Geotechnical library

[civeng80]

I have the classical textbooks on soil mechanics such as T & P SMIEP, Lambe & Whitman Soil Mechanics, Bowles Foundation Analysis and Design (which is great for me) Tschebotarioff which I hardly ever used since University days.
I just expanded with Coduto Foundation Design Principles nad Practices and Tomlinson Foundation design and Construction. Im thinking of getting Das Foundation Engineering.
They both seem like pretty good practical books especially Coduto very simple to read with good practical examples and Im briefly reading thru it with great interest.

Does anyone else have any other suggestions for good references.

Does anyone have Tschebotarioff and do they have any use for it these days?

 

[BigH]

I have his original 1951 edition - and yes, I do find it useful. Perhaps, you will not find it, or say, the engineering geology book by Krynine and Judd to be "equation" enough for you, but the older books (and I could add White's book on underpinning, Chellis' book on piles) talk about real problems and how they developed solutions - in other words, they taught the thought process . . . You should download Poulos and Davis' book on Elastic Solutions for Soil and Rock Mechanics.

 

[civeng80]

BigH my version of Tschebotarioff is 1973 and I had to get the book many years ago for an elective in University (I vaguely remember for sheet piling design work), it turns out we hardly used it at all. I had a go at reading parts of it but just gave up as I found it pretty dry and not enough equations as you said.
But I thought it was time to expand library in geotech so got a few newer texts like Coduto Foundation Design and also Tomlinson Foundation construction which Ive been meaning to get for quite a while.

I find both texts quite good in different ways and I think the title really says it all.

I had a good read of Mayne and Poulos (1999) paper and I think its very good too.

Of course Terzagi Peck and Mesri is always good to read for any Geotech issues and the 3rd edition suits me well because its in SI units and because at least it doesn't fall to bits like my 2nd edition.
I think books like Poulos and Davis would probably be beyond my type of work, which is mainly commercial foundations and earth works with fairly simple soil conditions, but I will still look out for it.

Bowles was always my favorite and probably still is (maybe because of all the equations and because Im a structural engineer) but its always good to get another viewpoint and I find Coduto really compliments Bowles in many ways.

Thanks for your references.

 

[BigH]

I have the '73 Tschebotarioff too, in storage. I happen to like the older books because it goes back to my love of history. One other book that you might be quite interested in due to, as you indicated commercial foundations and earthworks is Rollings and Rollings - they have a good section on compaction. There is another book on compaction by Monihan (professor from NJ Tech - or something like that - spelling of name might be wrong). I'm okay with Conduto but I have always enjoyed Tomlinson's books - as he does mix a nice blend of practical guidance with the "equations". I found his older versions a bit more interesting . . . He also has a pile book.

 

[civeng80]

I also like the historical books and actually have D W Taylor Fundamentals of soil mechanics, but in reality cannot get much out of it.
Been also trying to get Terzaghi Theoretical soil mechanics but its hard to get and very expensive.

Anyway Im happy now with what I have and will be doing some reading over the next few weeks.

 

[FixedEarth]

Don't forget to try Fethi Azizi from the UK, Wanyne C. Teng & Alfreds R. Jumikis from the US. Azizi just published his 2nd editions this year and is my first reference to check. Teng, his foundation design book is great for retaining structures, mats and shallow foundations. Jumikis is great for earth pressures, circular/ring wall foundations, sheet piles, tieback walls and soil settlement calculations.

These are not cheap, but if you want consolidated geotechnical library, get the 4 volume set by Arpad Kezdi (Handbook of Soil Mechanics, circa 1990 +/-).

http://www.soilstructure.com/

 

[FixedEarth]

See attached.

http://www.soilstructure.com/

 

[Mccoy]

Foundation Engineering Hanbook edited by Feng, 1991 edition.
The best practical geotechnical treatise in many ways. Practical+equations, with some pretty innovative methods and concepts in 1991 (still innovative now I'd say).
I have many of the others mentioned, Feng stands out though.
The 1990 Kulhawy and Mayne EPRI handbook, now freely downloadable, previously running at US$ 2500, is also a very good practical reference.

 

[civeng80]

Surprised no one mentioned Foundation Engineering Peck Hanson Thornburn

 

[BigH]

I know a guy with Taylor's book - had a read through; it was okay. I also, given the "old stuff" enjoy Krynine and Judd's Engineering Geology book (have a very nice hardback and well as a cheap Indian edition). There are so many books/texts out there now . . . life was simpler when it was just Lambe and Whitman, Terzaghi and Peck (2nd Ed), etc. I bought Jumikis' book (a bit bug eaten) years ago when I was in Karachi . . . Oh, and should we have forgetten G.A. Leonards Foundation Engineering Handbook?

 

[civeng80]

I read parts of Taylor's book out of interest and I would describe it as OK (about 6/10), I really thought it was something like Terzaghi's Theoretical soil mechanics but it isn't at all from what I hear at least.

Back in my Uni days it was Lambe and Whitman and Terzaghi and Peck (2nd edition) and we also had C.R. Scott Soil Mechanics and Foundations which in my opinion is quite a poor book. I actually started liking Bowles 2nd edition and never looked back.

In fact I just wanted some new blood in my library on soils and foundations and quite happy for the moment. If I see some bargains in ebay I may buy more classics or maybe some more newer books like some Indian Books e.g. Budhu

 

[BigH]

civeng80 - I worked in India for several years and was able to add to my library a number of books . . . I might suggest, if you have a chance, to pick up Kaniraj's Design Aids in Soil Mechanics and Foundation Engineering. Its actually quite good especially with the various "elastic" charts/tables . . . also Vargese's Foundation Engineering. Indians have good chapters, typically, on what they call "well foundations" - or in our terminology large caisson foundations. There are others I had picked up as well.

 

[RFreund]

What about state of the Art? I have many of the old books and they are good. But where are we at Today? What are the latest techniques? Is there a reference that discusses this? I feel like some of the newer books even by Das and Coduto and other semi-popular books touch on the following but are for a classroom setting and provide no use to the practicing engineer.

I would think such a reference would include some of the following:

LRFD approach
Deflection of cantilevered and anchored walls
Earth pressures
Finite Element
Limit equilibrium
Tiered walls and slope stability - using limit equilibrium / FEM
Earth pressures using limit equilibrium / FEM
Really just more on soil-structure interaction and modeling

Sorry don't mean to Hijack the thread.

EIT

http://www.HowToEngineer.com

 

[civeng80]

RFreund

Thanks for the input.

Would be nice if some books included some or all of your topics, but the field of Geotechnical engineering has become so broad that it would be a difficult task to include the topics.

I did my University course about 30 years ago and am quite surprised that with fundamental soil mechanics one can solve a wide variety of foundation and Geotechnical problems.

Lambe and Whitman, Terzaghi and Peck (Mesri), Bowles can get a lot of problems solved in the field, in my line of work.

I just thought I would add a few more texts such as Tomlinson, Coduto and Das which I find to be quite good. Doesn't contain much more than 30 year old books but still good IMHO.

 

[BigH]

I've got a lot of books that I have collected over the years (lived in India for a while and the books are cheap there). While I rely more on the books I've mentioned as well as others have mentioned, I have found that almost all of the "off" books have at least one paragraph or page that is "new" compared to others - perhaps a chart or a table . . . Just ran into Whitlow's book - some good thins in there too.