DHARMSOIL AND SOIL MECHANICS 3
Fifteen International Conferences have been held till now under the auspices of the
international Society of Soil Mechanics and Foundation engineering at Harvard (Massachu-
setts, U.S.A.) 1936, Rotterdam (The Netherlands) 1948, Zurich (Switzerland) 1953, London
(U.K.) 1957, Paris (France) 1961, Montreal (Canada) 1965, Mexico city (Mexico) 1969, Moscow
(U.S.S.R) 1973, Tokyo (Japan) 1977, Stockholm (Sweden) 1981, San Francisco (U.S.A.) 1985,
and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) 1989. The thirteenth was held in New Delhi in 1994, the fourteenth
in Hamburg, Germany, in 1997 , and the fifteenth in Istanbul, Turkey in 2001. The sixteenth
is proposed to be held in Osaka, Japan, in 2005.
These conferences have given a big boost to research in the field of Soil Mechanics and
Foundation Engineering.
1.3 Fields of Application of Soil mechanics
The knowledge of soil mechanics has application in many fields of Civil Engineering.
1.3.1 Foundations
The loads from any structure have to be ultimately transmitted to a soil through the founda-
tion for the structure. Thus, the foundation is an important part of a structure, the type and
details of which can be decided upon only with the knowledge and application of the principles
of soil mechanics.
1.3.2 Underground and Earth-retaining Structures
Underground structures such as drainage structures, pipe lines, and tunnels and earth-re-
taining structures such as retaining walls and bulkheads can be designed and constructed
only by using the principles of soil mechanics and the concept of ‘soil-structure interaction’.
1.3.3 Pavement Design
Pavement Design may consist of the design of flexible or rigid pavements. Flexible pavements
depend more on the subgrade soil for transmitting the traffic loads. Problems peculiar to the
design of pavements are the effect of repetitive loading, swelling and shrinkage of sub-soil and
frost action. Consideration of these and other factors in the efficient design of a pavement is a
must and one cannot do without the knowledge of soil mechanics.
1.3.4 Excavations, Embankments and Dams
Excavations require the knowledge of slope stability analysis; deep excavations may need tem-
porary supports—‘timbering’ or ‘bracing’, the design of which requires knowledge of soil me-
chanics. Likewise the construction of embankments and earth dams where soil itself is used as
the construction material, requires a thorough knowledge of the engineering behaviour of soil
especially in the presence of water. Knowledge of slope stability, effects of seepage, consolida-
tion and consequent settlement as well as compaction characteristics for achieving maximum
unit weight of the soil in-situ, is absolutely essential for efficient design and construction of
embankments and earth dams.