Soil Mechanics and Foundations: Why Pisa's Tower Leans
The ground beneath every structure, from quicksand and liquefaction to settling cities, retaining walls and the wooden piles under Venice.
Soil Mechanics and Foundations · 50 questions
Try 3 questions
1. What mainly makes clay behave so differently from sand?
- Clay contains no minerals, only organics
- Clay grains are much heavier than sand
- Tiny plate-like grains with surface charges
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Answer: Tiny plate-like grains with surface charges
Clay particles are microscopic flakes whose electrical surface forces bind water, giving plasticity and stickiness.
2. Soil that formed in place by the weathering of the bedrock beneath it is called what?
- Alluvial soil
- Glacial till
- Residual soil
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Answer: Residual soil
Residual soils stay where they formed; alluvial and glacial soils were carried in by water or ice.
3. What do the Atterberg limits of a clay tell an engineer?
- The clay's crushing strength
- The largest grain size present
- Moisture levels of state changes
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Answer: Moisture levels of state changes
The liquid and plastic limits mark the moisture levels at which clay goes from liquid to plastic to semi-solid behavior.
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