Since the 1990s five books on Applications of Computational Mechanics in Geotechnical Engineering have been published. Innovative Numerical Modelling in Geomechanics is the 6th and final book in this series, and contains papers written by leading experts on computational mechanics. The book treats highly relevant topics in the field of geotechnics, such as environmental geotechnics, open and underground excavations, foundations, embankments and rockfill dams, computational systems and oil geomechanics. Special attention is paid to risk in geotechnical engineering, and to recent developments in applying Bayesian networks and Data Mining techniques.

Innovative Numerical Modelling in Geomechanics will be of interest to civil, mining and environmental engineers, as well as to engineering geologists. The book will also be useful for academics and researchers involved in geotechnics.

"Earthquake Resistant Design and Risk Reduction, 2nd edition" is based upon global research and development work over the last 50 years or more, and follows the author's series of three books "Earthquake Resistant Design," 1st and 2nd editions (1977 and 1987), and "Earthquake Risk Reduction" (2003). Many advances have been made since the 2003 edition of "Earthquake Risk Reduction," and there is every sign that this rate of progress will continue apace in the years to come. Compiled from the author's wide design and research experience in earthquake engineering and engineering seismology, this key text provides an excellent treatment of the complex multidisciplinary process of earthquake resistant design and risk reduction.

New topics include the creation of low-damage structures and the spatial distribution of ground shaking near large fault ruptures. Sections on guidance for developing countries, response of buildings to differential settlement in liquefaction, performance-based and displacement-based design and the architectural aspects of earthquake resistant design are heavily revised.

This book: Outlines individual national weaknesses that contribute to earthquake risk to people and propertyCalculates the seismic response of soils and structures, using the structural continuum "Subsoil - Substructure - Superstructure - Non-structure"Evaluates the effectiveness of given design and construction procedures for reducing casualties and financial lossesProvides guidance on the key issue of choice of structural formPresents earthquake resistant design methods for the main four structural materials - steel, concrete, reinforced masonry and timber - as well as for services equipment, plant and non-structural architectural componentsContains a chapter devoted to problems involved in improving (retrofitting) the existing built environment

This book is an invaluable reference and guiding tool to practising civil and structural engineers and architects, researchers and postgraduate students in earthquake engineering and engineering seismology, local governments and risk management officials.

Increasingly stringent regulation of pollution and waste production worldwide drives the need to isolate contaminants that pose a threat to human and environmental health by using engineered barrier systems involving the use of low permeable materials. Over the past two decades, geosynthetic clay liners have gained widespread acceptance for use in such barrier systems. They are often used as a component of primary and secondary base liners or final cover systems in municipal solid-waste landfills as well as in regulated industrial storage and mining waste-disposal facilities. This book gives a comprehensive and authoritative review of the current state of practice on geosynthetic clay liners in waste containments. It provides an insight into individual materials (bentonite and the associated geosynthetics) and the manufacturing processes. This is followed by the coverage of important topics such as hydraulic conductivity, chemical compatibility, contaminant transport, gas migration, shear strength and slope stability, and field performance.

From its humble beginning in the late 19th century when Henry Ford s first car was designed to run on ethanol biofuel production has been on the rise with more than 26 billion liters produced in the U.S. in 2007. Ethanol made from biomass (rather than grains) holds great promise, including numerous economic and environmental benefits. However, the adverse interactions of energy, climate, food, and soil quality cannot be ignored.

In eight concise chapters, Soil Quality and Biofuel Production presents a state-of-the-knowledge review of soil properties and processes negatively impacted by crop residue removal. It outlines the ecological consequences of biofuels and evaluates land use in the production of raw material for biofuel. The book then spotlights pressing issues related to corn and cellulosic ethanol and also soil erosion. It offers advice for achieving economic balance in the competition for arable land between food and biofuel along with residue harvest management techniques. A thought-provoking discussion of the opportunities and challenges that biofuel presents rounds out the book s coverage.

The logistics of producing biomass in a sustainable manner remain a major challenge and will continue to be so for the foreseeable future. Serious questions linger concerning viable sources of biofuel feedstock, competition for resources needed to produce biomass, and energy output/input ratios. Soil Quality and Biofuel Production provides environmental scientists and agricultural engineers with the knowledge they need to address them.

Uniquely devoted to hard and fractured rock hydraulics, this advanced-level introduction provides tools to solve practical engineering problems. Chapter I covers the fundamentals of fractured rock hydraulics under a tensor approach. Chapter II presents some key concepts about approximate solutions. Chapter III discuss a few data analysis techniques applied to groundwater modeling. Chapter IV presents unique 3D finite difference algorithms to simulate practical problems concerning the hydraulic behavior of saturated, heterogeneous and randomly fractured rock masses without restriction to the geometry and properties of their discontinuities. Supported by examples, cases, illustrations and references, this book is intended for professionals and researchers in hydrogeology, engineering geology, petroleum reservoir, rock and hydraulic engineering. Its explanatory nature allows its use as a textbook for advanced students.

to Soil Dynamics Arnold Verruijt Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands Arnold Verruijt Delft University of Technology 2628 CN Delft Netherlands [email protected] A CD-ROM accompanies this book containing programs for waves in piles, propagation of earthquakes in soils, waves in a half space generated by a line load, a point load, a strip load, or a moving load, and the propagation of a shock wave in a saturated elastic porous material. Computer programs are also available from the website http://geo.verruijt.net ISBN 978-90-481-3440-3 e-ISBN 978-90-481-3441-0 DOI 10.1007/978-90-481-3441-0 Springer Dordrecht Heidelberg London New York Library of Congress Control Number: 2009940507 (c) Springer Science+Business Media B.V. 2010 No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, micro?lming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied speci?cally for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Preface This book gives the material for an introductory course on Soil Dynamics, as given for about 10 years at the Delft University of Technology for students of civil en- neering, and updated continuously since 1994.

This third edition provides a concise yet approachable introduction to seismic theory, designed as a first course for graduate students or advanced undergraduate students. It clearly explains the fundamental concepts, emphasizing intuitive understanding over lengthy derivations, and outlines the different types of seismic waves and how they can be used to resolve Earth structure and understand earthquakes. New material and updates have been added throughout, including ambient noise methods, shear-wave splitting, back-projection, migration and velocity analysis in reflection seismology, earthquake rupture directivity, and fault weakening mechanisms. A wealth of both reworked and new examples, review questions and computer-based exercises in MATLAB (R)/Python give students the opportunity to apply the techniques they have learned to compute results of interest and to illustrate Earth's seismic properties. More advanced sections, which are not needed to understand the other material, are flagged so that instructors or students pressed for time can skip them.

While successfully preventing earthquakes may still be beyond the capacity of modern engineering, the ability to mitigate damages with strong structural designs and other mitigation measures are well within the purview of science. Fundamental Concepts of Earthquake Engineering presents the concepts, procedures, and code provisions that are currently being used to make structures as earthquake-resistant as is presently feasible.

The book begins by describing the purpose, main aspects, and historical development of earthquake engineering and provides an overview of the type and extent of damage an earthquake can produce. It then introduces the concepts of seismology, the mechanisms of earthquake generation and propagation, and the difference between the various scales used to quantify the size of an earthquake and its potential to cause damage. The book also discusses the response spectrum and the different ways earthquake ground motions may be characterized and how local soil conditions may affect ground motion characteristics. Later chapters examine the design spectrum, conventional methods used to calculate the response of structures, soil-structure systems, and nonstructural components to earthquake ground motions.

This comprehensive resource is certain to advance the knowledge of those tasked with taking preemptive action against the devastating effects of major, catastrophic earthquakes.

Principles is the first volume of the five-volume set Rock Mechanics and Engineering and contains twenty-four chapters from key experts in the following fields: - Discontinuities; - Anisotropy; - Rock Stress; - Geophysics; - Strength Criteria; - Modeling Rock Deformation and Failure. The five-volume set "Comprehensive Rock Engineering", which was published in 1993, has had an important influence on the development of rock mechanics and rock engineering. Significant and extensive advances and achievements in these fields over the last 20 years now justify the publishing of a comparable, new compilation. Rock Mechanics and Engineering represents a highly prestigious, multi-volume work edited by Professor Xia-Ting Feng, with the editorial advice of Professor John A. Hudson. This new compilation offers an extremely wideranging and comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in rock mechanics and rock engineering and is composed of peer-reviewed, dedicated contributions by all the key experts worldwide. Key features of this set are that it provides a systematic, global summary of new developments in rock mechanics and rock engineering practices as well as looking ahead to future developments in the fields. Contributors are worldrenowned experts in the fields of rock mechanics and rock engineering, though younger, talented researchers have also been included. The individual volumes cover an extremely wide array of topics grouped under five overarching themes: Principles (Vol. 1), Laboratory and Field Testing (Vol. 2), Analysis, Modelling and Design (Vol. 3), Excavation, Support and Monitoring (Vol. 4) and Surface and Underground Projects (Vol. 5). This multi-volume work sets a new standard for rock mechanics and engineering compendia and will be the go-to resource for all engineering professionals and academics involved in rock mechanics and engineering for years to come.

This work illustrates how the Analysis of Controlled Deformation in Rocks and Soils (ADECO-RS) is used in the design and the construction of tunnels. This is a very new and effective way of tunnel construction. The ADECO-RS approach makes a clear distinction between the design and the construction stages and allows reliable forecasts of construction times and costs to be made. It uses the advance core (the core of ground ahead of the face) as a structural tool for the long and short term stabilisation of tunnels, after its rigidity has first been regulated using conservation techniques.

A simplified approach to applying the Finite Element Method to geotechnical problems

Predicting soil behavior by constitutive equations that are based on experimental findings and embodied in numerical methods, such as the finite element method, is a significant aspect of soil mechanics. Engineers are able to solve a wide range of geotechnical engineering problems, especially inherently complex ones that resist traditional analysis. "Applied Soil Mechanics with ABAQUS(R) Applications" provides civil engineering students and practitioners with a simple, basic introduction to applying the finite element method to soil mechanics problems.

Accessible to someone with little background in soil mechanics and finite element analysis, "Applied Soil Mechanics with ABAQUS(R) Applications" explains the basic concepts of soil mechanics and then prepares the reader for solving geotechnical engineering problems using both traditional engineering solutions and the more versatile, finite element solutions. Topics covered include: Properties of Soil Elasticity and Plasticity Stresses in Soil Consolidation Shear Strength of Soil Shallow Foundations Lateral Earth Pressure and Retaining Walls Piles and Pile Groups Seepage

Taking a unique approach, the author describes the general soil mechanics for each topic, shows traditional applications of these principles with longhand solutions, and then presents finite element solutions for the same applications, comparing both. The book is prepared with ABAQUS(R) software applications to enable a range of readers to experiment firsthand with the principles described in the book (the software application files are available under "student resources" at www.wiley.com/college/helwany). By presenting both the traditional solutions alongside the FEM solutions, "Applied Soil Mechanics with ABAQUS(R) Applications" is an ideal introduction to traditional soil mechanics and a guide to alternative solutions and emergent methods.

Dr. Helwany also has an online course based on the book available at www.geomilwaukee.com.

This book provides a review of problems during design and construction on problematic soils. Design methods, site investigation, construction and analysis of the various improvement methods available are explained and discussed. Various regions may have different soils with geotechnical problems that differ from those faced in other regions. For example, in Southeast Asia, the common geotechnical problems are those associated with construction on soft clays and organic soils, while in the arid region of the Middle East, problems are generally associated with the desert soils. In the US, the problems are associated with organic soils, expansive and collapsing soils, and shale. Laterite and lateritic soils are especially problematic in Mexico. Similarly, in Europe, for example, the geotechnical problems are associated with loess (France), and organic soil (Germany). A detailed description of various methods of ground improvement has been provided in 11 chapters. Each chapter deals not only with a description of the method but also focuses on region-specific ground problems and suitable ground improvement techniques. Case studies have also been included. One general chapter is dedicated to site investigation, instrumentation, assessment and control. This book will be of value to students and professionals in the fields of civil and geotechnical engineering, as well as to soil scientists and engineering geologists.

Analytical and comprehensive, this state-of-the-art book, examines the mechanics and engineering of unsaturated soils, as well as explaining the laboratory and field testing and research that are the logical basis of this modern approach to safe construction in these hazardous geomaterials; putting them into a logical framework for civil engineering and design. The book: illustrates the importance of state-dependent soil-water characteristic curves highlights modern soil testing of unsaturated soil behaviour, including accurate measurement of total volume changes and the measurement of anisotropic soil stiffness at very small strains introduces an advanced state-dependent elasto-plastic constitutive model for both saturated and unsaturated soil demonstrates the power of numerical analysis which is at the heart of modern soil mechanics studies and simulates the behaviour of loose fills from unsaturated to saturated states; explains the difference between strain-softening and static liquefaction, and describes real applications in unsaturated soil slope engineering includes purpose-designed field trials to capture the effects of two independent stress variables, and reports comprehensive measurements of soil suction, water contents, stress changes and ground deformations in both bare and grassed slopes introduces a new conjunctive surface and subsurface transient flow model for realistically analysing rainfall infiltration in unsaturated soil slopes, and illustrates the importance of the flow model in slope engineering. Including constitutive and numerical modelling, this volume will interest students and professionals studying or working in the areas of geotechnical engineering and the built environment.

J. Carlos Santamarina, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA in collaboration with Katherine A. Klein, University of Toronto, Canada; Moheb A. Fam, Cairo University, Egypt

Soils are unique materials. Analogous to all other particulate materials, their properties depend on environmental parameters, such as confinement and fluid characteristics. While their behavior is complex, simple micromechanical analyses at the particle level provide unparalleled insight. Furthermore, elastic and electromagnetic waves can be effectively used to gain complementary information about the particulate medium, leading to unique possibilities for studies in engineering and science, including field applications for site assessment and process monitoring.

This book is divided into five parts. The first part dwells on the problem of scale and includes a general introduction to materials. In the second part, the behavior of particulate materials is reviewed, with emphasis on the microscale interpretation of macroscale behavior. Fundamental differences between fine and coarse particulate materials are highlighted. The third and fourth parts center on the propagation of mechanical and electromagnetic waves in particulate materials, addressing phenomena such as stiffness, polarization and losses. These two units include laboratory techniques to measure the elastic and electromagnetic spectral response of particulate materials, and an extensive compilation of experimental data. Finally, the fifth part applies elastic and electromagnetic waves to monitoring process in soils.

Emphasis is placed on clear, simple analyses and explanations of complex physical phenomena, making this book ideal for self-study. Furthermore, no other book provides such an in-depth description of soils and their behavior and the interaction of elastic and electromagnetic waves and particulate materials (including material data and experimental methods). Thus, this is an invaluable reference for postgraduates, research scientists and practitioners in geotechnical, civil and environmental engineering, as well as scientists in related areas such as physics, geophysics and materials science.

This book places Oakland's public policy response (nine major ordinances) to building damage suffered in the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake in a full historical and intergovernmental context. Using a combined non-decision making and advocacy coalition approach, the book demonstrates how and why hazardous-structure abatement was kept off the local political agenda prior to the Loma Prieta disaster. The book then demonstrates how and why city government in Oakland became proactive on the problem of earthquake-damaged and, more importantly, earthquake-vulnerable buildings in general after the disaster.

One of the problems which beset the practical conservation of stone buildings is the fragmentation of the disciplines involved. This book, with both volumes now available as one invaluable paperback, brings these disciplines together by the involvement of contributors with different experiences and approaches to the same material.

Part one is an introduction to the complexities and background history of stone conservation followed by the most comprehensive description yet produced of the building and decorative stones used in the British Isles.
In part two, practitioners involved in stone conservation describe ways in which major structural masonry problems, secondary building problems and different stone surface conditions may be treated. A variety of building types and environments has been used to ensure that the broad scope of common problems is covered. This second part of the book will be of practical value to art historians, archaeologists, architects, surveyors and engineers, masonry contractors and sculpture conservators in solving problems and in learning to use each other's skills and experience.
Highly illustrated
Two informative volumes brought together in a new paperback edition
Excellent authorial combination

This book represents a significant contribution to the area of earthquake data processing and to the development of region-specific magnitude correlations to create an up-to-date homogeneous earthquake catalogue that is uniform in magnitude scale. The book discusses seismicity analysis and estimation of seismicity parameters of a region at both finer and broader levels using different methodologies. The delineation and characterization of regional seismic source zones which requires reasonable observation and engineering judgement is another subject covered. Considering the complex seismotectonic composition of a region, use of numerous methodologies (DSHA and PSHA) in analyzing the seismic hazard using appropriate instruments such as the logic tree will be elaborated to explicitly account for epistemic uncertainties considering alternative models (for Source model, Mmax estimation and Ground motion prediction equations) to estimate the PGA value at bedrock level. Further, VS30 characterization based on the topographic gradient, to facilitate the development of surface level PGA maps using appropriate amplification factors, is discussed. Evaluation of probabilistic liquefaction potential is also explained in the book. Necessary backgrounds and contexts of the aforementioned topics are elaborated through a case study specific to India which features spatiotemporally varied and complex tectonics. The methodology and outcomes presented in this book will be beneficial to practising engineers and researchers working in the fields of seismology and geotechnical engineering in particular and to society in general.

The hazards posed to engineering structures by salt weathering are increasing because of such diverse factors as the spread of irrigation and high levels of atmospheric pollution. Salt weathering is also a potent cause of rock decay and geomorphological change in polar, coastal and desert environments. The book discusses the reasons why the hazards are increasing and presents striking case studies from many parts of the world. It also discusses the nature and sources of different salts, the mechanisms that cause the deterioration of building materials and natural rock outcrops, the geomorphological processes of salt attack and their impact on landform development, and the strategies and techniques that are available to combat salt attack. The book is extensively illustrated and has a very comprehensive bibliography of the multi-disciplinary literature.

Porous Rock Failure Mechanics: Hydraulic Fracturing, Drilling and Structural Engineering focuses on the fracture mechanics of porous rocks and modern simulation techniques for progressive quasi-static and dynamic fractures. The topics covered in this volume include a wide range of academic and industrial applications, including petroleum, mining, and civil engineering. Chapters focus on advanced topics in the field of rock's fracture mechanics and address theoretical concepts, experimental characterization, numerical simulation techniques, and their applications as appropriate. Each chapter reflects the current state-of-the-art in terms of the modern use of fracture simulation in industrial and academic sectors. Some of the major contributions in this volume include, but are not limited to: anisotropic elasto-plastic deformation mechanisms in fluid saturated porous rocks, dynamics of fluids transport in fractured rocks and simulation techniques, fracture mechanics and simulation techniques in porous rocks, fluid-structure interaction in hydraulic driven fractures, advanced numerical techniques for simulation of progressive fracture, including multiscale modeling, and micromechanical approaches for porous rocks, and quasi-static versus dynamic fractures in porous rocks. This book will serve as an important resource for petroleum, geomechanics, drilling and structural engineers, R&D managers in industry and academia.

This book provides practicing engineers working in the field of design, construction and monitoring of rock structures such as tunnels and slopes with technical information on how to design, how to excavate and how to monitor the structures during their construction. Based on the long-term engineering experiences of the author, field measurements together with back analyses are presented as the most powerful tools in rock engineering practice. One of the purposes of field measurements is to assess the stability of the rock structures during their construction. However, field measurement results are only numbers unless they are quantitatively interpreted, a process in which back analyses play an important role. The author has developed both the concepts of "critical strain" and of the "anisotropic parameter" of rocks, which can make it possible not only to assess the stability of the structures during their construction, but also to verify the validity of design parameters by the back analysis of field measurement results during the constructions. Based on the back analysis results, the design parameters used at a design stage could be modified if necessary. This procedure is called an "Observational method", a concept that is entirely different from that of other structures such as bridges and buildings. It is noted that in general, technical books written for practicing engineers mainly focus on empirical approaches which are based on engineers' experiences. In this book, however, no empirical approaches will be described, instead, all the approaches are based on simple rock mechanics theory. This book is the first to describe an observational method in rock engineering practice, which implies that the potential readers of this book must be practicing engineers working on rock engineering projects.

Surface and Underground Projects is the last volume of the five-volume set Rock Mechanics and Engineering and contains twenty-one chapters from key experts in the following fields: - Slopes; - Tunnels and Caverns; - Mining; - Petroleum Engineering; - Thermo-/Hydro-Mechanics in Gas Storage, Loading and Radioactive Waste Disposal. The five-volume set "Comprehensive Rock Engineering", which was published in 1993, has had an important influence on the development of rock mechanics and rock engineering. Significant and extensive advances and achievements in these fields over the last 20 years now justify the publishing of a comparable, new compilation. Rock Mechanics and Engineering represents a highly prestigious, multi-volume work edited by Professor Xia-Ting Feng, with the editorial advice of Professor John A. Hudson. This new compilation offers an extremely wideranging and comprehensive overview of the state-of-the-art in rock mechanics and rock engineering and is composed of peer-reviewed, dedicated contributions by all the key experts worldwide. Key features of this set are that it provides a systematic, global summary of new developments in rock mechanics and rock engineering practices as well as looking ahead to future developments in the fields. Contributors are worldrenowned experts in the fields of rock mechanics and rock engineering, though younger, talented researchers have also been included. The individual volumes cover an extremely wide array of topics grouped under five overarching themes: Principles (Vol. 1), Laboratory and Field Testing (Vol. 2), Analysis, Modelling and Design (Vol. 3), Excavation, Support and Monitoring (Vol. 4) and Surface and Underground Projects (Vol. 5). This multi-volume work sets a new standard for rock mechanics and engineering compendia and will be the go-to resource for all engineering professionals and academics involved in rock mechanics and engineering for years to come.

Challenges and Innovations in Geotechnics is a collections of papers presented at the Eighth Asian Young Geotechnical Engineering Conference (8AYGEC, Astana, Kazakhstan, 5-7 August 2016), and covers various aspects the areas of soil mechanics and geotechnical engineering. The book contains special and keynote lectures and contributions on a wide range of topics in geotechnical engineering and construction: (1) Laboratory and Field Testing (2) Foundation and Underground Structure (3) Ground Improvement (4) Earthquake and Environment (5) Numerical and Analytical Modeling (6) Advanced Soil Mechanics (7) Historical Sites Challenges and Innovations in Geotechnics was published under the auspices of the ISSMGE TC-305 'Geotechnical Infrastructures for Megacities and New Capitals', and reflects the present and future state of geotechnical engineering. The book will be extremely useful to geoengineers and researchers in the abovementioned areas.

The costs of inadequate earthquake engineering are huge, especially for reinforced concrete buildings. This book presents the principles of earthquake-resistant structural engineering, and uses the latest tools and techniques to give practical design guidance to address single or multiple seismic performance levels. It presents an elegant, simple and theoretically coherent design framework. Required strength is determined on the basis of an estimated yield displacement and desired limits of system ductility and drift demands. A simple deterministic approach is presented along with its elaboration into a probabilistic treatment that allows for design to limit annual probabilities of failure. The design method allows the seismic force resisting system to be designed on the basis of elastic analysis results, while nonlinear analysis is used for performance verification. Detailing requirements of ACI 318 and Eurocode 8 are presented. Students will benefit from the coverage of seismology, structural dynamics, reinforced concrete, and capacity design approaches, which allows the book to be used as a foundation text in earthquake engineering.

This book comprises select proceedings of the annual conference of the Indian Geotechnical Society. The conference brings together research and case histories on various aspects of geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering. The book presents papers on geotechnical applications and case histories, covering topics such as (i) Characterization of Geomaterials and Physical Modelling; (ii) Foundations and Deep Excavations; (iii) Soil Stabilization and Ground Improvement; (iv) Geoenvironmental Engineering and Waste Material Utilization; (v) Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering; (vi) Earth Retaining Structures, Dams and Embankments; (vii) Slope Stability and Landslides; (viii) Transportation Geotechnics; (ix) Geosynthetics Applications; (x) Computational, Analytical and Numerical Modelling; (xi) Rock Engineering, Tunnelling and Underground Constructions; (xii) Forensic Geotechnical Engineering and Case Studies; and (xiii) Others Topics: Behaviour of Unsaturated Soils, Offshore and Marine Geotechnics, Remote Sensing and GIS, Field Investigations, Instrumentation and Monitoring, Retrofitting of Geotechnical Structures, Reliability in Geotechnical Engineering, Geotechnical Education, Codes and Standards, and other relevant topics. The contents of this book are of interest to researchers and practicing engineers alike.

In the past decades advances have been made in the research and practice on unsaturated soil mechanics. In 2000 the first Asia-Pacific Conferences on Unsaturated Soils was organized in Singapore. Since then, four conferences have been held under the continued support of the Technical Committee on Unsaturated Soils (TC106) of the International Society of Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering (ISSMGE). The conferences provided an excellent forum for researchers and practitioners in the region and beyond to present the latest developments and to exchange ideas on the subjects related to unsaturated soils. Unsaturated Soil Mechanics - from Theory to Practice collects more than 140 technical papers, and 10 invited and keynote lectures presented at the sixth Asia-Pacific Conference on Unsaturated Soils (Guilin, China, 23-26 October 2015). The first Asia-Pacific distinguished lecture, launched at the conference, is also included. The contributions address the fundamental behavior of unsaturated soils, and present theoretical and numerical modeling and engineering applications. The topics of concern span the full spectrum from theory to practice, with strong relevance to the problems in the region and beyond such as collapse/swelling, freezing/thawing, desiccation shrinkage, rainfall-induced slope failure, contaminant transport, shale gas extraction and so on, largely representing the latest developments in unsaturated soil mechanics.