ABSTRACT
The ability to idealize real structures in a way that is amenable for analysis-in essence, modelling-is an essential part of the engineer’s art. Geotechnical engineering is inherently associated with the ground, which to a large extent has to be taken, modelled and analyzed as it is found. (Although ground improvement is possible, it is an expense that most clients will usually wish to avoid.) All of the material covered so far in this book has been associated with one or both of these activities: idealizing the behaviour of a geotechnical structure into a form that can be analysed by means of a mathematical or conceptual model, and developing an understanding of the behaviour of the geotechnical materials on site or available to a particular project, through soil tests and the use of a constitutive model.
