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Geotechnical Engineer's Handbook (Trần Văn Việt)

About this reference

This is an original technical digest written for this knowledge base, following the subject scope and structure of Cẩm nang dùng cho kỹ sư địa kỹ thuật (Geotechnical Engineer's Handbook) by Trần Văn Việt, published by Nhà xuất bản Xây dựng (Construction Publishing House). The source book is copyrighted: this page is not a reproduction of its text — it summarises the key concepts and systematises the Vietnamese professional terminology, with pointers back to the original. It is provided for education and reference; every project is unique.

Cẩm nang dùng cho kỹ sư địa kỹ thuật is a Vietnamese practitioner's handbook for civil engineers. It consolidates geotechnical knowledge and experience gathered from infrastructure projects in Vietnam and cross-checks it against the codes and standards of developed countries in Europe and America. It spans the full geotechnical workflow in two blocks:

  • Soil investigation (Chapters I–IV): the geological environment (soil and rock), the engineering properties of foundation soils, groundwater, and the complete system of methods, techniques and equipment for investigation, exploration and testing.
  • Geotechnical analysis (Chapters V–XII): shallow and deep foundation analysis, slope stability, retaining walls, embankments on soft ground, engineering hydraulics, earthquakes, and information technology.

Publication details

Item Detail
Title Cẩm nang dùng cho kỹ sư địa kỹ thuật (Geotechnical Engineer's Handbook)
Editor-in-chief Trần Văn Việt
Publisher Nhà xuất bản Xây dựng (Construction Publishing House)
Contributing authors Prof. Vũ Công Ngữ (Ch. II, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, XII); Dr. Phạm Tích Xuân (Ch. I); Dr. Nguyễn Văn Túc (Ch. III, X); M.Sc. Trương Hữu Hùng, Eng. Nguyễn Gia Chính, M.Sc. Nguyễn Vũ Tùng (Ch. IV); Prof. Nguyễn Đình Xuyên (Ch. XI)
Foreword Prof. Vũ Công Ngữ
Sponsoring bodies USCo Survey & Construction Co. (Ministry of Construction); GEOWASCO Federation of Geology, Construction and Water Supply
Scope 12 chapters, from geology/soil-and-rock to geoinformatics

The book includes a Bảng ký hiệu – Symbol table giving symbol / Vietnamese / English for every quantity used in the text; each chapter below carries its own extracted terminology table.

Scope of this reference

This digest follows the twelve chapters of the source book:

# Chapter What it covers
1 Geology: Soil and Rock Structure of the Earth; igneous, sedimentary, metamorphic rock
2 Engineering Properties of Foundation Soils Soil composition; physical properties; elasticity, Mohr, plasticity, Terzaghi consolidation, Menard
3 Groundwater Porous medium, permeability, capillarity; water in granular sediments and karst
4 Investigation, Exploration and Testing Soil and rock classification and description; investigation stages; drilling, sampling, geophysics; field and laboratory testing
5 Shallow Foundation Analysis Behaviour under load; bearing capacity (theory, CPT, PMT, SPT, rock); settlement
6 Deep Foundation Analysis Pile classification; single-pile capacity; negative skin friction, lateral squeeze; laterally loaded piles; pile groups; settlement
7 Slope Stability Analysis Movement types; plane and circular-arc sliding; simple solutions
8 Retaining Wall Analysis Active and passive pressure; rigid and flexible walls; anchored walls, braced excavations
9 Embankments on Soft Ground Stability and consolidation settlement; accelerating consolidation; monitoring and verification; fill materials; flexible pavements
10 Engineering Hydraulics Darcy's law; flow nets; seepage forces; cut-off walls, earth dams
11 Earthquakes and Construction Works Earthquake characteristics; seismic zoning of Vietnam; seismic design; liquefaction
12 Geoinformatics in Geotechnics IT in site investigation and in geotechnical analysis

How to use this reference

  • Follow the workflow. If you are investigating, start at Chapters I–IV. If you are designing, go straight to Chapters V–VIII for your structure type.
  • Chapter 9 is the closest to this site's focus. Its Monitoring and verification section covers settlement monitoring, pore-pressure measurement, lateral displacement and total vertical stress beneath embankments. Read it alongside the Dunnicliff and FHWA manuals.
  • Use the terminology table at the end of every chapter. It is the most valuable thing this digest preserves: the book's Vietnamese terms with their English equivalents.
  • Cross-check against the site glossary. See the Glossary for the site's canonical 1-to-1 TCVN mapping.
  • Ask the GTI Doctor. The AI assistant answers from the indexed corpus.

Terminology and normalisation

The book uses the terminology common in Vietnamese practice, which sometimes differs from the canonical TCVN mapping this site applies. This digest keeps the book's own terms (for cross-reference) and adds the canonical term in each chapter, e.g.:

The book says The site's canonical TCVN term
"áp lực nước lỗ rỗng" Pore-water pressure (áp lực nước lỗ rỗng)
"thiết bị đo áp lực nước" Piezometer (áp kế)
"ứng suất hữu hiệu" Effective stress (ứng suất hữu hiệu)
"mô đun nén ngang" Pressuremeter modulus (mô đun nén ngang)
"thiết bị đo biến dạng sâu" Extensometer (thiết bị đo biến dạng sâu)

Sources and acknowledgements

The content is synthesised from Cẩm nang dùng cho kỹ sư địa kỹ thuật (Trần Văn Việt, ed., Nhà xuất bản Xây dựng) together with the standards and codes the book cites (ASTM, AASHTO, BSI, NF, JIS, TCVN). The original work is copyrighted; all rights remain with the author and publisher. This page is an independent digest, not a substitute for the original — readers should consult the printed book for the full tables, figures and worked examples.

Engineering judgment comes first. The handbook supplies formulas and experience, but every site has its own ground conditions — computed results must be verified against field investigation and the judgment of a qualified engineer.

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