Geotechnical Characteristics of Soils and Rocks around the World

Every country must construct and maintain essential infrastructure such as buildings, bridges, towers, roads, railway tracks, runways, ports, harbours, tunnels, dams, embankments, retaining structures and landfills in both urban and rural areas. These developments must be cost-effective, environmentally friendly and sustainable. Similar infrastructure is also necessary in agriculture, aquaculture and industrial sectors, including mining and energy industries. The stability and performance of all these structures largely depend on ground strength, the compressibility characteristics of soils and rocks, and geoenvironmental factors. For the analysis and design of ground and geotechnical structures, particularly during the planning and preliminary design stages, project engineers and other professionals require fundamental geotechnical and geological information about project sites. This includes subsurface characteristics of soils and rocks and the location of the groundwater table, even before conducting detailed site investigations. Additionally, they need insights into the availability and properties of geomaterials such as soils, rocks, coal ash and mine tailings, their suitability as construction materials, the geoenvironmental impact on these materials and the effects of natural hazards such as earthquakes and floods on ground and geotechnical structures. Case studies on geotechnical structures further enhance this understanding.

To meet critical project requirements, this book series has been developed to provide comprehensive geotechnical characteristics of soils and rocks, along with relevant geological and geoenvironmental details of geomaterials and subsurface conditions across different countries. These books will feature specific property values of geomaterials and similar materials, such as wastes including coal ash and mine tailings, obtained from site investigations and laboratory or field tests where available. Furthermore, the books may explore soil and rock improvement techniques and other related aspects that contribute to strengthening ground conditions and supporting various civil engineering projects.

Each book in this series may contain 5 to 10 chapters, spanning approximately 150 to 300 printed pages. The first chapter of every book will provide an overview, including basic details and the book’s structure. Each chapter, contributed by a team of authors, will follow a well-structured common template to ensure consistency in technical details and high-quality presentation.

Book proposals for both authored and edited volumes are invited for this series. Edited books may include original research articles presented at conferences, provided they have not been published elsewhere. Interested authors are encouraged to contact the series editor, Dr. Sanjay Kumar Shukla, at [email protected] and/or [email protected] for an initial discussion, especially while planning for conferences.