on target and I thank you greatly for your input.
Ron

 

[dgillette]

Are you now sorry you asked, millerbrun? Library overload!

 

[BigH]

@David - no, he just will not be able to pay off his student loans!

 

[dgillette]

I need to track down where my W&F 1975 has gone. That's one problem with working in a large office: there are a lot of people that borrow things, and I lose track. My copy of Lambe and Whitman is also missing. (Not really mine, I suppose, since I sorta strong-armed it from a guy who was retiring and didn't need it anymore. Easy come, easy go.)

Saturday night. Going home now.

 

[vulcanhammer]

NAVFAC DM 7.01 and 7.02 can be found here:

http://www.vulcanhammer.net/geotechnical/dm7_01.pdf

http://www.vulcanhammer.net/geotechnical/dm7_02.pdf

I would also include this one as well, FHWA's Soils and Foundations Reference Manual:

http://www.vulcanhammer.net/geotechnical/FHWA-NHI-06-088.pdf

dgilette: a colleague of mine had two copies of Sowers and Sowers disappear under similar circumstances. Our university library is doing a purge of books and both of their copies ended up on the cut list. I managed to snag one for our engineering "textbook museum" and bought the other one for $1.00. (Also snagged Jumikis as well.)

http://www.pz27.net

 

[BigH]

@vulcanhammer - I picked up a Jumikis in Pakistan when I was there years ago - and got a very good condition Krynine and Judd. Also have Tscheotarioff's 1951 book and Leonards Foundation Handbook. Love the old books. Missed out on Chellis and White's book on underpinning. My parents gave me W&F for uni graduation.