Lecturer:  Dr. An Deng (an.deng@adelaide.edu.au, N144, Engineering North, Ph: 8313 2830), School of Civil, Environmental and Mining Engineering

Lectures and Tutorials:
·   Mondays, 12:10 – 1 pm
·   Tuesdays, 11:10 am – 12 pm
·   Thursdays, 11:10 am – 12 pm
All in Johnson Labs, G29, Rennie Lecture Theatre.

Practicals (Laboratory Sessions):
·   Wednesdays, 12:00 am – 2 pm, 3:00 pm – 5 pm
·   Thursdays, 12:00 am – 2 pm, 3:00 pm – 5 pm
All in Geotechnical Engineering Laboratories, Ground Floor, Engineering Annex.

1. Introduce geotechnical engineering and soil mechanics in the broader discipline of civil engineering;
2. Develop an understanding of the different types of soil and their engineering properties;
3. Develop an awareness of soil description;
4. Develop an understanding of the soil compaction and ground improvement;
5. Develop an understanding of the concept of effective stress and its influence on soil behaviour;
6. Develop an understanding of the influence of water flow on the engineering behaviour of soils;
7. Develop an understanding of the compressibility of soils and the concept of consolidation;
8. Develop an understanding of soil shear strength;
9. Develop a proficiency in handling experimental data; and
10. Develop the ability to report the results of a laboratory experiment at a professional standard.

Lecture notes and other relevant learning resources, such as copies of PowerPoint slides and audio recordings of lectures, will be made available to students, at no cost, via MyUni.  In addition, hard copies of the notes are available to order (around $12 each) on-line through the student unified online shop. You then need to take the order receipt to the Image and Copy Centre (Level 1 of Hughes Building) to collect the notes. 

The lectures are a critical component of the course. The lecture recordings (powerpoint slides and audio) will be available on MyUni after the lectures for review and for students who are absent. If a lecture is missed it is essential to view its recording prior to the next scheduled contact time.

Students are encouraged to purchase a text book for this course, although this is not essential.  It is suggested that students consider purchasing ONE of the following texts, where independent exercise problems are provided.

• Holtz, R, Kovacs, W. and Sheahan, T. An Introduction to Geotechnical Engineering, 2nd ed., 2011,  Pearson Prentice Hall.
• Knappett, J. and Craig, R. F., Soil Mechanics, 8th ed., 2012, Spon Press. (Solutions Manual is also  available).
• Budhu, M., Soil Mechanics and Foundations, 3rd ed., 2011, Wiley.

MyUni will be used to disseminate learning resources and information relevant to the course.  Online learning modules will be used to assist your preparation for laboratory experiments and these are available on MyUni.  In addition, the MyUni Discussion Boards, online Quizzes and Grade Centre will also be utilised in this course.

The course involves the following teaching and learning approaches:

• Lectures
• Tutorial assignments
• Online quizzes
• Physical demonstrations
• Practical classes
• Examinations

Teaching for this large class will consist primarily of lectures where the fundamental theory will be presented, followed by examples to illustrate how the theory can be applied to solve practical  geotechnical engineering problems.  Students will conduct 3 laboratory experiments (a 1.5 hour time frame in total) to see physical demonstrations of the soil characterisation that is described in the lectures.  Students will develop their understanding of the course content through reading of the notes/textbooks, problem solving through the tutorial questions and attendance at lectures where problem solving strategies are presented and discussed.  Online quizzes and final exam are provided to assess individual understanding of course contents.

Activity	Contact Hours	Independent Study Hours	Total
Lectures	26	0	26
Tutorials	10	20	30
Assignments (formative, x5)	0	20	20
Practicals (formative, x3)	1.5	4.5	6
Bonus quizzes (formative, x7, conditional marks to final mark)	0	3.5	3.5
Exam Preperation	0	48	48
Exam (summative, x1)	3	0	3
Total	40.5	96	136.5

Week	Lecture	Lecture Topic	Day	Time	Date	Assignments
1	1	Introduction	Mon	12-13	27-Jul
	2	LS1: The Origin and Composition of Soils	Tue	11-12	28-Jul
	3	LS1 continued	Thu	11-12	30-Jul
2	4	LS2: Phase Relationships	Mon	12-13	3-Aug
	5	LS2 continued	Tue	11-12	4-Aug
	6	Problem Set 1	Thu	11-12	6-Aug
3	7	LS2 continued	Mon	12-13	10-Aug
	8	LS2 continued	Tue	11-12	11-Aug
	9	Problem Set 2	Thu	11-12	13-Aug	Assignment 1: LS2
4	10	LS3: Soil Improvement	Mon	12-13	17-Aug
	11	LS3 continued	Tue	11-12	18-Aug
	12	Problem Set 3	Thu	11-12	20-Aug	Assignment 1 due
5	13	LS4: Vertical Stress	Mon	12-13	24-Aug
	14	LS4 continued	Tue	11-12	25-Aug
	15	Problem Set 4	Thu	11-12	27-Aug	Assignment 2: LS3&4
6	16	LS5: Flow of Water Through Soils	Mon	12-13	31-Aug
	17	LS5 continued	Tue	11-12	1-Sep
	18	Problem Set 5	Thu	11-12	3-Sep	Assignment 2 due
7	19	LS5 continued	Mon	12-13	7-Sep
	20	LS5 continued	Tue	11-12	8-Sep
	21	Problem Set 6	Thu	11-12	10-Sep	Assignment 3: LS5
8	22	LS6: Consolidation	Mon	12-13	14-Sep
	23	LS6 continued	Tue	11-12	15-Sep
	24	LS6 continued	Thu	11-12	17-Sep	Assignment 3 due
Mid-Semester Break
9	25	No class - Labour Day	Mon	12-13	5-Oct
	26	Problem Set 7	Tue	11-12	6-Oct
	27	LS6 continued	Thu	11-12	8-Oct
10	28	LS6 continued	Mon	12-13	12-Oct
	29	Problem Set 7 continued	Tue	11-12	13-Oct	Assignment 4: LS6
	30	LS7: Strength of Soils	Thu	11-12	15-Oct
11	31	LS7 continued	Mon	12-13	19-Oct
	32	Problem Set 8	Tue	11-12	20-Oct	Assignment 4 due
	33	LS7 continued	Thu	11-12	22-Oct
12	34	Problem Set 8 continued	Mon	12-13	26-Oct	Assignment 5*: LS7
	35	Review of Past Exam Questions	Tue	11-12	27-Oct
	36	Revision and Exam Information	Thu	11-12	29-Oct

Notes: *: Assignment 5 due on 2 Nov.
This Schedule is subject to change.  Please check MyUni regularly.

Not applicable.

Breakdown of the assessment tasks is shown in the table below.

Assessment Tasks	Weighting	Submission	Due Date	Learning Outcomes
Assignments (×5 sets, formative)	15%	Individual	1 week after being assigned	1-8
Practicals (×3 sets, formative)	15%	Group	2 weeks after session	9-10
Final Examination (summative)	70%	Individual	3 hour duration, closed book	1-10
Sub-Total	100%
Bonus quizzes (×7 sets, formative)	3.5 marks*	Individual	Flexible and before final exam	1-10

Note: no hurdle requirement.
*: read the details about 3.5 conditional marks which are shown below and under ‘Bonus quizzes’.

Assignments
There will be assignments set on each main lecture topic (5 in total) throughout the course.  These will typically consist of 2 problems per assignment and will be submitted, marked and returned regularly throughout the semester. Each assignment will be released at the end of relevant lecture topics, and then completed and submitted in 1 week.

Practicals
There are 3 compulsory practicals: soil gradation by sieve analysis, soil Atterberg limits, and soil compaction.  The practicals will be conducted in groups (4 students a group).  Groups are automatically assigned in terms of your session enrolment.  Should you have a need to be assigned together with your friend(s), make sure: 1) before Week 1, you have enrolled yourselves together with your friend(s) into the same session or at least sessions of the same time slot on the Course Planner, and 2) no later than the end of Week 1, you have emailed me all your names and the session number.  Requesting to pair students of different time slots would not be approved.

Practical reports will be submitted as a group report – one submission per group and within 2 weeks after the practical session.  The due date for reports which are due in semester break will be extended to the weeks after, i.e., practicals conducted in weeks 7 and 8, respectively, due on the same day in weeks 9 and 10.  The practical schedule, group allocations and practical data are available on MyUni. Students are expected to read the practical on-line learning modules prior to attending the laboratory sessions.  The modules are available on Myuni and under the practicals tab.

There will be no ‘make-up’ laboratory sessions for students who miss their scheduled session.  Students who miss a laboratory class due to medical or extenuating circumstances should present a medical certificate to the Course Coordinator or Practical Coordinator, and endeavour to reschedule into an active session.  Students who miss practicals will have up to 50% marks deducted.

When writing up a practical report, include on the report only the names of the students who attended your session.

Final Examination
The final examination will cover all the materials covered during the semester.  The examination will be 3-hours and conducted under closed book conditions.  Sheets of formulae and charts will be attached as informative tools at the end of an examination book.  Supplementary or replacement exams will be awarded in accordance with the University policies.

Bonus quizzes
There are 7 sets of optional online quizzes, one set for each lecture series (chapter).  Each set of quiz comprises of 10 questions (e.g. multiple choice, true/false, matching, and fill in blanks), 1 point per each question and thus 10 points for each set of quiz.  

The quizzes provide chances of gaining additional marks toward course final results.  A set of quiz contributes up to 0.5 conditional bonus mark to the final results, and thus a total of up to 3.5 conditional bonus marks is possible out of the 7 sets of quizzes.  

The quiz marks are conditional in that: 1) a grade of 10 points in a quiz is equivalent to 0.5 bonus mark, and pro rate; 2) the final bonus mark will not effect the course final mark above 85%.  For instance, the combination of a weighed (assignments, pracs and final exam) mark of 83 and a final bonus mark of 3.0 simply results in 85% as a final course mark.  Additional instances of combination are shown in the table below.  Rounding will be applied for the real final course marks.

Weighted mark (assignments, pracs and final exam)	Final bonus mark	Final course mark	Grade
97	2.8	97	HD
83	3.5	85	HD
72.5	2.5	75	D
70	3.3	73.3	C
65	2.8	67.8	C
47	3.0	50	P

The quizzes are accessible on MyUni and from the ‘Online quizzes’ tab of this course webpage.  Up to ten attempts are allowed.  The average point of graded attempts is updated immediately after the attempts and viewable in My Grades of MyUni.  Extra attempts could be requested via emails to the Coordinator, which would be averaged as well.

The calculation of the final bonus mark is demonstrated in the table below.

No. of quiz attempt	Points (/10)
	Lecture Series 1 (LS1)	LS2	LS3	LS4	LS5	LS6	LS7
1	8	7	8	8	8	5	9
2	9	6	9	7	9	6
3	8	8	9	9	5	7
4	7	5			9	7
5	6	9			6	10
6	8	9				9
7	7					9
8	9
9	10
10	10
Averaged point	8.20	7.33	8.67	8.00	7.40	7.57	9.00
Bonus mark	0.41	0.37	0.43	0.40	0.37	0.38	0.45
Final bonus mark	sum of individual bonus marks = 2.81

There is no hurdle requirement for this course.

Further details of each assignment will be provided in lectures and via MyUni well before the due date.

E-Submission has been introduced for this course.  Assignments and practical reports must be submitted in electronic form (.pdf, .doc or .jpg) online through respective portals designed for this course on MyUni.  Hard copies dropped into the School’s submission box will not be collected nor graded.  The e-submission must be submitted before 5pm of the nominated due date (i.e., one week after assignment releasing and two weeks after a practical date).  

Late submissions will be penalised at the rate of 5% per day.  No credit will be given for assignments uploaded after they have been marked and returned to the class.  A late submission will only be allowed when a deferred deadline has been approved by the Course Coordinator prior to the due date because of medical or extenuating circumstances (proof i.e. a medical certificate should be presented).  Any requests for extensions must be communicated by emails.