Help with Books (I've searched) 1

[geodude387]

Hi,

I'm a newly grad in the bay area. I've searched for books on this, but they seem older and not up to the standard of practice. Can you recommend any books on liquifaction,foundation design, general geotech and FE manuals. I was wondering how Hunt's geotechnical investigation book is. Also for earthquake is Day's book better or Kramer's book?

Thanks

 

[Ron]

Don't dismiss the classical geotechnical texts or proponents as being irrelevant or not up to the standard of practice. Terzaghi, Sowers, Seed, Bowles, Casagrande and a few others researched and created essentially all of the premises used in present-day geotechnical engineering. Seed was extremely prominent in seismic geotechnical subjects and is still considered the de facto expert, 20+ years after his death. I don't think that Seed authored a book, but he did author some of the most authoritative geotechnical papers you'll find. Terzaghi and Peck, Sowers and Bowles texts are excellent and remain relevant for reference.

 

[BigH]

We've gone through this before - recommended texts . . . I happen to like M.J. Tomlinson - both on his piling book and his general foundation book (although I like his earlier editions a bit better). Richard Hall and Woods book on soil dynamics is still relevant. Try to find Poulos' Review paper from the 2001 ISSMFE Conference. He did a nice job of looking at the "old" and relevance to the "new" and found that the "old" tried and true methods are still quite appropriate in most cases.

As a history buff, I also would suggest that one looks into the older books by Tschebotariof and Krynine and Judd; perhaps, too by Leggett. Also White's book on underpinning and Chellis' book on piles. Some might like Jumikis. (wonder if the initiator of this thread has even heard of these guys . . .) In the older books, while you might not be "snowed" by theoretical equations, you will find a lot more little titbits of information that modern tests just don't mention but information that will really help you in practice. One case in point is in Chellis about driving H-piles in sand (not a good idea, in my mind, but piles keep on going - so about 5 m up in between the flanges, weld in a plate - will also start to give you some "bearing" as well.

 

[oldestguy]

Navy Bureau of Yards and Docks have some manuals that have useful info, especially related to civil works. They can be accessed on line under the general subject of NAFAC DM. However the Vulcan folks have it available with an update under a new name. United Facilities Criteria

http://www.vulcanhammer.net/geotechnical/general_soil_mechanics.php

 

[Mccoy]

Present authoritative reference for liquefaction is th EERI book:

As a general earthquake engineering text, with lots of material on liquefaction the towatha book is very good:

 

[geodude387]

Thanks McCoy I was going to get the Idriss and R.W. Boulanger text. How does Towahata's book compare to that of Kramer's. Does anyone know a good slope stability book because I live in CA?

 

[Mccoy]

Duncan & Wright's book is excellent:

I don't know well the Kramer book, Towatha is very clear and pretty updated, I believe it explains liquefaction like none else, maybe you can consult it at Googlebooks