This Civil Engineering Course under the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) on the broad subject of Soil and Rock Mechanics, Dynamics and Structures, Foundation Engineering and Geology is being carried out by Indian Institute of Technology’s and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as a collaborative project supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (Government of India) to enhance the quality of engineering education in the country, by developing curriculum based video and web courses. In these web based lectures, the authors have developed the subject in detail and in stages in a student-friendly manner. The broad group of Soil and Rock Mechanics, Dynamics and Structures, Foundation Engineering and Geology is structured into modules on the following topics:
Engineering Geology
This course by IIT Kharagpur deals with the application of geology to engineering practice so as to ensure that the geologic factors affecting the location, design, construction, operation and maintenance of engineering works are based on geologic and geotechnical recommendations. The lectures deal with geologic structures, geologic maps and stratigraphic sections apart from application of remote sensing in engineering geology. The course lectures can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
Site Characterisation and Instrumentation
The course by IIT Delhi deals with subsurface exploration and site characterization of civil engineering projects. It covers the development of safe and economic design to foresee the difficulties likely to be faced during construction phase. Instrumentation is an integral part of the process to monitor the performance of structures during as well as after the construction. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
The course by IISc Bangalore provides a comprehensive approach on site characterization and instrumentation in geotechnical engineering. The details of different geotechnical testing used in the site characterization have been presented along with the case study for seismic and geoenvironmental characterization. It also covers basic and advanced instrumentation used for seismic and geo-environmental site characterization monitoring. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
This course by IIT Kharagpur attempts to provide a working knowledge on the common and emerging in-situ testing procedures, their applicability, advantages and limitations, and acquisition and interpretation of data. Instrumentation and monitoring strategy in geotechnical and geo-environmental projects, and acquisition and interpretation of monitoring data is also discussed. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
Foundation Engineering
This course by IIT Bombay deals with the design of foundation which requires the consideration of many essential factors with regard to soil data, geology of the site, land use patterns, ground conditions and the type of structure to be built. A detailed understanding of the field situation is also very important apart from theoretical knowledge of the subject. It seeks to provide an overview of the essential features of foundation design. The different aspects of foundation engineering ranging from soil exploration to the design of different types of foundation, including the ground improvement measures to be taken for poor soil conditions have been covered. The course modules can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
The course by IIT Roorkee can be viewed in the form of video lectures at the NPTEL website here
Soil Mechanics
The course by IIT Guwahati introduces the basic principles of engineering behaviour of soils. More specifically, it deals with (a) engineering classification of a given soil (b) understanding the principle of effective stress, and then calculating stresses that influence soil behaviour (c) calculating water flow through ground, and understanding the effects of seepage on the stability of structures (d) determining soil deformation parameters, and calculating settlement magnitude and rate of settlement (e) specifying soil compaction requirements and (f) conducting laboratory tests, and obtaining soil properties and parameters from the test observations and results.
The course modules can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
The course video by IIT Bombay can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
Advanced Foundation Engineering
The course by IIT Kharagpur covers various aspects of foundation engineering including soil exploration, details of shallow and deep foundations, and retaining walls. The soil-foundation interactions are discussed along with the numerical solution techniques of beams and plates resting on elastic foundation bed. The behavior and design methods of foundation on reinforced earth are discussed. Also covered are the advanced theories and design of various foundation components and earth pressure theories for designing the retaining walls. The codal provisions of the design of various types of foundation are dealt with. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
The syllabus of the same course by IISc Bangalore can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
Advanced Geotechnical Engineering
The course by IIT Guwahati builds on the fundamental concepts of Soil Mechanics to provide more generalized formulations and their applications for both in-depth understanding of soil response and design of geotechnical structures. The course begins with origin and nature of soils to establish its link with the expected mechanical response of soil. It covers the mechanics of fluid flow through porous media, derivation of permeability, governing laws and their limitations, Laplace equation and its application to 2-D and 3-D problems in geotechnical engineering. In the application of learned concepts, the course concludes with various methods of short term and long term analysis of slope stability, reliability analysis for slope stability, and analysis of loads on the buried structures. The course details can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
The course by IIT Bombay goes deeper into the various aspects of soil mechanics along with bringing out the advanced theories and practical knowledge of geotechnical engineering. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
Soil Dynamics
This course by IIT Roorkee is aimed to bring out the advanced theories and practical knowledge of soil dynamics. It involves detailed design of foundations for machines like reciprocating engines and impact hammers in a simple lucid language. Other topics like theory of vibrations, dynamic soil properties, dynamic earth pressures, pile foundations under dynamic loads, liquefaction of soil, machine foundations and vibration isolations are also covered. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
The course syllabus by IIT Bombay can be viewed here
Geo-environmental Engineering
This course by IIT Guwahati takes up these new challenges, and covers not only the principles of soil mechanics but also the knowledge of soil physics, soil chemistry, hydrogeology and biological processes. It is a careful blend of geotechnical engineering and newly developed environmental concepts from the multidisciplinary domains of geotechnical engineering. Case histories are discussed to exemplify the importance of this subject in the current age of rapid industrialization and urbanization. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
Geosynthetics and Reinforced Soil Structure
This course by IIT Madras introduces the students to the different types of geosynthetics, their manufacturing technique, testing methods and their applications in different types of Civil Engineering projects. Detailed design techniques and construction methods are covered in the course. The course details are available at the NPTEL website here
Rock Mechanics
This course by IIT Madras provides basic knowledge of Rock Mechanics and helps understand the design aspects of various structures in/on rock like tunnels and other underground openings, slopes etc. The aim is to provide a comprehensive understanding of the rock engineering subject, including determination of physicomechanical properties of intact rock and rock mass, rock discontinuities, stresses and deformations around the excavation, insitu stresses and failure mechanisms in rocks. The course details can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
Ground Improvement Techniques
This course by IIT Kanpur covers engineering properties of soft, weak and compressible deposits, principles of treatment-loading (static and dynamic), accelerated flow, reinforcement, vertical drains, granular piles, soil nailing and anchors. It helps devise alternative solutions to difficult and earth construction problems and in evaluating their effectiveness before, during and after construction. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here
The same course by IISc Bangalore addresses various ground improvement techniques along with principles, design issues and construction procedures. The course syllabus can be viewed at the NPTEL website here