Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice

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The definitive guide to unsaturated soil— from the world’s experts on the subject

This book builds upon and substantially updates Fredlund and Rahardjo’s publication, Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils, the current standard in the field of unsaturated soils. It provides readers with more thorough coverage of the state of the art of unsaturated soil behavior and better reflects the manner in which practical unsaturated soil engineering problems are solved. Retaining the fundamental physics of unsaturated soil behavior presented in the earlier book, this new publication places greater emphasis on the importance of the “soil-water characteristic curve” in solving practical engineering problems, as well as the quantification of thermal and moisture boundary conditions based on the use of weather data. Topics covered include:

  • Theory to Practice of Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
  • Nature and Phase Properties of Unsaturated Soil
  • State Variables for Unsaturated Soils
  • Measurement and Estimation of State Variables
  • Soil-Water Characteristic Curves for Unsaturated Soils
  • Ground Surface Moisture Flux Boundary Conditions
  • Theory of Water Flow through Unsaturated Soils
  • Solving Saturated/Unsaturated Water Flow Problems
  • Air Flow through Unsaturated Soils
  • Heat Flow Analysis for Unsaturated Soils
  • Shear Strength of Unsaturated Soils
  • Shear Strength Applications in Plastic and Limit Equilibrium
  • Stress-Deformation Analysis for Unsaturated Soils
  • Solving Stress-Deformation Problems with Unsaturated Soils
  • Compressibility and Pore Pressure Parameters
  • Consolidation and Swelling Processes in Unsaturated Soils

Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice is essential reading for geotechnical engineers, civil engineers, and undergraduate- and graduate-level civil engineering students with a focus on soil mechanics.

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Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice

By · ·

The definitive guide to unsaturated soil— from the world’s experts on the subject

This book builds upon and substantially updates Fredlund and Rahardjo’s publication, Soil Mechanics for Unsaturated Soils, the current standard in the field of unsaturated soils. It provides readers with more thorough coverage of the state of the art of unsaturated soil behavior and better reflects the manner in which practical unsaturated soil engineering problems are solved. Retaining the fundamental physics of unsaturated soil behavior presented in the earlier book, this new publication places greater emphasis on the importance of the “soil-water characteristic curve” in solving practical engineering problems, as well as the quantification of thermal and moisture boundary conditions based on the use of weather data. Topics covered include:

  • Theory to Practice of Unsaturated Soil Mechanics
  • Nature and Phase Properties of Unsaturated Soil
  • State Variables for Unsaturated Soils
  • Measurement and Estimation of State Variables
  • Soil-Water Characteristic Curves for Unsaturated Soils
  • Ground Surface Moisture Flux Boundary Conditions
  • Theory of Water Flow through Unsaturated Soils
  • Solving Saturated/Unsaturated Water Flow Problems
  • Air Flow through Unsaturated Soils
  • Heat Flow Analysis for Unsaturated Soils
  • Shear Strength of Unsaturated Soils
  • Shear Strength Applications in Plastic and Limit Equilibrium
  • Stress-Deformation Analysis for Unsaturated Soils
  • Solving Stress-Deformation Problems with Unsaturated Soils
  • Compressibility and Pore Pressure Parameters
  • Consolidation and Swelling Processes in Unsaturated Soils

Unsaturated Soil Mechanics in Engineering Practice is essential reading for geotechnical engineers, civil engineers, and undergraduate- and graduate-level civil engineering students with a focus on soil mechanics.

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Weedless Gardening

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Conventional wisdom says to garden from the bottom up, turning over the soil every spring until your back aches. Ironically, this does such a good job aerating that gardeners spend the rest of the season pulling weeds and replacing the suddenly energized (and easily used up) nutrients. Mother nature, on the other hand, gardens from the top down-layering undisturbed soil with leaves and other organic materials. In following this example and synthesizing the work of other perceptive gardeners, Lee Reich presents a compelling new system called weedless gardening.

The Weedless Garden is good for plants and it’s good for people. It protects the soil, contributes to plant health, reduces water needs, cuts down on a gardener’s labor, encourages earthworms and, of course, mitigates weed problems by keeping the seeds dormant. Four basic tenets form the system’s backbone-minimize soil disruption; protect soil surface; avoid soil compaction; use drip irrigation-and the way to get there is simple. For a new bed or established garden, layering is key, and the perfect material to use is also among the most common-newspaper. Add organic mulch and compost on top, and plants are growing in rich, self-generating humus. From vegetable gardening to flower gardens to planting trees, shrubs, and vines, The Weedless Garden works everywhere-allowing the gardener to work quite a bit less.

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Weedless Gardening

By · ·

Conventional wisdom says to garden from the bottom up, turning over the soil every spring until your back aches. Ironically, this does such a good job aerating that gardeners spend the rest of the season pulling weeds and replacing the suddenly energized (and easily used up) nutrients. Mother nature, on the other hand, gardens from the top down-layering undisturbed soil with leaves and other organic materials. In following this example and synthesizing the work of other perceptive gardeners, Lee Reich presents a compelling new system called weedless gardening.

The Weedless Garden is good for plants and it’s good for people. It protects the soil, contributes to plant health, reduces water needs, cuts down on a gardener’s labor, encourages earthworms and, of course, mitigates weed problems by keeping the seeds dormant. Four basic tenets form the system’s backbone-minimize soil disruption; protect soil surface; avoid soil compaction; use drip irrigation-and the way to get there is simple. For a new bed or established garden, layering is key, and the perfect material to use is also among the most common-newspaper. Add organic mulch and compost on top, and plants are growing in rich, self-generating humus. From vegetable gardening to flower gardens to planting trees, shrubs, and vines, The Weedless Garden works everywhere-allowing the gardener to work quite a bit less.

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Teaming with Nutrients: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to Optimizing Plant Nutrition

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Just as he demystified the soil food web in his ground-breaking book Teaming with Microbes, in this new work Jeff Lowenfels explains the basics of plant nutrition from an organic gardener’s perspective. Where Teaming with Microbes used adeptly used microbiology; Teaming with Nutrients employs cellular biology.

Most gardeners realize that plants need to be fed but know little or nothing about the nature of the nutrients involved or how they get into plants. Teaming with Nutrients explains how nutrients move into plants and what  both macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients do once inside. It shows organic gardeners how to provide these essentials. To fully understand how plants eat, Lowenfels uses his ability to make science accessible with lessons in the biology, chemistry, and botany all gardeners need to understand how nutrients get to the plant and what they do once they’re inside the plant.

Teaming with Nutrients will open your eyes to the importance of understanding the role of nutrients in healthy, productive organic gardens and it will show you how these nutrients do their jobs. In short, it will make you a better informed, more successful and more environmentally responsible gardener.

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