Fundamentals of Continuum Mechanics of Soils

This text offers a general scheme for the study of the important yet problematic material of soil. It closes the gap between two disciplines, soil mechanics and continuum mechanics, showing that the familiar concepts of soil mechanics evolve directly from continuum mechanics. It confirms concepts such as pore pressures, cohesion and dependence of the shear stress on consolidation, and rejects the view that continuum mechanics cannot be applied to a material such as soil. The general concepts of continuum mechanics, field equations and constitutive equations are discussed. It is shown how the theory of mixtures evolves from these equations and how, along with energetics and irreversible thermodynamics, it can be applied to soils. The discussion also sheds light on some aspects of the mechanics of materials, especially compressible materials. Examples used are the introduction of the Hencky measure of strain, the requirement of dual constitutive equations, and the dependence of the spent internal energy on the stored internal energy.