relevant micro-concepts of common nigerian civil engineering

Applying our analogy to practical conditions, the spring is, in reality, the soil skeleton or solidparticles, in nature, while the water in the container is the pore water in the soil voids spaces. σ isknown as the effective stress while u is the pore water pressure. The rate at which water seepsout of the weep hole can be compared to the practical permeability of the soil. This concept;known as the principle of effective stress, was explained, in detail, by Matawal (1990). Theeffective stress theorem is a basic practical situation that is easily appreciated by the followingillustrations:a) Foundations on low permeability soils (clay and tropical laterites, as example), areknown to exhibit continuous time-dependent settlement. Under constant load, longafter application of full service conditions but which is not creep. This is due togradual dissipation of the initial excess pore water pressures: a phenomenon that canbe illustrated using the mathematical model of consolidation which we can use topredict the time-settlement responses of slow draining soil media subjected tochanges in loading conditions.b) Of considerable importance; but usually less obvious, are the regional settlementsresulting from ground water lowering in compressible soils either due to pumping forwater supply (as in boreholes) or due to other engineering situations. Regional10