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Book review |
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D. C. Wyllie (ed.). Spon, London 1999. £85.00 hardback; xx+401pp. ISBN 0-419-23210-9.
This is the second edition of this book, which was first published in 1992. Technical material has been updated from the first edition and new case histories added. This has added significantly to the book in a number of key areas, including reliability levels, the consequences of failure of foundations, case histories for major foundations and new information on contracting procedures. In addition, recommendations for geological mapping have been revised and now conform to those of the International Society for Rock Mechanics.
As the title implies, the book is wide ranging in its scope and coverage of the topic. The first chapter is concerned with characteristics of rock foundations, and leads the reader through the basic types of rock foundations and introduces the concepts of allowable settlement and factor of safety as criteria by which performance may be set.
A chapter on structural geology then follows, which is a particularly useful inclusion for engineers whose training in that field may be somewhat limited. The significance of discontinuities on foundation performance is described, together with a section on stereographic projection as a tool for analysis.
Having examined the influence of geology on foundation performance, rock mechanics fundamentals of strength and deformability are introduced in chapter 3. The approach is clear, with focussed discussion of the concepts and presentation of the minimum relevant number of equations necessary for understanding the formulation and solving of engineering problems. The strength of
