ABSTRACT
Granular soils tend to have a higher strength, bearing capacity, and hydraulic conductivity relative to fine-grained materials. This chapter presents a great deal of discussion on granular soil systems. However, cohesive soils are much more complicated than granular soils, in part because the cohesive soil has a large surface area per unit volume and a complex structure. The macromeritic liquids theory developed by H. F. Winterkorn can be used for evaluation of mechanical behavior of cohesionless granular soil including liquefaction due to earthquake, ocean floor slope stability, river and massive beach erosion as well as concrete mixtures. The chapter discusses the strength of a clay system and the bonds between particles include the basic terminology and concepts of clay mineralogy as relevant to geotechnical engineering. It examines adsorption techniques where a known amount of fluid such as water, ethylene glycol monoether or liquid nitrogen is used to coat soil particles is more suited toward fine-grained soils.
