Earthworks and soils

Earthworks Principles

Understanding of what earthworks involve in construction. This includes tasks such as excavation, grading, and compacting the soil and rock.
Familiarity with key geotechnical parameters, such as moisture content, relative density, shear strength, compressibility, permeability, and stiffness.
Knowledge of soil types and their characteristics. For example, clay is cohesive while sand is non-cohesive.
Awareness of the impact of weather conditions on earthwork operations. Wet conditions can cause delays, while dry conditions can lead to dust problems.
Introduction to compaction methods, which are techniques used to reduce the volume of air in soil to improve its strength and stability.

Acquiring knowledge on the types of soil Investigations that engineers commonly perform, such as boreholes, excavations, and cone penetration tests.
Appreciation of the significance of soil sampling, allowing examination of the different layers of soil in a given area. Knowledge of the different methods, such as disturbed and undisturbed sampling.
Understanding of soil test reports, their importance in planning and design, and the ability to interpret them.
Familiarity with site investigation techniques, such as geophysical testing and ground penetrating radar, to identify subsurface features, including utilities and buried structures.

Recognising the importance of slope design in earthworks. This includes understanding factors influencing slope stability such as soil type, water pressure, and vegetation.
Understanding the concept of retaining structures used to hold back soil and prevent landslides, such as gravity walls, cantilever walls, and sheet pile walls.
Awareness of construction safety in earthworks, including the use of safety measures to prevent cave-ins during excavation, and the safe operation of earth-moving machinery.

Knowledge of creating earthwork drawings, which include features such as contours, cut and fill areas, and details of soil and rock units.
Understanding of documentation in earthworks operations, such as recording all the important data and observations during the execution of the work.
Ability to use level surveys to measure relative land elevations and establish the geospatial data necessary for designing and building structures.
Understanding of contour lines and how they represent the shape and elevation of the terrain.
Familiarity with AutoCAD Civil 3D, a software application used in civil engineering for designing earthworks.