11R24. Fundamentals of Geotechnical Engineering. - BM Das (Col of Eng and Comput Sci, California State Univ, Sacramento CA). Brooks/Cole, Pacific Grove CA. 2000. 593 pp. ISBN 0-534-37114-0. $106.95.
Reviewed by AT Sawicki (Inst of Hydro-Eng, Koscierska 7, Gdansk-Oliwa, 80-953, Poland).
This is a typical geotechnical engineering textbook, based on highly traditional concepts and methods. It has 13 chapters which are also organized fairly traditionally. The first two chapters deal with presentation of the basic physico-chemical characteristics of soils and soil classification. Chapter 3 presents some elementary information about soil compaction. Introduction to the problems of groundwater movement (Darcy’s law, hydraulic conductivity, flow nets, etc) is presented in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 provides some basic knowledge on stresses in a soil half-space. Mainly one-dimensional problems of stress assessment in unsaturated and saturated soils, including the effect of seepage forces, are considered. An introduction to one-dimensional consolidation is presented in Chapter...
