Hydraulics and Principles of Geotechnical Engineering

A collection of flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to hydraulics and geotechnical engineering, essential for understanding the material.

Specific Weight

The weight per unit volume of a liquid at a standard temperature and pressure.

Mass Density

A measure of mass per unit volume of a substance.

Soil

Material found in Earth's crust, typically composed of uncemented aggregate.

Negative Skin Friction

A friction that occurs on piles due to relative settlement of soil, often caused by soft clay.

Metacentric Height

The distance between the center of gravity of a floating body and the center of buoyancy.

Stable Equilibrium

A state where the metacenter of a floating body is above the center of gravity.

Vertical Stress Intensity

The intensity of vertical stress at a depth due to a point load, directly proportional to the depth.

Shear Strength of Cohesionless Soil

Proportional to the tangent of the angle of shearing resistance.

Porosity

The ratio of the volume of voids to the total volume of soil mass.

Void Ratio

The ratio of the volume of voids to the volume of solids in a soil mass.

Hydrodynamics

A branch of hydraulics that studies forces exerted by or upon liquids in motion.

Water Hammer

A pressure surge in hydraulic systems caused by sudden changes in fluid motion.

Liquefaction

A phenomenon where saturated soil loses strength and behaves like a liquid during seismic activity.

Effective Stress

The stress that contributes to the strength of soil, affected by the groundwater table.

Cohesion

The component of shear strength related to the interparticle friction in a soil.

Unconfined Compression Strength

A measure of a cohesive soil's strength without lateral support.

Hydraulic Gradient

The slope of the energy line of fluid in motion.

Buoyancy

The upward force experienced by an object submerged in a fluid, equal to the weight of the displaced fluid.

Continuous Flow

Flow in which the mass flow rate is constant along a streamline.

Compressibility

The measure of a material's tendency to decrease in volume under pressure.